Top tips for your next Cambodia itinerary
Are you looking for the best and most updated Cambodia itinerary tips?
You are about to read the perfect blog post about the Cambodia tour.
Travelling to Cambodia was on our “wish list” for many years, mainly for two reasons. The first reason for our Cambodian tour was Angkor War, the largest religious complex in the world. The second reason was the history and Cambodian genocide. We were keen to know more about one of the saddest parts of modern history (If you would like to know more about the history of the genocide, see this link).
When we planned our Cambodian itinerary, we imagined a country that was not very developed and with a lot of resentment for its recent and sad history.
Instead, we found ourselves in a country with a unique energy, sufficiently developed, and with super friendly people, who wanted to look forward, but without forgetting the past.
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Our Cambodian tour was a bit strange at first, because coming to Cambodia from slow and calm Laos was a bit of shock, everything was suddenly fast. The transport, people, and it seemed to us that the time was going faster too. At the beginning, visiting Cambodia was like being in another planet that was going at an uncontrolled speed.
During our almost a month stay in Cambodia, we can say that we have seen all the faces of this country. Basically, we saw from the most rural and often penniless to the incredibly modern and rich part of its two main cities, Siam Reap and Phnom Penh.
After our Cambodian tour, we can only confirm that this country is fully worth to be on your travel list. That is why we have decided to write this post with the best and updated tips for your next trip to Cambodia. We hope that these tips will be useful for you.
1. Security – Cambodia itinerary
Is it safe to travel to Cambodia in 2023?
Like the rest of all Southeast Asian countries, Cambodia is generally a fairly safe country, suitable for backpackers and solo travelers. As like in most countries, also in Cambodia the micro crime rate is quite low, including in areas with high tourist concentrations. Cambodia itinerary post.
Like Laos, Cambodia has been heavily bombed in the famous Secret War, so it is not a good idea to go on your own on roads in the wilderness or areas that are not well-traveled.
Although many years have passed and although a process of cleaning and recovering wild areas is underway, thousands of bombs remained unexploded throughout the country and they are still dangerous.
If trekking is part of your Cambodian itinerary, we simply advise you to hire an expert guide who knows the area and the roads and thus be able to enjoy the beautiful nature of this country.
Grab our Travel Checklist and Let the adventure begin!
2. Visa – Cambodia itinerary
In mid-November, we decided to include Cambodia in our travel itinerary, and with a normal tourist visa and the green pass, we were able to enter without problems. We decided to apply for an online visa to avoid possible issues with the country’s border authorities.
Not only in Cambodia but at all land borders in Southeast Asia the customs officers sometimes might try to overcharge you (remember you are in Asia and, sad to say, corruption is normal here). If you plan to enter Cambodia by land from one of the neighboring countries, we recommend you to have a few dollars at your disposal before you get there. This is because at some land borders in this country (we don’t know if all of them) they usually charge you $1 for a medical “non-control” check, and $2 more to get the entry stamp. We are uncertain whether all this is legal or not, even so, if you would rather not waste time, it’s better to invest these 3 dollars to avoid any problems on the way.
If you want to get an online visa we recommend you to visit the official website of the immigration office link here.
3. Vaccines – Cambodia itinerary
There are no mandatory vaccinations to enter and travel to Cambodia. The yellow fever vaccine is mandatory only for people who live in or have been in a risk country in the previous 12 months, and where this disease is considered endemic.
The health authorities recommend several type vaccines, typhus, rabies, tetanus, hepatitis A and B, typhoid fever and Japanese encephalitis.
We recommend that you prepare malaria pills when you plan your Cambodian itinerary. Keep in mind that in this country, in addition to malaria, there have been cases of Dengue and Zika.
At the time we wrote this post, it was no longer mandatory to get vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter Cambodia, and access was free. Despite this, and given that things change quickly, we advise you to check the Cambodian government information website before your trip.
