Colonial Half Day Phnom Penh Cyclo Architecture Tour
- 3 hours
- Free cancellation up to 24h before
- Guided in English
- Instant confirmation
Highlights
Explore Phnom Penh's colonial and religious architecture aboard a traditional cyclo, guided past private buildings and hidden landmarks from 1910 onward, on a relaxed 3 hour tour through the city's back streets. Board a traditional cyclo for a slow, pedal-powered look at a side of Phnom Penh most visitors miss. Your guide leads the way through streets and alleys in search of the city's architectural character. Wide, tree-lined boulevards and French colonial buildings from 1910 onward recall Phnom Penh's past as a French colonial capital, a striking contrast to the modern skylines of other Asian cities. Beyond the well-known landmarks, this tour also takes in private residences and lesser-known examples of religious architecture, some reached only on foot down alleys too narrow for a cyclo. Cyclos still ply these streets today much as they did in colonial times, offering an unhurried, open-air way to watch the city go by. A relaxed journey through Phnom Penh's architectural history.
Inclusions
What's included
- A half-day tour with a professional English-speaking guide.
- All entrance fees for visits as mentioned in the description.
- All applicable taxes and service charges
- Transportation by cyclo with driver (3 hours).
- Transfers from/to your Phnom Penh Hotel with driver by air-conditioned vehicle to the meeting point
What's not
- Tours, inclusions of any kind and other services that are not outlined in the tour description
- Personal expenses such as meals, drinks, tips and gratuities, shopping, portage fees and optional tours, unless otherwise stated
- Transfers for customers arriving or departing from any airport or resorts located outside the general pick-up and drop-off locations
- Travel insurance coverage for customers (highly recommendable)
Itinerary
The relaxing means to explore Phnom Penh and its architecture starts right from the doorstep of your centrally-located hotel as we transfer you to the meeting point. It is here where you are welcomed by an English-speaking guide and well-trained ‘chauffeur’ who assist you in stepping into your private cycle (a Cambodian bicycle-powered rickshaw). The wheels slowly turn, creating a cool flow as you venture through the streets and alleys in search of striking buildings and characteristics in the capital’s architecture. Your knowledgeable guide offers a brief historical and cultural introduction to the city, as you make your way calmly with traffic passing by, specifically highlighting the colonial buildings from 1910 onward. You soon see that you are not alone using this laid-back way to move through the city: pedalled rickshaws still ply the streets as in colonial days and provide an excellent opportunity for sightseeing and people watching as well as the taxi service.
Not only those buildings of immense importance pass and landmarks on an ordinary half-day pass the revue. This 3-hour ride also includes a selection of private buildings, and some less obvious examples of religious architecture, both to be admired from the in- and outside. Guests may require to sometimes walk into smaller alleys, where cyclos cannot go, to get a glimpse of hidden treasures. Your cyclo driver slowly makes its way back to the central meeting after this extraordinary tour of seeing what is often not shown and where we scratch the historical surface of this dynamic city. From here, a car/van waits for you for the final stretch to your Phnom Penh Hotel.
Cancellation
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.
Reviews
5.0
- 51
- 40
- 30
- 20
- 10
Ratings come from 1 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.
Know before you go
- Pickup
- Pickup is included for everyone.
- Ticket type
- Mobile or paper ticket accepted
- Operated by
- Asian Trails LTD
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- This tour is operated on full private basis with English-speaking guide. Other languages are on request / subject to availability and supplementary charges may apply
- Return transfers for this excursion apply only / are inclusive for customers staying in and inside Phnom Penh. Transfers outside these areas, including any accommodation outside this area such as Koh Dach, Tonle Bati, and Oudong, any of the river and cruise ferry terminals and Phnom Penh International Airport are excluded. Supplements apply for customers who want to join this excursion outside one of these regions.
- To avoid any issues pertaining obtaining an arrival visa at the airport, please ensure that your passport contains at least two empty pages. Failure to do so may result in not gaining entrance into the Kingdom of Cambodia.
- The mentioned excursion durations are approximations; we are unable to exactly predict the total duration from pick-up to drop-off based on unforeseen circumstances such as traffic and weather conditions and the routing the driver has to take to get all customers on the vehicle.
- Natural elements of any kind have a destructive effect on electronic equipment. It is the customer’s own responsibility to ensure that any camera, mobile telephone or other device is properly wrapped and protected against these elements. We cannot be held responsible in any way for negligence and/or not following suggestions for any damage related to this.
- Please ensure that you bring sunglasses, a hat /cap and sunblock with a high SPF factor when traveling with us on this tour – even when it is cloudy, the sunrays still have an immense power.
How it compares in Phnom Penh
- Its from-price is close to the median of the 573 experiences we list in Phnom Penh.
- It is shorter than most of them.
- By number of reviews it ranks 373 of 573.
- The operator lists free cancellation on it.
About Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is Cambodia's riverside capital, where a gilded royal palace, French-era boulevards and markets sit beside memorials to the Khmer Rouge years.
The Royal Palace, with its tall pointed spires, and the neighbouring Silver Pagoda, whose floor is laid with silver tiles, stand close to the riverfront promenade where the Mekong and Tonlé Sap meet. Wat Phnom, a small hill temple, gave the city its name, and the National Museum, in a red Khmer-style building, holds a major collection of Angkorian sculpture. Art Deco Central Market and the busy Russian Market are good places to wander.
Top-ranked sights in Phnom Penh: Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21), Choeung Ek Genocidal Center (Choeung Ek Killing Fields), Royal Palace.
Special offers in Phnom Penh
Was/now prices come from the operator, never from us.
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