Tour Company recommendations

My wife and I would love to visit Cambodia in 08. Our initial thinking has us leaning towards using an organized travel group. I am interested to know what some of you experienced and informed S E Asia travelers think of..... 1. the use of organized tour group in this region and, 2. the quality of any tour group you may have used. BTW, we have traveled a fair amount in E and W Europe both with travel Co%26#39;s. and by ourselves.

thanks a lot - Ned

Tour Company recommendations

I can%26#39;t speak for SEA yet, but I can recommend a few budget tour companines...

I%26#39;ve traveled to other areas of world and used both GAP Adventures and Imaginative Traveller. I had good experiences with both. I%26#39;m doing Cambodia/Laos with Intrepid Travel. This is my first tour with them so I can%26#39;t vouche for them yet, but they have a good reputation so I imagine it will be as good as the other tours I%26#39;ve been on.

These companies specialize in small groups (usually a maximum of 12) and lots of free time to explore without the group. They are budget tours, accomodations will be clean but by far not 5 star.

Tour Company recommendations

Ned, Iam interested about how you make out with Intrepid tours. I am very unsure about the basic vs comfort tours. please tell me what trip you took and will I feel like the oldest person there?

Hello,

I did Intrepid%26#39;s Trail of the Khmer (trip code KSL) in November, which was an ';original'; style. I think we only took one public bus...maybe two, the rest were private. Accomodations were basic but clean. Comfort tours are supposed to have nicer hotels and all private transport (except flights).

I%26#39;m not sure how old you are, but 5 people on my tour were over 60. I think that may have been unusual, but I would think a few ';older'; people would be the norm. We all got along great though.

My overall experience was excellent. Our guide arranged for us to visit an orphanage and also arranged a meal at a local home.

I saw a number of intrepid tours whilst i was there, and there is a good range of people, from those under 20 to those over 60, so I wouldn%26#39;t worry too much about that.

Would also consider going without a tour, especially as there are 2 of you. Can be easily achieved

Hi Ned;

I would say that it is a tough call as you seem to enjoy both independent and tour travel - perhaps combining it would be good?

What I will say is that you can travel independently in Cambodia very easily.... so I would just caution you not to think it is so wild and unpredictable that you need a guide/group/etc. I would choose solely on your preferences about the pace you want, what you want to get out of the experience, etc.

BTW, if you choose tours-way, here is a list of some - and I guess some have websites to give a look at. This site also has great info on travel in Cambodia as you are planning your trip.

canbypublications.com/cambodia/travagents.htm

a few years ago I booked a private tour (car and guide) for Siem Reep for 3 nights -- I was very happy with it -- it included hotel, food and the guide and entry to the Angkor complex -- the guide had an itinerary but since I was the only traveler, we modified the third day to my tastes (I was not interested in shopping etc)

it was a great experience and reasonably priced -- I am usually an independent traveler but as a woman alone making a side trip from a business trip to Singapore, I didn%26#39;t want to go into unchartered waters without some support system

duh -- I guess I could mention the name of the tour company -- it was ';Diethelm%26#39; travel --

Hi Ned! We too want to visit cambodia in 2008 - we are thinking of using Intrepids %26#39;essence of indochina%26#39;tour. We will be on our honeymoon and have been recommended the comfort style tours by our trailfinders (travel agents over here) as they attract an older group (due to the higher price). We are in our early thirties and want to avoid a younger 24-7 partying crowd. Would love to know what tour (if any) you have decided on....

Nedb,

Me and my girlfriend this the ';Cambodia Basix'; tour in December 2006. We were quite surprised at the quality of some of the hotels on this tour given the price of the tour. One or two places had no hot water or TV, but all were nice with a/c, western toilets, comfy beds. I would assume an ';original'; or ';comfort'; tour would have even better hotels that the ones on the basix tour.

Intrepid is great, they use locals tour operators for some sites, others they let you roam freely. However, most activities are classified as ';optional';, meaning are not included in tour price, plus the tour price is in 2 pieces, the main portion and then a ';local payment'; for another $200-$300.

Have fun!

Hi Ned,

I have been to the region both guided and unguided. For our honeymoon in December 2006 we used Wilderness Travels (based in Berkeley, CA, USA, but we arranged everything over the phone from NYC). We actually did a ';Private Journey'; which means you are essentially on a tour but there was only the two of us. Certainly it was a pricer option that way, but well worth the splurge for our honeymoon. Wilderness Travel uses a local partner based in Viet Nam named ';Trails of Indochine'; which arranged the local travel and guides, and better prices can be booked by contacting them directly. Our local guides were really fabulous, and our expereince at Angkor would not have been half of what it was without our wornderful guide Panya.

It is also possible to travel pretty well unaided, as most hotels/guest houses can recommend guides, etc. It is definately easy to self-tour in Phnom Penh, as any tuk-tuk driver will be able to take you to all sights, and usually has a fixed price for a day of sightseeing, but remember to try and negotiate the price before departing.