Siem Reap · A Tog's Trek

The gateway to Angkor Wat, one of the greatest archaeological sites on earth. The town itself is lively and touristy, centred on Pub Street with a vibe that says more Phuket than it should, given that ancient temples are the reason to come. Allow at least two days.

West of the river is the busier, Pub Street side, cheap-and-cheerful local places in quantity. East of the river is more upmarket, with the fine dining and the quieter restaurants.

Prostitution is illegal in Cambodia, but that won't stop tuk-tuk drivers in Siem Reap offering to take you for a 'sexy massage'. Don't. Even setting aside the risk that it's a set-up to extract a bribe for avoiding the police, you would be feeding a deeply exploitative and power-imbalanced trade built on trafficking.

Getting here from Phnom Penh: 315km, roughly 5 hours by car or van. Hiring a car or van is the practical option, reasonably priced, and drivers generally throw in a sightseeing stop or two and lunch on the way. Buses are far cheaper but less comfortable. You can fly, but once you factor in getting to the airport, checking in, and getting from the destination airport into Siem Reap, you are not really saving time.

Sights & Culture

Angkor Wat

The main event. A 1-day pass is $37, a 3-day pass $62 (valid for any three days within a week), a 7-day pass $72 (any seven days within a month). Prices are set by Angkor Enterprise and are the same wherever you buy; there is no 2-day option, which is the gap that actually stings. Children under 12 go free with a passport. We arranged a car and our driver up from Phnom Penh, but you can also do the circuit by tuk-tuk. If you are doing sunrise, buy tickets in advance, ideally online, to skip the queue.

The complex is vast, and a full day is easily filled if you want it to be, though you may have to prod drivers to offer more than the default three temple stops. I would have liked more than the three we did, but it is hard going: even starting at sunrise, the heat is relentless and grinds you down. It might have been worth spreading three temples across each of two days, but with only 1-day and 3-day passes and nothing between them, the maths does not reward a leisurely two-day plan.

Angkor Wat Temple

The busiest location and the most famous by a distance. The entrance is a small commercial strip of cafes, restaurants, souvenir shops and a Starbucks. Drivers typically wait out here while a guide goes in with you.

The temple faces west, which may indicate it was built as a funerary monument, though nobody is certain. It sits like an island inside a moat, reached by a long causeway. Within the walls are numerous buildings and the main temple itself. The features worth slowing down for:

Terrace of Honour. The raised causeway from the western entrance gate runs about 350m and ends at a cruciform terrace, the Terrace of Honour, fronting the entrance to the temple proper. It is flanked by naga balustrades and is where most people get their first full-frontal view of the towers.
Northern and Southern Libraries. Two free-standing buildings flank the causeway, with a second pair higher up on the temple. "Library" is a convention rather than a certainty; their real function is unresolved, and they were more likely shrines or repositories for sacred objects than reading rooms.
Reflecting Ponds (North and South). Two ponds flank the causeway. The northern one is the source of every Angkor Wat sunrise photograph ever taken, the five towers mirrored in the water. Get there early for a spot on the bank.
Hall of a Thousand Gods (Preah Poan). The cruciform cloister connecting the outer bas-relief gallery to the inner enclosure. The name dates from after Angkor Wat became a Buddhist site, when pilgrims left Buddha images in stone, wood and metal here. Most were removed, looted or shifted into conservation storage, but a handful remain, including a large standing Buddha on the southern side still venerated by monks from the neighbouring monasteries. The pillars carry most of the temple's Middle Period inscriptions, 16th to 18th century, in Khmer with occasional Pali, recording pious works by pilgrims and royalty. One arm is known as the Hall of Echoes for the acoustic trick at its end.
Northwest Pavilion. The outer gallery has pavilions, not towers, at its corners, and the northwest and southwest ones carry smaller, condensed bas-reliefs, mostly scenes from the Ramayana. Close by, on the north wing of the west gallery, is the Battle of Lanka, the Ramayana's climax and one of the busiest, most vigorously carved panels in the temple. If you walk the main gallery reliefs anticlockwise, which is the funerary direction and itself read as evidence the temple was a tomb, this corner is where the best 12th-century carving sits, just past the cruder 16th-century panels that make many visitors give up too early.
The stupa and the pagodas. The Chey Non Stupa stands on the lawn in front of the outer gallery, and two active modern monasteries sit within the enclosure, the Angkor Wat North and South Monasteries, their prayer halls painted with Reamker (the Khmer Ramayana) and Krishna murals.
Climbing the central tower (the Bakan). The third and highest level, the central sanctuary, represents Mount Meru and rises 31m above the third level, 55m above the ground. Access is by very steep staircases, limited numbers at a time with a queue, closed to under-12s, and a covered-shoulders-and-knees dress code that is actually enforced. Worth doing: it gives the best views over the complex and lets you see the four internal windows framing the Buddha.

There are a few stalls selling water, coffee and snacks near the North Pagoda.

