Travel Tips: The Best Cambodia Guidebook is FREE

Last Updated on August 22, 2012 by Christine Kaaloa

SiemReap guide
Siem Reap Guide

That’s right. The BEST guidebook in Cambodia is FREE!

At my guesthouse, I picked up the Siem Reap Angkor Visitors Guide and didn’t know how valuable that magazine was at the time. Eventually, I found it to be the all-around the best guide for travelers to Siem Reap and Cambodia.  It was better than my heavy guidebook and had every piece of information I needed to plan my itinerary or know how to get around.

What does it cover?

A lot!

At first, I thought it was just going to be a directory or services, but it’s all neatly laid out and organized so that you can find what you want without having to dig so hard. It covers nightlife, hotels, restaurants, shopping, tour operators, historical facts about Angkor Wat, Tonle Sap and other sights in and around Siem Reap. But that’s not the beauty of it…

It has up-to-date bus times/schedules, price ranges and websites of hotels, colored maps of the city and it’s periphery, banking information, post office times, shipping information and basically, every essential phone number, estimated cost, admission fees and hours of operation. And more…

cambodia guides canby
Apologies for the bad photos. They’re taken with my iPodTouch in bad lighting.

How do you get to Phnom Penh or Sihanoukville, Kampot and Kep?

It’s in here.

Want to volunteer or know of NGOs  and charitable causes where you can make a difference?

The guidebook’s got it.

What about overland border crossing advice and how to get in/out through Thailand, Vietnam, Laos?

They’ll even show you how to do it yourself , where to avoid scams and how much to expect to pay each leg of the way!

What is the history of Khmer dance and where can you see it performed?

Yup, it’s in there.

Get into an emergency and need a hospital or to contact your embassy?

Uh-huh, you’ve got options.

Want to know how much you should look to pay if you hire a motordop, tuk tuk, taxi and get recommended businesses to call?

You’ll know the going rate of things and it’s even got names of recommended taxi hires.

Suggestions on tour operators or specialty tours (4 WD, ATV, motorcycle, etc…) you can take?

Names, phone numbers, websites and short descriptions of what each operator handles… what more do you need?

Basically, this book is gold.

 

Are there other city guides?

Yes.  The guides are published by Canby Publications, whom I referred often to in my post about Phnom Penh, especially for their maps.  They publish free guides for Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville too. However, if you’re looking for guides to other places like Kep or Battambang, you can check their website. It’s very well informed.

 

Where do you pick them up?

Unfortunately, I’m not quite sure. I picked them up at my guesthouse and they’re supposedly at select locations. I suspect you might find them at hostels, tourist restaurants and pubs or clubs or you can email,  shoot them a line on Twitter @Canby_Cambodia or find them on Facebook.

 

How good is it in comparison to other country guide books?

So far, it’s the best I’ve seen.

A large part of my frustration with regular guidebooks is that their facts aren’t always current. From the time they’re written to the time they’ve been published, much time has gone by and prices are out of date. Also, with developing countries, budget hotels and guesthouses are sometimes limited to a small handful that have been tried and some lack contact or website information.

How much do I think you’ll like this?…

This book’s so thorough and loaded with essential information, that:

… it’ll make you wish you had it before entering Cambodia,… so you could plan your itinerary!
… it’ll make you want to throw away your paper-weight of a Lonely Planet!
…. if you don’t like it, I’ll personally give you your money back!

But wait, it’s FREE!

 

Have you ever discovered a country visitor’s guide to be better than a regular guidebook? If so, did they offer that was so unique? 

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