Cambodia & Angkor Wat Tours: Ancient Ruins & Vibrant Cities

The part of the trip we completed was brilliant but unfortunately my husband slipped and broke his ankle in Phu Luong and we had to abandon the holiday and fly home for an operation. Cambodia was really interesting and the people so friendly. It was very interesting learning about the terrible genocide when we visited the museum in Phnom Penh and the trip to the killing fields was very humbling. Siem Reap was lovely and Ankhor Wat and the other temples incredible. We had an adventure on the back of motorbikes to venture into the rainforest to a remote spot to see some amazing statues. The resort in Siem Reap was out of this world and the concept behind the hotel very worthwhile. Hanoi was very interesting and the scenery in Phu Luong suberb. Then the accident happened....

Our guide in Siem Reap was really good and our travel specialist in Vietnam just went beyond the call of duty when my husband broke his ankle. Both our travel planner from this travel company and our travel specialist could not have done more to help us in this bad situation and I would again like to offer my sincere thanks.

This travel company refunded what they could and sent us detailed invoices so we could claim from our insurance. Our travel planner took the trouble to drive to the airport in Ho Chi Minh to meet us which was a great touch.

I would not hesitate to recommend this travel company to other travellers and I hope before too long we will be able to finish our Vietnam trip.

We have just returned from a well planned and executed tour of Cambodia. Our tour company was easy to deal with and created a programme to meet all our needs. The meet and greet, drivers and the tour guides were excellent and could not do more for us.  Siem Reap was a fascinating city with so many interesting ancient temples,  we could possibly have stayed for 4 days. Battambang was less interesting and was reached via a long but fascinating drive through the rice field. With hindsight I am not sure I would have visited this city. Phnom Penh was not as impressive as expected and the 2 days spent there were adequate, with the stay at Raffles Hotel, a highlight. We then drove to the 4 rivers floating lodge which was tranquil and luxurious. The only thing that we had not truly appreciated was the many hours we spent stuck in the van travelling from one place to another.

We booked a three-week trip to Vietnam with a side trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia, and the Angkor temple complex. We are three 60-something women who had never been to Southeast Asia before. Before we left, our travel company patiently helped us customize our trip, down to the last details, providing great advice along the way. Our trip started in Hanoi, and our guide was there at the airport to pick us up and take us to our hotel, even though it took longer than we expected to get our visas. The hotel they booked for us on the south shore of Hoan Kiem Lake, was lovely and it turned out to be a terrific location. Throughout the trip, which included stops in Ha Long Bay, Hue, Hoi An, Siem Reap and Ho Chi Minh City, we felt well taken care of, with great hotels throughout. And our guides were flexible enough to change our itineraries on the fly. For example, one of my companions fell and injured her leg in a market in Hoi An. We asked if we could rearrange the itinerary to accommodate a trip to a hospital clinic, and they happily obliged. And later they modified the schedule for my friend, so she could skip some of the more strenuous activities.

The trip itself was wonderful. We experienced the markets, the organic gardens, the temples and pagodas, the waterways and the food that makes Vietnam so unique and wonderful. All of our local guides were so helpful and willing to put up with our eccentricities.

The only glitch we had on the trip was when we arrived at the Siem Reap airport for our flight to Ho Chi Minh City. It turned out we did not have tickets on the flight. We called our travel company and immediately got a call back -- we would be met at the airport by a guide with tickets for the next flight out, and in the meantime he would take us to a lovely nearby hotel and buy us lunch. He also offered to get us a room if we wanted to shower or change clothes, but we just stayed in the restaurant overlooking the lovely swimming pool and sipped our mojitos, courtesy of of the company.

Also I should mention the value. Zicasso connected us with three travel agents who submitted proposals. This company was the only one that really understood our budget parameters and what we wanted to do within the budget. We felt the price was quite reasonable and were very happy with our trip.

