A Cycling tour from Cambodia to Vietnam
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Few cycling tours contain as much variety as this one. Discover ancient temples, friendly villages, two rapidly modernizing cities emerging from a difficult past, and the Mekong Delta. All this and more is waiting to be explored with the help of a bicycle, your expert local guide, and a specially crafted cycle route from Cambodia to Vietnam.
EARLY RIDER PRIZE: Be in the first 4 to book a departure and get 5% OFF the tour price*
*Not applicable with private, family, or self-guided tours, other discounts, trip credit, or special offers
Link this tour with our Slow Road to Angkor and travel all the way from Bangkok, Thailand, to Saigon, Vietnam - that's 3 countries in one tour!
Overview
A journey in the truest sense of the word from the most significant archaeological site in Cambodia to the most important commercial city in Vietnam. The contrasts you see along the way are what make this an educational, enjoyable and achievable cycle tour for anyone passing through Southeast Asia.
This is one of our easier bike tours with hardly a hill in sight, but enough variety in scenery and surface to keep the ride interesting. The biking is interrupted by a boat ride down the Mekong River and finishes off with two full days of pedaling through the intriguing Mekong Delta.
If you want to get far away from the daily grind and immerse yourself in Indochina scenery, culture, and cuisine, this is the ride for you.
218 km / 135 mi riding. The terrain is a mix of sealed and unsealed roads, tracks, and trails. It is our aim to deliver as much traffic-free track and trail, but at times we do need to resort to secondary roads, although we spend no more than 5km over the whole tour on anything resembling a highway. The riding is easily achievable for those who are comfortable on a bike, with hardly any hills and no daily distances over 80km.
Pedal-assist E-bike is an available option for this tour for $175 surcharge.
Highlights
- Pedal to the pre-Angkor-era ruins of Sambor Prei Kuk in the jungle of Kampong Thom.
- Spend a day cycling through small villages of the Silk Islands outside of Phnom Penh.
- Glimpse daily Vietnamese life from your bike before a relaxing boat ride to Can Tho.
- Experience the hustle and bustle of the floating markets of Can Tho before heading to Saigon.
- Choose the option to visit Angkor Wat temple on the very first morning of the tour.
Inclusions:
- All breakfasts, 7 lunches and 5 dinners
- 6 nights in high quality hotels
- Local guides and support team
- Cannondale bikes and support vehicles
- Healthy snacks and water during cycling
- All activities and site entry fees
- Memento cycling jersey
- Tips for non-Grasshopper service staff
Day to Day
After we pick you up from the Siem Reap hotel, a 2-hour drive awaits you to reach the neighboring province of Kampong Thom. We will freshen up, check-in, and enjoy a nice lunch at the hotel or in a local restaurant. After this delicious food, we used the van to drive towards the set of pre-Angkorian temples known as Sambor Prei Kuk for an exploration. These 7th-century ruins are in remarkable shape despite being swallowed by the jungle, and the remoteness of their location provides a unique and off-the-beaten-track experience. After we escape the hottest part of the day, there is an option to return to Kampong Thom on our bikes and be rewarded with a delicious local meal for dinner.
Note: If you are not coming from any of our tours finishing in Cambodia, have not booked our Siem Reap Cultural Explorer, and would like to visit Angkor Wat early this morning before the start of the main tour (10 a.m.), please let us know and we can assist you with those arrangements.
A transfer in the van takes us to Kampong Cham, a provincial city on the banks of the Mekong River. Not far from town, is an impressive bamboo bridge that is dismantled and re-erected each year to prevent it being washed away by monsoonal flows. We cross the river on this bridge and then commence a lovely ride through the countryside, passing through villages where local children call out words of welcome and encouragement, delighted at the sight of the foreigners, pedaling their way down the road. We conclude our ride after 46km and transfer by van the last hour to avoid riding in the traffic as we approach Phnom Penh. Tonight we will eat by the Tonle Sap River, near where the country’s three main rivers converge.
This morning we saddle up and make our way through the nearby Mekong islands where we will cycle through friendly villages, fruit orchards, traditional silk weaving workshops and a variety of more recent temples. This ride shows you another side of the Phnom Penh area that will be a unique cycling and cultural exploration.
Phnom Penh’s history is far from uneventful. The French settlers transformed this collection of wooden shacks into a thriving city in the 19th century. In 1975, this changed quickly with the evacuation of the city by the Khmer Rouge, and Phnom Penh was left to decay. Recently it has become a center of rapid development and growth. Explore the capital city with the help of your guide, and enjoy a late afternoon walk for a cultural exploration of this city.
Enjoy a reinvigorating rest day. Spend your morning exploring Phnom Penh or lounging by the pool, then board an international boat that takes us down the Mekong River where we will cross into Vietnam via Chau Doc- a bustling Delta town that specializes in salted fish. Enjoy the views as we float towards the next leg of our adventure.
Today we begin our exploration of the Mekong Delta. After a short ferry ride, we will cross canals by bridge and boat and make our way through the maze of waterways. Observe the fertile delta lands that are used for food production, watch the locals hard at work to grow, harvest, or transport these products. We’ll be cycling on small, paved canal roads that allow for only cycling or motorbike travel.
After a rest stop with fresh fruits, we will get a chance to visit a brick factory and get to know the process. Lunch today will be in a local restaurant and then we have two-hour drive on the van to Can Tho, the capital of the Mekong delta
Our day starts from the hotel, we’ll pedal off to the nearby ferry that crosses the Mekong for our last day of cycling and Delta adventures. This region features many sites constructed during Khmer rule of the Delta and today nearly 1.5 million people of Cambodian descent still call this area home.
We’ll pedal the lush Delta area and hop on some islands before another delicious lunch at the local home. Once we’ve eaten, it’s time to board the boat for a 1h15 min transfer back to Can Tho. Arriving in the afternoon to enjoy your hotel.
After breakfast, spend the early morning exploring the floating markets of Can Tho. You’ll be impressed by a wide variety of boats and markets selling a huge array of fresh vegetables and fruit. Then, we will board the van for a 3-hour drive into Saigon. The adventure concludes upon arrival at your hotel unless you want to get the very best insights into the exciting, buzzing city of Saigon on our post-tour adventure, the Saigon Explorer.
Dates & Price
EARLY RIDER PRIZE: Be in the first 4 to book a departure and get 5% OFF the tour price*
*Not applicable with guaranteed, private, or self-guided tours, other discounts, trip credit, or special offers
WHAT MAKES US STAND OUT
GRASSHOPPER STYLE
With our experience providing premium bike tours in Cambodia and Vietnam, we have created this itinerary that highlights some of the best of both, giving you an up-close look at life near the Mekong Delta. Enjoy easy-going cycling as you discover off-the-beaten-track locations often hidden from tourists. Thanks to this journey and your knowledgeable guide, you’ll come away with a greater understanding for Vietnamese and Cambodian people, cultures, and food and their differences and similarities on this immersive active adventure.
