Every version of this trip built during planning, in one place. The live site at the top is the actual answer — everything below it is the comparison work that got us there, kept for reference.
🛕 Cambodia & Bangkok Temple Trail
Live siteBengaluru → Siem Reap → Bangkok → Bengaluru
The real, interactive build — day-by-day drawers with route maps, a live budget & booking checklist driven by data/budget.json, GSAP scroll animations. No Phnom Penh: flies direct into Siem Reap (cheapest direct fare found, well under the bundled-via-Bangkok option), then 5 nights in Bangkok with Ayutthaya and Koh Larn day trips added on top of the usual temples, markets, and Amphawa.
No Bangkok
Draft 1Phnom Penh → Siem Reap
The original plan, single country. Cambodia only — S-21 & Killing Fields, Royal Palace, full 5-day Angkor stretch.
Bangkok Added, at the End
Draft 2Phnom Penh → Siem Reap → Bangkok
Keeps all of Cambodia intact and closes the trip with 2 days in Bangkok. Checked whether a same-day BLR→Bangkok→Phnom Penh through-fare survives a multi-day Bangkok stopover (it doesn't — confirmed via a real multi-city fare check).
No Phnom Penh, Siem Reap First
Draft 3Siem Reap → Bangkok
Drops Phnom Penh entirely for the first time. Found that flying direct into Siem Reap costs meaningfully more per person than routing via Phnom Penh as a same-day connection — flagged as the headline finding of this draft.
No Phnom Penh, Bangkok First
Draft 4 · cheapest 2-hub optionBangkok → Siem Reap
Same two hubs as Draft 3, reversed order. Turned out cheaper overall — the expensive "direct to/from Siem Reap" leg lands on the return instead of the outbound, and the premium is smaller in that direction.
Video-Sourced Itinerary
Draft 5Phnom Penh → Siem Reap → Bangkok
Days 1–4 followed shot-by-shot from a specific YouTube Short ("The ONLY 6 Day Cambodia Itinerary you need!!"), extended with a proper Siem Reap wind-down and a dedicated Bangkok shopping day (Chatuchak, since it lands on a weekend). Battambang was cut for wet-season weather.