MyPassportStory
Your travels, worth telling.
MyPassportStory › Destinations › Cambodia
🇰🇭Things to Do in Cambodia
From the temples of Angkor Wat to the floating villages of Tonle Sap - the essential sights, and how to keep your own record of them.
Travel guide - last updated September 2026
Cambodia's trip is built almost entirely around one destination and its surroundings: Angkor Wat and the wider Angkor Archaeological Park near Siem Reap, one of the largest religious monument complexes ever built. Phnom Penh's more recent, harder history and the southern coast are the two most common additions to a Siem Reap-anchored trip. Here are 8 places worth building a trip around.
Top attractions
The sights most first-time visitors build an itinerary around.
Angkor Wat
The largest religious monument in the world, built in the 12th century as a Hindu temple and later converted to Buddhist use. Sunrise over the temple's towers, reflected in the front pool, is the classic (and crowded) way to see it first.
📍 Siem Reap
🚉 Siem Reap has no rail link to the temples: tuk-tuks hired by the day are the standard way round the park, about 6km from town, and the Angkor Pass must be bought at the official ticket centre first.
Ta Prohm
A temple within the Angkor complex deliberately left partly overgrown, with massive tree roots fused into the stonework - familiar to many as a filming location for Tomb Raider.
📍 Siem Reap
🚉 Ta Prohm sits on the small circuit, roughly 2km beyond Angkor Thom - the same tuk-tuk or bicycle that brings you to Angkor Wat continues here, and there is no public transport inside the park.
Bayon Temple
Part of the walled city of Angkor Thom, known for the 216 serene stone faces carved into its towers, believed to represent a Khmer king merged with a bodhisattva.
📍 Angkor Thom, Siem Reap
🚉 Bayon stands at the centre of Angkor Thom, 1.5km north of Angkor Wat through the south gate, and is part of every small-circuit tuk-tuk route.
Phnom Penh
Cambodia's capital, holding both the ornate Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Choeung Ek Killing Fields, which document the Khmer Rouge period soberly but directly.
📍 Phnom Penh
🚉 The Royal Railway runs a slow line from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville and to Poipet; within the city there is a limited public bus network, and tuk-tuks and the PassApp taxis are what most people use.
Tonle Sap Floating Villages
Entire communities living on stilts or floating structures on Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake, with houses, schools and markets that rise and fall with the seasonal water level.
📍 Tonle Sap, near Siem Reap
🚉 Boats to Chong Kneas leave from a pier 15km south of Siem Reap, reached by tuk-tuk; Kampong Phluk and Kampong Khleang are further out and normally visited on an organised half-day trip.
Sihanoukville & Koh Rong
Cambodia's beach coast and nearby islands, with Koh Rong offering quieter, less-developed beaches than the mainland resort strip.
📍 Sihanoukville & Koh Rong
🚉 Sihanoukville has an airport and a railway station on the line from Phnom Penh; ferries to Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanloem leave from the Serendipity and Ochheuteal piers, taking 45 minutes.
Banteay Srei
A smaller 10th-century temple within the Angkor complex, built from pink sandstone and known for some of the most intricate, best-preserved stone carving in the entire site.
📍 Siem Reap
🚉 The pink sandstone temple is 37km north-east of Siem Reap, beyond the main park circuits - a tuk-tuk takes about an hour each way, and drivers charge a supplement for the distance.
Battambang
Cambodia's second city, with French colonial architecture, a well-preserved old quarter, and the Bamboo Train - a improvised bamboo-platform rail cart still used as a genuine local transport novelty.
📍 Battambang
🚉 Buses from Siem Reap and Phnom Penh take three to five hours; the town is walkable, and the bamboo train at O Sra Lav is a 20-minute tuk-tuk ride from the centre.
Mark Cambodia, get the stamp
In MyPassportStory, every country you mark - visited, lived in, or still on the list - becomes a stamp like these in your own travel passport. Add the cities you stopped in, draw the route between them, and turn the whole trip into a shareable passport-style image.
Open MyPassportStoryPlanning questions
How many days do you need in Cambodia?
4-5 days covers Siem Reap and the main Angkor temples well. A week to 10 days lets you add Phnom Penh and a stretch of the southern coast.
What's the best time to visit Cambodia?
November-February is the dry, cooler season and the most popular time to visit. The wet season (May-October) brings the Tonle Sap lake to its fullest, which is actually the best time to see the floating villages up close.
Is Cambodia good for a first-time visit?
Yes - Siem Reap is well set up for tourism, with tuk-tuks and organized temple tours easy to arrange, and English is commonly understood in the main tourist areas.
Do I need a visa to visit Cambodia?
Most nationalities can get a visa on arrival at major airports and border crossings, or apply for an e-visa online in advance - both are usually straightforward for short tourist stays. Check the official visa information for your nationality: evisa.gov.kh.
What are some things to do in Cambodia on a tight budget?
A multi-day Angkor pass works out cheaper per temple the longer you stay, street food and local restaurants are inexpensive, and hiring a tuk-tuk driver for the day to cover the temple circuit is far cheaper than an organized tour.
Can I rent a car in Cambodia, and what licence do I need?
Self-drive car rental barely exists here, and where it does, foreign licences are not recognised: Cambodia requires a Cambodian licence, or an International Driving Permit converted locally, and driving without one voids insurance entirely. What almost every visitor does instead is hire a car with a driver by the day, which is inexpensive and covers the temple circuits and long transfers. Motorbike rental is widely offered but carries the same licence problem, plus a genuine accident risk. The Ministry of Tourism sets out what visitors need at mot.gov.kh, with practical guidance for travellers at tourismcambodia.org; day-hire cars with drivers are arranged through hotels and local operators in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.