Community First: Kompong Khleang Floating Village Tours

This tour was the highlight of our Siem Reap trip! The village itself is so unique and unlike anywhere we have been before, and the fact that the tour goes directly towards helping the community made it even more special. We visited the local school, walked around the village and went on a boat trip. We also ate delicious local snacks. Our guide was from the village and was very knowledgeable. Everything ran on time and we definitely felt like we got our money's worth. Couldn't reccomend it more!

We wanted to visit a floating village while avoiding the more touristy ones, in order to see how people really live. We found this NGO-run tour and it exceeded our expectations: it was very well organized, we learned a lot, and the guide was fantastic. The village is truly off the beaten path, and everyone was incredibly welcoming. Highly recommended!

Our half day afternoon trip by mini bus to visit an authentic village along the Tonle Sap was an absolute highlight of our visit to Cambodia and Vietnam this Jan. 2025 The small scale tour run by Community First (a non profit organisation), to visit Kompong Khleang was memorable for so many reasons. Firstly, Paren our guide from Kampong Khleang and one of the principals was interesting, genuine and provided real lived experience commentary about life in the village and people living around the Tonle Sap. Stopping along the way for sticky rice and Cambodian 'donuts' and snacks was a bonus cultural experience. Secondly, the tour was not touristic at all and still professionally run. You will read that many of the other heavily advertised tours that take visitors to the floating villages around Tonle Sap are tourist traps. You will also read on traveller forums that the typical tours are more like zoo visits, exploitative and where there is little or no genuine benefit to the local community. We almost didn't visit this area as a result until we fortunately came across this tour run by Community First. The organisation directly employs people from the village, the money from tours goes back into supporting different areas of the village, including schooling and access to learning English. Going out to the main Tonle Sap lake in a boat during the dry season was really eye opening. At this time of the year, you can really see the village houses built and perched up on wooden stilts around 10m above the ground to avoid being submerged when the water rises. It will be great to come back again during the rainy season to see the contrasting life with high water levels. The boat cruise out to the lake from the village provides a great insight into the life on the local people and the challenges that they face. To watch the magical sunset over the lake is just one of the many highlights of this tour. If you are interested in an authentic experience visiting a Khmer village and seeing life around the Tonle Sap, in a respectful and low impact way, going on this Community First tour is a must. Best of all, you can be confident that your money is directly contributing to improving the livelihoods of some local people. Many thanks again Paren. Keep up the great work Community First!

We had a fantastic tour of Kampomg Khleang Village and lake. Our local tour guide Paren was super friendly and had so much insight to share about life in Cambodia and the small fishing villages around the lake. We also loved visiting the Bridge of life school and getting a feel of how this company has a real social impact on the local community. We highly recommend booking a tour with this company if you like to experience the stilted and floating villages of Ton Le Sap while learning about this unique Cambodian society.

A truly authentic tour of Cambodia, Paren was amazing, he told us his personal story and you can relate to the Cambodian way of life. The local sticky rice and bakery was a great way to meet the locals. The village was welcoming and just smiles everywhere. The school was incredible and hopefully the new building will make a great impact. The sunset was perfect. I felt I had a genuine glimpse of the real Cambodia.

Skip the touristy hotel pre-booked tours and book this with Paren immediately! If you’re hesitant about the price, know that it costs a bit more because the proceeds support charitable initiatives through Bridge of Life, which helps build schools in Kampong Khleang. You’ll even have the opportunity to visit one of these schools during the tour — and after that, you’ll likely feel it was worth even more (and yes, you can always donate extra if you’d like!). Paren is a native of the village and, thanks to educational programs, now gives back to his community. His English is excellent, and as an educated local, he offers deep, thoughtful insights into life in the area. On top of that, he’s an incredibly kind and lovely person. As a bonus, you’ll stop along the way to sample local treats like sticky rice cake while learning about the region. You’ll walk through Paren’s village, then take a boat ride to Tonle Sap Lake to watch the sunset over a floating village — an unforgettable experience.

Exceptional, a highlight of my trip to Cambodia. First of all, it felt very authentic and local. We were a small group and the only tourists. The tour was very mindful to respect the local communities (as opposed to what I’ve heard for the other more touristy floating villages). We tasted some local snacks, drove to the village with houses on tiles and then took a boat on the river to see the floating villages and the sunset on the lake (beautiful endless water in the horizon). Cherry on the cake is that the money of this tour supports the village (building a school, access to clean water…). I did the tour during dry season and was afraid that it would be less scenic due to the low water levels but I ended up loving it because you could really see how big and impressive the tile structures were. This tour went beyond my expectations, I highly recommend it.

A wonderfully personal, interesting and insightful tour of the local way of life. Our guide, Paren, grew up in the village and had a unique knowledge of the area. He answered all our questions thoughtfully and gave us a wonderful understanding of the fishing village as well as the floating village on the lake. Plus there were snacks! I thoroughly recommend this tour to those interested in the real Cambodia. Knowing that the profits from the tour go to support the community makes this the tour to take.