Travelling solo? How to find local guide or tour in Cambodia

Mekong Island Hiking Tour-vanatravel.com

When it comes to traveling solo, some people want to take a break and sightsee with a group. But what about those who prefer something more intimate, like a private guided tour?

Options are increasing as more people give solo travel a try. When I wrote about the trend last year, some 24 percent of people had traveled alone on their most recent overseas leisure vacation, up from 15 percent in 2013, according to the Visa Global Travel Intentions Study. Among first-time travelers, solo travel was even more popular, jumping to 37 percent in 2015, up from 16 percent in 2013.

One-on-one tours allow travelers to explore at their own pace, be it for an hour or an entire day. And thanks to the growth of the sharing economy, private guides around the world have become easier to find and surprisingly affordable. Below, a guide to local guides.

Tours by Locals

There are a handful of local guide sites on the Internet, but many are awkward to navigate and have poor-quality photographs, as well as spelling errors. Frankly, most of them seem like something your kid brother set up on a lark. An exception is Tours by Locals, which has guides that offer private at-your-own-pace tours in more than 130 countries. The site is a bit cluttered, but click on the “find a guide” link to select a place and you’ll be able to select a region, then a city, and then see a list of guides in the area. You can read about their background, view headshots, check out reviews from previous customers and communicate before you book a tour — a nice option that many competitors don’t allow. A recent search for a guide in Cambodia found a half day private hiking tour in Mekong Island and Countryside for $39 were organized by Vana Adventure Travel which local bike tours and adventures in Cambodia.

Note: some local guides on Tours by Locals as well as the other sites mentioned here list rates per person (helpful for solo travelers); others list rates per tour. If you’re traveling solo and don’t see rates for one person, message the guide or the site to see if you can work something out.

Tourism Cambodia

tourismcambodia.org, the official site of Ministry of Tourism of the Kingdom of Cambodia. This website contented the provincial guide which the main part of local guide which included tour and attraction destination, tour operators and tour types.