Your guide will collect you in the morning for a drive to Kna Por, a traditional Khmer village surrounded by rice fields. Wander through the village, meet local families, and learn about the production of rice wine, woven mats, and traditional brooms. A remork takes you out to the village outskirts to watch farmers and water buffalo working the fields before a refreshment stop with views over the surrounding countryside. The morning concludes with a visit to the ancient ruins of Banteay Ampil Temple before lunch at a local restaurant on the way back to Siem Reap. The afternoon is yours at leisure.

In the evening, you’ll explore Siem Reap’s dining scene. The experience moves through three distinct locations, beginning with a sunset cocktail and starter at a restaurant where much of the produce comes from the kitchen garden, continuing to a traditional Khmer wooden house on the outskirts of the city for a tasting platter of iconic Cambodian dishes, and finishing back in town with a dessert course by one of Cambodia’s top chefs and a locally inspired cocktail. Over the course of the evening you’ll work through ten dishes across three restaurants, each paired with a drink.

Say goodbye to Siem Reap and transfer to the boat pier, settling in for a full day on the water. The journey begins through floating villages on the Tonle Sap, where fishing platforms, stilted houses, and small boats moving between them give a vivid picture of life on Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake. Before turning south toward the river, you’ll pass Prek Toal, one of Cambodia’s most significant wetland bird sanctuaries, with a short stop at the Saray Community to learn about the relationship between traditional fishing and conservation in the area.

From there the boat enters the river toward Battambang, where the landscape narrows and small villages line both banks. Lunch boxes, canapés, and drinks are served throughout the day, and the boat has a comfortable lounge space onboard. You’ll arrive in Battambang in the late afternoon for a private transfer to your hotel.

Today you’ll journey out of town for a ride on the Bamboo Train, a French-built locomotive originally created to move goods across the region. From there you’ll continue to Ek Phnom, a rarely visited ancient temple, passing through small villages where locals are producing bamboo sticky rice, fish paste, rice paper, and banana paper along the way.

Lunch is at a riverside restaurant before the afternoon takes you to Phnom Sampeou and the Killing Caves, a Khmer Rouge memorial site set into a hillside topped by a working temple with wide views over the surrounding countryside. If you stay for sunset, thousands of bats emerge from the cave mouth below.

This morning, your guide and driver will collect you for the roughly four-and-a-half-hour drive to Kampong Chhnang. In the afternoon, you’ll travel about 40 minutes from your lodge to Preah Theat, a pre-Angkorian temple dating to the 6th and 7th centuries.

The site is built around a 100-foot granite Shiva Linga perched on a hill, originally constructed during Cambodia’s Hindu period as part of a Yoni and Linga complex before transitioning to a Buddhist site over the centuries. The hill sits at around 500 feet above sea level, with views over the surrounding countryside that are best experienced at sunset during the dry season. The jungle at the base is a protected wildlife area watched over by monks from the monasteries below.

The morning offers an optional start at Smiling Gecko’s bilingual school for the daily flag-raising ritual, a community gathering of children, staff, and local villagers that is open to guests with advance notice.

Afterwards, your guide and drive will then transfer you to Trapaing Rung Pier, with coffee and a light meal stop along the way. After freshening up at the lodge lounge, you’ll board a boat for the 30-minute ride along the Preak Tachan River to Cardamom Tented Camp, set deep within one of Southeast Asia’s largest remaining rainforests.

On arrival, the Wildlife Alliance team will give you a briefing on their conservation work in the Cardamom Mountains, including how the camp’s revenue directly funds protection of the area from logging and poaching. The afternoon is yours to explore on foot through the surrounding jungle, kayak or swim in the river, or cross it on the camp’s zipline. The day winds down at the riverside restaurant as the sun sets over Botum Sakor National Park.

After an early breakfast, you’ll set out by kayak along the river to an old ranger station, a quiet abandoned outpost that offers a window into the area’s history. From there, a forest trail leads back to camp, with your guide pointing out wildlife and sharing the story of the Cardamom Mountains’ conservation along the way. The full loop takes around three and a half to four hours, with lunch waiting at camp on your return.

The afternoon is yours to do as you please. Choose to zipline across the river, swim, walk the short trails near camp, take a paddle along the quieter tributaries, or relax on your tent’s patio as you look for wildlife in the tree line.

The morning is yours to use as you please before checkout; choose to go an early self-guided hike on the camp trails, have a final a wildlife boat ride on the river, or enjoy a slow breakfast in the quiet of the forest. You’ll board the boat back to Trapaing Rung Pier in the late morning, where your guide and driver will be waiting to transfer you to Sihanoukville. From there, a shared shuttle boat takes you across to Koh Russey Island, where the rest of the day is at leisure.

Enjoy two days at leisure on Koh Russey island. Your lodge’s complimentary activities cover most of what you’d want from an island stay: kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, snorkeling, cycling, beach volleyball, tennis, pickleball, and beach tennis are all on offer.

Say goodbye to Cambodia and transfer 3.5 hours by road back to Phnom Penh to catch your departing flight.