7 days in Cambodia
A seven day Cambodia route that spreads Angkor across a ten day pass window, which is the rule most itineraries miss.
Last updated . Angkor pass prices and validity rules are set by Angkor Enterprise and have changed before. Airport transfer times and road routes are still settling since the move. Recheck the official sources below before booking.
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Two things about Cambodia are recent enough that most published itineraries have them wrong. The airport that serves Angkor moved in October 2023 from a site 7 km outside Siem Reap to one about 45 km away, which turns a fifteen minute transfer into an hour or more. And the 3 day Angkor pass has never had to be used on 3 consecutive days: it is valid on any 3 days inside a 10 day window. Almost nobody uses that, and it is the single best thing about planning a week here.
How many days do you need in Cambodia?
7 days: 5 based in Siem Reap using 3 non consecutive Angkor days, and 2 in Phnom Penh.
Four days is Siem Reap alone and is a perfectly good short trip. Ten days is what buys the south coast at Kampot and Kep, which is a different country in feel and needs its own time.
Does the 3 day Angkor pass have to be used on consecutive days?
No. The 3 day pass is valid on any 3 days within a 10 day window from first use, and the 7 day pass runs across a month.
This is the rule that should shape the week. Temples in tropical heat are exhausting and the difference between three days in a row and three days with a break in the middle is the difference between finishing the pass and abandoning it.
How far is Siem Reap airport from town?
About 45 to 50 km, and around 60 to 80 minutes by road. The old airport 7 km from the centre is closed.
Siem Reap Angkor International Airport opened on 16 October 2023 to the north east of the city, replacing the one every older guide describes. Budget for the transfer both ways and do not plan a tight connection off the back of a late temple afternoon.
Where do you buy the Angkor pass?
From Angkor Enterprise, either online on the official government site or in person at the ticket centre. There are 3 durations sold.
Passes are not sold at the temples themselves, and a pass bought anywhere other than Angkor Enterprise is not a pass. The ticket carries your photograph and is checked at every temple, so it is not transferable either.
The plan at a glance
- Day
- 1
- Where
- Arrive, transfer into Siem Reap
- Pass day used
- No
- Day
- 2
- Where
- Angkor small circuit
- Pass day used
- Yes, first
- Day
- 3
- Where
- Grand circuit and Banteay Srei
- Pass day used
- Yes, second
- Day
- 4
- Where
- Tonle Sap, or nothing at all
- Pass day used
- No
- Day
- 5
- Where
- Angkor sunrise and the rest
- Pass day used
- Yes, third
- Day
- 6
- Where
- To Phnom Penh
- Pass day used
- No
- Day
- 7
- Where
- Phnom Penh, then out
- Pass day used
- No
| Day | Where | Pass day used |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrive, transfer into Siem Reap | No |
| 2 | Angkor small circuit | Yes, first |
| 3 | Grand circuit and Banteay Srei | Yes, second |
| 4 | Tonle Sap, or nothing at all | No |
| 5 | Angkor sunrise and the rest | Yes, third |
| 6 | To Phnom Penh | No |
| 7 | Phnom Penh, then out | No |
The route at a glance
11 mapped stops · 7 days
Live route map
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Route stops
Follow the numbered order through each day.
Day 1: Arrival, and the long transfer
- ·Siem Reap Angkor International Airport to town · about 90 minutes
- 1Siem Reap old market · about 2 hours
Day 2: The small circuit
- 2Angkor Wat · about 3 hours
- 3Bayon and Angkor Thom · about 3 hours
- 4Ta Prohm · about 90 minutes
Day 3: The grand circuit
- 5Banteay Srei · about 3 hours including the drive
- 6Preah Khan and Neak Pean · about 3 hours
Day 4: No temples
- 7Tonle Sap and the floating villages · about 5 hours
- ·Siem Reap, doing nothing · the rest of the day
Day 5: Sunrise, and the ones you missed
- ·Angkor Wat at sunrise · about 3 hours
- 8Ta Keo, Ta Som or the Roluos group · about 3 hours
Day 6: South to Phnom Penh
- ·Siem Reap to Phnom Penh · about 6 hours
- 9The riverfront · about 2 hours
Day 7: Phnom Penh, then out
- 10Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda · about 2 hours
- 11Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum · about 3 hours
Day 1: Arrival, and the long transfer
The airport is about an hour out, so this is a day that arrives rather than a day that does anything.
- On foot
- About 3 km on foot
- Book before you go
- The airport transfer, and the Angkor pass online
Afternoon
Siem Reap Angkor International Airport to townabout 90 minutes
About 45 to 50 km on the new expressway and National Road 6, so 60 to 80 minutes depending on traffic. Shuttle buses, taxis and hotel cars all run it. The old airport, 7 km out, is closed.
Evening
Siem Reap old marketabout 2 hours
The town is compact and everything visitors use sits within about a kilometre of the river. Buy water and sun cover tonight rather than tomorrow at 6am.
Day 2: The small circuit
Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm, which is the day everybody pictures.
- On foot
- About 10 km on foot, in heat
- Book before you go
- A tuk tuk driver for the day, agreed the night before
Morning
Angkor Watabout 3 hours
Start here rather than at sunrise on day one. The interior galleries and the upper level are what reward time, and the crowd thins after the sunrise coaches leave around 8am.
Afternoon
Bayon and Angkor Thomabout 3 hours
The faces at Bayon are the best carving in the complex and it is a smaller, more confusing building than photographs suggest. The Terrace of the Elephants is a short walk on.
