chloedickensonLast Updated on 29th April 2024
This 10 day Cambodia itinerary contains affiliate links.
I’ll be perfectly honest here; Cambodia wasn’t my favourite place in the world. In fact, I would actually say that it’s our least favourite place we’ve been since travelling full time.
Nothing was exceptionally wrong with it, it just didn’t have the ~feel~ that most other places we’ve been to had and even though we did do some pretty cool things while we were there, overall it was generally quite ‘meh’.
Having said that, I would never discourage you to go to a place as I’m a firm believer in experiencing things for yourself so if you’re thinking about taking a trip to Cambodia, then still go ahead. Just be prepared that it doesn’t have the same vibes as Thailand or Vietnam, for example.
If you are thinking of adding Cambodia to your travel bucket list, here’s my ultimate guide for spending 10 days in Cambodia. I’ve included where to go, where to stay and a brief introduction on what to see and do in each place. Enjoy!
Is 10 days enough in Cambodia?
10 days is the perfect amount of time to spend in Cambodia for first-time visitors as it allows you to see the remarkable ancient sites at Angkor Wat in Siem Reap and it also gives you chance to visit the country’s capital of Phnom Penh, as well as spending a few days relaxing in the southern islands of Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samloem!
10 day Cambodia itinerary – summary
- Siem Reap – 3 days
- Phnom Penh – 2 days
- Koh Rong/Koh Rong Samloem – 3 days
- Kampot – 2 days
10 day Cambodia itinerary with map
In the Google Map above, you can see a rough route for spending 10 days in Cambodia. The backpacking route takes you from Siem Reap in the northeast of Cambodia, all the way down to Sihanoukville and the islands in the south.
Siem Reap – 3 days
No Cambodia itinerary would be complete without a visit to Siem Reap. While it’s not the country’s capital (despite popular belief), it is arguably the most famous place to visit in Cambodia.
Three or four days is more than enough time to spend in Siem Reap during your ten days in Cambodia. There’s not an overwhelming amount of stuff to do in Siem Reap aside from the obvious Angkor Wat and other surrounding temples.
However, our hostel in Siem Reap was one of the best places we stayed while travelling in terms of affordability and amenities.
Read more: The Ultimate Angkor Wat Guide
Where to stay in Siem Reap – 10 day Cambodia itinerary
We stayed at Pool Party Hostel which is by far one of the cheapest and coolest places we’ve stayed at since travelling.
It has an on-site sizeable pool, a restaurant equipped with a plethora of incredible local and Western dishes, a pool table and a bar. There are also plenty of private and dorm rooms available and free tuk-tuk rides into town.
If you’re looking for a very affordable place to base yourself in Siem Reap, I couldn’t recommend Pool Party Hostel enough.
The owner is also one of the nicest guys we’ve ever met and his Canadian wife is also such a delight too.
On Sunday, Wednesday and Friday nights, the hostel also runs a bar crawl along Pub Street in town which we did while we were staying there. You’ll be in for a messy night, but it’s one of the most fun nights out we’d had in a long time!
Booking.comWhat to do in Siem Reap
As I said before, you really don’t need a long time in Siem Reap, but if you’re particularly interested in visiting a lot of the temples (I think there are 72 in total – not just a few around Angkor Wat!), then you can buy a three-day ticket to try and see as many as you can.
Here are a few more ideas on things to do in Siem Reap:
- Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, Bayon, Angkor Thom plus many more
- Pub Street
- ANM Khmer Market
- Phare The Cambodian Circus
- Tonle Sap Lake Floating Village
Phnom Penh – 2 days
Phnom Penh is Cambodia’s capital city and there are plenty of things to do there to keep you entertained for a couple of days.
We didn’t enjoy it quite as much as Siem Reap but it was perfectly fine to spend a few days there while in Cambodia.
Where to stay in Phnom Penh
We spent five nights in Cambodia’s capital city and we actually stayed in an Airbnb apartment. It was a pretty good price and the apartment itself was nice enough.
The only downsides were that there were a fair few ants crawling around and also lots of midges inside so I got bitten an awful lot. There’s also no curtain in the bathroom so you can see right inside when someone’s on the toilet or in the shower!
We actually found this pretty funny but it’s certainly not something you’d enjoy if you like your bathroom privacy (understandably!).
Booking.comWhat to do in Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is quite a culturally rich historic place in Cambodia and is home to some truly horrific fairly recent historical events such as the Khmer Rouge ruling and the events that happened at S21.
Take a look at some of the top sights to see in Phnom Penh.
- Killing Fields
- S21 Prison (Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum)
- Royal Palace
- Silver Pagoda
- Mekong River tour
Sihanoukville – 10 day Cambodia itinerary
I always pride myself on being totally honest and completely transparent when sharing my travel guides and recommendations so I can say with some confidence that Sihanoukville is undoubtedly the worst place I’ve ever been.
It’s so bad in fact, that we actually named it The Worst Place On Earth.
