Meals Key
(meals key: B = breakfast; L = lunch; D = dinner)
Day 1: Siem Reap
A driver will great you at Siem Reap international airport and drive you to our joining hotel where your tour leader will be waiting for you in the lobby. This evening the group will meet up for a tour briefing, before heading into town for our first meal together.
Cycling: 0KMS
Unsealed: NA
Meals: D
Day 2: Siem Reap. Angkor Temple Tour
One of Southeast Asia’s premier attractions is the archaeological zone of ancient temples around Siem Reap, often simply referred to by the name of the most famous temple, Angkor Wat. Our journey through Cambodia begins today with a tour of some of the more impressive of these temples including, but by no means limited to, the dramatic Ta Phrom, which remains entangled in jungle undergrowth, the richly decorated Bayon with its intricate stone carvings, and of course Angkor Wat itself.
Cycling: ~35KMS
Unsealed: ~10%
Meals: BL
Day 3: Siem Reap to Tonle Sap Lake Loop Ride
A longer ride out today introduces us to rural Cambodia as we cycle on unsealed paths and tracks to Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, Tonle Sap. Along the way we pass through small villages, where are excited children greet us with enthusiastic waves and cheer. Arriving at Tonle Sap we have time to explore a floating village, complete with school and fish farm, before completing a circuitous route back to our resort at Siem Reap.
Cycling: 60KMS
Unsealed: 90%
Meals: BL
Day 4: Siem Reap to Kampong Thom. Cycle and Transfer
Today we leave Siem Reap and set out on our adventure, exploring rural Cambodia. Our route will introduce us to the unsealed roads and lanes that are to make up a large proportion of our journey ahead. We ride today will end at the 12th century Sambor Prei Kyle bridge at Kampong Kdei.
Due to the unavoidable 80kms of straight and busy national highway ahead, at the 12th century Sambor Prei Kyle bridge at Kampong Kdei we will pack our bikes into our support vehicle and transfer for 80kms to a quiet and characterful resort, where one can relax on their bungalow’s veranda, take a dip in the pool, or enjoy a drink at the poolside bar.
Cycling: 85KMS
Unsealed: 90%
Meals: BLD
Day 5: Kampong Thom to Kampong Thma
Our ride today is 80% red gravel roads, with the lions share being smooth and fast flowing. The views are at times of open land dotted with palm trees and grazing cattle, and elsewhere we follow tree-lined boulevards. Our first break is the pre-Angkorian Sambor Prek Kul temple, where our guide will give us a brief history of the area. Back on the bikes, we pass homesteads and rural communities, as we make our way east through beautiful countryside. The final stretch of the day is on wide, super smooth, red gravel roads following some of the huge irrigation canals that water the nation’s rice fields.
Cycling: 100KMS
Unsealed: 80%
Meals: BLD
Day 6: Kampong Thmor To Kampong Cham
Today’s ride is 85% unsealed on primarily red gravel roads which at first across take is across open grassland and rice fields. Following lunch, despite being to all intent and purpose a flat ride, we undulate a little with views of distant low hills. The agriculture now is more fruit and nut, with many orchards of mango, and cashew, as well as tapioca plantations. We end the day in the riverside town of Kampong Cham where we overnight on the bank of the Mekong.
Cycling: 90KMS
Unsealed:85%
Meals: BLD
Day 7: Kampong Cham to Phnom Penh
Our ride today follows the course of the Mekong River, on byways that are for the most part sealed, as we head towards Cambodia’s capital. There are however some unsealed sections passing through small villages of wooden houses on stilts, beneath which the giant white cattle of the region often shade from the tropical sun. Despite our close proximity to the nation’s capital, our rural route means that foreigners on bicycles remain a rarity in these parts, and our presence always assures a warm welcome from the locals.
The day’s ride ends with a ferry across the Mekong, where a two-kilometre ride along Phnom Penh’s Mekong boulevard takes us to our well-located rest-day hotel.
Cycling: 100KMS
Unsealed: 10%
Meals: BLD
Day 8: Phnom Penh free day
Today is free to explore Phnom Penh, or simply relax by the hotel pool or at one of the city’s many cafés. For those wishing to explore a little, such attractions as the bustling Central Market, the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda are all within walking distance. A tuk-tuk ride is part of Phnom Penh life, and a light-hearted way to travel to, and from, the harrowing Tuol Sleng museum. To mingle with Phnom Penh folk relaxing and socialising, a wander along the Tonle Sap promenade is a pleasant walk, or chill out and observe life and the river from above from the open air café of the historic Foreign Corespondent’s Club.
Cycling: 0KMS
Unsealed: NA
Meals: B
Day 9: Phnom Penh To Takeo
Avoiding the hectic traffic of Phnom Penh can never be seen as a bad thing, so this morning we will transfer 12 kilometres to Choeung Ek, better know in the West as the Killing Fields. Here our cycling trip will recommence, but first, we have time to look around the site and to learn a little of the history of this venue of appalling genocide.
Back on the bikes, we have before us a lovely day cycling through small villages and crossing rural Cambodia on a route of around 70% unsealed roads. We lunch beside Tonle Bati lake and end the day at the small lakeside town of Takeo.
Cycling: 80KMS
Unsealed:70%
Meals: BLD
Day 10: Cycle Takeo to Kep
The final full day on the road, and arguably the toughest with nearly 110 kilometres ahead or riding, 85% of which is on red gravel, white dust, and some stony surfaces. The route takes us through small villages, past rice fields and palm trees, ponds and rivers where water buffaloes wallow, and rough grassland where cattle graze.
Come day’s end we can relax with a cold beer at our hotel’s poolside bar, and watch the sun dip down behind the horizon of the Gulf of Thailand. Dinner tonight will be with a sea view, and the sound of waves lapping upon the shore.
Cycling 110kms
Unsealed: 85%
Meals: BLD
Day 11: Cycle Kep To Kampot
A shorter day on the bikes today as we ride to the characterful riverside town of Kampot, just 35 kilometres away. Our route is once again rural, as a fifty-fifty mix of sealed byways and unsealed lanes lead us past the lovely blue waters of Brateak Krola Lake, and along the Prek Kampong River to Kampot, where we have an afternoon free to wander the town and relax at one of the numerous French-style cafés, with an espresso or pastis.
Cycling: 35kms
Unsealed: 50%
Meals: BLD
Day 12: Transfer to Phnom Penh
This morning we return to Phnom Penh in our support vehicle. A four-hour journey we will be back in town in time for lunch and a final wander around town, dip in the pool, or a spot of people watching in a café before our final evening meal.
Cycling: 0kms
Unsealed: NA
Meals: B
Day 13: Tour Ends.
The tour ends today after breakfast. A shuttle to the airport will be provided in time for your onward flight.
Cycling: 0kms
Unsealed: NA
Meals:
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