Siem Reap is such a great little city, whether you’re there to visit the Angkor temples, or you’re just there to see the city. There are some great things to see and do to keep you entertained, and a great cafe recommendation from us! We hope our guide to Siem Reap will allow you to see the best of the city!

Note: Cambodia uses the US dollar as one of its official currencies. All of the prices used in this blog post are in USD.

Cost: $37 – $72 USD for Angkor Pass tickets

If you’re visiting Siem Reap, chances are you’re wanting to check out the Angkor temples, and you absolutely should! It can be a bit overwhelming trying to choose which temples to visit, and deciding on which ticket will suit you. We’ll go through the different options so you can be sure you’re making the right choice!

There are 3 levels of ticket you can buy:

• 1 Day pass: This ticket costs $37USD and is valid up to five days after purchase, but for only one day
• 3 Day pass: This ticket costs $62USD and is valid up to 10 days after purchase, but for only three days. The three days don’t have to be consecutive
• 7 Day pass: This ticket costs $72USD and is valid up to 30 days after purchase, but for only seven days. The seven days don’t have to be consecutive

Angkor Pass tickets are available at the ticket office, or online. If you’re hiring a tuk tuk, the driver will take you to the office on your way to the temples. Our driver even came into the office to show us the right line to join. You can buy tickets with card or cash, and you don’t need your passport to purchase them. They will take a photo of you for your pass if you buy in person, so everyone in your group buying a ticket will need to be present at the office.

Your ticket will be checked multiple times per day at many different points, so make sure you always have it on you. Do not lose it, the fines for not having it on you are very large!

The ticket office is open from 5:00am-5:30pm every day, with tickets sold after 5pm valid for the next day. If you want to see the sunrise at a temple, we’d recommend buying tickets the day before after 5pm. There are also a couple of lesser-known temples that are not included on the Angkor Pass and require separate tickets. Talk to the staff at the office or check out the ticket website to see if you want to visit these temples.

In terms of how long you’ll need, we took two full days to see most of the major temples. Angkor isn’t just the Angkor Wat temple, it is a whole archaeological park with 72 temples. Unless you’re short on time or only want to see a few of the temples, we’d definitely recommend at least the three day pass. The one day pass would still be enough to see the most famous, so don’t worry if that’s all you can get.

There are 72 major temples still standing in the Angkor area, and ruins of hundreds more. You could spend your entire time in Siem Reap exploring them, and not even scratch the surface, so you’ll need to narrow down which ones you’d like to see. Here are some must-sees that you can build your trip around:

A UNESCO World Heritage site, this is Cambodia’s most famous temple. It even features on their flag! Built in the 12th century, it is actually the worlds largest religious structure and is absolutely worth a visit. It is open from 5am to 6pm and is popular as a sunrise spot, however it’s busy all day long. As long as you’re prepared, it won’t bother you and you’ll need maybe 2 hours here.

Made famous by the movie ‘Tomb Raider’, this temple also dates back to the 12th century. What makes this temple cool is that the ruins of the temple have been completely taken over by trees. The way they’ve worked themselves into the rock makes for a really wonderful and interesting visit. You’ll need probably 30-60 minutes here.

Again built in the 12th century, this temple is a little but very cool one. You’ll walk through the temple, looking at the wonderful stone work, and at the end one of the entrances has a tree growing around it. It’s a great photo spot and looks so impressive but you’ll only need 30-60 minutes here too.

Situated inside Angkor Thom (which was an old city with grand entrance gates), this temple is famous for it’s incredible carvings. The temple has 54 stone towers all intricately carved with faces, that are amazingly all unique. Originally there were 216 faces but less than 200 remain now and it is something that is absolutely worth seeing. You’ll need one to two hours here.

This was one of our favourite temples, as it is situated on an artifical island in an artificial lake. To get there you have to walk across a beautiful wooden walkway and once there there are some pools as well as temple ruins. Originally these pools were thought tohave healing properties, as the temple was originally built as a hospital. You’ll probably need 30-60 minutes here.

Those were 5 of our favourites, but we also enjoyed Preah Khan, Pre Rup and Ta Keo. One night we also enjoyed sunset from Phnom Bakheng or Bakheng Hill which was busy but a cool experience nonetheless. If you’re unsure which temples to visit, don’t hesitate to ask your tuk tuk driver, they always know best. Its likely they’ll recommend the small or grand circuit, which is what we did with a few additional addons. Whatever you end up seeing, it will be amazing and an experience you will never forget!

