Siem Reap Cambodia Travel Guide

Top things to do in Siem Reap

Angkor Wat is the obvious headline, and it earns it. The 12th-century temple on Cambodia's flag is best at 5 am, when the towers reflect in the lotus pools at sunrise. Your Angkor pass covers the entire park: $37 for one day or $62 for three days, and we strongly recommend the 3-day version. One day at the temples is a sprint; three days let you return to favorites in better light and take a midday pool break in town.

Angkor Thom and the Bayon come next, where 216 giant stone faces gaze down from every tower. Enter through the South Gate causeway, lined with 54 gods and 54 demons hauling a giant serpent ~ it's the most dramatic entrance in the park and best photographed early morning. Ta Prohm, the famous 'Tomb Raider' temple half-swallowed by strangler-fig roots, is included on the same pass; go first thing or late afternoon to dodge the midday tour groups at the root doorways.

Save half a day for Banteay Srei, the tiny pink-sandstone 'citadel of women' about 25 km out with the finest, deepest carving anywhere at Angkor. It's included in your pass, and the tuk-tuk ride through rice-paddy villages is half the fun. Back in town, the Old Market and the night markets around Pub Street fill the evenings without costing much at all.

Food in Siem Reap: what to eat and what it costs

Khmer food deserves more fame than it gets. Fish amok, a coconut curry steamed in banana leaf, became our daily order at $3-5 in local restaurants; beef lok lak with lime-pepper dip runs about the same. Street stalls near the Old Market sell noodle soups and grilled skewers for $1-2, and a fresh sugarcane juice is around 50 cents. Even a sit-down dinner with drinks in a nice restaurant rarely passed $10-15 per person.

The area around Pub Street is touristy but genuinely fun, with happy-hour beers at 50 cents to $1. For something calmer, we loved the garden restaurants along the river and the small family-run places on Wat Bo Road, where a full Khmer set meal costs $5-7. Cooking classes are popular here too, typically $15-25 for a half day including a market tour, and they're a great way to understand the cuisine beyond amok.

Day trip: Tonlé Sap floating villages

When temple fatigue sets in (it's real), the floating villages of Tonlé Sap lake make a fascinating half-day change of pace. Stilt houses rise several meters above the water, kids paddle to floating schools, and entire communities live on Southeast Asia's biggest lake. Boat tours run $20-35 per person depending on the village and season.

Choose your village carefully. Kampong Phluk is the one we'd recommend over Chong Kneas, which has a reputation for hard-sell scams and inflated 'donations'. Book through a reputable operator or your guesthouse rather than at the dock. Late afternoon trips catch the best light, and in wet season (roughly June to October) the lake swells dramatically and the flooded forest is at its most photogenic.

Getting around and where to stay

The classic move is hiring a tuk-tuk driver for the day, usually $15-20 for the main temple circuit and a bit more for far-flung sites like Banteay Srei. Your driver waits at each temple, keeps cold water on board, and quickly becomes your unofficial guide. Confident cyclists can rent bicycles for $2-5 a day ~ the park is flat, but distances add up and the heat is serious. Ride-hailing apps like Grab and PassApp work well in town.

Stay in Siem Reap town near Pub Street or the quieter Wat Bo area; the temples start about 15 minutes north. Guesthouses with pools go for $10-20 a night, solid mid-range hotels for $30-60, and genuine luxury resorts from $100. After a 5 am sunrise start and a sweaty morning of temples, that pool is not a luxury, it's infrastructure. The new Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI) sits about an hour from town.

Best time to visit Siem Reap and practical tips

November to March is the sweet spot: dry, relatively cool, and ideal for long temple days. April and May are brutally hot, regularly topping 35°C. The wet season from June to October brings afternoon downpours but also green rice paddies, fuller moats, and thinner crowds ~ we'd happily visit then with a flexible schedule.

Dress code matters: shoulders and knees covered for temple entry, and the upper level of Angkor Wat enforces it strictly. Buy your Angkor pass online or at the official ticket center only, carry small US dollar bills (Cambodia runs on dollars, with riel as change), and start every temple day as early as you can manage. Ignore anyone telling you a temple is 'closed' ~ it's a classic setup for a detour to a commission shop.

How much does a Siem Reap trip cost?

Siem Reap is one of the best-value wonders of the world. Budget travelers can live well on $25-35 a day: a $10-15 guesthouse, $5-8 on food, and a shared or negotiated tuk-tuk. Mid-range comfort lands around $50-80 a day with a pool hotel, restaurant meals, and a private driver. The temples themselves are the biggest fixed cost ~ budget $55-75 total for a 3-day pass plus tuk-tuk hire.

For a typical 3-4 day visit, we'd budget roughly $150-250 per person on a backpacker style, $250-450 mid-range, excluding flights. Cash is king at markets and with drivers, though hotels and bigger restaurants take cards. ATMs dispense US dollars; withdraw larger amounts to minimize the $4-5 ATM fees.