Biking Saigon to Angkor Wat

Day 1 Meet in Ho Chi Minh City (a.k.a Saigon)

Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as most locals prefer to call it! Vietnam’s largest city and the southern capital, Saigon moves at a pace that may initially be a shock to the system, but you’ll quickly adapt. We recommend arriving at least a day or two before the tour begins to get acclimated and explore sites such as the War Remnants Museum, Reunification Palace, Giac Lam Pagoda, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Cu Chi Tunnels, and Ben Thanh Market. On arrival day, we gather at our tour hotel in the late afternoon for a trip briefing and welcome dinner. Please let us know if you need assistance with airport transfers or pre-tour hotel bookings.

Northern Charm Hotel / Nhat Ha L'Opera Hotel
Dinner

Day 2 Saigon – Ben Tre – Tra Vinh

We leave the concrete jungle of Saigon behind and travel 2.5 hours into the Mekong Delta, a vast expanse of lush greenery and braided waterways sprawling towards the East Vietnam Sea. Starting in the city of Ben Tre, we acquaint ourselves with Vietnamese road dynamics (i.e., motorbikes zipping about!), then cross the Ham Luong River into a serene world of coconut farms, banana plantations, sugarcane fields, small hamlets, and criss-crossing canals and rivers. Our route primarily follows narrow farm roads and lanes, featuring several small bridge crossings and two local ferry rides. The second ferry takes us across the broad Co Chien River to reach the city of Tra Vinh, where we settle for the night. Tra Vinh showcases a cultural blend shaped by Vietnamese and Cambodian (a.k.a. Khmer) influences that predate modern borders.

Cuu Long Hotel
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Ride 74km
+632m
-628m

Day 3 Tra Vinh – Can Tho

Departing from Tra Vinh, we head westward along a fertile floodplain nestled between the Cho Chien and Hau Rivers, two tributaries of the Mekong. The route winds through an extensive patchwork of rice paddies, highlighting why the Mekong Delta is known as Vietnam’s “rice bowl”! Taking our time, we soak in scenes of daily life amidst the fields, waterways, fruit orchards, villages, and towns. Along the way, we'll also encounter numerous Khmer-style Buddhist temples, a testament to centuries of Cambodian presence in the heart of the Mekong Delta. After nearly 80 km, we arrive at the outskirts of Can Tho, where we dismount and transfer a short distance to avoid riding in the heavy city traffic. As the largest city in the Mekong Delta, Can Tho serves as a bastion of the region's waterborne lifeways and thrives as a bustling commercial hub.

IRIS Hotel Can Tho / Ninh Kieu 2 Hotel
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Ride 78km
+422m
-434m

Day 4 Can Tho – Chau Doc

We have an early start as we board a boat to visit bustling Cai Rang, the Mekong Delta’s largest floating wholesale market. Here we discover a lively aquatic scene as vendors navigate their brightly adorned boats, displaying goods for sale on tall poles. From the comfort of our chartered boat, you can join the locals for a morning coffee, a bowl of rice noodles, and some fresh fruit. Back on dry land we then hop on our bikes to begin our final green and meandering Mekong Delta ride. We bike on a narrow lane to the main road, where we stop and have lunch. In the afternoon, continue riding along a tiny road leading upstream towards Long Xuyen. At the end of the ride, we jump in the support vehicle to transfer to Chau Doc. Along the way, we’ll stop to pay our respects at the genocide memorial site of Ba Chuc where, in 1978, the Khmer Rouge committed atrocities against Vietnamese civilians. We spend the night in Chau Doc, a border town located right along the banks of the mighty Mekong.

Chau Po Hotel
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Ride 65km
+107m
-67m

Day 5 Chau Doc – Phnom Penh

Early in the morning, we cruise up the Mekong River by speedboat. Not long after our departure from Chau Doc we’ll reach the border with Cambodia and pass through immigration formalities. And then it is a comfortable journey upstream, affording us the opportunity to observe the ebb and flow of daily life unfolding on the Mekong River and its banks. The cruise takes around 5-6 hours and we’ll arrive in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s bustling capital city, in time for lunch. We then make the most of our afternoon in the city! While Phnom Penh is best known to travelers for it’s sobering genocide memorial sites we want to show you the city’s bright side. As such, we’ll take a rickshaw ride from the riverside to the Royal Palace, the official residence of the King of Cambodia and a treasure trove of splendid architecture and art. Time permitting we can also swing by Wat Phnom, the city’s most revered temple perched on a small hill next to the Tonle Sap River. We have the rest of the afternoon at leisure before reconvening for dinner.

