4 Nights in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

About the destination: Phnom Penh, located at the confluence of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap rivers, is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. There is a very strong French influence in Cambodia, particularly Phnom Penh, so much so that the city was once known as the Paris of the East. The French developed the canal system, ports, roads and buildings. Even though most of the city’s French flair has disappeared, there are a few beautiful French colonial buildings remaining. The Riverside district with its charming river walk, is full of hotels, restaurants and bars looking over the river and is very handy for visiting the main tourist sites. The main tourist attractions in Phnom Penh are Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the Killing Fields, the National Museum, the Royal Palace, the Silver Pagoda and the temple Wat Phnom. Today, Phnom Penh is one of the fast growing cities in Southeast Asia and you can find upmarket cuisine, a very good arts scene and a vast array of markets. Phnom Penh is a worthwhile destination and a convenient base to explore the rest of the country.

About the destination: Siem Reap is the capital city of Siem Reap Province in northwestern Cambodia. It is a popular resort town and a gateway to the Angkor region. Siem Reap has colonial and Chinese-style architecture in the Old French Quarter, and around the Old Market. In the city, there are museums, traditional Apsara dance performances, a Cambodian cultural village, souvenir and handycraft shops, silk farms, rice-paddies in the countryside, fishing villages and a bird sanctuary near the Tonle Sap Lake. Siem Reap today—being a popular tourist destination—has a large number of hotels, resorts, restaurants and businesses closely related to tourism. This is much owed to its proximity to the Angkor temples, the most popular tourist attraction in Cambodia.