Built around rest, with the temples as the quiet part
This week does not move. You unpack once in Siem Reap and stay there, and the itinerary asks for one outing a day, usually finished by eleven in the morning. The rest is yours: treatment, pool, reading, sleep. It was put together for people who arrive tired, and for couples or friends who want the same trip at a much lower volume.
Angkor is here, but not as a monument tour. You go twice, both times at first light, and stand in places that were built to be still in. Two hours, no checklist. Around that sit Khmer massage, which is worked through clothing with slow stretching rather than oil, herbal steam, morning yoga, a cooking session that starts at the market, and one afternoon on a sacred mountain with a waterfall to sit under.
Day by day
Day 1
You land at Siem Reap and your driver takes you straight to the hotel, half an hour or so. Nothing is scheduled. If you want it, a first Khmer massage that evening does more for the flight than sleeping early. Dinner is included tonight and kept simple and local. Night in Siem Reap.
Day 2
Out before dawn to Angkor. You watch the light arrive over the water in front of Angkor Wat, then walk the galleries while they are still cool and nearly empty. You are back at the hotel by mid-morning for breakfast, then stretching and a long massage in the afternoon. Night in Siem Reap.
Day 3
A day on Phnom Kulen, the sandstone plateau where the Khmer empire was declared and where the river runs over a bed carved with lingas. You bathe under the waterfall if the season suits, eat lunch at a shaded stall on the mountain, and come down in the afternoon. Night in Siem Reap.
Day 4
Yoga at sunrise, then the market with a cook: herbs, fish paste, green mango, and a lesson in what goes into a sour soup. You eat what you make for lunch. Late afternoon you go out on the Tonle Sap and let the boat sit while the light drops over the water. Night in Siem Reap.
Day 5
The second temple morning, this time in the forest. Ta Nei and the outer paths near Preah Khan see very few people at seven in the morning, and your guide leaves you to walk part of it in silence. Lunch is included. The afternoon is free for herbal steam or nothing at all. Night in Siem Reap.
Day 6
A morning with craftspeople: silk unwound from cocoons and woven on wooden looms, or stone and lacquer worked by hand. Later you visit a working pagoda for a water blessing from the monks, which takes a few minutes and is not a performance. A closing dinner tonight. Night in Siem Reap.
Day 7
A last slow morning. Breakfast late, a final treatment if there is room before check-out, then your driver takes you to the airport. Siem Reap is a small airport and an hour and a half ahead of your flight is usually plenty. Breakfast at the hotel.
What the price covers
- Six nights in a hotel chosen with you for its grounds and its quiet, breakfast daily
- Dinner on Day 1 and Day 6, lunch on Days 3, 4 and 5
- Four Khmer massage or herbal steam treatments, booked at times you choose
- Two private yoga sessions with a local teacher
- Private English-speaking guide on the days you go out
- Air-conditioned car with driver, including the pre-dawn temple runs
- Entrance fees for the sites named above, the Angkor pass and Phnom Kulen included
- Market visit and cooking session, and the boat on the Tonle Sap
- Airport transfers and a local number to call at any hour
Not included
- International flights and the Cambodian visa
- Travel insurance, which we ask every traveller to hold
- Meals and drinks other than those listed
- Extra treatments beyond the four included
- Tips and personal spending
Good to know
The physical demand is low. The longest walking is on the temple mornings, an hour or two on flat stone, and you can sit out any of it. The early starts are the only real discipline: both temple days begin in the dark, which is the whole reason they are pleasant.
- Khmer massage is firm and uses stretching and pressure points. Say so at the start if you would rather it were gentle.
- Shoulders and knees must be covered at the pagoda and on the upper level of Angkor Wat.
- The Phnom Kulen waterfall is full from about July to November and thin in the dry months.
- Yoga sessions are private, so beginners and regular practitioners are both fine.
- Tell us in advance about injuries, pregnancy or blood pressure and the treatments will be adjusted.
- The week can be extended by two nights on the coast if you want beach time afterwards.
Plan this trip
- Days
- 7
Sending this does not charge you. We hold the space and confirm within 24 hours.
Tell us your dates and how hard you want the week to work, and we will send a written quote with the hotel we would hold.