Cambodia in 7 days: Siem Reap and Phnom Penh

Day 2 — Sunrise at Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm’s jungle

• 04:45 — Tuk-tuk into the dark (temple-day tuk-tuks: ~$20–25 small circuit, agree the day price up front or book via the hotel). Stake out the north reflecting pond at Angkor Wat; sunrise cracks over the five towers around 6:00 to a soundtrack of two thousand shutters. Then do what the crowd doesn’t: go inside immediately — the galleries’ 800 m of bas-reliefs (churning of the ocean of milk!) and the steep top tier are half-empty while everyone else eats breakfast.
• 10:30 — Back to town or the hotel pool through the midday furnace — this is the pacing secret of Angkor: temples 5–10 am and 3–6 pm, water in between.
• 15:00 — Ta Prohm — the “Tomb Raider temple”, left half-swallowed: silk-cotton roots pour over doorways like slow-motion waterfalls. Late light makes the stones glow and thins the tour groups. Finish at Banteay Kdei across the road, blissfully ignored.
• 19:00 — Khmer barbecue dinner ($8–12) and early to bed; tomorrow has 200 faces.

Day 3 — Angkor Thom, then the circus steals the day

• 07:00 — Angkor Thom, the walled capital: enter by the South Gate’s causeway of gods and demons, then the Bayon — 54 towers, 200 serene colossal faces, corridors of everyday-life carvings. This is the morning to hire a licensed guide (~$35–45/day, shared): the difference between piles of stones and a functioning city reassembling in your imagination.
• 10:00 — Baphuon’s flying causeway, the royal terraces of the Elephants and the Leper King, exit via Victory Gate.
• 12:30 — Pool. Non-negotiable.
• 17:00 — Gentle sunset option: Pre Rup’s brick towers (fewer buses than the famous Phnom Bakheng scrum, which we’d honestly skip).
• 20:00 — Phare, the Cambodian Circus ($18–38 by seat tier — book a day ahead): young performers from at-risk backgrounds telling Khmer stories through acrobatics and fire. Ask anyone who’s been: it out-emotions the temples. The site’s strongest evening recommendation in Southeast Asia.

Day 4 — Pink sandstone and the grand circuit

• 07:30 — Drive out (37 km, tuk-tuk ~$35–45 or share a car) to Banteay Srei, the 10th-century “citadel of women”: miniature, rose-pink, and carved so finely it looks 3D-printed by devas. En route back, the Landmine Museum ($5) tells one de-miner’s astonishing story — small, sobering, worthwhile.
• 13:00 — Lunch + pool.
• 15:30 — Finish the pass on the grand circuit: Preah Khan’s long corridors going golden, or Neak Pean’s island shrine on the old reservoir — the quiet, crowd-free Angkor most visitors never meet.
• 19:30 — Best-dinner night: Siem Reap’s new Khmer kitchens ($15–25 pp) do tasting menus that would cost 4× in Bangkok.

Day 5 — The lake, then fly to the capital

• 08:00 — Tonlé Sap — Southeast Asia’s largest lake, which quadruples in size each monsoon and feeds half of Cambodia. Do the ethics-checked version: Kampong Phluk (or Kompong Khleang) — genuine stilt villages ~$25–30 pp with boat — and skip Chong Khneas, the near-shore “floating village” infamous for rice-buying and crocodile-farm shakedowns. Wet season floats the forests; dry season turns stilts into 8-metre ladders — both are extraordinary.
• 13:00 — Lunch, pack, tuk-tuk goodbyes.
• 16:00 — Fly Siem Reap → Phnom Penh (45 min, ~$70–100 — or the honest budget swap: Giant Ibis bus, $15, 6 h of countryside).
• 18:30 — Check in, then the riverside: the Tonlé Sap and Mekong meet at Sisowath Quay — evening aerobics classes, monks with phones, dinner on a breezy terrace ($6–12).

Where to stay in Phnom Penh (two nights)

• Luxury: Raffles Hotel Le Royal — 4.5/5 (~2,700 reviews), 1929 grande dame; Jackie Kennedy’s cocktail is still on the bar menu. ~$180+. (Sofitel Phokeethra, 4.7, is the modern five-star.)
• Mid-range: Palace Gate Hotel — 4.9/5 (~2,900 reviews), beside the Royal Palace with breakfast in. ~$70–100.
• Value: Pavilion — 4.6/5 (~3,400 reviews), colonial villas, garden pools, adults-calm. ~$50–70.

Day 6 — The kingdom’s gold and its darkest chapter

• 08:00 — Tuol Sleng (S-21) — the school the Khmer Rouge turned into a prison, now the genocide museum (~$10 with the essential audio guide). Go early, go quiet, give it two hours. Some mornings, the last survivors sign books in the courtyard — shake their hands.
• 10:30 — Choeung Ek killing fields (15 km out, tuk-tuk ~$15 return; $6 with audio): the memorial stupa of skulls, the orchard paths, the quiet. Our honest guidance: this pairing is emotionally heavy — take it in the morning, together; think hard before bringing under-12s (the audio guide is unflinching); and let the afternoon be gentle. Cambodia asks visitors to witness this, and rewards those who do with understanding the country’s miracle: everything you’ve enjoyed all week was rebuilt from zero after 1979.
• 14:30 — The gentle afternoon: the Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda ($10 — gold spires, emerald Buddha, a floor of 5,000 silver tiles; opens 14:00, shoulders/knees covered), then the Art-Deco dome of Central Market or a sunset Mekong cruise ($10–15, drinks aboard).
• 19:30 — Dinner in Bassac Lane’s shophouse bars-and-bites alley — Phnom Penh’s cheerful modern face, which after today feels like the point.

Day 7 — Russian Market, fly home

• 08:30 — Toul Tom Poung (Russian) Market: the best souvenir hunting in the country — kramas (checked scarves), silver, coffee, $3 “brand” T-shirts of negotiable authenticity — plus a legendary local breakfast corner (noodle soup, $2).
• 11:30 — Pack, checkout, and out to Techo International (~45 min–1 h with traffic — pad it) for the flight home via your connection.