Compare Family Fun: A Giving Back Vacation by Journeys Within vs Cambodia Family Holiday with Teenagers by Intrepid Travel
Compare details and see what other travelers are saying.
| Trip |
5 | Excellent
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4.5 | Great
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| Duration | 7 days | 8 days |
| Price From | $ 2,650 | $ 1,135 |
| Price Per Day | $ 379 | $ 143 |
| Highlights |
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| Trip Style | Retreats | Small group tour |
| Lodging Level | Premium | Standard |
| Physical Level |
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| Travel Themes |
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| Countries Visited | ||
| Cities and Attractions |
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| Flights & Transport | Ground transport included | Ground transport included |
| Activities |
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N/A |
| Meals Included |
6 Breakfasts, 3 Lunches and 1 Dinner |
N/A |
| Description |
For your family, this tour is a way to do more than just visit Cambodia, it's a way to give back and become a part of a better future for this country and to show your kids the amazing rewards of helping others. For us travel is about seeing the highlights and experiencing the culture, but also about making the world a better place. Visiting a World Heritage site one day, and changing someone's life the next, it relax doesn't get any better than that. |
Steeped in history but young at heart, Cambodia makes for an unbeatable family holiday destination. Impressive museums sit alongside buzzing street markets in the capital Phnom Penh, Battambang blends distinguished old-world airs with amiable small-town charm and Siem Reap boasts both the timeworn temples of Angkor and a plethora of outdoor excursions for the actively inclined. On this trip the whole brood will become acquainted with everyday Khmer life and traditions on guided city tours, cycling forays out into the surrounding countryside, visits to rural village homestays and explorations of World Heritage-listed Angkor Wat. With a careful balancing of included activities and free time, this is a trip perfectly crafted to the whole family. |
Day 1: Siem Reap – Arrival
Accommodation: Journeys Within Boutique Hotel - Family Bungalow
Arrive in Siem Reap where you will be met by a Journeys Within representative and taken to Journeys Within Boutique Hotel.
Spend the afternoon relaxing in the garden, cool off in the swimming pool or if you have the energy, take a trip down town and walk around the local market.
Day 2: Siem Reap - Angkor Wat
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
Accommodation: Journeys Within Boutique Hotel - Family Bungalow
This morning head to Angkor Wat in an air-conditioned car, or if you choose by bike, with your guide. Explore this majestic temple throughout the morning while it is still cool and has fewer tourists. Return to Journeys Within for lunch and a nap or refresh with a swim. In the afternoon head to Angkor Thom, the famous walled city and see the many temples within its borders, including the fascinating Bayon temple with its many magnificent faces smiling out. There are several beautiful spots from which to watch the sunset. Discuss with your guide where you would like to be and then relax and enjoy a memorable end to your day at the temples.
Day 3: Siem Reap - Banteay Srei and Other Temples
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
Accommodation: Journeys Within Boutique Hotel - Family Bungalow
This morning set off with your guide to Banteay Srei, the intricately carved temple just 30 km beyond Angkor Wat. As you head towards your hotel you can stop at Banteay Kdei and Ta Prohm, two of the prettiest temples in the complex. Enjoy climbing through these smaller unique temples before returning to your hotel for lunch.
In the afternonn visit one of Journeys Within Our Community’s (JWOC’s) free schools to help in an English class. JWOC offers a wide variety of free classes to students who have the desire to learn, but lack the financial means to do so. Our English program for children and adults welcomes the participation of native English speaking volunteers who play an extremely useful role assisting the teachers with speaking activities, providing a model for students who often have limited opportunity to hear and speak English in their everyday lives. No experience is necessary – your ability to speak English is the only qualification you need to help. You will arrive at least 10 minutes before the class starts to meet the teacher and find out what you will be doing.
Day 4: Siem Reap - Visit Well
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Journeys Within Boutique Hotel - Family Bungalow
Today visit the well you have generously donated through Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC). A JWOC representative will take you into the community to meet the villagers benefiting from the well and you will be able to see the clean water they are now using.
Day 5: Siem Reap - Quad Adventure Cambodia Full day tour
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
Accommodation: Journeys Within Boutique Hotel - Family Bungalow
Today you will join a group in Siem Reap and head off on your own quad bike with a local guide.Drive through villages and rice paddies, see splendid landscapes and share moments with the monks at the monastery of Pourk. Stop to visit Wat Athwea temple and its pagoda, picnic near the lake or in a village, discover the mountain of Phnom Boc, and visit an orphanage run by a wonderful Khmer family and proudly supported by “Quad Adventure Cambodia”. Every day 165 children, 42 of whom are orphans, receive breakfast, lunch, dinner and language classes. Return at the end of the day dirty and tired but having had a fun, truly Cambodian experience!
Day 6:Siem Reap - Market tour and Visit JWOC Art Class
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner
Accommodation: Journeys Within Boutique Hotel - Family Bungalow
Take a walk around the old market where the locals and tourists shop side by side.
Sunday afternoons are special at Journeys Within Our Community a non profit started by Journeys Within owners Andrea and Brandon Ross, not only are our scholarship students there, returning from well scouting and loan collecting, but we also hold our art class for local students at 2pm. This class is a no-pressure class where anyone is invited to come, play games, sing songs and do a simple and rewarding art project. Volunteers are great for this class, we break the students into groups of 8 and as a volunteer you can join a group and help the little ones with scissors and other tricky tasks and give the older students encouragement and attention. The class runs to a little after 4pm. Please arrive 10 minutes before it starts so the teacher can explain the project and you can get oriented.