4. Coins and Exchange – Cambodia itinerary
Money is a bit tricky in Cambodia, especially if you’re not good at math.
There are two currencies used in Cambodia, the Cambodian Riel (KHR) and the American dollar ($). Both currencies are accepted and exchanged together without any distinction, so it can happen that you pay in dollars and that they return the rest of the money in riel or half in one currency and half in the other.
This use of the two currencies was applied to avoid the high devaluation of the local currency and with it the drop in the economy.
If you want to know the exact change on the date of your arrival, we recommend this Xe.com converter.
In all cities, small or large towns, you will find banks and exchange shops, so it will not be difficult for you to change money. Remember that exchange shops usually change mainly to riel (not to dollars).
If you already have dollars, we give you a couple of tips:
- Change your dollars to riel in the exchange shop, they typically give you a better exchange, $10 = 43,000 KHR more or less.
- Take new dollar banknotes with you, in Cambodia they do not accept dollars that are old, cut or damaged, they also do not accept dollars of old production, especially high cut
- The 2 dollar note is not accepted during your trip in Cambodia, they are worthless, they are considered auspicious, and the locals think that they bring good luck (PS: We always carry a 2 dollar note in our wallet since then).
If you don’t have dollars with you, as we do, you can use your card at any ATM in Cambodia.
Remember to notify your bank that you will be abroad and that you will use the card, this way you will prevent them from blocking your card for security reasons and running out of money.
You can withdraw dollars and riel interchangeably at most ATMs in Cambodia.
Until December 2022 (and we doubt that in 2023 it will have changed) all banks charge you a commission of $5 per operation.
Since the commissions are exaggerated, we give you useful tips:
1) Withdraw as much as ATM allows you to amortize the commission. Remember, even your bank will take a commission for this transfer, and it is usually higher during the weekend.
2) Travel with more than one card.
3) Before traveling, look for cards that have good commissions and rates.
Our best tip
During our trips, we use the Wise account, and we are super satisfied with this company. It turns out to be virtual banking with an incredibly good exchange rate and low fees, perfect for all the countries we’ve had the pleasure of visiting so far, including Cambodia.
In Cambodia, cards are accepted in hotels, restaurants, and medium-high-end businesses and especially in large cities, generally with a commission ranging from 3% to 5%. In addition to having prepaid cards, we advise you to always have cash on hand to be able to buy and do almost everything in this country, since in most places only local cards and national bank cards are accepted.
Our Tip: Wise is a great card when you are travelling to a country with a different currency than yours. We use this online bank during our trips and we never had problems, even in remote places around the world.
5. Internet and Sim Card – Cambodia itinerary
One of the most asked questions and also the topic we searched for the most when we were planning the travel itinerary to Cambodia. Is there a stable and fast connection? The answer is yes, and also at very convenient prices.
Before entering this country, we were afraid of not being able to work online because the information and posts on this topic were very frequently not up to date. Now we can confirm that you won’t have any Wi-Fi connection problems in Cambodia, at least in populated areas. Furthermore, most of the accommodations had a good Wi-Fi connection.
We used the Cellcard company throughout our stay in Cambodia and we highly recommend it. The SIM card cost us $2 and every week with $2 more we had 10 GB of high-speed internet available, a real bargain. To recharge the card, you could buy tickets in stores that looked like a “scratch and win” for 1 dollar each, with the difference that by scratching these you didn’t win at all haha.
Tip
If you constantly need internet and want to connect it to your PC, remember to check if the company offers a hotspot option because not all of them allow it in Southeast Asia. We also highly recommend getting an extra mini Wi-Fi router for a sim card. We use it everywhere when we require a fast Wi-Fi connection like online meetings and Zoom calls, it works perfectly, and you never have to worry about a slow Wi-Fi connection in your accommodation.
The Cellcard company was able to connect your PC with a hotspot to your phone. We used a hot spot connection on the island of Koh Rong Sanloem, where there was not much Wi-Fi signal in the hostel, as it was quite isolated.
