Unforgettable Cambodia: PP to Siem Reap River & Road

Pleasant enough trip, overpriced, no visit to floating village or temple. Unaware that the shop beside where we joined the boat was apparently the silversmith promised in the itinerary. Little to no interaction from staff on the boat until the last 10 minutes, certainly no greeting or welcome drink. Staff spent most of the trip asleep. Food was ok but basic. Wouldn't recommend.

This tour seems to be hit or miss based on reviews. I owe it to my fellow traveler to add mine. To his credit, Peter (the owner, I assume) was very responsive through the booking process, prior to the tour, and even after; but ultimately the marketing of this tour was deceptive. We felt bamboozled. Similar to another reviewer, I wish I would have delved a little deeper during my research of reviews The 4 1/2 hour driving portion was uninformative, and for us, a bit sketchy as the driver seemed sleepy and erratic. He spoke only Khmer so we were unable to communicate our concerns with him. Peter’s associate spoke to him via a phone call, at least, for whatever that was worth. We stopped at a tourist rest area but declined stopping at two other stops because we weren’t able to decipher why we were stopping. And the “master silversmith” stop was essentially meaningless because there was little to no explanation, it seemed like a place to buy mass produced silver and metal products for all we could tell. The boat tour was a little bit better. The guide was friendly and answered our questions, but took very little initiative in offering information. Our stop at a Buddhist temple was interesting and the guide information good, but we certainly did not have any “experience” with a floating village, it was more of a chug down the river looking from afar. Also, the river scenery for the most part is uninteresting. I was expecting something a bit more intriguing and personal. One positive, the temperature on the river was pleasant! Given the description of this tour seemed a bit disingenuous, I am dubious of the claims Tara makes about their social and community commitments. They tout their eco awareness , but we tromped over a pile of trash at landing site for the temple, a place where the tour stops every time! Really?! The aggravating thing is that this tour is QUITE expensive, comparatively speaking. In an attempt to reconcile the cost with myself, I am REALLY hoping that the company’s claim to paying living wages is true. Our guide did speak very highly of Peter. I can’t speak for any of Tara’s other tours, but my advice is to take the bus between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh for $10 and do a river tour in Phnom Penh for a fraction of the price.

The service was perfect starting from being picked up from our hotel in Phnom Penh and delivered to our hotel in Siem Reap. In between we had a wonderful journey up river on a boat during which we were served an excellent lunch prepared in front of us. Sa Meth looked after us very well and with good English was a mine of information. This include a guided tour of a village that specialised in silver and copper artworks. We bought a lovely copper elephant for our daughter. He then handed us over to a driver of a most comfortable limosine for the rest of the journey.

Excellent river cruise with our guide Sameth on the river. Sameth is very knowledgeable, friendly and engaging. Lunch was nice and this trip was enjoyable despite it being the dry season which limited the river boat portion due to river depth. Obviously, seasonal rains are not within anyone’s control and we knew this by reading their website. Thoroughly enjoyable to see Cambodian communities along the journey and much better than flying from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh.

We wanted to get from Siem Reap to phnom Pen but didn’t want to drive all the way. The Tara riverboat gave us the opportunity to cruise some of the journey. Through email correspondence we booked our place on the trip. We were picked up from our hotel in the morning by Var our driver. He spoke excellent English and was very knowledgeable giving us interesting facts about Cambodia along the way. It took approximately 4hrs with a stop for refreshments. When we reached the port side to meet the boat, the transfer was seamless. The happy crew were waiting to take us and our luggage onboard. The boat was lovely and clean with sunny and shaded seating areas. Sameth our host prepared us some delicious food and beverages on request. He’s such a friendly man, very attentive and kind. He too spoke excellent English and again we chatted about the history of Cambodia and Khmer. The river trip also took around 4hrs. We felt the whole experience was very straightforward and enjoyable.

A great way to get to SR from PP if you want to take your time. I ended up being the only one going in this direction so felt like a private tour. I enjoyed the leisurely boat ride up the Tonle Sap river. The guide on both this leg and the drive to SR were friendly and knowledgeable. Lunch on board the boat was delicious! At the change from boat to car, there's the chance to take a look at a local silver/goldsmith shop and a pagoda. Would recommend as a different way to travel if you want to experience a bit more culture along the way.

