Tours in Krong Siem Reap

Siem Reap is a small town beside a very large ruin. The Angkor park covers some 400 square kilometres. Inside it lie the remains of a capital that ran from the ninth century to the fifteenth.

The temples, in the order people see them

• Angkor Wat — built in the first half of the twelfth century under Suryavarman II, and unusual among Khmer temples for facing west.
• Angkor Thom and the Bayon — the walled city of Jayavarman VII, its state temple carrying 216 stone faces on fifty-four towers.
• Ta Prohm — founded in 1186 and left half-swallowed by fig and silk-cotton roots, deliberately.
• Banteay Srei — consecrated in 967, pink sandstone cut shallow and fine, 25 kilometres northeast.
• The Roluos group — the ninth-century beginning of it all, before the capital moved north.
• Beng Mealea and Koh Ker — an hour or two out, one collapsed into forest, the other a seven-tier pyramid.

The park has two standard loops. The small circuit takes in Angkor Wat, the Bayon and Ta Prohm; the grand circuit swings wider. Most people do both.

How many days, and how early

One day buys the three headline temples and a great deal of heat. Three days is the honest minimum for anyone who also wants Banteay Srei and the outer groups. A week is for the far sites.

Sunrise is the one appointment worth keeping. Gates open at five and the ticket office at half past four. The pool in front of Angkor Wat fills early.

The town and the lake

Siem Reap itself is walkable in an hour. The Old Market, the river and Pub Street are the centre, and Apsara dance dinners run nightly.

The lake is the other day out. Kampong Phluk stands on stilts six metres above the dry-season mud, and Kampong Khleang is bigger and far less visited.

Practical

• The pass. Angkor Enterprise is the only legitimate seller, at the ticket centre on Road 60 or online. One day, three days valid inside ten, seven days valid inside a month. Under-twelves go free with a passport.
• What it costs. A single day is a little under forty US dollars, more than most people expect.
• Dress. Shoulders and knees covered. The upper Bakan level of Angkor Wat turns away anyone in a vest or short shorts.
• Heat. March to May runs past 35C with no shade in the courtyards. Start at dawn, stop at eleven, go out again at three.
• Sunset at Phnom Bakheng. Three hundred people are allowed on the summit at a time, and in December the queue closes early.
• The airport. The new one opened in October 2023, about fifty kilometres east of town, so allow an hour and book the transfer.