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Siem Reap Meet the locals

Our most recommended Siem Reap Meet the locals

Siem Reap: Kompong Phluk Floating Village Half-Day Tour

1. Siem Reap: Kompong Phluk Floating Village Half-Day Tour

Start with hotel pick-up or go to the meeting point to board your vehicle, a shared air-conditioned mini-bus with a tour guide, or private vehicle (with optional guide), according to the option chosen. Kompong Phluk is 30 kilometers south-east of Siem Reap. Visit the pagoda or local market first, then go by motorized boat on a tour of the stilted buildings. See where the people have courageously adapted to some of the most unimaginable conditions, all with a big smile on their faces. Enjoy the beautiful atmosphere in this one-of-a-kind village from the comfort of the boats. The guide, if present, explains the history, culture, and lifestyle of the villagers. The villages are surrounded by mangrove forest. Take an optional side-trip of the flooded forest on a rowing boat, available October to January. The motorboat stops at a small floating cafe, a good place to see the sun go down. After this awe-inspiring experience, you will return to the hotel around 1:30 pm for your own leisure time.

Siem Reap: Cooking Class and Market Shopping

2. Siem Reap: Cooking Class and Market Shopping

For a break from exploring the Angkor temples, come and learn traditional Khmer cooking with us! First, our guide and chef will collect you from your accommodation - just let us know where you're staying when you book. Next we head to a local working market to buy the food we'll be cooking with. Chat to local vendors using your guide as an interlocutor and discover Cambodia's signature ingredients, far from the tourist trail. After that we go to our purpose-built garden pavilion for your hands-on interactive class. Led by a fantastic local English-speaking chef, learn how to cook three delicious Cambodian dishes that you will be able to re-create back home - like fish amok, spring rolls, Cambodian curry, bananas in palm sugar with coconut juice, and many more. Your chef will guide you through the recipes, showing you how to prepare each ingredient and how to cook them to bring out their flavours. Finally, sit down together to eat what you've cooked, in a delicious open-air feast!

Cambodian Cooking Class from Siem Reap

3. Cambodian Cooking Class from Siem Reap

Try your hand at making delicious and authentic Cambodian meals, and learn the tips and tricks of the country’s traditional cuisine from your expert local chefs. Leaving from Siem Reap aboard a tuk tuk, you’ll arrive at a rural village after a short trip outside the city. Each cooking class starts with a visit to a local family. Along the way you'll learn about the herbs and vegetables that are grown at most Khmer households and are used in daily cooking. Then, visit a local family's home and take the opportunity to learn about food preparation in a Khmer home. Following this visit, head to a nearby pavilion to get your cooking class started. Together with your chef and guide you will create several dishes that you can then re-produce at home. Learn about the typical ingredients in Cambodian cooking and get the opportunity to experience Cambodian cooking first hand. Classes are completely hands-on. Everyone will have his or her own cooking station and equipment. Classes include a number of Cambodian different dishes, and a recipe card will be provided. At the end of the class you can sit back in the wooden pavilion, perched over a charming pond filled. Your dishes will be served to you one by one, letting you enjoy and compare dishes accompanied by a complimentary ice-cold beer, soft drink, or bottled water. After you have enjoyed your meal, a waiting tuk-tuk will return you to the centrally located tour office. Learn to create some (or all) of these delicious dishes! Morning Class Menu: Cambodian Mango Salad – Using fresh and light ingredients, this is a salad everyone will enjoy. A perfect tropical feast. Fish Amok – Amok is on every visitors 'must do' list. Cooked in a young coconut, Amok is a smooth curry that can be made with either fish, chicken, or tofu. Sticky Rice Balls with Palm Sugar and Grated Young Coconut Afternoon Class Menu: Prahet Chien – Minced fish on sugar cane Cambodian Curry – Unlike its Thai neighbor, Cambodian foods do not tend to be hot and spicy, relying instead on layers of fragrant spices. Nom Tong Noun – Khmer brandy snaps  This delicious, slightly sweet treat is impossible to resist.