Cost: Free

Siem Reap has a lovely city centre! Because of the number of tourists that visit the city, the streets seem to be more organised that we expected in Southeast Asia. There are lots of nice cafes and shops and great things to buy at very affordable prices. Walking around and just exploring was lovely and relaxing, although you do need to take care when crossing the road! Like other countries in this area of the world, you’ll find that they play it fast and loose with the road rules.

Pub Street is the main tourist hub in the city, and it really comes alive in the evening. The whole area is full of restaurants, pubs and clubs, as well as dessert places, spas and massage parlours. It’s the perfect place to get some dinner and drinks, or to party the night away if that’s what you want. Keep in mind that because of how busy and tousity it is, there will be lots of people trying to sell you on their services or products. There are also usually many tuk tuk drivers around asking if you need a ride somewhere, which may be useful for you!

While wandering around the town, we highly recommend checking out Temple Coffee ‘n Bakery. It is a wonderful cafe just across the river from Pub Street, with the most relaxed vibe. It has two levels of seating and is air conditioned which is a life saver in the tropical heat. The food and drinks are amazing, with some incredible frappes that we still talk about. It is definitely pricier than other cafes in the city but it’s worth it for the atmosphere.

Cost: Free to visit

Just off Pub Street is the night market that is open from 4pm to midnight every day and is worth checking out. The market has over 200 stalls set in traditional bamboo huts in a beautiful garden. They sell lots of local goods including paintings, handcrafted wood items, silk clothing, handbags, and delicious street food.

If you miss the night market, another option is the Siem Reap Old Market, also known as Psah Chas. It is open 7am – 8pm every day and is located close to Pub Street just at the end of Old Market Bridge. Similar to the Night Market, it sells lots of local handmade goods and Cambodian food as well as souvenirs. Make sure you barter for prices as it is expected in Cambodia, and can save you a few dollars!

Cost: Free

While walking around the city you might stumble across the Wat Bo Temple which is an 18th century Buddhist temple. It is free to enter but you can donate if you’d like. It is fairly small, only taking around 30 minutes to look around. You can also go inside the temple and see some beautiful 19th century paintings. As well as the temple, there is a small school, some accomodation for the monks and a garden to sit and relax in. If you visit between 4:30pm-6pm you can hear the Monks chanting, which is a really unique experience.

Cost: Free

If you’re after a little garden escape, the Angkor Botanic Garden is only a 9 minute tuk tuk ride from Pub Street. Previously known as the Angkor Spice Garden, it is a 14-hectare green space split into five sections.

The first section is the spice and medicine garden, where rare plants used for traditional Cambodian medicine are grown. Second is the seasonal plants which has different grasses, flowers and plants according to the season. The third is the palm garden which grows all different types of palm plants. Fourth is the Khmer garden where fruit trees and other Cambodian plants are grown. And lastly is the Angkor forest and wildlife area which is a beautiful walkway through the wild Angkor forest.

The garden is open 7:30am-5:00pm every day except Monday and has free entry. It was originally created with a goal of environmental education and looking after some of the rare plants found in the garden, of which there are more than 500 different species. As well as preserving the Angkor archaeological site and the forest land where the garden sits. However as well as plant life you can also find turtles, chickens, peacocks, rabbits, fish and birds so lots to keep you entertained!

Cost: $12

A 25 minute walk away from pub street, or just a 7 minute tuk tuk ride, is the Angkor National Museum. The museum takes visitors through the history of Khmer civilization from the beginning all the way to it’s the height of the empire. There are 8 galleries separated in ascending order of evolution and will also give visitors an understanding of the religious beliefs of the Khmer people.

The museum has an audio guide for $5USD with a variety of languages to help you get the most out of your visit. There are free lockers, free toilets and a cafe. It is open 8:30am – 6pm from the 1st of April to the end of September and 8:30-6:30pm from the 1st of October to the 31st of March. Tickets are $12USD for an adult and $6USD for a child and is definitely worth a visit if you have time.

So there you go! Some great tips to use for your time in Siem Reap from temple recommendations to a market, a garden, a museum, and our favourite cafe! We hope you have the most amazing time taking it all in and seeing all the incredible history this city has to offer. To see everything we did in Siem Reap, you can watch our vlog here:

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