Colonial charm,
Riverside location,
Gateway to Cambodia
The itinerary explores Vietnam in-depth, including insider tours of the main cities, boat trips and adventures in Halong Bay and the Mekong River. You’ll get an authentic taste of local life and the opportunity to travel like the Vietnamese on a fun overnight train journey and a Vespa tour.
There is plenty of time to relax and kick back, including four days at the beach. The hotels are top quality with swimming pools and a unique local twist. Before flying home, you’ll get the once-in-a-lifetime chance to explore the Angkor temples.
Depart your home country on your flight to Hanoi.
On arrival in Hanoi, your guide and driver will meet you for the transfer to your hotel.
There will be time to take our unique guided tour of Hanoi during your stay, explicitly designed for families. The day brings the interactive exhibits of the city’s remarkable Museum of Ethnology, a rickshaw ride through the streets, and a traditional Vietnamese water puppet theatre performance. We’ve included plenty of pool time throughout the day, and traditional Pho for dinner.
On your second full day in Hanoi, take an afternoon stroll through the old quarter in the company of a local street food expert to savour an exciting array of weird and wonderful treats.
Transfer to the stunning Halong Bay, where you’ll board a traditional junk boat for an overnight adventure cruising around the dramatic scenery of limestone karsts. Beautiful lagoons, beaches and caves can be explored, some even by kayak. You’ll be aboard the Red Dragon, which has just five cabins, two interconnecting.
After exploring Halong Bay aboard your boat, you’ll return to Hanoi to take the train. Bring a pack of cards (and a bottle of wine!) and enjoy bunking up in a cosy 4-berth cabin for the overnight ride down to Hoi An.
Your local guide and driver will meet you from the train to take you along the coast to your beach hotel villa, where you’ll stay for the next four nights – plenty of time for beach fun, and the resort has an expansive swimming pool.
During your stay, you can explore Hoi An, an old town lined with hanging lanterns and a maze of shops, art galleries, restaurants, and tailors. Activities in the area include a leisurely bike ride through the countryside to learn how the villagers net fish and paddle a traditional bamboo basket boat along palm-fringed waterways. During your time here, we will also include a lovely lunch at a social enterprise restaurant – one of our designated Give Back experiences.
Fly directly from Danang (Hoi An) to Can Tho in the heart of the Mekong Delta. Spend time exploring the palm-fringed waterways and local farmlands. Board a small local boat to travel through narrow canals with beautiful tropical scenery, visit a fish and shrimp farmer and switch to bicycles to pedal past gardens and local houses.
Transfer by road to Saigon. Here, you’ll spend a day exploring the city’s highlights (including the famous Reunification Palace) with stops for ice cream and time to cool down in the swimming pool. On a guided Vespa tour, you can see another side of the city in the evening.
Return to Saigon and fly to Siem Reap. On arrival, take a short transfer to your hotel.
Undoubtedly, a highlight of your stay here will be the time spent with your guide exploring the Temples of Angkor. We carefully tailor our family tours here to ensure you experience the temples at their best and learn a little while having fun. Activities include a leisurely bike ride to jungle-clad Ta Prohm, which continues to the intricate Angkor Thom; the flat trails make this an incredible place to explore by bike. An early start is best for Angkor Wat; you’ll beat the crowds and experience a truly fairytale-like moonlit scene if you arrive before sunrise.
Other adventures here include a quad bike ride through the countryside to catch a beautiful sunset across the rice fields and a boat trip to a remote floating village on the Tonle Sap lake, where you can mingle with the locals and see how they live.
Depart Cambodia for your flight home.
With ETG, what’s included goes well beyond the basics. From the moment your trip begins to your final farewell, the essentials are already taken care of, leaving you free to immerse, explore and enjoy without the hassle of hidden extras.
Here’s what comes as standard in all of our holidays:
As every holiday is bespoke, prices vary depending on destination, flights, hotel choices, inclusions and travel dates. We aim to include as much as possible upfront, so you know exactly where you are. As an approximate guide:
Ella loves all things Cambodia. She’s explored beyond Angkor Wat and knows how to mix the big sights with those offbeat moments that make a holiday sing. With a knack for finding hotels with real soul (and dodging the overhyped ones), Ella designs trips that show you Cambodia at its most authentic and unexpected.
Wherever you go, and whatever you do, at the end of every day you can always be sure of a comfortable rest. Every location on our list of hotels is handpicked, and in its own way, shares the history, the hospitality, and the soul of the destination. Below are some examples of the different hotels we use.
Vietnam, Hanoi
Aira Hotel in Hanoi offers boutique comfort just steps from the Old Quarter, with a rooftop bar, family-friendly rooms, and a relaxed city vibe.
Highlights
Rooftop cocktails,
Family-friendly suites,
Best for
Couples,
Families,
Solos
Saigon, Vietnam
La Siesta Saigon is a boutique hotel in Ho Chi Minh City with rooftop views, soundproofed rooms, and a prime location in lively District 1.
Highlights
Rooftop pool,
District 1 location
Best for
Couples,
Families
Can Tho, Vietnam
Victoria Can Tho is the Mekong Delta’s only luxury riverside hotel. A calm, colonial-style base to explore markets, gardens, and river life.
Highlights
Best for
Couples,
Families
We guarantee you an experience no one else has ever had.
The travel magic you’ll remember won’t be found on a well-trodden – or over-Instagrammed – itinerary. It will be the surprises, discoveries and secrets that you’ll uncover along the way with us.
Do you ever feel like people aren’t listening to you?
We get it. And we will – that’s a promise. Your holiday starts with a proper, no-pressure call to understand what you want, what you don’t want, and what matters to you. From there, we create a completely unique adventure, inspired by our conversation together.