When faced with the challenge of getting from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, we decided to do something different. Booking directly through the website was extremely easy - Peter was able to confirm our booking the same day. Our driver Dara was at our hotel early, and throughout the 4.5 hour car ride to the riverboat, he also made a couple of fun stops for us and filled us in on the local happenings. Travelling via private car was very comfortable and made for some good views of rural life. We then arrived to the Tomle Sap River and boat section of the trip right on time, where we were transferred into the hospitable care of Samath. With the whole crew keeping us safe and fed (lunch was delicious!), Samath in particular was really helpful in answering the many questions we had about life in Cambodia and keeping us entertained for the remaining 4.5 hour trip. We also made a really special stop to a temple en route to PP. All in all, we loved our time on the Tara River Boat. We would definitely recommend this trip to all in SR or PP!

I wish I'd been a bit more thorough with my research before booking this tour, which turned out to be a real disappointment and probably the low-point of our three weeks in SE Asia. Communication with Peter, at the time of booking and prior to the pick-up day was good, and our guide arrived on time to collect us. We then picked up another couple with a 5yr old daughter, and began the road trip element of our tour. Our guide spoke to us for about an hour, giving us some of his views of the political climate in Cambodia at the moment and the inequities of the health and education system. He, himself, had clearly had a very difficult and challenging life, and seemed a bit resentful to be still having to work as a guide (and also a tuk-tuk driver) at the age of 73. It felt a bit uncomfortable, as did his repeated use of the 'f' word, which was probably not understood by the little (German) girl in our group, but all the same, it was inappropriate. After his initial monologue, and a roadside stop for five minutes to learn how sticky rice was made, he remained mostly quiet for the rest of the 5-hour road trip, except to answer questions, when asked. We stopped for a break, bought our own coffees and snacks and then continued on to a second stop, so that the tour guide and driver could have their lunch. This left us tourists wandering around an open market which was selling dried fruits and nuts and we were besieged by children, begging for money, refusing access to the public toilets, unless we paid. There was nowhere for us to sit, since the cafe area was only to be used if you were planning to eat, and we had been told we were 20 minutes away from lunch on the boat. After this stop, we arrived at the boat, disembarked from the van and our guide and the driver then announced that they were returning to Siem reap and wouldn't be coming further with us. (which begs the question why they couldn't wait to eat by themselves, just a bit longer). We were a group of 4 and a half people and the boat we were put on had a capacity for 120 people! Lunch was served within half an hour of embarking on the river cruise and it was good, with chicken and vegetable kebabs, pork ribs, salad and fresh fruit. The rest of the river cruise was relaxing, but consisted of only one stop at a Buddhist temple, but there were no other stops at floating villages, artisan silversmiths or anything, and we arrived after 2 hours on the river in Phnom Penh, where a tuk tuk was arranged to take us to our hotel. For the ticket price, we all felt like we'd been ripped off, and in hindsight, I should've looked at the very wide range of reviews of Tara Boats. Our tour guide on the boat was lamenting the fall in numbers of tourists doing their tours, since Covid...I'm not sure how much Covid has to do with declining numbers. We did other tours in SE Asia with burgeoning numbers. Unless this company addresses what I now realise are a number of repeating complaints, and review the description of the tours to make them more accurate, I can't see how it will recover its numbers...or, better still, improve the tour so that it's actually a reflection of what's promised and genuine value for money! I don't like to be negative, but we paid $139pp for this tour. On a subsequent day, we paid $33pp for an 8hour day tour of the Meekong Delta with a different company, which included 4hours on the road, but the rest of the day was on boats, visiting a number of different islands, including lunch, informative talks and even some entertainment! So I'm afraid that the Taraboats tour did not represent value for money at all.

We did the transfer from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh and also the floating village at sunset tour. In both instances, they were on time, efficient and friendly, providing knowledge as we went. The food was delicious. We couldn’t have asked for better tours. The one way transfer from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh was a definite highlight seeing the countryside compared to waiting at the airport and getting on a plane. Thank you also to Peter who promptly replied to my bookings and queries. Highly recommended.

Description of the tour is not correct. We booked the one way SR to PP option & spent 4.5hrs in a car from SR to the outskirts of PP. Then we were put on the boat for a couple hour river cruise with lunch & 1 stop to visit a Buddhist temple. We did not 'glide around Tonal Sap Lake' but we did spend hours on a 'long & bumpy road'. Paid AU$550 for 2 people for a tour that ended up being predominantly a car drive. Lovely staff on the boat, but definitely not worth the money & it was not as described.