Our stay in Cambodia was short and sweet, wonderful and terrible. It is a place you cannot visit without feeling something – whatever that might be in your case.
We spent just a couple of days each in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. Moving this quickly, of course, inflates the daily budget. We also ate mostly in bakeries/restaurants. (Although staying at Hak’s House in Siem Reap, while a little bit of a trek from the main streets, provided us with a free breakfast and free mineral water refills from a cooler, as well as a cheap restaurant and easy travel bookings.)
We found Cambodia quite challenging as visitors and spent as we saw fit to ensure our own comfort. But it is a very cheap country and you can of course do it for less. Here’s how we clocked in.
Phnom Penh
- May 28 – $221.85 (including $116 for Vietnam visas, $26 for bus tickets to Ho Chi Minh)
- May 27 – $132.13 (including $20 souvenir for T’s mum from the museum)
Siem Reap
- May 26 – $125.31 (including $40 for Angkor Wat passes, $18 for bus tickets to Phnom Penh)
- May 25 – $73.21 (nothing notable today)
Full travel day
- May 24 – $144.64 – ($40 for Cambodia visas, $36 for the taxi – an outrageous amount as we were only three passengers along with a Chilean guy, and I oh-so-generously decided we should make up the shortfall as the couple.)
Getting from Bangkok to Siem Reap was, uh, an experience. Read more about that here!
This will probably sound completely American-centric, but just wanted to be sure – this is in NZ dollars, yes? Thanks for the breakdown!
Yes! NZD is about 80c/US at the moment so would be cheaper. I should note actually that the prices for Angkor/visas that are broken out in the brackets are in USD though.
How was the food??? 🙂
Good, not amazing – not so much my style. Look out for a foodcentric post on Friday 😀
oh of course, NZD, it did not cross my mind either. I remember Cambodia being much, much cheaper but that was about 10 years ago. The cheapest country I had been to was Lao, for $5 you had a gorgeous little cabin overlooking the river, $1 meals and $1 internet was about it for the day. Most temples and sites were free. Angkor is really worth the money though.
We definitely splurged a bit on food in Cambodia! And it was so nice to encounter real bakeries again.
Looking forward to a food post! Seems like governmental services (i.e. visas) were one of the biggest expenditures.
Hmmm…I always forget about Visas when I think about travelling to foreign countries! This might have some thing to do with the fact I’ve only traveled to England, France, and the US. Hmm…maybe I should do something about that.
Thanks for sharing your costs of travelling – this gives me a way better idea as to where it’s going to cost money and not, especially as someone with zero experience.
Cheers
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