Frangipani Royal Palace Hotel
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 6 Phnom Penh – Oudong – Kampong Thom

We maneuver our way out of Phnom Penh by bike, not an easy feat considering the city’s notoriously unruly traffic but we’ve found a way! First we ferry across the river to a peninsula wedged between the Tonle Sap and Mekong Rivers. Then we follow a series of riverside neighborhoods leading to Phnom Penh’s northern suburbs which, after around 30 km, give way to the countryside. We’ll enjoy our first taste of Cambodian rural riding, cycling through many villages filled with stilt-houses, farms and, of course, curious and friendly locals eager to cheer us on! We finish the ride at Oudong where a sprawling complex of Buddhist stupas sits atop a ridge jutting out of the plains. This was once the site of Cambodia’s capital before it was moved further down river to Phnom Penh. The 400-plus steps to the top will get the legs working over-time, but the views are well worth it. After our visit we have lunch nearby and then transfer 3-4 hours to the sleepy backwater town of Kampong Thom where we spend the night.

Sambor Village/Glorious Hotel & Spa
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Ride 47km
+263m
-207m

Day 7 Kampong Thom – Siem Reap

Starting directly from our hotel, we begin by riding along the meandering Stueng Saen River. After 8 km we cross the river either by a small wooden ferry or a makeshift bridge (depending on the water levels) and then continue north along quiet country roads dissecting the fertile floodplain of the river. This is rural Cambodia at its finest, riding through quaint villages, expansive rice fields, and other farmlands. After covering 40 km, we arrive at the ancient site of Sambor Prei Kuk, a UNESCO World Heritage Site which dates back to one of Cambodia’s earliest civilisations preceding the foundation of Angkor. Here. brick temples in various stages of restoration - many still entwined by tree roots – are scattered throughout a forested area and are connected by sandy paths. This makes for some fun mountain biking! After checking out a collection of the many temples we’ll break for lunch at a local restaurant and then complete a final 15 km until we intersect with the main road. We jump in the support vehicle and transfer around 2 hours to Siem Reap, the “gateway to Angkor”, where we’ll spend the next two nights. With plenty of options to choose from, dinner is on your own tonight.

Steung Siem Reap Hotel
Breakfast, Lunch
Ride 64km
+341m
-342m

Day 8 Ancient Angkor’s Iconic Sites by Bike

The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Angkor is home to the once-glorious capital cities of the Khmer Empire, whose powerful god-kings built lavish stone temples between the 9th and 15th centuries CE. Today, we discover Angkor’s most iconic sites by cycling along the manifold paths that pass by, lead to, and twist around the temples and ruins scattered across the plain. At Ta Prohm - brought to fame by the film “Tomb Raider” - we stumble across a tumbling façade of laterite and sandstone blocks draped by the massive roots of fig trees. At the Bayon - a temple built as a microcosm of the heavens - we marvel at the rows of godly faces carved into the temple towers and peering sublimely in all cardinal directions. And at Angkor Wat - the national symbol of Cambodia and the largest religious structure in the world - we stroll through the inner and outer courtyards decorated with excellently conserved carvings and bas-reliefs depicting Hindu myths, wars, life and death. We return to Siem Reap in the afternoon for some time to relax before our farewell dinner at Spoons, a social enterprise restaurant serving up authentic Khmer food and supporting the professional training of marginalized youth.

Steung Siem Reap Hotel
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Ride 42km
+334m
-334m

Day 9 Siem Reap Departure

Our cycling tour has ended but we suggest you extend your stay to explore more of Siem Reap and the incredible ancient landscape of Angkor. Please let us know If you require assistance with airport transfers and post-tour hotel bookings.

Breakfast

Disclaimer: The adventure cycling tours we operate often go beyond the beaten track, and the countries where we ride are not always predictable. Due to these reasons, it is occasionally necessary to reroute or update itineraries. Our guarantee is that we will not change a trip unless for safety or to improve it. Our listed hotels are always accurate at the time of writing, but should we have to change any hotel, it will always be for a similar or better one.