Recently, during our trip to Southeast Asia, we discovered that there are electronic cards (e-sims). Practically with the use of an app you can get a number, data, and calls without having a physical sim card in your phone. Currently, they are only compatible with some latest generation smartphones (iPhone, Samsung, and little else).
In this list of smartphones, our expensive Chinese mobiles do not enter (and expensive only because we love them), and for now, they are incompatible, although we hope only for now 😉 .
That is why we have not had the opportunity to test this card in person. Despite this, this e-SIM seems to us to be a great invention and will be a total revolution when it comes to moving from one country to another.
6. Transportation – Cambodia itinerary –
The transports in Cambodia that we have used were moderately modern, fast and punctual.
We were very surprised in a positive way, especially after having used transport from other Southeast Asian countries for many months, which were definitely not of the same comfort.
If you are one of those people who want to organize a Cambodian itinerary in advance, you can opt-in for applications such as 12go.asia or rome2rio.com that will help you and facilitate the trip.
Here is the list of the most common means of transportation in Cambodia:
TAXI
We never used taxis in Cambodia, but we can confirm that you can take a taxi, mainly in the cities.
TUK TUK
It is the most used means of transport to make short-term in Cambodia.
As in all the other countries in this part of the world, we advise you to haggle the price before starting the trip because drivers usually shoot astronomical figures at you and could rip you off.
The good news is that apps such as Grab or Passapp already work in most touristic locations in Cambodia. That allows you to book trips with Tuk Tuk and to know the price in advance, avoiding all this haggling procedure and surely many scams. We used both apps on our trip to Cambodia, and we recommend downloading both of them for more options.
The tuk-tuk is one of the best options to explore Angkor Wat. Here in this link above you can read all you have to know about the World’s Largest Religious Monument.
PLANE
We personally didn’t take any flights during our trip to Cambodia, however many tourist locations have airports, so you can get to your destination faster. If you are interested in this means of transport to travel to Cambodia, look at pages like Skyscanner or Google Flight to get the best price.
MINIVAN
The minivan is definitely the most used means of transport in Cambodia to travel medium distances. Most of the minivans in Cambodia are comfortable because unlike in Thailand and Laos, the seats are bigger, being built by western brands (ex. Ford) and not Asian.
On average, we say that you will pay $2 for each hour of travel. For this price, you can get comfortable transport with air conditioning. The companies for this price are punctual and well-organized. A good example is the Larryta company, which is the best transport company we have found in Cambodia, always punctual, clean, and comfortable, and it also has a website to buy tickets directly online.
(PS: The prices on the website are the same as in the office)
Surely, you can find cheaper companies than this, but keep in mind that the trips could be longer, and they will not be as comfortable and efficient.
BUS
We have not seen many buses during our stay in Cambodia, in fact, we used them only once, and it was to leave the country and head toward Vietnam. If you want additional information about the buses that connect Cambodia with Vietnam, you can contact us in private.
BOAT
We use this type of transport only to go from the city of Sihanoukville to Koh Rong Sanloem island, and we used a speed boat from the GTVC speed boat company that is quite comfortable and efficient. There are several companies that offer the same route, so we recommend you look at this page to find the best price, click here.
SCOOTER
Motorcycle rental in Cambodia is fairly cheap, always considering the prices of the same vehicle in the West. One day (24h) it will cost you between $5-7. The motorcycle trip to Cambodia should not be a priority, even so, it allows you to explore the country differently and see places that would otherwise be impossible to visit.
Tips for motorcycle rental in Cambodia:
- To rent a motorcycle in Cambodia, the sellers rarely ask you if you have a driver’s license, however, you obviously not only need to have the driver’s license of your country, but also an international driver’s license.
- Before renting a scooter, check and take photos of all the damage, remember that once rented it is your responsibility to return it as it was given to you.
