The Angkor archaeological park covers 400 square kilometres and holds more than a thousand temples. You are not going to see them all, and that was never the idea. Most backpackers have three days here, exactly the length of the most popular temple pass, and that gets you further than you would think.
A few things really belong on the list: one alarm before sunrise, one day where you ride past the famous three temples, and at least one evening where you do not eat on the tourist strip. Other things are on the wall of every tour desk in town and fill a spare half day nicely if you have one.
So where do your Siem Reap days go, and what do you save for next time?
Want the practical side first, like where to sleep, how to get around and how many days to plan? That is all on our Siem Reap page.
Sunrise at Angkor Wat
This is why nine out of ten travellers come here, and for once the classic really is the best. Angkor Wat was started in 1113 and it is so big that you only grasp the scale after half an hour of walking around inside it. Arriving in the dark and watching the towers slowly come out of the black does something an afternoon visit never will.
You buy your temple pass yourself at the official ticket centre, in one, three or seven day versions. For the temples you hire a tuk-tuk for the whole day, about €12 for the small circuit. Cycling works too, from about €2, but then you need to set off early.
Cover your shoulders and knees, because without that you are not getting in. And if you want that famous reflection in the pond in front, there has to be water in it: that happens at the end of the rainy season, roughly September to November.
Our verdict: absolutely, even with a thousand other people there
The quiet temples of the grand circuit
Everybody does the small circuit: Angkor Wat, Bayon with its 216 stone faces, and Ta Prohm where the tree roots have grown straight through the walls. Stunning, and also exactly where all the coaches park. The grand circuit is a different story. Preah Khan, Neak Pean and Ta Som are further apart and a lot quieter, and at a temple like Ta Nei you sometimes walk around completely alone.
This is our own favourite day here. Get up extra early one more morning, agree a route with your tuk-tuk driver that is not the standard one, and let yourself be stopped by whatever you happen to pass. The grand circuit costs a little more than the €12 for the small one.
Want to add one temple on its own? Make it Banteay Srei. It lies 35 kilometres further north, is carved from pink sandstone and has the finest carving in the whole park.
Our verdict: our favourite day here, and the only one where a temple is yours for a moment
Phare, the Cambodian circus
The most surprising evening in Siem Reap, and not one you would have planned before you arrived. Phare is not a circus with animals but a show where acrobatics, music and theatre come together to tell Cambodian stories. It is the best evening show in town, and you can tell by how full the tent gets.
It takes one evening and you do not need to know or read anything beforehand. After two days among thousand year old stones, this is the exact opposite: the same culture, but loud, young and very much now.
Book a day ahead. This is the show everyone in your hostel will tell you about, and that also means it sells out fast.
Our verdict: the best evening you can book here
Kampong Phluk on Tonle Sap
A floating village is a strange idea until you see one: wooden houses on stilts ten metres tall, with plain sand underneath them in the dry season. In the rainy season the water rises to the floorboards and the kids go to school by boat. You travel through it by boat, past fishing communities and flooded forest.
This is the classic third day, once you have had your fill of temples. The boat trip leaves from Siem Reap and takes up half a day.
The season decides everything here. Come in the dry months and you mostly see stilts and a narrow channel of water. Come at the end of the rainy season and you see why the village was built this way.
Our verdict: go, but check which season it is first
Eating at the markets behind Pub Street
Khmer cooking is milder than Thai and less sweet than Vietnamese, and it revolves around kroeung: a paste of lemongrass, turmeric and galangal. On the tourist strip you only taste half of that. A few corners back are the markets where locals eat, and there you pay about €2 for a plate that costs four times as much on Pub Street.
Order amok trey, fish in coconut curry that arrives steamed, and lok lak, beef seared in the wok with pepper. Breakfast is nom banh chok, the noodles you only find in the morning. And do not miss Khmer curry with kroeung, because that is what the whole spice paste is really about.
Fancy a beer on Pub Street afterwards? Go for it: it costs fifty cents, and that is not a happy hour deal, just the price.
Our verdict: this is where you eat Cambodian instead of touristy, and the difference is huge
A Khmer cooking class in a local home
In a few hours you learn why everything here smells the same and still tastes different. At a cooking class in the home of a Cambodian family you make Khmer curry, fish amok and lok lak yourself, and learn which herbs and spices go into kroeung.
It is one of the few activities where you talk to a local for longer than ten minutes, and that is half the value. The other half is that you can make amok again once you are home.
Our verdict: a few hours, and afterwards you finally understand why everything here smells of kroeung
Phnom Kulen
Phnom Kulen is the national park north of the temples and the best trip out of the area. There is a waterfall you can swim under, a huge reclining Buddha, and a sacred river with symbols carved into the riverbed centuries ago.
It is a full day and most tours include a picnic lunch. Do not count on fitting in temples that day as well.
Our verdict: perfect if you have a fourth day
Got time to spare in Siem Reap?
An ethical elephant sanctuary
Riding elephants has been banned inside the Angkor park since 2020, and outside it there are still places that offer it. Choose a sanctuary where rescued elephants roam freely and where nobody climbs on them: that is the only kind we recommend, and it is also the most beautiful experience. Ask directly before you book whether riding is on offer, because the sign at the entrance rarely tells you.
The three day or the seven day temple pass
The three day pass suits almost everyone: after two full days among the stones you have seen the most beautiful temples and the rest start to blend together. If you love history and architecture and you have the time, the seven day pass gives you room for the complexes further out, like Beng Mealea and Koh Ker.
Eating behind Pub Street
For a fifty cent beer and the buzz around it, Pub Street is exactly right. For dinner, walk a few streets on to the market, where you get the same plate for a fraction of the price, cooked the way it should be. Drink on the strip, eat behind it, and you have the best evening of your stay.
The Apsara dance show
Traditional Khmer dance with a buffet is a lovely introduction to the culture. If you only have one evening free, Phare, the Cambodian circus, is the stronger choice of the two. Staying longer? Then the Apsara show makes a great second evening.
Our top five in Siem Reap
Only got a few days? These are the five we would do no matter what:
- Sunrise at Angkor Wat, followed by Bayon and Ta Prohm
- A day on the grand circuit, past Preah Khan, Ta Nei and Banteay Srei
- Phare, the Cambodian circus, the evening you take a break from temples
- The boat trip through Kampong Phluk on Tonle Sap
- Eating at the markets behind Pub Street, every single night
Still got time after that? A cooking class in a local home is the most fun way to understand what you have been eating all those days. And if you have a fourth day, head to Phnom Kulen for the waterfall and the reclining Buddha.
So what do you really have to do in Siem Reap?
Honestly? Nothing on this list is compulsory, not even Angkor Wat. What happens to most travellers here is that they want to see everything on day one, and on day two they discover that one temple with almost nobody in it leaves a bigger impression than three where everyone is standing. Use this list to choose, not to fill every hour.
If we had to pick just one thing: really do get up in the dark that one morning. Not for the photo, because you have already seen it a hundred times, but for the half hour afterwards, when the groups move on to the next stop and you are still sitting on the same stone.
And keep your last evening free. Walk into the market behind Pub Street, point at a pot you do not know the name of, sit down at a plastic table and eat for €2. It is not the highlight of Siem Reap, but it is the bit you will tell people about most once you are home.
