Cambodia is a perfectly suited destination for family travel. Like anywhere, certain demanding activities are strongly discouraged for children under 14-16 years old. The country offers, however, numerous magnificent and entertaining points of interest and reaching them often requires no excessive effort.

The first thing to know before taking a vacation to Cambodia with your children is that they will be absolute darlings while there! The Khmer people have a well-earned reputation for tact and a reassuring, contagious smile. This will put your little ones in the best conditions for, perhaps, their first trip abroad. The people you meet during your travels—guides, drivers, locals where you stay, and shopkeepers—will have no trouble lightening the atmosphere. Your children can easily play with other Cambodian children, which will give you, first of all, no doubt some respite during the day, and will leave them with unforgettable memories. At that age, the language barrier is not a problem.

An Appropriate Length of Stay

The big question you'll have before traveling to Cambodia with your children is whether they will enjoy the trip or, on the contrary, will be bored, thus spoiling their experience and, consequently, yours. Our local agency Voyage Seripheap offers you their itinerary Cambodia as a Family, specially designed to cater to both young and old.

The length of stay is one of the key factors for a successful trip. It should not last too long to avoid destabilizing the child away from their roots. Upon your return, at the end of their school holidays, they should have some time to recover from the journey and readjust to their home time zone. The time difference can sometimes be stressful, but taking precautions beforehand in terms of rest solves the problem. Finally, you also need to stay long enough to enjoy this trip, which may not be repeated for a long time... A week between takeoff and return seems indeed too short. The itinerary proposed above takes you to the kingdom for 12 days, knowing that outside of summer, school vacation periods last 16 days, which leaves enough time for the little ones to readjust upon their return home.

Harmonious Activities

Determining which activities to do, which cities to visit, and why, is a difficult choice when you need to satisfy everyone. But the agency has managed to plan an itinerary that covers all the bases. Over these 12 days, the 3 largest cities in the country are visited in this order: Siem Reap, Battambang, and the capital Phnom Penh. Entertaining activities are offered in each of them. Visiting the temples of Angkor is a necessary step for you, first of all, but also for your children, however knowledgeable they may be. What you learn on-site with your guide will condition the rest of your journey. You will know where you are.

However, a full three-day visit can prove exhausting for everyone, and especially for children, particularly if their interest in bas-reliefs and Angkorian architecture suddenly fades. One day is more than sufficient. You will stay a week in Siem Reap! You can ride the famous ancestral ox-carts, take off in a hot air balloon, or admire the waterfalls in the heights of Phnom Kulen.

In Battambang biking will be at the center of your activities! You will enjoy the fresh air of this rural and artisanal region and can explore the surroundings of Cambodia's second-largest city through bicycle tours specially designed to teach you all about local crafts. You can also discover the incredible bamboo train that will enchant you early in the morning as it winds through the fresh and verdant landscapes of the region.

Finally, the last stage of your journey will take place in Phnom Penh. Here, and after spending a night on Koh Dach, an island nicknamed the Silk Island, located on the Mekong, very close to the capital, you will discover the history of this city once nicknamed by the French: the Pearl of Southeast Asia. To do this, you will participate in a treasure hunt through the historic neighborhoods. A fun and entertaining activity where children will take on the role of true explorers!

We prefer, during your stay, to exclude activities that require a certain level of physical fitness, such as trekking in Ratanakiri, or Mondulkiri, or even quad biking around Siem Reap.

As you can see, everything in this itinerary is designed to satisfy you as much as your children. Harmony between your two generations is our primary goal to allow you to spend wonderful family moments in Cambodia before returning home with your head full of memories.