Phnom Penh and Siem Reap Advice
 

Planning to visit Cambodia in April with wife and daughter... In order to see both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in 5 days, please advise on the most efficient way of travelling to and from these two places. Thanks.

Fly between all points. Assuming you are flying into Bangkok, you can fly to either PP or SR, fly to the other city, and fly back to Bangkok.<BR><BR>The only alternative to even consider is boat between SR and PP, but it takes a half day rather than an hour. I've never done it, but friends have told me it's not that interesting of a trip. Others may disagree. Still, with only 5 days I would fly between all points.<BR><BR>You do know it will be hot as hell in April, right?

thanks marilyn. if we have only 3 days in cambodia, would going to pp worth the trip? and yes i do know it would be really hot in april.<BR>regards.<BR>

With only 3 days I would definitely skip Phnom Penh and concentrate on Angkor. In my opinion that is minimum time to see the major temples. <BR><BR>You don't say how old your daughter is, and that might have some influence, but even if she is not a child, the heat will affect your ability/desire to sightsee all day. You do NOT want to be trying to climb to the top of somewhere in the midday sun.<BR><BR>We spent only a few days in PP and I did not care for it much, although I would certainly give it another chance. The poverty, begging, scams, and general evidence of Cambodia's troubled history are so much more extreme and evident in PP than in Siem Reap. I felt quite safe in SR and Angkor, and never had anyone try to rip me off or jack up a price after we had agreed on it. Those things did happen to us in PP.<BR><BR>Feel free to email me directly if you have any more specific questions. I have been twice, my husband 3 times.<BR>[email protected]

if you only have this short time skip PP and stay the whole time in siem reap...we spent 2.5 days there in november and it was not enough....fly bangkok air and you will be very pleases...they have a web site and an office in nyc....we stayed at the angkor village resort....quite nice and the only authentic looking place we saw there....most are either guesthouses or luxuary hotels or ordinary tourist type hotels....$105/nite i think we paid...meals were ok ...but not fantastic there...we liked the La Noria restaurant just opposite the side of the grand hotel, just across the river...also the red piano in the middle of the small town...<BR><BR>make sure you arrange for a driver and a guide---$20 each per day....you will save tons of time and they are very nice and have decent english...it is worth every penny and more....the ruins are over a large area and you will appreciate the a/c in between spots, plus the driver will drive you very close...we had an older toyota camry ...the hotel arranged it all for us in advance....they have a web site and answer e-mails promptly---french/cambodian owned