And because of our long-standing relationships with trusted partners across Asia, you’ll have access to experiences you can’t find on Google. The kind of special experiences that are literally impossible to find on your own.
Crafting bespoke packages is the heart of what we do. Each holiday is specially designed to confound preconceptions and share magical, memorable, and truly exceptional experiences.
Siem Reap, Cambodia
The jewel in the Angkor crown, Angkor Wat is inevitably at the top of every visitor’s wishlist. As one of Southeast Asia’s most recognisable sights, it can feel crowded at times – but with the help of our in-the-know guides and carefully curated Signature Angkor Experience, it can still feel magical.
Siem Reap, Cambodia
More than just another temple, the great Angkor Thom is in fact an ancient city, dating back to the 12th century, that was once the capital of the whole Khmer Empire. The city itself, its Bayon temple and Terrace of Elephants are a must-see when travelling to the region.
On our Signature Angkor Tour, you’ll explore the vast city walls with your guide, accessing intricate canals and dusty corners of the complex via avenues of stone gods and demons.
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Just a short drive south of Siem Reap, you’ll reach the northern tip of Tonle Sap Lake – the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.
Tonle Sap is Cambodia’s lifeline, providing food, transport, and homes for millions of people. Although the water levels rise and fall dramatically throughout the year, you can visit the lake in any season (ask us for the most magical times to visit).
Hop aboard a wooden motorised boat and cruise across the open water to take in the lake’s sheer scale. Countless floating villages scatter the surface, where nomadic fishing families live in stilted houses and boats. They grow vegetables in floating garden plots and pots set on rafts, while dogs and pigs (somehow) roam this buoyant environment. This experience offers a rare, eye-opening look into a way of life few outsiders ever see.
You can visit the floating villages on our half-day tour from Siem Reap, either in the morning or afternoon (though the cooler morning hours are your best bet). Your driver will pick you up from your hotel and take you to the quay to step aboard the boat.
Siem Reap, Cambodia
This is a fun evening with impressive performances that all ages will enjoy, but importantly – it supports a fantastic initiative for young people in nearby Battambang.
At the circus, a traditional folk tale is told through modern theatre, acrobatics, contemporary dance, and live music. It all takes place in a high-top tent where the audience watches in the round while enjoying popcorn, drinks, and beer.
All profits from the circus support the Phare Ponleu Selpak school, set up in 1994 by nine returning refugees from the Khmer Rouge era. Inspired by an art teacher who had helped them through drawing therapy, they decided to found the school to offer other disadvantaged children a similar experience. Phare thus began as an art school before expanding to cover music, theatre, and eventually the circus school. Students can hone their skills at the school and earn a good wage – many go on to perform around the world.
The young performers you see will have been taught at the school, and profits are fed back in to support its current pupils.
Phnomn Penh and The South, Cambodia
Just a short distance from the lively city of Phnom Penh, you cross the Mekong River and arrive at the garden oasis that local celebrity Chef Nak calls home. She will welcome you into her charming antique wooden house and let you in on the secrets of Cambodian cuisine.
Chatting with her as you wander her beautiful home and gardens is an eye-opening experience. We won’t spoil it for you, but the story of how she has researched old recipes is a fascinating one and is about much more than just food.
After settling in, you will either take a gentle walk or hop in a tuk-tuk to the nearby market, where you’ll see where the ingredients come from and how they’re chosen. Then, back in the kitchen, you will cook side by side with Chef Nak as she guides you through dishes like fish amok, traditional beef salad, and crispy fried river prawns.
If you’re even slightly interested in food, this experience is a must. Whether you stay overnight at the homestay or simply join the cooking class, you gain special insights into Cambodian culture, meet brilliant people, and dig into mouthwatering meals in a simply beautiful setting.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Take the bustling highway into the surrounding countryside where you will pass carefully tended, lush rice paddies, before boarding your motorised sampan for a unique experience on the mighty Mekong Delta waterways.
You will see how, to the people of Delta, the water is a lifeline – the focus of all daily activity – as you journey through a maze of tributaries and fruit plantations. Enjoy a sample of delicious fruit in the shade of a fruit farmer’s garden before continuing via even smaller waterways to lunch, where the specialty is a remarkable dish of ‘elephants ear fish’.
Cambodia is far more than the iconic Angkor temples. Travelling with ETG means exploring the country in a way that feels personal, thoughtful, and enriching.
We’ll show you life beyond the ruins: serene riverside towns, thriving local markets, and countryside where time slows down. Our itineraries are designed for a deeper connection, whether that’s dining with local families, gliding along the Tonle Sap in a traditional boat, or unwinding at hand-picked boutique stays. With expert guides and 24/7 in-country support, we make sure you see Cambodia in a way that’s inspiring, seamless, and uniquely yours.
Cambodia’s dry season runs from November to April, when clear skies and warm, sunny days make temple visits and countryside explorations most enjoyable. For fewer crowds, the shoulder months of May and October can be ideal, offering greener landscapes and quieter moments. The wet season (June to September) brings short, refreshing showers and vibrant scenery, and it’s a great time for photographers or those seeking a more tranquil experience.
Every ETG holiday to Cambodia is designed to feel seamless, immersive and stress free. We’ll arrange international flights (if you’d like us to), your drivers and guides, and stays in characterful hotels we know and trust.
You’ll experience Cambodia in a way that’s completely bespoke to you – from quiet moments to big adventures – all planned by our India specialists. And while you’re away, our local team is on hand 24/7, so you’ll always feel well looked after.
Cambodia is a truly fascinating country. Get our experts’ tips and tricks in a handy 10 minute read.