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Thank you ! Great experience discovering the Angkor Temples that way! We felt free and privileged! Incredible spots! We highly recommend!
Two of Angkor's finest temples and a real day in the countryside, in your own vintage Jeep.
Most visitors never leave the main temple loop. You spend the day out where Cambodia actually lives: red-dirt lanes through the rice fields, a working village pagoda, lunch cooked the local way, and two of Angkor's most beautiful temples waiting at the far end of the drive. Your guide grew up in this countryside, and you travel it in an open vintage Jeep, at your own pace, just your group.
Every tour runs in a restored vintage Willys jeep, kept full of character on the outside and quietly modernised underneath. It has a soft canvas top for shade with the sides left open, so you ride out in the air with the countryside in full view. Choose how you travel when you book.
Your own driver takes the wheel all day while you watch the rice fields and villages roll past. We re-engine the jeeps and fit automatic gearboxes, so they ride quiet and smooth, not loud or rattly like an old manual.
Prefer to drive it yourself? You can, at no extra cost, with a valid international driving permit. The jeeps are automatic and easy to handle, and your guide and driver stay with you the whole way.
This is your private tour, so the timings flex around you and the weather. Banteay Srei sits about an hour northeast of Siem Reap, and going early means quieter temples and cooler air. Tell your guide what you most want to linger over and they will shape the day around it.
The finest carving at Angkor, an hour from the crowds.
Banteay Srei is not big, and that is the point. Built in 967 from a rose-pink sandstone soft enough to carve like wood, it carries the most delicate, deepest-cut stonework in the whole Angkor world, scenes from Hindu legend worked into every lintel and pediment. Its name, the Citadel of Women, comes from that fineness and its many carved goddesses, not from any female builders, and the stone really does glow pink in low morning and late-afternoon light. It sits inside the Angkor park, so the standard Angkor Pass covers it, with no separate ticket to buy.
Banteay Samré is its quiet opposite. A complete, walled temple built in the Angkor Wat style, it sees almost none of the bus traffic, so you can wander its galleries and courtyards in near silence. Pairing the two, the famous masterpiece and the empty gem, is what makes the drive out here worth the morning.
Want the full story of Banteay Srei, including the 1923 theft that made it famous? Read our Banteay Srei history guide.
Thank you ! Great experience discovering the Angkor Temples that way! We felt free and privileged! Incredible spots! We highly recommend!
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Angkor by bike - a great experience. Beautiful tour on trails through the sublime site of Angkor. Stunning scenery, lake, forest and temple tours away from the crowds.
Several very interesting visits to the market To a traditional house To a family that makes palm juice. It was a wonderful experience and we spent a lovely time The excursion was really very good and the guide and the driver as well as the photographer were very friendly. We were given a lot of information and the visits were top notch and the welcome excellent. I recommend it. Several very interesting visits Visit to the market Visit to a traditional house Visit to a family that makes palm juice Visit to a family that makes noodles Visit to a temple Blessing by a Buddhist monk Meeting with a seller of medicinal herbs etc etc
Highlight of our Cambodia vacation. Amazing tour of the Cambodian countryside stopping in local village markets and having lunch in someone's home. It was a highlight off our Cambodia visit.
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Change of scenery and immersion!. A very nice experience through a local association, a market, then the countryside with lunch in a farm.
Angkor VIP style. Wonderful day in the company of Benedict who took us off the beaten track, discover treasures of Angkor, away from the crowds of tourists. Departure from our house in vintage jeep. Refreshing wipes scented with jasmine water. Temples, both splendid and isolated. Little paths in the jungle. Backdoors. A few mysteries revealed thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sites and their history. Exquisite lunch at home. An indispensable and unavoidable escape.
Banteay Srei is about an hour's drive northeast of Siem Reap, out past the rice fields and villages. On this tour that drive is part of the day rather than dead time, since you stop for the pagoda blessing and the rice-noodle making on the way out. Going private also means you can leave early and reach the temple before the coach groups.
