After another excellent breakfast at the Park Hyatt Siem Reap, we were picked up by Cambodia Taxi Services, a company I had found online offering private transportation between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in about five hours. This was one of three possible options we could have picked.

Another option would be flying, which would probably take about the same amount of time given the 50 minute ride to Siem Reap Airport, arriving at least an hour or more before the flight, the 45 minute flight, arrival formalities and the 30 minute ride in traffic to our hotel in Phnom Penh. Given that it’s a turboprop on Cambodian Angkor Airlines, there is always the possibility of a weather or mechanical delay. Not only that, but the cost was about twice as much.

The third option is taking a bus. Obviously, that would be cheaper than a private vehicle and still would provide Wi-Fi and comfortable seats. But, the trip would take longer and we would be stuck with other people for the whole ride.

Our private vehicle (with great air-conditioning) cost $90 all-in. That included a couple of stops. Our first stop was at a historic bridge around 90 minutes into the trip to stretch our legs.

Our second stop was at the spider market on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. It’s definitely a touristy thing, but was fun for a few minutes. There are clean bathrooms there. My wife even bought a bag of bugs to eat – yuck.

The road was in good condition. Apparently, during Covid, the Cambodian government took advantage of the empty roads and repaved many of the main routes. This also gave employment to a lot of people in the tourism sector who were without work when things were shut down.

We arrived at the Hyatt Regency in Phnom Penh around 2:30pm after a comfortable ride down from Siem Reap. I tipped our driver an extra $10 considering he had to turn right around and drive back to Siem Reap. I can definitely recommend Cambodia Taxi Services to get between the two cities if you don’t want to fly or take the bus.

Up Next: Visiting the Khmer Rouge Sites & Phnom Penh

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