Hoi An To Siem Reap

Once you have arrived in Da Nang airport, you will be picked up by our guide and transferred to your hotel in Hoi An, where your Hoi An to Siem Reap 7-day tour will begin. Take the rest of the day and the evening to explore this gorgeous town. Maybe head straight to the beach on the north coast, eat some dinner overlooking the lantern-lit Thu Bon River, then check out the night market on An Hoi Island; the choice is yours!

Beginning at your hotel lobby at 08:00 am, we walk through Hoi An’s Ancient Town, the old port’s historic heart, and the site of some of its most beautiful streets and historically-rich buildings. We will see the multicultural influences that shaped Hoi An through its vital role along the maritime Silk Road. The architecture of Chinese, Japanese, French and other European countries will be apparent along our walk, some of which we will visit using our pass. We have a choice of 21 attractions, including the iconic Japanese Covered Bridge, Phuc Kien Assembly Hall, and the old house of Tan Ky.

We will take some time for lunch and rest our feet before we head to My Son Sanctuary about 45km from Hoi An. My Son is a staggering collection of weather-eroded and war-torn religious temples, which now forms a mass of Hindu ruins partially reclaimed by jungle. The complex was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, both for the well-preserved history of the Champa civilization who built My Son and for the limitless beauty brought about by its marriage of ancient architecture and nature. You will learn of the history of both Champa and My Son Sanctuary from a walking tour with our guide, before you consolidate your knowledge with a trip to the Sa Huynh Champa Culture Museum on the way back to Hoi An.

Enjoy breakfast in your hotel before meeting your guide once more at 08:00 am. We will cycle to the nearby ferry terminal, where we will get a 15-minute ride across the Thu Bon River to Kim Bong Carpentry Village. 

This village is famous for its woodworking and we will take a look at some of the village’s finest examples in its woodcarving, furniture and mosaic workshops. At a shipbuilding workshop, we will learn of the artisanal techniques that go into the creation of the deceptively complex coracle boats that float along the Thu Bon River and its estuaries.

We will continue cycling to the mat-weaving village of Tra Nhieu, where we will learn of the village’s role in hiding soldiers along its forests of gorgeous nipa palm during the American War. We will hop around a few islands from here, over rustic bridges of wood and bamboo, eventually settling in a water coconut forest filled with palm trees, nipa palm and large wild birds. After exploring here for a while, we return to Tra Nhieu to learn about the ancient handicraft of mat-weaving.

We get the boat back to the mainland and cycle north through Hoi An to Tra Que organic village, an entire commune producing 100% pesticide and GMO-free food. We will meet the smiling Mr. Minh, and share a local ‘basil tea’ at his house. We head outside to try some Vietnamese farming techniques in raking, sowing, watering, transplanting and tending to the vegetables grown here. Relax with a herbal foot bath upon returning to Mr. Minh’s house and help the family to prepare lunch, learning how to make tam huu springs rolls and Banh Xeo pancakes along the way.

You will have the afternoon and evening in Hoi An at your own leisure. This is the perfect chance to go shopping or get something personally tailored; the tailors of Hoi An are nothing less than magicians.

After breakfast, you have one more day to discover the beauty of Hoi An. Collect any items that you have had tailored and spend the rest of the time at any of Hoi An’s plethora of attractions; the Marble Mountains, the Ancient Town, Bay Mau Forest etc., or simply relax on the side of the street with a coffee, watching the beautiful painting of Hoi An come to life.

Await your guide in the late afternoon to take you to Da Nang airport, where you will say goodbye and board your flight to Siem Reap. Another guide will pick you up in Siem Reap and transfer you to a hotel before pointing out the best spots and leaving you to enjoy the rest of the evening at your leisure.

Rise early for breakfast and a 07:00 am pick-up; our guide will be taking you to the breathtaking temple complex of Angkor Wat. We stop first at Angkor Wat’s most famous temple, Ta Prohm, an ancient place of worship built during the crossover point of the 12th and 13th centuries. Years of decline turned Ta Prohm into an evocative series of snaking jungle vines that have found and exacerbated cracks throughout the moss-coated ruins of the temple. 

Heading further into the gargantuan 500 acres of Angkor Wat, we pass many examples of incredible architecture of both Hindu and Buddhist origins, with staggering attention to detail in statues surrounded by jungle. Arriving at Angkor Thom, an unbelievable feat of 12th-century architecture, we take a walk around this final capital of the Khmer Empire, visiting the famous Bayon Temple and its faces of the Buddhist deity of Avalokitesvara. 

We have lunch at a local restaurant nearby and spend the rest of the day at some of Angor Wat’s other famous temple, shrine and tomb ruins, namely Baphuon Temple, the Terrace of the Elephants, the Terrace of the Leper King, and the beautiful Royal Palace.

After all of this, we return you to Siem Reap for you to relax into the evening or grab a few drinks and keep the activity going into the night.

Enjoy breakfast in your hotel and meet the guide for transfer to Me Chrey Village, a wonderful floating community on Tonle Sap Lake. Here, a long-tailed boat takes us around the village to see how the houses are built to cope with rising and falling water levels over the wet and dry seasons. After this, we will see other floating villages where handicrafts and tools for fishing are constantly being created. We will see idyllic pagodas and the orange-robed monks who attend them, as well as many humble examples of family life.

After returning to Siem Reap, we will have lunch and you will have the afternoon to yourself. Maybe you would like to get a traditional massage or spa treatment, or shop until the evening, when you can delve into the world of Siem Reap’s street food.

Relish the last hours of your time in Cambodia before our guide takes you to the airport to catch your departing flight. You will be able to use the hotel amenities until 12:00 pm, mid-day.

Incredible Asia Journeys would like to thank you for joining the Hoi An to Siem Reap 7-Day Tour. As one of the best travel agent in Vietnam, we always care about the experience of customer. We hope that you enjoyed your travel to Vietnam and Cambodia with us.