Yes, and it is the reason to come out here. Banteay Srei has the finest, most delicate stone carving anywhere at Angkor, cut into a rose-pink sandstone you will not see at the bigger temples. Paired with the near-empty Banteay Samré and the countryside stops, the hour each way buys you a completely different day from the main temple loop.
No. Banteay Srei sits inside the Angkor Archaeological Park, so the standard Angkor Pass covers it, the same pass you use for Angkor Wat and the rest. There is no separate Banteay Srei ticket. The one-day pass is $37 and covers both temples on this tour; we recommend buying it online in advance at angkorenterprise.gov.kh rather than queuing at the gate.
Banteay Samré is a complete, walled temple built in the same style as Angkor Wat, a little east of the main park. Because it is off the usual circuit, the tour buses skip it, so it is one of the calmest temples you can visit, often almost empty. It makes the perfect quiet counterpoint to Banteay Srei.
It is the real thing. You visit a working pagoda, a family making fresh rice noodles, and villagers rolling incense and making crafts and sweets the way they always have, with your local guide to explain and translate. Nothing is set up as a performance, and because the day is private, you spend real time with people rather than filing through with a coach group.
Yes. You can self-drive the Jeep at no extra cost with a valid international driving permit (plus your home licence). The jeeps are automatic and easy to handle, so you do not need to know how to drive a manual. Prefer to relax and look around? Your own driver takes the wheel instead, and either way your guide and driver are with you all day.
The jeeps are restored Willys vehicles, re-engined and fitted with automatic gearboxes, so they ride quietly and smoothly, with a soft canvas top for shade and the sides open to the breeze. Families are welcome: children aged 4 to 12 get 30% off and under-4s ride free, and a child seat can be fitted on request. There is a step up into the Jeep, so a hand getting in is sometimes handy for little ones and older guests.
Yes. Lunch is a freshly cooked, home-style Khmer meal, and the families and kitchens we bring guests to are ones we know and use all the time. It is included, along with drinks through the day, and we are happy to work around dietary needs, just tell us when you book. The Num Banh Chok you help make in the morning is a taste of the same home cooking.
On this tour you are always in your own private group, with a guide and driver just for you. That means you set the start time and the pace, linger where you want, and get the history told to you rather than shouted to forty people. It also lets your guide time Banteay Srei around the busiest hours instead of arriving with everyone else.
Pickup is from your hotel, and because the tour is private you choose the start time: 7:00, 7:30, 8:00, 8:30 or 9:00 AM. An earlier start means cooler air and quieter temples. The day runs about eight hours, so you are back at your hotel in the late afternoon.
Early is best. Setting off at 7 AM gets you to Banteay Srei before the coach groups, when the light is soft on the pink stone and the air is still cool. Banteay Samré rarely draws a crowd at any time of day. The countryside stops are spread along the route, so you are never queuing behind other groups.
Shoulders and knees need to be covered to go inside the temples, for everyone, so light, loose, breathable clothing works best in the heat, and a scarf or sarong is an easy way to cover up. Closed shoes are comfiest on the uneven stone. Since the Jeep is open to the air, bring sun cover and a hat, and we will have water for you throughout.
The name comes from the temple itself, not its builders. Banteay Srei means "Citadel of Women," a nod to its delicate, miniature scale, the many carved female deities (devata) on its walls, and the warm pink stone. It was actually built in 967 by a royal counsellor named Yajnavaraha, not by or for women, a small myth your guide will happily untangle on the spot.
I grew up inside the walls of Angkor Wat, in the pagoda where my grandfather, Loung Sake, served as Grand Abbot. The pagoda still stands today, just inside the enclosure.
Girls weren't allowed to sleep in the monastery, so I shaved my head and dressed as a boy to stay close to him. He taught me Sanskrit on palm leaves.
Adventures Cambodia started in 2013. Every tour is private and led by a local.
