7 Days in Cambodia: The Classic Route

One week is the minimum to see Cambodia’s three essential faces — ancient temples, modern history, and the coast — without the trip becoming a checklist. This route has been the standard first-timer itinerary for years for a reason: the logistics genuinely work, with short, manageable hops between each leg.

The Route at a Glance

• Days 1–3: Siem Reap and the Angkor temples
• Days 4–5: Phnom Penh
• Days 6–7: Koh Rong or Koh Rong Samloem (coast)

Total internal travel: one ~6-hour bus or 45-minute flight (Siem Reap–Phnom Penh), plus one ~5-hour bus + ferry combination (Phnom Penh–coast). Both legs run multiple times daily.

Days 1–3: Siem Reap and Angkor

Three days gives you a properly paced Angkor visit rather than a rushed one. A common split: Day 1 — arrive, ease in with Angkor Wat itself in the afternoon (less crowded than dawn) and Phnom Bakheng for sunset; Day 2 — the “Small Circuit,” covering Angkor Thom, the Bayon’s stone faces, and Ta Prohm’s tree-root ruins; Day 3 — either the sunrise return to Angkor Wat you skipped on day one, or a half-day trip further out to Banteay Srei’s pink sandstone carvings, with the afternoon free to explore Siem Reap’s Old Market and Pub Street. See our complete guide to Angkor Wat at sunrise for the specifics on timing that one right.

A 3-day Angkor Pass ($62) covers this whole stretch and doesn’t need to be used on consecutive days.

Days 4–5: Phnom Penh

Take the morning bus or an early flight to Phnom Penh on day 4. With two days here, you can do the capital properly rather than rushing it: the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, a sobering but necessary afternoon at Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek, and an evening on Sisowath Quay watching the sunset over the river. Day 5’s morning is well spent at the Russian Market, with the afternoon free for the National Museum or simply resting before the coastal leg. Our 48-hour Phnom Penh guide covers this stretch hour by hour if you want a tighter plan.

Days 6–7: The Coast

From Phnom Penh, it’s a 4-hour bus to Sihanoukville followed by a ferry (45–70 minutes) to Koh Rong or the quieter Koh Rong Samloem — book the ferry in advance if you’re travelling in peak season (December–February). Two days here is really one full beach day plus arrival and departure half-days; it’s tight, but enough to feel the contrast with the previous five days of temples and history. If your flight home leaves from Phnom Penh rather than Siem Reap, build the return transfer time into day 7 rather than assuming you can do a full beach day and still catch an evening flight.

Budget Guide

A reasonable mid-range budget for this route runs $45–70/day per person, covering guesthouse or 3-star hotel accommodation, street food and casual restaurant meals, tuk-tuk transport, and entrance fees (the Angkor Pass is the single biggest line item). Budget travellers doing dorms and local buses can comfortably do this route for $25–35/day; luxury travellers with boutique hotels and private drivers should budget $150+/day. See our full Cambodia budget breakdown for more detail.

Booking Transport Between Legs

Buses between all three legs of this route run multiple times daily and can generally be booked a day or two ahead through your guesthouse or apps like Bookaway — advance booking matters most for the Sihanoukville–island ferries in peak season, less so for the inter-city buses. If you’d rather fly the Siem Reap–Phnom Penh leg to save the 6-hour bus ride, it’s worth the roughly $60–80 fare given how much time it buys back for the coast.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 7 days enough for Cambodia? It’s enough for this classic three-stop route, though you’ll be moving every 2–3 days. If you’d rather slow down, drop one destination (skip the coast, or skip Phnom Penh) and add the extra days to the other two.

Should I do Phnom Penh before or after Siem Reap? Either order works logistically. Starting in Siem Reap (as above) front-loads the trip’s most famous sight; starting in Phnom Penh means landing in the capital first, which some travellers find an easier introduction to the country.

Can I extend this into a 10 or 14-day trip? Yes easily — add Kampot and Kep between Phnom Penh and the coast, or add Battambang between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh for a slower, more complete loop.

Do I need to book the Sihanoukville ferry in advance? In December–February, yes. Outside peak season you can usually buy same-day at the pier, though booking ahead removes the risk of a sold-out sailing.

Is this route doable by public transport, or do I need a private driver? Entirely doable by public bus and ferry — this is one of the most backpacker-trodden routes in Southeast Asia, and the transport infrastructure between these three stops is reliable.