Begin with pickup at your Siem Reap hotel at 9am, and make the trip to Banteay Kdei in an air-conditioned sedan or minivan (if necessary, visit the Angkor entrance to purchase temple passes). Take in views of small villages and plantations on the 23-mile (37-km.) drive, then spend a couple of hours visiting Banteay Kdei. Follow a series of concentric walls into monks’ cells and enclosures in the Bayon architectural style, and discover a royal bathing pool flanked with tall trees.
Then head to Banteay Srei and tour the site with your licensed temple guide, so you don’t miss the citadel’s remarkable highlights: tiny figures, temples, and bas-reliefs are preserved in the finely carved, pink sandstone of this Hindu Temple, whose trio libraries and central towers are known as the ‘art gallery of Angkor.’ Outside the temple walls, get a taste of rural Cambodian life at a palm sugar processing plant, then break for lunch at a local restaurant before returning to Angkor.
Then head to the perfect spot for an Angkor sunset — Tonle Sap Lake to end the day crowd-free — before returning to your Siem Reap hotel at roughly 7:30pm.