Mekong River Cruise Vietnam and Cambodia

Upon arrival at Ho Chi Minh Airport, you will be met and transferred to the Liberty Central Hotel Restaurant between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Lunch will be served at the hotel for all cruise passengers. In the afternoon, we will tour the city: Reunification palace, Notre Dame cathedral and Central Post office. We’ll visit Cholon, the Chinese-influenced section of the city, including its hectic market and Ba Thien Hau Pagoda dedicated to the sea goddess Mazu. After comfortably settling into your cabins, we’ll introduce our crew at a welcome cocktail, have dinner and spend the night on board downtown. (L, D)

We continue our cruise to My Tho along the magnificent Chao Gao Canal. Visit of a bee farm and enjoy some honey tea and exotic fruit. Lunch on board. We’ll discover a brick and pottery factory as well as a traditional factory producing puffed riced, rice-paper wrappers used to make nems, and rice alcohol. (B, L, D)

We continue our cruise to My Tho along the magnificent Chao Gao Canal. Visit of a bee farm and enjoy some honey tea and exotic fruit. Lunch on board. We’ll discover a brick and pottery factory as well as a traditional factory producing puffed riced, rice-paper wrappers used to make nems, and rice alcohol. (B, L, D)

Visit the former house of Huynh Thuy Le, the man who Marguerite Duras based her book The Lover on. After our excursion, enjoy some free time in Sa Dec. We’ll return on board our ship and have lunch. Sailing towards Cambodia. (B, L, D)

Located on the border between Cambodia and Vietnam, the prosperous city of Chau Doc has developed around fish and fish farming. We’ll pay a visit to the Ba Chua Xu Temple and the Tay An Pagoda. Lunch on board. Arrival in the evening in Phnom Penh. Dinner on board. We'll remain in port overnight. (B, L, D)

We’ll enjoy a tour of the fabulous Royal Palace, one of the most impressive examples of Cambodian architecture, and its Silver Pagoda. Onward to visit the National Museum. After lunch in town, you can pay a visit to the Tuol Svay Prey School, a former detention, torture, and execution center run by the Khmer Rouge during the civil war. Afterwards, enjoy some free time at the market. As we get back on board, we will enjoy an Apsara dance show. Dinner and overnight on board, in the port of Phnom Penh. Free evening at your leisure. (B, L, D)

Visit of Koh Chen, a small village where craftspeople specialize in silver and copper work. Lunch on board. Visit of the beautiful Vihara at the Wat Kampong Tralach Leu pagoda. To access the pagoda, we need to cross the village of Kampong Tralach in ox carts, moving along a small road that runs perpendicular to the river in the middle of magnificent rice fields. Our ship will remain anchored overnight. (B, L, D)

Visit of Kampong Chhnang, one of the largest fishing ports on Tonle Sap Lake. Here they also have many fish farms. The region is best known for its fine traditional pottery which is a major source of revenue for the entire country. Tasting of some local products. Lunch on board. We'll then continue our cruise on Tonle Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in southeast Asia which forms the heart of the hydraulic system of the Mekong. Cocktail and gala dinner tonight. Our ship will remain anchored overnight. (B, L, D)

We’ll spend the morning cruising the river before disembarking and having lunch on shore. After, we'll visit the Angkor Wat temple: the epitome of Khmer architectural art and the most famous and imposing of all the monuments in Angkor. Enjoy a stroll through the Angkor Night Market. Dinner and overnight at the hotel. (B, L, D)

This morning, we’ll visit the mysterious Beng Mealea temple, whose ruins were once utterly consumed by jungle. The temple was built in the 12th century and used the same floor plan as Angkor Wat. We’ll have lunch in the city. We’ll visit the Senteurs d'Angkor, a local business with a diverse collection of silk and carvings, as well as a superb range of traditional beauty products and spices, all made locally. We’ll also visit a silk farm to learn about the complex process of creating the luxurious fabric. We’ll end the day with Phare, the Cambodian circus, and spend the night at the hotel. (B, L, D)

This morning, we’ll tour Ta Prohm, a Cambodian temple dedicated to the family of Jayavarman VII. We’ll then explore Angkor Thom. Stroll through the grounds of the former Royal Palace and discover the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King. Lunch will be served at the hotel. We’ll bid you farewell at approximately 2:00 p.m. Please do not book your flight before 5:00 p.m. You will be transferred to the Airport to continue on your next destination. (B, L)