Last updated: October 27, 2026
By Sophea Khim · Host & Editor, Wander CambodiaTwo weeks is the sweet spot for a first Cambodia trip: Phnom Penh (3 nights) → Kampot & Kep (3) → the islands or Battambang (3) → Siem Reap & Angkor (4) → one spare day to spend wherever wins you over. You see the capital properly, slow down in the south, and give Angkor the unhurried days it deserves — without a travel day every other day.
Our 7-day itinerary is the highlights sprint. This is the version for people with two weeks: same backbone, but with the south coast added, rest days built in, and Angkor spread out the way it should be. Every leg below uses routes that actually run today — including the one border fact that changes regional plans.
| Days | Base | The point of it |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | Phnom Penh | Capital, history, food — at a human pace |
| 4–6 | Kampot (day trip to Kep) | Riverside slow-down, pepper farms, crab |
| 7–9 | Koh Rong islands or Battambang | Beach rest, or Cambodia's gentlest provincial town |
| 10–13 | Siem Reap | Angkor on a 3-day pass, done properly |
| 14 | Spare / departure | Buffer, favourites revisited, fly out of Siem Reap (SAI) |
Land at the new Techo International Airport (KTI), clear immigration with your v-Pass issued digitally, and settle in. Day one is deliberately light: riverfront walk, the Royal Palace area, and an early night. Day two carries the heavy, essential history — Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields — best done in the morning with the afternoon left gentle. Day three is the living city: markets, a cooking class or food wander through our what to eat in Cambodia guide, and the museums you skipped. Our Phnom Penh guide has the neighbourhood detail. Data from the moment you land: the eSIM vs local SIM guide compares Airalo with a $5 airport SIM honestly.
Travel south to Kampot — bus or train, a few hours — and feel the pace drop. Riverside mornings, a Kampot pepper farm tour (the pepper is genuinely world-class and GI-protected), and a day trip to Kep for crab at the crab market, eaten with that same pepper. Bokor Hill Station makes an easy half-day if the mist appeals. Our Kampot & Kep guide covers both towns. This is also the itinerary's built-in rest: no alarms, no queues.
Beach version: continue to Sihanoukville's port and ferry out to the Koh Rong islands for three nights of sand and swims. Pack a dry bag and reef-safe sunscreen — our gear guides to the best dry bag and best sunscreen exist precisely for these days. Culture version: skip the coast, head north to Battambang instead — colonial streets, the bamboo train, Phnom Sampov's bat caves at dusk, and the most relaxed art scene in the country. Either choice works; pick by energy, not by FOMO.
Finish in Siem Reap, because Angkor deserves fresh legs and the trip's best light. Buy the 3-day Angkor Pass ($62) — valid for any 3 days within 7, so temple days can breathe — and read our Angkor Pass guide before you buy (official seller only; the day-before sunset trick saves a dawn queue). Spread it out: small circuit one day, a sunrise start and the grand circuit on another, Banteay Srei and a favourite revisited on the third. Between temple days, Siem Reap itself earns time — our Siem Reap & Angkor guide has circuits and timing, and a guided sunrise day adds real context to the carvings:
Book an Angkor sunrise small-group tour →
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Every good two-week plan has one unassigned day, and Cambodia will claim it happily: a delayed ferry, a temple you want twice, a Kampot afternoon that deserved a second. If it survives unused, fly out of Siem Reap's SAI airport with it as pure buffer. Before you fly in at all, run the e-Arrival card (free, mandatory, within 7 days before arrival) and the right entry visa — if there is any chance this trip turns into a longer stay, enter on the $35 Ordinary (E) visa, because a tourist visa cannot be converted later; our visa types guide explains why in two minutes.
With a few extra days, the classic add-on is Ho Chi Minh City via the Bavet/Moc Bai crossing — our Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City walkthrough covers it step by step, and the Laos crossing at Tropaeng Kreal works the same direction. One hard rule for regional plans: Thailand's land borders with Cambodia remain closed (since June 2025), so any Thailand leg means flying — see the border status page before building a route around Poipet. Money mechanics for the whole trip — USD vs riel, ATM fees, Bakong — are in money in Cambodia, and cover for two weeks on the road is in our travel insurance guide.
Two weeks tempts people to add Mondulkiri, a second island and a Battambang detour on top of this route. Resist: the itinerary above already contains six travel legs, and Cambodia rewards depth over coverage — one more base means one less day actually being anywhere. Heat shapes the days more than distance does: temples and markets before 10am, long lunches and pools in the middle, second winds after 4pm. In rainy season (roughly June to October), swap the island block for Battambang if the forecasts look rough — ferries pause in bad weather, while Battambang's caves, circus and countryside barely notice rain — and keep the spare day where it is, because wet-season travel days slip. In the cool season (November to February) the route runs exactly as written and the islands are at their best. Either way, book the long legs a day ahead rather than a week ahead: plans in Cambodia improve with a little looseness, and every booking here can be made from the road.
Extending the trip across the border instead? Our Cambodia and Vietnam two-week itinerary swaps the second Cambodia week for Ho Chi Minh City and the Delta via the Bavet crossing. And the northeast variant adds Kratie for the dolphins.
Seven days covers the highlights; fourteen days is the comfortable first trip — Phnom Penh, the south coast, and Angkor without rushing. This itinerary uses 3 nights in Phnom Penh, 3 in Kampot, 3 on the islands or in Battambang, 4 in Siem Reap, plus a spare day.
The 3-day pass at $62, valid for any three days within a 7-day window. It lets you spread temple days out with rest days between them, which is exactly what a two-week pace allows.
Only by flying. All Thailand–Cambodia land borders have been closed since June 2025 with no reopening date, so overland routes via Poipet do not run. Vietnam (via Bavet) and Laos (via Tropaeng Kreal) crossings are open.
Either works, but this route starts in Phnom Penh because most international arrivals land at KTI, and finishes in Siem Reap so Angkor gets your freshest days and you can depart from SAI. Reverse it if your flights favour Siem Reap first.
Buses and minivans cover Phnom Penh–Kampot and the run north to Siem Reap; the islands need the Sihanoukville ferry. Our Getting Around section walks through each route, including Phnom Penh to Siem Reap compared by bus, flight and boat.
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