- Most rental scooters do not have insurance, drive carefully.
- A helmet is mandatory in Cambodia, but only for the driver, though, don’t mind that if the locals don’t wear it, it’s stupid and unconscious not to wear a helmet when driving, especially in a foreign country.
- If you have never used a motorcycle in your life, we do not recommend that your first time is in Cambodia, people drive fast and traffic is super uncontrolled.
- To drive motorcycles with a displacement higher than 125cc your international driving license is not enough, and valid, you will need a Cambodian dressing document.
- Another thing that we advise you is not to give your passport, better a deposit or any other document, as a guarantee for a motorcycle rental. If the police stop you and want to give you a ticket (for whatever reason) try not to argue, smile and reach an agreement, a few dollars often take you out of bigger problems.
- Always ask which areas are unsecured or at high risk of theft. If you don’t feel safe, better use a padlock and lock the bike yourself.
Look at our post with the best information and tricks on how to travel and be safer on your trip, we also wrote a part about the uses of padlocks.
7. Accommodation – Cambodia itinerary
Accommodation prices in Cambodia depend a lot on your budget and on whether the town is very tourist or not.
We can say from personal experience that right now, the prices are much higher than two years ago. We say this simply because we have compared the current prices (Dec 2022) to information from other travel bloggers dated 2019.
Two years of closure due to COVID-19 and the rise in current prices have skyrocketed accommodation prices, and now it is much more difficult to find good bargains, though, it is not impossible.
In December 2022, a room for two people with air conditioning costs on average between 20 and 30 EUR/$, and a bed in a hostel in a shared room between 7-15 Euros/dollar.
It will not be difficult to book your accommodation in Cambodia since most of the accommodations in 2022-2023 use online reservation systems. We generally use Booking.com, for convenience, and also because we have discounts.
We also use Airbnb sporadically when we need apartments to work longer, like during our stay in Phnom Penh.
8. Food – Cambodia itinerary
Any type of food in the world…
If you are tired of Asian food, in most of the big cities, or the best-known tourist centers in the country, you can find good international food such as pasta or pizza, hamburgers, and many more.
Prices range from $5-7 for a plate of classic Khmer cuisine to over $10 if you want to eat a good pizza or burger.
In Cambodia you can find any type of food in the world, naturally, the prices, are based on the range of the restaurant you choose, the location, and the products offered.
If you are looking to save money and are interested in just filling your stomach, we recommend street food which is generally of good quality and quite cheap. Alternatively, you will have stores like 7-eleven that offer snacks and preheated food at affordable prices.
9. Insurance – Cambodia itinerary
In our opinion, the only mandatory thing every traveler should have is good travel insurance, also including a COVID policy. Many countries don’t set travel insurance as a mandatory requirement to enter the country and a lot of travelers decide not to invest in this, which is a serious mistake. We basically do not travel without travel insurance, it is a basic thing for us and in case of health problems on your trips, it will get you out of trouble and save you a lot of money.
Our insurance is True Traveller, and we definitely recommend it, because they offer a good insurance policy for backpackers and long-term travel. Also, it is one of the few insurance companies that you can contract your policy while traveling, so it is perfect for travelers and digital nomads like us.
10. Cultures and Habits – Cambodia itinerary
Cambodians are incredibly smiling, kind, and humble people, a population with enviable strength, capable of looking forward and to the future without forgetting the past, its history, and its roots.
Almost 97% of the Cambodian population are Buddhists, other religions divide the other percentage.
It is highly disrespectful to touch someone’s head in Cambodia, as it is considered the most spiritual part of the body and where the soul lives, so if you don’t want problems or misunderstandings, try to avoid them.
Cambodia is one of the most fascinating destinations in Southeast Asia, with a great and ancient craft tradition. Only skilled craftsmen and artists could build such an astonishing sanctuary like Angkor Wat, with incredible masks, perfect silk dresses, and precious silver work.