Ta Prohmabout 90 minutes
The one with the trees growing through it. Late afternoon light is better here than morning, and the one way route through it moves quickly.
Day 3: The grand circuit
The outer ring, plus the pink sandstone temple 35 km north that is worth the drive.
- On foot
- About 8 km on foot
Morning
Banteay Sreiabout 3 hours including the drive
About 35 km north east, cut in pink sandstone and carved more finely than anything inside the main complex. Small, so go early before the tour vans.
Afternoon
Preah Khan and Neak Peanabout 3 hours
The grand circuit temples are quieter than the small circuit and Preah Khan is nearly as atmospheric as Ta Prohm with a fraction of the people.
Day 4: No temples
The deliberate gap the 10 day pass window pays for, and the reason day 5 is enjoyable.
- On foot
- About 4 km on foot
Morning
Tonle Sap and the floating villagesabout 5 hours
Kampong Phluk is the more honest of the accessible villages and the water level changes it completely between the dry and wet seasons. Ask which village before booking, because the operators vary enormously.
Afternoon
Siem Reap, doing nothingthe rest of the day
Two days of temples in this heat is genuinely tiring and the third is where people give up. This afternoon exists so that does not happen.
Day 5: Sunrise, and the ones you missed
The third pass day, spent on the temples the first two did not reach.
- On foot
- About 8 km on foot
- Book before you go
- The tuk tuk, for a 5am start
Early morning
Angkor Wat at sunriseabout 3 hours
Done on the third day rather than the first, because by now you know where to stand and are not also seeing the building for the first time in the dark.
Afternoon
Ta Keo, Ta Som or the Roluos groupabout 3 hours
Whatever the first two days left out. The Roluos temples south east of town are the oldest in the area and almost nobody goes.
Day 6: South to Phnom Penh
About 6 hours by road or under an hour by air, and the road version is genuinely fine.
- On foot
- About 3 km on foot
- Book before you go
- The bus or the flight
Morning
Siem Reap to Phnom Penhabout 6 hours
Around 6 hours on the express coaches, which are air conditioned and run several times a day. Flying saves about four hours but the new airport transfer eats most of that back.
Evening
The riverfrontabout 2 hours
The Tonle Sap and Mekong meet here and the promenade is where the city walks in the evening. A better introduction than a museum on arrival day.
Day 7: Phnom Penh, then out
The Royal Palace in the morning and the harder history in the afternoon, then a 30 minute run to the airport.
- On foot
- About 5 km on foot
Morning
Royal Palace and the Silver Pagodaabout 2 hours
Open mornings and again in the afternoon with a closure between. Covered shoulders and knees are enforced at the gate rather than suggested.
Afternoon
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museumabout 3 hours
A school used as a prison under the Khmer Rouge, now a museum with an audio guide made largely from survivor testimony. It is not a sightseeing stop and it takes as long as it takes.
The options below are separate choices rather than a package. Read how RoamWeek chooses and orders suggestions before using any of them.
Book the separate parts
Book the parts that need booking
The Angkor pass is bought from the government operator directly and nowhere else. What is worth arranging elsewhere is the flight, the rooms and the long transfer south.
You book each service directly with its supplier. These separate bookings do not form a RoamWeek package.
- Flights
Flying into Siem Reap and out of Phnom Penh matches the direction this week runs and avoids repeating a 6 hour road leg on the last day.
Search on Aviasales
- Stays
Five nights in one Siem Reap hotel is what makes the non consecutive pass workable, so the thing to check is location relative to the temple road rather than the pool.
Search on Booking.com
- ActivitiesBuses between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh
The 6 hour coach runs several times a day and the seats on the better operators go first, which is the one road leg here worth holding in advance.
Search on 12Go
What is worth the time, and what is not
Worth your time
- Putting a day with no temples in the middle of the pass. The 10 day window allows it at no cost, and it is the difference between finishing three temple days and abandoning the third.
- Banteay Srei, 35 km out. The carving is finer than anything in the main complex and it is small enough to see properly in an hour.
- Sunrise on the third day rather than the first. By then you know the layout, so the dark hour is spent positioning rather than orienting.
Skip it
- A single day Angkor pass on a week long trip. The complex is large and hot, and one day is a forced march that people consistently report regretting.
- Flying Siem Reap to Phnom Penh to save time. The new airport is an hour out, so the two transfers give back most of what the 45 minute flight saves.
- A tight connection after a late temple afternoon. The airport run is 45 to 50 km now, and the road is the part that varies.
Why this order
Angkor Wat sits on the morning of day 2 rather than at sunrise on day 1, because arriving from an airport an hour away and then getting up at five is how a week starts badly. The small circuit comes before the grand circuit because it is the one people have travelled for, and doing it while fresh is worth more than saving it. Day 4 uses no pass day at all, which the 10 day window permits and which almost no published itinerary takes advantage of. Sunrise lands on day 5 because it is better the second time you have stood in that spot. And Phnom Penh is last because the flights out are easier from there and because Tuol Sleng is not something to do on the way into a holiday.
Read next
- 10 days in Laos
The northern half of the same overland run, and the other country here where one booking rule decides the plan.
- Vietnam itineraries
The third country most people add to this trip, covered city by city rather than as a single route.
What we checked
- Angkor Enterprise, official Angkor pass read 29 August 2026
- Cambodia Ministry of Tourism read 29 August 2026
- Siem Reap Angkor International Airport, opening and access read 29 August 2026
Why this page exists. This is the only RoamWeek route built around the fact that the 3 day Angkor pass is valid on any 3 days inside a 10 day window, so it puts a deliberate day with no temples in the middle of them.