Siem Reap: Khmer Cooking Class at a Local's Home

4. Siem Reap: Khmer Cooking Class at a Local's Home

Immerse yourself in Khmer culinary traditions with this Cambodian cooking class and see for yourself why Siem Reap is known for its fascinating cuisine and colorful dishes. Start the class with pickup from your hotel in a traditional tuk-tuk and head to your first stop, a local market. Here, meet the locals and haggle for the fresh ingredients for your meal before heading to your local guide's home. At the house, roll up your sleeves and get stuck into your lesson. Learn to prepare 4 traditional dishes, including the savory Fish Amok and renowned Tom Yum. Pick up some useful tips and tricks for your expert guide. After the lesson, sit down to enjoy your 4-course meal before getting dropped off back at your hotel.

Siem Reap: Guided Authentic and Unique Street Food Tour

5. Siem Reap: Guided Authentic and Unique Street Food Tour

You will be picked up from your accommodation at between 5:30 pm – 6:00 pm by A/C transportation and explore food store, fruit store at the largest Siem Reap’s Night Market. Enjoy of taste authentic Cambodian street food like spring rolls, crispy rice pancake, Khmer jasmine rice noodle with green curry soup and sweet desserts, savoring the flavor of skewered meat, fried crickets, fried spider, fried tarantula, fried grasshopper, fried water beetle, fried frog – they’re tastier than you expect. Digest your bounteous banquet and we transfer you back to your accommodation in a comfortable transport.

Siem Reap: Morning Countryside Bike Tour

6. Siem Reap: Morning Countryside Bike Tour

Escape the bustle of city life and take a bike tour in Siem Reap's lush countryside. See how the locals live as you cycle to rice fields, mushroom farms, temples, markets, and more. Meet your guide and head to the bike shop to be fitted with a bike and helmet. Go over the safety rules and tour details before heading off through the back roads of Siem Reap. Cross the rural landscape and make your way into the small villages to learn how locals live, first-hand. Throughout the morning stop at rice fields, a market, mushroom farms, a rice wine distillery, Buddhist temples, and lotus farms. Browse village handicrafts and try regional snacks and fruits before heading back into Siem Reap.

Siem Reap: Quad Bike Tour of Local Villages

7. Siem Reap: Quad Bike Tour of Local Villages

You will be picked up at the starting point of your tour where you will get on your quad bike and head out of the city using local roads and passing a traditional Khmer village with your professional guide. You will arrive in time at the rice paddy to watch the sunset. After the sun goes down you can still see more rice paddies with water buffalo grazing and other wildlife on the way back to the starting point of the tour. Transportation will be waiting for you to bring you back to your hotel.

Siem Reap: Phnom Kulen Mountain & Kampong Phluk Lake Cruise

8. Siem Reap: Phnom Kulen Mountain & Kampong Phluk Lake Cruise

You will be picked up from your hotel at 8:00 am by Jeep vehicle to Phnom Kulen National Park. This journey takes you through rural Cambodian villages, where you may observe locals going about their everyday lives and admire beautiful landscapes such as rice paddies and traditional dwellings. Stop at the most authentic village"Phum Preah Dak" where you can learn how the local people make palm cake and palm sugar. Afterward, we continue to the hilltop of Phnom Kulen, and our knowledgeable local guide will take you to the most spectacular tourist attractions in the national park, including the largest and most beautiful waterfalls, the reclining Buddha sculpture, and the River of Thousand Linga, which was constructed in 802 AD. After all the crawling, we stop for lunch at a local restaurant, where you can enjoy Cambodian food. and then we'll go directly to the the Kampong Phluk, flooded & fishing village of Tonle Sap lake, located just 21 kilometers from Siem Reap town. Once in the lake port, we'll take a local boat from the ferry to explore the famous floating villages of Kampong Phluk. There, you can see firsthand what everyday life is like for the many families who make their living primarily from fishing. Most families live on the lake shore in brightly colored houses on long poles, so the high water levels are not a problem during the rainy season. Explore the flooded mangrove forest surrounding the area, which is home to a variety of species, including crab-eating macaques and 3,000 inhabitants. We will then take you to visit a Buddhist monastery built on an artificial island and enjoy seeing the sunset from a local boat on Tonle Sap Lake before transfer you back to your hotel in Siem Reap.

