Cambodia entry: visas, e-Arrival and airport choices

Start with nationality and passport type

Check Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa-exemption list for your nationality and passport type. Its table dated 28 February 2025 lists normal-passport stays of 14 days for Brunei, Myanmar and Thailand; 30 days for Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and the Maldives; and 15 days for Seychelles.

Use the Normal column for an ordinary passport. Diplomatic, official and special passports have different columns, so a favourable entry elsewhere in the table does not apply to an ordinary passport. For a nationality or travel document outside the listed exemptions, obtain the current visa position from a Cambodian mission before booking transport.

This is an entry checklist for a short tourist visit. Work, study, residence and travel on an emergency or other non-standard document need their own advice from a Cambodian mission.

Passport validity and choosing a tourist visa

For a tourist visa, carry a passport with at least six months remaining when you enter Cambodia.

A standard Cambodian tourist visa permits a single entry, with three months to use it after issue and a stay of 30 days after entry.

The issue-validity window is the time in which to enter; the permitted stay starts on entry. Keep both dates in view when choosing the flight home.

On 15 October 2026, Cambodian government news agency AKP’s published fee update listed the tourist e-Visa (T) at US$30 and the ordinary e-Visa (E) at US$35.

For tourism, choose T rather than ordinary E. Cambodia Tourism Board’s eVisa guide, checked on 15 October 2026, lists a processing time of three business days and accepts approved eVisas at Techo (KTI), Siem Reap Angkor (SAI) and Sihanoukville (KOS) airports. Apply at evisa.gov.kh with your passport details and recent photograph, pay online and bring the approval certificate; the board recommends printing two copies. Use the portal’s nationality eligibility check before applying.

Visa on arrival depends on your nationality and no Cambodian government source publishes its fee, documents or air checkpoints, so if you need a visa, apply for the US$30 tourist eVisa or through your Cambodian mission before you fly.

For an advance consular application, the Cambodian embassy in London lists a signed form, a recent 35 × 45 mm passport photo, a passport with at least six months remaining and two blank pages, and payment in banknotes or by bank transfer. Its published processing period is three working days in person by appointment, or five by post; use that embassy’s current fee and submission instructions if applying there. These are London’s conditions only; they do not apply to eVisa processing or airport issuance.

Submit the separate, free e-Arrival form

For arrival by air, complete Cambodia e-Arrival even if you already have a visa. Submission is free and opens seven days before arrival; the immigration department also permits submission on arrival.

Use arrival.gov.kh, linked from Cambodia’s General Department of Immigration. Completing the form before leaving home saves a task at the airport. A charge from an intermediary is separate from the free government submission.

Keep the passport and any visa you need accessible for the journey. Completing e-Arrival does not replace a visa. The air-arrival rule applies to flights only; it does not tell you what applies at a land or water crossing.

Cash, declarations and everyday payments

Declare foreign currency or equivalent domestic-currency means of payment of US$10,000 or more to Cambodian customs when entering or leaving the country.

Cambodia’s currency is the riel (KHR), and cash payments use both riel and US dollars. Check dollar change before accepting it: damaged notes may be refused.

Carry usable small notes for the airport’s last-mile ride and meals. Germany’s travel advice says cards are generally accepted only in larger hotels and restaurants, so choose cash or card with each business rather than relying on universal card acceptance.

Choose SAI or KTI, then the airport transfer

For Siem Reap, use Siem Reap Angkor International Airport (SAI). Book the Bangkok–Siem Reap leg by air.

For Phnom Penh, book flights to Techo International Airport (KTI), which took over major airline services from the old Phnom Penh airport in September 2025. From Bangkok, travel by air.

On 15 October 2026, the UK FCDO advised against all but essential travel within 20 km of Cambodia’s land border with Thailand; Germany warned against travel within 20 km, and France formally advised against travel within 30 km on the Cambodian side. The land crossings with Thailand are closed, so fly from Bangkok. Check your own government’s advice before booking.

On 15 October 2026, Siem Reap Airport Bus listed US$8 each way between Siem Reap Angkor International Airport and its town stop on 7 Makara Road in front of ACE School. The airport counter is on the left after leaving arrivals. Book on the operator’s website.

