Siem Reap runs on the sun. Plan your days around it.
Temples at first light, a kitchen or a pool through the heat, the lake or a temple stair for the last of it. Reviews of every tour you can book here, with what each one costs.
Dawn at the moat, Kampong Phluk by boat, the Kulen falls, a night at Phare.
Four bookings that shape a first few days in Siem Reap, with the price and the verdict of everyone who went.
01The 4:30 alarmAngkor Wat Sunrise or Sunset Tour with Guide from Siem ReapSunrise behind the five towers, then the Bayon and Ta Prohm before the heat sets in. The morning most people fly here for.
02Out on the Tonle SapKampong Phluk Floating Village Tour by BoatA boat through Kampong Phluk, the village on stilts at the edge of the Tonle Sap, and out to open water.
03Up Phnom KulenKulen Waterfall Join-in Tour (local Picnic lunch)The waterfall on Phnom Kulen with a picnic lunch by the river, about ninety minutes north of town.
04Under the big topPhare: The Cambodian Circus Show in Siem ReapPhare, the Cambodian circus, under its big top in town. The one evening to book before you land.
Sunrise at the moat, sunset on a temple stair, or the whole Angkor circuit.
Most first visits to Angkor come down to one choice made the night before. Four kinds of temple day, the cheapest way into each, and the two-day pass most people wish they had bought.
Two days, both ends of the sun
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · Angkor Wat 2-Day Tour with Sunrise and Sunset · from $34
Dawn at Angkor WatA pickup in the dark, the towers black against a pink sky, breakfast after.
Sunset temple daysTa Prohm in the afternoon, the last light from Phnom Bakheng or Pre Rup.
The small circuitAngkor Wat, the faces of the Bayon and the roots of Ta Prohm with a guide.
The grand circuitBanteay Srei and the outer temples, the right second day.
All 447 Angkor temple days →
Past Angkor Wat: pink sandstone, jungle ruins and a pyramid in the Cambodian forest.
The temples most visitors see fit into one day. Banteay Srei, Beng Mealea, Koh Ker and the clifftop at Preah Vihear fill the rest, with the Kulen plateau and the lake for a change of scene.
After those four, what Siem Reap visitors book most.
The full Siem Reap list →The days more travellers take than any others around Angkor, and what each one costs.
1
Angkor Wat: Small-Group Sunrise or Sunset Tour
Start before dawn in Siem Reap for Angkor Wat’s sunrise, then visit Ta Prohm, Bayon and other Angkor sites with an English-speaking guide. The shared group has up to 15 people, and private tours are available. Expect an air-conditioned ride, cold water and towels. Temple tickets and meals cost extra.
Booking from $15
Read our review →
2
Sunset tour of Kampong Phluk stilts home village on the Tonle Sap
from $21
3
Angkor Wat 2-Day Tour with Sunrise and Sunset
from $34
4
Kampong Phluk Floating Village Tour with Boat
from $19
5
Full-Day Angkor Wat Guided Tour with Sunset
from $15
6
Angkor Wat Sunrise tour with Small – Group and Guide tours
from $14
7
Angkor Wat Highlights and Sunrise Guided Tour from Siem Reap
from $23
8
Angkor Wat Sunset Small Group Tour with Lunch Included
from $20
Tuk-tuk, bicycle or jeep: how you cross the Angkor park shapes the whole day.
The temple park is too big to walk and too hot to hurry. A tuk-tuk is the classic, a bicycle finds the shaded back paths the coaches skip, and a jeep, quad or Vespa turns the ride between temples into the outing.
Beyond the temples, Siem Reap is stilt villages, paddies and a sacred mountain.
South of town the road runs out at the Tonle Sap, where whole villages stand on stilts above the water. North and east, the backroads cross paddies and lotus ponds on the way up to Phnom Kulen.
Siem Reap prices in dollars, and most temple days cost less than a dinner at home.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. The dollar is the everyday currency here, so what you see is what you hand over.
Shared sunrise tours, city walks, cooking classes and the boat out to Kampong Phluk.
Small-group temple days, Kulen with a picnic, quad bikes and street food by tuk-tuk.