Siem Reap --outstanding, covered all the major attractions with an excellent guide and driver. Need attention to health breaks particularly in the mornings. A few miscalculations on times between events and/or attractions that led to waits. Guide was especially good at avoiding crowds and this may have been a reason for a wait. 

The silk farm en route to Phnom Pein was especially interesting and a highlight on a long ride. The guide was very informed and interesting. 

Battambang--this is not a tourist city but it's a must stop when travelling by car from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. The itinerary included 2 items to make it interesting. The bamboo train ride which had been built early on by the French was fun and of course, there was a shop at the end. The bat cave and the exodus of the bats at sundown was incredible; there were literally thousands of bats. We had the same excellent guide and driver. 

Phnom Penh- The schedule include visits to the Royal Palace and the Silver Pavilion; but when we arrived on our last afternoon, they were closed because the president of Paraguay was visiting. Could this have been avoided if our guide had checked the Palace schedule when we first arrived a day earlier? After visiting the Killing Fields--Chung Ek, we chose not to go to the genocide museum. We enjoyed our visit to the art museum; but, even though our guide works at the museum, he did not tour with us or provide any information about the various art works. Our guide was not the original guide scheduled; he had a good English vocabulary, but his pronunciations were often difficult to understand. 

The hotel in Siem Reap was very good; in Phnom Penh, it was exceptional. The hotel in Battambarg is quite small (16 rooms). It is more provincial and designed for holiday vacations. The food was very good and it had an excellent staff.

Hello!

We are in Phnom Penh and on our last day of the trip. I want to thank you and your affiliates for the great job all of you did to pull together this incredible journey. It was our first time in this part of the world, and we learned so much from your knowledgeable guides who did a seamless job of pulling together each day’s activities. We had a wonderful time in this part of the world, and enjoyed meeting the gentle, peaceful, accommodating people of Southeast Asia. I will highly recommend your company to anyone looking to plan a trip to these countries. Thank you so much for all of your efforts on our behalf to make this trip so fulfilling and memorable. Best regards,Lisa and Maria FI want to offer some specific comments and feedback to share for your information.

The airport meet-ups were terrific and welcoming. Nice not to have to figure out navigating to the hotels, etc. and it was a nice way to meet the guides before touring.The guides:  In Hanoi. Of all of the guides, we had the hardest time understanding him. And he tended to repeat himself (data and facts) quite a bit. Apart from that, he was very kind and accommodating. Our guide in Hue/Hoi An. He was also very good and kind. He had us thru a difficult part of the trip…3 consecutive 1-night stays, and three 5:30am wake ups, which I had discussed with you how much I wanted to avoid that…and with the flight change, it was unavoidable. Our guide in Saigon. She was by far the best guide of them all. She was smart, accessible, natural, and generous on all levels. She was outstanding, through one of the tougher parts (emotionally) of the trip (all of the war sites). Our guide in Laos. He was very competent, but not very enthusiastic. It seemed he was distracted, on the phone a lot, and just sort of going through the motions without too much energy. Our gude in Siem Reap. He was truly lovely. Young and energetic and very caring. He was very knowledgeable about all of the religious history of the Angkor area, and we enjoyed touring with him. And finally our guide in Phnom Penh. Our time with him was very brief, but he was also very knowledgeable and very pleasant. He obviously loves this line of work.

