Phnom Penh to Manila the Fastest way

This is Phnom Penh capital of Cambodia

And this is Manila the capital of the Philippines

SEVEN HOURS to FIFTEEN HOURS? First off I would like to clarify that I am not promoting any companies, all the photos you see are from google and to credits to where they come from. I am not sponsored, everything I would use are based on my experience and not selected for advertising or endorsing anyone.
Now if its your first time booking a flight you would think is it really that far? NO it is not, if you would check the neighbor countries (VIETNAM and THAILAND) they are barely 3 hours away. It doesn't make sense right? The 3 main reasons I found: 1. There is currently NO direct flight - this means stop overs or long lay overs, usually it would be Kuala Lumpur or Singapore or Taiwan or Hong Kong. 2. I was aiming for the wrong place, What do I mean? If you think about it these cities (Manila and Phnom Penh) are the capitals YES, now put yourself in a travelers point of view. How much is there really to see in these cities? I have to say Manila would have quite a handful but as a tourist you can't really feel the essence going in a country just by the Capital, this means you have to jump to the provinces eventually. I realized Yes that sounds about right, now the Philippines has 7000 islands therefore too many provinces with too many possible airports so to narrow my search I started looking at Cambodia first and I found Siem Reap, apparently Cambodia's top touristic location has an international airport and there is 1 airline from the Philippines that goes to it back and forth. I am sure there are some more airlines but based on my research this airline offers it the cheapest.

3. The cheapest yet most useful lay over location, Take Kuala Lumpur it caters a good number of countries all over the world and according to Malaysians (a few friends I've met) it has been mandated by the Malaysian Government that flights in their country should be cheap as in almost dirt cheap (especially inbound flights) a regular non-promo flight there usually runs around $49-70 USD from most of South East Asian countries (i.e Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, etc...) So yes it kinda became the default go to simple because of its price. Then you add the fact that their country flight schedules are far apart that if you arrive 10am at KUL(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) from PNH (Phnom Penh, Cambodia) then the earliest flight KUL to MNL (Manila Philippines) is usually around 8pm giving you a good 10 hours of waiting time sometimes more.

CONCLUSION: 1. If you want to get in and out of Camboland fast, then take the Siem Reap route, thats where you will go if you want to see Cambodia anyway. 2. And not everyone knows this, If it is only the Airtime you are bothered and you are willing to spend time traveling by land we would strongly recommend transiting from Vietnam or Thailand then hoping on a bus to Cambodia this way you can see two countries in one go. 3. Keep an eye for new airline companies, with the speed Manila and Phnom Penh are moving it is very posible there could be someone offering direct flights soon.





Did I miss anything? suggestions? reactions? Let me know on the comments or shoot me an email

JC Capuyan

jccapuyan@gmail.com