Siem Reap: Floating Village and Sunset Private Boat Tour

9. Siem Reap: Floating Village and Sunset Private Boat Tour

At 2:30 pm meet your guide and driver at your hotel You will be picked up from your hotel and head south of Siem Reap through the picturesque Cambodian countryside. Stop at a local family house surrounded by rice paddies and farms. Here you will sip on cold coconut water or a local juice, meet the family, and spend time with them to learn about their farming life. 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm You will then drive to Tonle Sap Lake and shuttle by boat through the floating villages, where friendly locals will greet you with smiles and enthusiastic waves. Here you’ll get a fascinating insight into the ways the local people live in this region. Your expert guide will describe the Tonle Sap lake in more detail and tell you about the phenomenon that creates a depth variance of up to eight meters and why this lake is vital to Cambodia’s survival. You’ll appreciate this new perspective on Cambodia as you cruise along the river. 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm To complete the evening, we take a boat ride on the waterway with local delicacies, including soft drinks and other cold beverages, while enjoying a spectacular view of Tonle Sap at twilight. You can expect to return back to town around 7:00 pm.

Siem Reap: Personalised Angkor Wat Sunrise Tour by Tuk-Tuk

10. Siem Reap: Personalised Angkor Wat Sunrise Tour by Tuk-Tuk

You will be picked up from your hotel lobby at 5am in order to see sunrise at Angkor Wat and discover its main highlights presented by your expert local guide. After Angkor Wat you'll be offered a break for breakfast and coffee to stay awake. Move on to Angkor Thom, visit the South Gate and continue to see Bayon with many enigmatic faces appearing amidst the jungle. The open tuk-tuk takes you to Ta Prhom or known as Tomb Raider which is spectacular for photography dreamers. You are also guided to see non-touristy hidden gems which are not seen by many tourists.

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What people are saying about Siem Reap

Overall rating

4.6 / 5

based on 463 reviews

Could not fault a thing! The funnest way to spend a morning, with the best quad bike company in Siem Reap. The team are amazing, there were only 2 of us participating, but 3 members of staff to ensure our safety at all costs. A motorbikest at the front stopping traffic at roads so we could cross safely, another person driving the quad leading the way and another person behind him taking pictures and giving directions. Not to mention plenty of water and coke which we weren’t charged for. The package included a visit to a local market, where our quad tour guide essentially gave us a guided tour of the market, along with a visit to a crocodile farm! Honestly it was so much fun, with 5 star service, it’s just a shame not more tourists know about this activity! We would give it 10 stars if we could! AMAZING!!!

Had a lovely time with Seth. He was so attentive, polite and made sure I had everything to taste. We went only to local restaurants, so we ate like combodians: fried rice noodles, fried garlic, traditional soup and a lot of flavoured vegetables. And as desert some crunchy insects. We ended the day by zipping a beer and instead of peanuts, the insects sure made for an unique replacement. We also talked about the cambodian life in general, so I would definitely recommend the tour to get more insights into Cambodia.

Cherry was the absolute best guide , he was so informative and great humour and was very interested in other peoples culture. He didn’t rush and was genuine in his approach. Lovely guy!! Great English too. We love you Cherry !

The class was wonderful. We could choose our preferred dishes from a menu. The cooking space was spacious and well equipped. A family run business with an excellent teacher. Meeting nice solo travellers/classmates was a bonus.

Really great cooking experience! The food was amazing. I had a great time!