Private guides and cars, sunrise by jeep, the balloon and the long drive to Preah Vihear.
Three things you will only find around Siem Reap.
Temples exist all over Southeast Asia. A lake that changes size with the seasons, a riverbed carved with gods and a dance lifted straight off the Angkor walls do not.
Kampong Phluk on the Tonle Sap
Each wet season the Mekong pushes the Tonle Sap River backwards and the lake grows to several times its dry-season size. Kampong Phluk lives with it on stilts taller than the houses they hold up. In April you see the whole frame of the village; by October the water is near the floorboards and the flooded forest beside it is crossed by rowing boat.
- 1Kampong Phluk Floating Village Tour by Boat★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 6,979 reviews
- 2Sunset tour of Kampong Phluk stilts home village on the Tonle Sap★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 4,865 reviews
- 3Siem Reap Floating Village Kampong Phluk Sunset with Boat★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,962 reviews
Phnom Kulen
The Khmer empire dates itself from this plateau, where Jayavarman II was declared king in 802. The river running off it is carved in its bed with lingas and gods, a waterfall drops off the edge, and a reclining Buddha sits in the pagoda at the top. Weekends belong to Cambodian families with picnics; weekdays are quieter.
- 1Kulen Waterfall Join-in Tour (local Picnic lunch)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,434 reviews
- 2Small-Group Tour and Picnic lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 1,802 reviews
- 3Kulen Mountain, Beng Mealea and Tonle Sap Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,483 reviews
Apsara dance and Phare
The dancers carved into the galleries of Angkor Wat, more than a thousand of them, are the figures you see on stage in town: fingers bent back, crowns shaped like temple towers. Phare is the other Siem Reap evening, a circus whose performers trained at an arts school in Battambang and whose shows tell Cambodian stories through acrobatics.
- 1Phare: The Cambodian Circus Show in Siem Reap★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,925 reviews
- 2Phare, the Cambodian Circus Show Tickets★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 1,850 reviews
- 3Apsara Show Including Dinner & Hotel Pickup★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 615 reviews
By eleven the Angkor stones are too hot to linger on. That is when Siem Reap cooks.
From March to May the temples hold the heat by late morning, and from June the afternoons belong to the monsoon. Both have the same answer: stones at first light, then under a roof. A cooking class, a pottery wheel, the silk farm, the Apsara stage after dark.
Four Siem Reap bookings to make before your flight lands.
Most of Siem Reap can be sorted with a tuk-tuk driver the evening before. These four run on early pickups, limited seats or the weather, and leave little room for last-minute plans.
- 01Angkor Wat Sunrise or Sunset Tour with Guide from Siem ReapPickups come at around 4:30 in the morning, so the booking has to be in before you go to bed. A sunrise tour bought at breakfast is a tour for tomorrow.
- 02Phare: The Cambodian Circus Show in Siem ReapThe big top fills on cool-season nights, and the best rows go first. Book the seats, then plan dinner around the show.
- 03Angkor Stunning Hot Air BalloonThe balloon goes up only in still air, around dawn and late afternoon, and wind grounds it. Book early in your stay so there is room to move it.
- 04Angkor Wat Admission TicketThe Angkor pass is personal and checked at the temple gates. Sort it out the day before, not in the ticket-office queue before sunrise.
By place: the temples, the mountain and the lake
By kind of day: temple, wheels, kitchen or stage
Fresh reviews from Siem Reap and Angkor.
Browse every recent review →
Cambodia 7 Days Tour from Siem Reap to Battambang and Phnom Penh
Read our review →
Angkor Wat Temples & Kulen Elephant Forest Day Tour
Read our review →
Siem Reap Airport Transfer with Fast Track Immigration Service
Read our review →
Siem Reap Angkor Airport to Siem Reap City by Shuttle Bus
Read our review →
Siem Reap Airport Taxi Transfer – City Center Hotels
Read our review →
War Museum, Killing Field, and APOPO Hero RATs Tour
Read our review →
Cambodian Cooking Class and Oxcart Ride with Local Village Tour
Read our review →
Secret Temples of Angkor – Guided Tour in Siem Reap
Read our review →