In the evening, head into town to enjoy a dinner at Selantra Restaurant. After dinner you will be picked up at 6:40pm and taken to the Cambodian Children's House of Peace to see their traditional dance show. CCHP is a residential home for 30 children between the ages of 10-18, and provides shelter, food, clothing, school and English language education, health care, recreation, arts and anything else the children need to grow and develop into productive citizens of their country. The show will start at 7pm and finish at 830pm. The donation after the dance show would be appreciated.
Day 7: Siem Reap – Departure
Meals:Breakfast
Transfer to the airport in time to catch your departing flight.
Day 1 Phnom Penh
Sousadei. Welcome to Cambodia. Arrive in the heat, hustle and bustle of Phnom Penh. Once considered the Paris of the East it is an exciting and absorbing city where scooters pack the streets and temples stand defiantly alongside modern developments. Decimated by years of civil war the city has stepped out of the shadows and the charm of yesteryear is reemerging. Our hotel is in the heart of this incredible city. A welcome group meeting will be held today at 5pm with an optional group dinner after the meeting. Accommodation in Phnom Penh at a well-located family style hotel.
Day 2 Phnom Penh
This morning we take a Cyclo Centre cyclo (bicycle rickshaw) trip to explore some of the historic buildings in the riverfront area.Visit The private quarters of the Royal Palace are home to King Sihamoni and closed off to the public, but you will be able to visit the sacred Silver Pagoda that lies in the palace complex. Afterwards there is free time for exploring.
Day 3 Battambang
Today we travel by private bus through the countryside to Battambang. The journey takes around 4.5 - 5 hours and we will stop to see local pottery-making along the way. Cambodia's second-largest city, Battambang, (pronounced Battambong) is an attractive riverside town with traces of French elegance, friendly Khmer people and well-preserved colonial architecture. Tonight, after settling in, we journey by remork to a local family’s house to enjoy a home cooked Cambodian dinner and hear about life in Cambodia.
Day 4 Battambang
A half day bike trip takes us through the beautiful surrounding countryside of Battambang. We stop along the way to discover the local rural way including small cottage industries producing sticky-rice cooked in bamboo, rice paper making, dried banana’s (like a roll up), and smelly fish paste making. It is an easy ride and bicycle is the best way to explore the quiet countryside. Helmets and smaller bikes and a bike attachment called a “tag along” are available for children. For those unable to ride there is also a remork (local tuk tuk) available.
Day 5 Siem Reap
Today after breakfast, check out of your hotel and journey by private minivan to Siem Reap. Siem Reap is the gateway to the UNESCO World Heritage Angkor Archaeological Park which is roughly 7 kilometres away. However, the town itself is worth exploring with day and night markets, Khmer massage and spa treatments, a variety of great cafes and restaurants, and even fish massage. After checking into your hotel, you and your family will jump in Tuk Tuk to visit the Rokkhak Women Handicraft centre which is a business based-sustainable development that connects socially conscious travellers with traditional local crafts. Watch the weavers at work, learn about their craft and try your hand at water hyacinth weaving using leaves which have been dried and prepared for you by the centre’s expert weavers.
Day 6 Siem Reap
After breakfast we are picked up by our local guide and taken to explore the remarkable temples of Angkor. Built between the 9 – 12th century the temples were meant to represent the cosmic world and as such are perfectly aligned in balance and symmetry. You might like to stop to see monkeys that gather on the temple ruins along the way. Today’s visit includes Angkor Wat - the largest religious site in the world, Ta Prohm – the jungle temple made famous when Tomb Raider was filmed there, and Bayon – with its 54 towers decorated with more than 200 enigmatic smiling faces.
Day 7 Siem Reap
Today visit the exquisite Banteay Srey (“Citadel of the women”). The small temple displays some of the finest examples of classical Khmer art carved into the pinkish coloured sandstone. You may also like to stop at the Landmine Museum which was set up in 1997 by former-child soldier Aki Ra. The Museum aims to tell the story of landmines in Cambodia and to inspire people to make a difference. After lunch at Bong Thom homestay we visit Banteay Srei Butterfly Centre. The centre features a live display of the stunning variety of Cambodian butterflies. Rural families in the area are involved in the sustainable farming of the butterflies. They have been trained to understand the value of the forests and the importance of conservation. Tonight after dinner we visit Phare the Cambodian Circus. Coming from vulnerable households the performers have gained international recognition through their art practice. Like a Cambodian Cirque Du Soleil, modern Khmer tales mix theatre, music, dance, acrobatics, juggling, aerial acts, and contortion.
Day 8 Siem Reap
Today is departure day and no activities have been planned. If you are not templed out, your three day temple pass allows you to return to explore some more of Angkor Archaeological Park on your own. Your leader can help you arrange a remork or car to take you out. If you have extra time you might like to schedule a tasty Khmer Cooking Class, a trip to the Tonle Sap Lake – a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, indulge yourself with high tea at Raffles Hotel, or simply relax by the hotel pool.