Airport operator YACA places SAI 50 km from Siem Reap provincial town. No operator or official page publishes a scheduled bus journey time, so choose your return bus with plenty of time before check-in; the road transfer is a substantial part of departure day.

On the same timetable, airport-to-town departures were 09:30, 11:00, 12:30, 15:00, 16:00, 17:00, 17:30, 19:00, 20:00 and 22:00. Town-to-airport departures were 05:30, 07:00, 08:00, 10:00, 12:00, 13:30, 15:00, 16:00, 17:30 and 19:00. Choose a departure after allowing for immigration and baggage collection, and leave the departure-day margin your airline requests.

The regular bus ticket ends at the town stop. The operator offers free hotel drop-off within 2 km and a hotel-to-stop tuk-tuk service advertised at US$2; the unit (per person or per vehicle) is not published, so the US$2 is not included in the budget. The budget below uses a hotel-direct return car instead.

For a hotel-direct alternative, Royal Angkor Tours lists an air-conditioned car carrying one to three between SAI and your Siem Reap hotel at US$45 one way or US$85 return, with 24/7 availability. Book on its own transfer page using your flights and hotel address; it lists free cancellation until 48 hours before pickup. The budget uses the US$85 return car.

A calm three-night arrival in Siem Reap

Keep all three nights in one room. Central Siem Reap is the useful base for this example because it keeps the arrival and departure arrangements tied to the same town stop. The budget below uses Mad Monkey’s Superior Double, which sleeps two in one double bed and has an ensuite bathroom.

The first meals can introduce Khmer food without turning entry planning into a packed sightseeing itinerary. SPOONS Café Restaurant’s breakfast menu lists num banh chok at KHR14,000 or US$3.50, both prices printed on the menu, with breakfast daily from 07:00 to 11:00. Its beef saraman is a fuller lunch; HAVEN offers amok and lok lak for dinner. The food box gives the ingredients and places.

• Day 1: arrive at SAI, take the booked hotel-direct car (or the airport bus, with your own ride from the town stop to the hotel), reach the hotel and have dinner. Sleep in Siem Reap.
• Days 2 and 3: keep the same room, have breakfast in town and use the separate Siem Reap and Angkor guides to choose any sightseeing. Sleep in Siem Reap both nights.
• Day 4: have breakfast and take the town-to-airport bus or your booked transfer for departure. This example is three nights, with no intercity move.

What the arrival and meals cost for two

This budget is for two adults sharing a room for three nights, 16–19 November 2026, using prices checked on 15 October 2026. It adds the hotel’s room rate, tourist e-Visas for travellers who need them, the hotel-direct airport car in both directions and the meals listed. Only published prices are added up; everything else is listed once under “not included”.

For the meals, each person has num banh chok for three breakfasts and beef saraman for two lunches; each of the three dinners is one amok and one lok lak between the pair. HAVEN’s prices include 10% VAT and it adds no service charge. SPOONS does not state tax or service on its menus, so those are not included.

On 15 October 2026 Mad Monkey’s own site listed the Superior Double from US$26 a night for 16–19 November, US$78 for the three nights, the hotel’s own rate. The room sleeps two. Taxes, service and breakfast are not included.

• Room: Mad Monkey Superior Double, 3 nights × US$26 = US$78.
• Tourist e-Visas: 2 × US$30 = US$60; e-Arrival is free.
• Airport–hotel return car: US$85 for one Royal Angkor Tours car for one to three passengers, both directions. The US$8 bus is an alternative, not added.
• Breakfasts: 6 × US$3.50 = US$21, using the menu’s printed dollar price.
• Lunches: 4 × US$8.99 = US$35.96 at SPOONS.
• Dinners: 3 × (US$7.50 + US$8) = US$46.50 at HAVEN.
• Published-price total: US$326.46 for two (78 + 60 + 85 + 21 + 35.96 + 46.50), or US$266.46 if neither traveller needs a tourist visa.
• Not included: flights, room taxes and service charge, hotel breakfast, SPOONS tax or service, the US$2 hotel-to-stop tuk-tuk, restaurant transfers, drinks, arrival-day lunch and departure-day meals beyond breakfast, sightseeing and its transport, insurance and mobile data.