The outer gallery's corner pavilion at Angkor Wat, wooden stairs down to the lawn

The Chey Non Stupa on the lawn in front of Angkor Wat's outer gallery, a palm tree behind

The cruciform terrace and colonnaded gallery inside Angkor Wat's outer enclosure

The steep modern staircase up to Angkor Wat's central tower, seen from the third-level courtyard

Angkor Wat's central tower with scaffolding for restoration work, visitors queuing at the base of the climb

View from the top of Angkor Wat's central tower over the second-level courtyard toward the western causeway

A visitor in white, covering shoulders and knees, at the base of Angkor Wat's central tower

Angkor Wat's outer gallery corridor running toward a corner pavilion, with a lawn courtyard and a lone palm tree

A weathered bas-relief battle scene on Angkor Wat's outer gallery wall, chariots and warriors carved in sandstone

One of Angkor Wat's free-standing library buildings, cruciform in plan, reached by a raised walkway across the grass

A gopura entrance building at Angkor Wat in late-afternoon light, a colonnaded porch approached by a raised walkway

Bayon Temple

Named for its roughly 200 large, faintly smiling faces carved into the stone. It was under repair when we visited, and inside it is a genuine maze, hard to navigate even following the signs. The grounds hold a troop of monkeys that will get close, so keep an eye on your belongings. The interior is also home to bats.

A worn stone altar block inside one of Bayon's small shrine rooms, incense burning beside it

A carved devata figure in a niche on Bayon's outer wall, framed by floral relief

A narrow columned corridor between two galleries at Bayon, steep stairs and a face-tower visible through the gap

Carved floral and figure moulding on a doorframe at Bayon, sunlight cutting across the stone

A dancing apsara relief flanked by two attendant figures on a pillar at Bayon, framed by a stone doorway

A seated Buddha statue at Bayon draped in a gold ceremonial sash, pillars and a staircase behind

A bas-relief procession of soldiers and a mounted rider on Bayon's outer gallery wall

Two of Bayon's face-towers with scaffolding covering restoration work alongside

Bayon's face-towers rising above a row of entrance doorways flanked by devata reliefs

Lit incense sticks in a stone offering bowl amid rubble at Bayon

A macaque sitting on a carved stone block among the trees around Bayon

Two macaques grooming on mossy carved stone blocks near Bayon

Ta Prohm Temple

A Buddhist temple, and the one used in the Angelina Jolie Tomb Raider film, which the site still makes much of, though it is now more than 20 years since the film came out, so plenty of visitors either will not have seen it or will file it generously under "classic cinema". As a temple it is fascinating in its own right: sprawling, and with trees growing over and through many of the buildings. You can see why they chose it to film. It is eerie, and it gives a real sense of an ancient place being taken back by the forest.

A giant silk-cotton tree's roots gripping tumbled sandstone masonry at Ta Prohm

A Ta Prohm tower with a large tree growing directly from its stonework, roots draped down the walls

A narrow stone corridor at Ta Prohm, doorways receding into the gloom

A colonnaded porch entrance at Ta Prohm, a tall tree trunk rising behind the roofline

Another colonnaded entrance porch at Ta Prohm, a dirt path leading past a "way of visit" sign

A leaning tree growing from a Ta Prohm building's roof above a roped-off colonnade, tumbled stone blocks in the foreground

A moss-covered building at Ta Prohm with carved devata figures on its pillars, a wooden boardwalk leading toward it

A tree root draping over a courtyard wall on a raised viewing platform at Ta Prohm, towers visible beyond

Thick tangled roots pouring down a tree trunk over a doorway at Ta Prohm, moss-covered fallen blocks in the foreground

A dense lattice of tree roots enveloping a doorway at Ta Prohm, the temple's best-known image

South Gate of Angkor Thom

The most photographed of Angkor Thom's five monumental gates, and the usual way into the walled city. A causeway crosses the moat flanked by two rows of stone figures, 54 gods on one side and 54 demons on the other, each row hauling on the body of a serpent in a depiction of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk. The gate itself is topped by four huge faces looking out to the cardinal directions, the same serene faces repeated on the Bayon inside.

The causeway to Angkor Thom's South Gate lined with stone gods hauling a naga balustrade, the moat alongside

Angkor Thom's South Gate with its four carved faces looking out over the moat

Pub Street

The town's main evening hub, a surprisingly short street of bars, restaurants and street food. Mediocre for an evening after a day at the temples, unless you have specifically missed shirtless England fans, Australians cheering at rugby in a sports bar, and loud Americans taking group selfies. If anything, the street cements Siem Reap's place on the Asia backpacker route: it would not survive on the interest of archaeological tourists alone.

Museums & Galleries

Angkor National Museum

The newer national museum is large and set in a very smart building. Entry is $12, plus $5 for the audio guide, which is worth it: the playback speed is adjustable, and 1.75x keeps a good pace without losing the sense of it. You start on the top floor with an onboarding film explaining the halls you are about to see.