In recent years, Sihanoukville has been completely overtaken by Chinese investors who have come into the city and utterly demolished it so they can make way for fancy hotel resorts and casinos.
There are now more than 70 casinos in Sihanoukville, yet the entire city looks like the pictures above. There are no proper sewage systems in place and rivers of actual shit run through the streets. It’s by far the dirtiest place I’ve ever been and it’s devastating to see an entire city destroyed like this.
I’m sure it has the potential to be a lovely place but the rapid development thanks to the investors have just left the entirety of Sihanoukville in a complete construction zone so it’s really not a nice place to be.
However, it’s dubbed as the “gateway to the islands” so if you plan on visiting Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samloem (see below), then you will have to visit Sihanoukville for a short period of time in order to get the boat.
Where to stay in Sihanoukville
We stayed at Patchouly Chill House which was actually a beautiful haven away from the horrors of the streets of Sihanoukville. It was also the second most expensive place we’ve stayed since starting travelling over 10 months ago which is crazy as even though it was a nice enough resort, it definitely wasn’t worth the money.
We only stayed here for two nights as I was there to write some content for a freelance client so we had to stay overnight so that we could get the boat to Koh Rong the next day.
The hotel has an on-site restaurant which served delicious food and the owners are so lovely and friendly. If the rest of Sihanoukville ever improves, I wouldn’t hesitate to stay at Patchouly again, but until then, I think I’ll be avoiding it!
Booking.comWhat to do in Sihanoukville
Other than leaving straight away, there are a select few things you can do in Sihanoukville if you do decide to stay a few days. There are numerous beaches that apparently get a good rep but from what we saw, they didn’t look all that nice or clean.
However, here are a few recommendations of things to do in Sihanoukville.
- Serendipity Beach
- Independence Beach
- ATV tours
- Queenco Fitness Club
- Kampongsom City Hotel & Casino
Koh Rong/Koh Rong Samloem – 3 days
Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samloem are the two most popular islands just off the coast of Sihanoukville in Cambodia.
We were originally going to go and stay on both islands but after discovering that the accommodation options there were pretty expensive, we decided against staying and instead just went for the day for a little wander around.
Booking.comWhat to do on Koh Rong – 10 day Cambodia itinerary
Both islands’ activities largely just consist of beaches and there are plenty of beautiful stretches of white sand for you to enjoy!
- Koh Toch Beach
- Long Beach
- High Point Rope Park
- White Beach
- Sok San Village
What to do on Koh Rong Samloem
Koh Rong Samloem is often cited as the quieter of the two islands, but there are still numerous beaches to explore and bars to enjoy too.
- Lazy Beach
- M-Pai Beach
- The Lighthouse
- Saracen Bay
- Sunset Beach
Kampot – 2 days
Kampot actually turned out to be our favourite place in Cambodia and this was largely due to the fact that it was the most developed place and had tonnes of incredible places to eat and drink.
We were in Kampot for a good few days and we spent most of our time there working and eating; there’s not really a whole lot to do. However, we did pay a quick visit to the salt fields and we also saw one of the most amazing sunsets we’d seen in a long time.
Where to stay in Kampot
We stayed in Kampot for five nights which again, you probably don’t need as there’s not an awful lot to do there but we were essentially just killing time before we travelled to Vietnam.
We stayed at the Elephant’s Dream Guesthouse which I can’t really recommend as it wasn’t the best place we’ve stayed. The rooms were so unbelievably hot (I mean we were literally drenched with sweat every time we were there), and there were hundreds (and I mean hundreds) of dead flies and ants underneath our door and inside our room on a morning!
Furthermore, the family who owns the place sleep in the lobby area downstairs so if you come back later than 10 PM, you have to wake them up to get in and then climb over the sleeping family!
It has the potential to be a nice place to stay in Kampot but our experience really wasn’t all that enjoyable.
Booking.comWhat to do in Kampot
As I said before, there aren’t that many things to do in Kampot but there are a few little trips you can make to see locally grown produce such as salt and pepper if that’s your kind of thing.
- Bokor Mountain
- Pepper plantations and salt fields
- Green Cathedral
- Durian Roundabout
- Kampot Night Market
Overall, Cambodia was quite an underwhelming place in my opinion and I won’t be rushing to return anytime soon.
However, I am still glad we went and saw everything we wanted to see. It was awesome to see Angkor Wat and all the temples and it was nice to get lots of work done in Kampot while eating lots of yummy food.
Related posts:
- The Ultimate Angkor Wat Guide – Ta Prohm, Ta Keo & More
- The Best Places To Eat In Kampot, Cambodia
- The Ultimate 1 Month Backpacking Thailand Itinerary & Guide
- 1 Month Vietnam Itinerary
- 3 Days In Ho Chi Minh City Itinerary – Best Things To See & Do In Ho Chi Minh
- The Ultimate 3-Day Bangkok Itinerary For First-Time Visitors
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Is Cambodia on your bucket list? Let me know in the comments or on Instagram at @imjustagirl_16.