On your trip to Southeast Asia, you will see many similarities in the dances, dresses, and other religious aspects of the various countries. This is because, in the past, countries like Thailand and Laos were part of the Khmer empire, and many cultural aspects remained the same over the years.
11. Other tips and curiosities – Cambodia itinerary
- Cambodia is a fairly safe country, but it is also a poor and developing country, so we advise you to use common sense during your trip.
- Cambodia has only two seasons: the wet season with lots of rain, which runs from May to October, and the dry season, which begins in November and ends in April.
- As in all the countries of Southeast Asia, you should not bargain the prices of food in restaurants and street stalls, instead, bargain the price of the tuk tuk to death, which are usually quite expensive compared to other transports or use the apps that we have provided you before.
- Prices in recent months have skyrocketed due to several factors, such as the Covid lockdown and the rise in world prices due to various international reasons. It is a fairly cheap country and where you travel on a tight budget, we recommend to plan your Cambodian itinerary in advance. Prices in the capital Phnom Penh and in beautiful Siem Reap are much higher than in other parts of the country.
- These destinations are the evidence of how this country is moving forward and adapting to global modernization and technology (and we don’t know if this is totally positive).
- Angkor Wat is one of the most beautiful and incredible things we have had the pleasure of seeing in our travels around the world, we recommend adding it to your list if you decide to travel to Cambodia.
Our tip: When we travel we always make sure to have travel insurance. Our personal recommendation is Truetraveller as they have great support and health coverage around the world. And don’t worry if you forget about it, you can purchase the insurance during your trip!
11. General prices – Cambodia itinerary
The prices are based on our experience of almost a month in this country Dec 2022, remember the general rule of 1$=4000 KHR. We remind you that due to various factors, prices could change (up or down) and that these below are only an informative basis, since they are based on our approximate average.
Street food: 0.5 – 4$
Local Restaurants: 4-7$
International restaurants (pizza, burger etc.): <7$
Water 0.5 LT: $0.30
Espresso coffee: 1$
1.5 LT water: $0.5
Fruit smoothie: = >1$
Fresh coconut: = >1$
Beer: = >1$
Tuk Tuk: ??? It depends on the place and how much you haggle
Buses: >10-30$
Scooter (motorbike) 125 cc: 5-7$
Gasoline: <$1 per lt
Accommodation 2 pax/day with a/c and private bathroom: $25-$35
Bunk bed in shared room: $7-$15
SIM card: $2 card + $2 for 10 GB per week
Laundry: $1 per kg
Conclusion –
The Cambodian tour gave us the opportunity to learn about its culture, its history, and its strength.
It is a country that we advise you to add to your wish list because we know that it will not disappoint you and that it will enrich you in many aspects of your life.
We were struck by and impressed by the ability of the Khmer people to look forward, to building a positive and hopeful future. Even having experienced man-made atrocities, which, we hope, will never happen again, not only in Cambodia but all over the world.
After this trip to Cambodia, we are more aware that every day we have to give the best version of ourselves, and that a bad day or a bad season cannot affect the rest of our lives. Now we know that it is our duty to always see the positive and constructive side of each situation and take advantage of the moments we have in life.
If after reading our post you are still curious about this amazing country, we suggest you read this interesting article about Siem Reap and the best things to do in this vibrant city.
Thanks
Thanks to the Cambodian people for their kindness, for giving us the opportunity to discover their culture and gastronomy, and for reminding us that even after a lot of rain the sun will always come out (and thanks to Brandon Lee for this citation .-) ).
Our tips and recommendation for the trip to Cambodia end here, we hope you can use some or all of them on your next stay in the land of smiles. Remember that this entire post is based on our personal experience and our travel style. If you want to add any information or advice, do not hesitate to write them in the comments below, we will answer you as soon as possible.
Thank you for having come this far, we hope to see you soon on this blog and on our social networks, a hug from your friends, travelers, and gluttons of Fun Food Travelling.
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