Floor 2

A. Khmer Civilisation. A solid walk through the history, mostly Hindu until Buddhism became the state religion under Jayavarman VII, who acceded in 1181.
B. Thousand Buddha statues. The best single room in the museum. Walking in is a genuine moment: statues from tiny to human-sized, nothing on the scale of the largest in Thailand, but a striking sight all the same. The seated Buddha here is one of the oldest in the collection. "Buddha protected by Naga" is a very Cambodian image, and the naga motif recurs everywhere at Angkor.
C. Four Great Khmer Kings. Lots of lintels. The "Churning of the Ocean of Milk" story, also carved at Angkor Wat, is worth reading up on before you come.

Floor 1

D. Angkor Wat Architecture. Opens with reduced and damaged statues, including a Shiva with a third eye, then a scale model of Angkor Wat and a wraparound film with lit desks picking out specific carvings. On the way out, five gods and five demons cooperating on the Churning of the Ocean of Milk.
E. Angkor Thom, Pantheon of Spirits. Rescued statues in quantity, many gods and Buddhas, animals at the end.
F. Story from Stone. Stelae carrying histories and purchase records, a selection of ornaments and cultural objects (mostly copper alloy), and a stone mould. As with a lot of Western art of the same eras, Khmer artisans had apparently never seen children and rendered them as short adults.
G. Ancient Costume. Statues showing period dress. Thinner audio-guide coverage and less explanatory text here, which makes me suspect this hall is a fairly recent addition.

At the exit there is the museum shop, upmarket, with some nice pieces, though it would be better still if it sold replicas of actual items from the collection.

Watch for a tuk-tuk scam: our driver tried to take us to "his mate's" ticket store, claiming it would save a queue. There was no queue at the museum, and it is not the sort of place that has one. It cost him his tip. It is also unclear whether that alternative ticket would even have been valid, and it was not discounted, so there is no reason to take the risk.

A carved sandstone lion guardian head on display at the Angkor National Museum

A large carved stone sole marked with a dharma wheel and other auspicious symbols, part of a Buddha statue at the Angkor National Museum

A carved stone statue of Ganesha on display at the Angkor National Museum

An ornate carved stone pediment with a seated deity at its centre, on display at the Angkor National Museum

A carved stone lintel panel with rows of figures and elephants, on display at the Angkor National Museum

A seated four-armed deity statue at the Angkor National Museum, displayed against a lit backdrop

APOPO Visitor Center

Home of the famous landmine-detecting "hero rats". Trained rats clear mined ground far faster than a person can: a rat covers a tennis-court-sized area in about 20 minutes, against three to four days for someone doing it by hand, and one rat with two handlers can clear around 400 square metres a day. Dogs are used for the initial survey, but are too heavy to be safe over live mines. The rats are trained with a clicker-and-reward system, much like puppies. They can live to about 10 but work for roughly 5 years, and they work mornings, 6am to 9am, because they are nocturnal. They can detect as little as a trillionth of a gram of TNT, and at around 1.5kg they are too light to set a mine off. They outperform metal detectors, which throw up false positives and miss non-metal mines. To date the approach has helped remove roughly 5,000 landmines and 40,000 items of unexploded ordnance in Cambodia.

An estimated 19,000 people have been killed and 51,000 injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance in Cambodia, about half of them children. Much of that contamination came from wars Cambodia did not start. The country was formally neutral when US bombing of its territory began in the late 1960s, aimed at North Vietnamese supply routes and sanctuaries along the border; the bombing, and the instability that followed, is widely argued to have helped bring the Khmer Rouge to power. The mines that still maim farmers and children were laid across decades of conflict that outsiders did a great deal to set in motion.

A HeroRAT on a lead sniffing across a roped-off sand demonstration area, a handler's boots visible behind it

Close-up of a rat's trail marks in the sand demonstration area, a seedling and a dry leaf nearby

The covered outdoor demonstration sand pit at the APOPO Visitor Center, potted plants lining the edges

Restaurants & Bars

The Station, Pub Street

One of Pub Street's bars. It is fine: central, good service, decent food, and very much an Ibiza-or-Magaluf sort of vibe. It remains strange that Pub Street exists at all, given the reason people come to Siem Reap is the historic and spiritual temple district, not the sort of thing a place like this is aimed at.

Tree Hut Restaurant

Good food, good range, good atmosphere, though sadly empty when we were there.

Thy Phalla Restaurant

A small local place with no air-conditioning and just canvas over the seating, but great local food and fast service.

Smile Coffee

Very good iced latte, and you get a free hot tea while you wait.

Namva Cafe, near Angkor Wat

A pleasant spot by the entrance, decent coffee.

Shopping

Angkor Market II

Opposite the Angkor National Museum. A huge supermarket over two floors, with more European food on the shelves than we get at home in Sweden.

Sports & Activities

Sunrise tour of Angkor Wat

A 5am pickup, and it can be tight to get into position and find a good spot by the pond in that window, but there are comparatively few people about and it is a fine way to start the day. It also helps enormously with the heat: you are often done with the three main temples of a circuit by 1pm. Worth the early alarm.

A quieter, earlier moment at the Angkor Wat sunrise pond, blue-hour light and still water