Help with Cambodia itinerary
 

Hi All,

Looking at heading to Cambodia for about 16 days with a friend at the beginning of November. I have previously spent 2 days in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap en route to Vietnam, so wanting to see a lot more. We are both early 30's and enjoy history, landmarks/ruins, nature, sampling local cuisine and a few nights of partying.

This is a rough idea of a schedule that we have, but I remember how bad transport can be and I want to make sure there isn't too much travel and the order makes sense. Does this schedule make sense? I'm worried there's a bit too much bus travel?

Days 1-3 Siem Reap.
Days 4-6 Battambang.
Days 7-8 Phnom Peng
Days 9-10 Kratie
Days 11-13 Kampot / Kep
Days 14-16 Sihaoukville / Ream national park
Day 17 - Domestic flight to PP and International flight out of Cambodia

It does make sense apart from the inclusion of Kratie which is in totally different direction from everywhere else you are visiting. It is quite a few year since I have been there but I do recall a horrendous bus journey from PP. I think around 6-7 hours. Maybe the roads have improved. It is a pleasant enough town but we were on our way to Laos and it is a natural stopping point before getting the boat to Si Phan Don. I don't think I would make a special trip to visit their.

The bus from Battambang to SR took us around 4 hours and wasnt too bad @ $6 pp. We got the Mekong Express VIP minibus from PP to Battambang - excellent service 5 hours and $12 - worth every penny!

PP to Kampot took a couple of hours in a private car organised by our guesthouse. At that point there were 4 of us so the $40 fare was a good deal. Giant Ibis buses also run that route.

You are not spending very much time in any one place so you do have a lot of moving around. If it were me, I would leave out Kratie and add the days to wherever interests you most. loved Kampot, lots to see and round and about, river trips etc. Bokor. Kratie makes I nice side trip visiting the pepper plantations and salt fields and a few villages en route.Battambang also has far mor ego see and do than you may imagine.

Here is a link to the Cambodian section of our blog of our current trip which covers some of these places in detail.

http://accidentalnomads.com/category/cambodia/

I agree not to rush the Battambang portion. It's not big ticket sightseeing, but it's interesting.

Between Battambang and Phnom Penh, we jumped off the bus at Kampong Chhnang and it ended up being one of our favourite stops. Again, not world shaking sites, but the floating village. mosque and riverfront areas we found interesting (we just rode someone's fishing boat around in lieu of there being tours or anything). A couple guys had picked us up on their motorbikes at the bus and later they came back to the guesthouse we picked to take us out to pottery villages. So there's lots to see between here and there.

Thanks guys. But that last post.. Whoa! That's fast paced. I think bye enjoyment of places like Luang Prabang and Hue is gone when you're there for one night!

Thinking maybe Kratie out and add in a homestay more on our path, less traveling needed.

If some time is spent in Kep, does one need to go to Sihanokville? What would you be missing?

>>But that last post.. Whoa! That's fast paced.<<

That is because that post is from tour company and those are tours they sell -- sort of "If it is Tuesday this must be Belgium . . ." ;)

"Does one need to go to Sihanoukville?" Only if you want your "few nights of partying ". Kep is pretty laid back, Sihanoukville is a party town. Personally I would avoid Sihanoukville like the plague - my partying days are well behind me!

There are some nice islands close to Sihanoukville. Check out http://www.travelfish.org/country/cambodia for more info.