The hotels: I've been trying to find the original list of options to see what I passed up in favor of the hotels I selected. No luck. Overall, the hotels were good, but I think it would be nice to have a couple of choices at the 4* and 5* levels, rather than just one. The hotel in Hanoi. We really didn't love this hotel. The service was fair, as was the room. The wood floors were so slippery, they were dangerous. HALONG BAY…was completely lovely. Great boat. Great cabin. Hotel in Hue. This hotel was fabulous…the room was huge and comfortable. We slept for hours. Unfortunately, they claimed to have 24-hour room service; but when we awoke at midnight and called for food, no one answered. The hotel in HoiAn. This hotel was ok, but not great. We didn't have hot water for showers. The hotel in Saigon. I had high expectations for this hotel…I had read good things and I've stayed at several wonderful hotels of this brand. This one was just ok. Nothing special about the room. And the beds were like a piece of plywood. We had to have them pad the mattress, which they did with a duvet, and then I sweated through the night between 2 duvets. Also, there was only one chance for us to enjoy the pool (it rained), and when we went up to use it, we found it being set up for a private party…one whose thumping music and noise disturbed us all night. I've been in this business for 35 years…and I've never seen a hotel restrict an amenity for all if it's guests to accommodate only a few guests. It's very bad business. I let them know my displeasure, and they offered me a 30% credit on my restaurant charges, which was very kind of them. The hotel  in Luong Prabang was really nice. We had a room right off the pool, and the entire property was very pretty and well located. The hotel in Siem Reap. This hotel was fantastic. But we had a similar issue with the pool, which they closed early (5pm) for a dinner event for just 20 guests! As it turned out, it was raining at 5pm, so we couldn't use it anyway, but I just don't understand the thinking of interfering with a crucial amenity such as a pool, at a critical time (after touring on a 90 degree day!)…especially for just 20 or so guests. That is simply crazy! The hotel in Phnom Penh. This hotel was also spectacular and huge! The rooms. The pool. The lobby. All of it was massive. We enjoyed our brief stay there very much.The itinerary: My only complaint about the itinerary was at the beginning with the three consecutive one-night stays that also required super early morning departures. That really wiped us out, and took a toll on our energy early on in the trip. I know the flight change made this an issue, but it was really rough on us during that part of the trip. The main question I now have about our itinerary, is WHY DIDN’T WE BEGIN IN SAIGON? We'd have gone north from there, and then from Hanoi to Luong Prabang, which would have avoided the day of connecting flights from Saigon to Laos. We'd have then gone from Laos to Cambodia, and our journey would have been a continuous circle, rather than the jumping around we did. I also question why we went to Phnom Penh at all. After we chose not to see 2 main sites (Pol Pot’s Torture and The Killing Fields), it seems silly to have spent a day flying 45 minutes from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh just to spend a half day touring a palace and a cycle tour…although I admit I did enjoy seeing Phnom Penh…though we probably could've skipped it. The one serious complaint I had was the 1500 meter hike in Siem Reap to the waterfall. This was a technically challenging CLIMB with rocks and tree roots and difficult and dangerous footing throughout. We started with the best of intentions, but after the third or fourth very technical stretch, we became very concerned about our ability to manage the descent. We bailed on it after going half way up, and relied on a tree branch walking stick and our guide's support to make our way down. I think you need to advise guests of this challenge…and give the option whether you include it or not. With bad feet, knees, hips, and back issues, this hike provided too much danger and risk versus the “reward” of a waterfall (in the dry season).

I hope you accept this input in the spirit it is intended…to help you and your team provide an ideal experience in this part of the world. We remain very grateful for your hard work and fine coordination efforts of your associates throughout the region.

We had a very enjoyable trip to Bangkok, Cambodia (Angor Wat) and Phuket.  Most of the arrangements were carried out well.  The visit to Siem Reap, Cambodia to see Angor Wat and related temples was amazing and well coordinated from landing at the airport to return to the airport.  The coordination of the Phuket leg of our visit was more chaotic as our guide there did not provide us with an updated itinerary and we had to keep calling in to see when and where we were to meet.  Overall, I requested 4 star to 5 star accommodations, but the venues in Bangkok and Phuket seemed to be quite aged and closer to 3 star accommodations.  The planning of activities by the agency was excellent and we enjoyed the bike ride tour, elephant sanctuary, snorkel trip, and cave kayaking.   In general, I would recommend this agency however, I might make changes to the guides used in Phuket and also upgrade the accommodations suggested via Zicasso as most of the clientele of Zicasso is looking for at least 4 star accommodations if available.