Angkor Wat, Siem Reap Travel Guide – Everything you need to know

Cambodia Country

• Official Name: Kingdom of Cambodia
• Other Names: Kampuchea
• Official Languages: Khmer (English and French are second languages)
• Population: 15,288,489 (2019 census)
• Religion: Buddhism (official), Islam, Christianity and others.
• Time: UTC + 7 (12 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Standard Time)
• Country Phone Code: +855
• Currency: Riel (KHR)
• Capital City: Phnom Penh (also the largest city)

Entrance fee and visiting hours -Angkor Wat Siem Reap

Angkor Archaeological Park is 400 square kilometers including the forest area, Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon and other majestic temples. Angkor Archaeological Park was declared The UNESCO World Heritage in 1992.

Unless you are Cambodian, you have to buy the Angkor pass to visit the Angkor Archaeological Park.

WHERE TO BUY?

You can only purchased it at the Angkor Park Pass Ticket Counters which is close to the Palm Container market, around 4km away from the city center. It opens from 4.30am to 5.30pm daily.

You can purchase by Cambodian Riel, USD, Thai Bath, Euro, and the ATM is available at the counter for you to withdraw cash.

HOW MUCH IS THE ENTRANCE FEE?

There are 3 types of passes available (updated 2019):

• 1 day pass: 37$
• 3 day pass: 62$
• 7 day pass: 72$

The 3-day pass is valid for 10 days from the issue day and 7 day pass is valid for 1 month from the issue day. So for these passes, you do not need to visit on consecutive day. To me, 1 day is not enough, 3-day pass is highly recommended. Travel slow enough to learn the history of the country, choose the right pass which suits your itinerary.

ANGKOR VISITING HOURS

Most temples in Angkor: 7:30am – 5.30 pm, except

• Angkor Wat, Sras Srang: 5 am – 5.30 pm
• Pre Rup, Bakheng: 5am- 7pm

Angkor Wat dress code

Temples’ dress code: Long pants (covering your knees) and shirts (covering your shoulders). It is important to wear properly when visiting the temples to show the respect to the place and the country.

There are many foreigners just wearing the tank tops and having a scarf over their shoulders. They maybe can pass the entrance check, but to go inside a temple, they are strictly not allowed. So unlike many temples in Thailand and Bali, in Angkor Wat, if you don’t wear appropriately, you would not totally enjoy your temple trip. So wear proper clothes!!

How to visit Angkor Wat

There are many different ways to visit the Angkor Wat depending on your budget, how long you stay and how you want to experience the city.

• Book a tour: There are many tours to Angkor Wat, if you follow a big group, it is better to book a tour. Or you can easily book a tour guide at the Angkor entrance.

• Tuk-Tuk: travelling by tuk-tuk for a group of travelers is considering cheaper a lot more, and most tuk-tuk driver can speak multi-languages and can definitely make a brief introduction about Angkor Wat and other destinations on your trip. The price is around 15$-40$/ day depending on how well you can bargain and where you want to go.

• By bikes, motor scooters: As what my local friends sharing, the police will stop foreigners who driving motorbikes in the city, but somehow I still saw many of them travelling to the Angkor Wat by motor scooters, gasoline bikes, etc, and there are many bike- rent shop in the city as well. Anyway, It is also one of the very interesting way of traveling. The renting price is around 8-10$/day depending on what types of bikes.

• By bicycle: I chose bicycle as my main way to travel around Siem Reap. Apart from the 40 degrees Celsius heat, it is very easy to cycle around Angkor Wat. The rental is around 2$ -4$/day.

Best time to visit Angkor Wat

Best time to visit: Early morning or late afternoon. The ancient Angkor Wat temple looks more impressive and mysterious at sunrise or sunset. However, if you want to avoid the crowds when visiting the temples, let’s go in the late morning or afternoon because many people try to avoid the heat of Siem Reap and they appreciate to enjoy at sunrise and sunset time. However, it is not recommended at all to visit at this time if you are not comfortable with the Cambodia heat.

Peak Seasons: is November to February because the weather is cooler and more comfortable. April and May are the hottest months since the temperature can reach up to 40 Celsius or over. However, many choose to visit in April since they want to experience Khmer New Year (13rd or 14th April) which is the most colorful festival here.

I spent my 3-day in Angkor Wat with 3 different time, it seems like everybody follows the internet suggestions, so it was very crowded in the early morning (before 7am), especially at the photography spot (the lake in front of the main temple). At around 7-8am, it was less people, but I still could take nice pictures of the sunrise though. Around 9am, there were so many Chinese tours coming, they were coming like the ‘whole town’ I would say, around 2-4 big coaches. The temple became jam-packed full of people, noise and laugh. So depending on your purpose of visit, go in the right time for the right experience.

Currency in Cambodia

Riels (KHR) and US dollars are the main currency in Siem Reap. Riels are usually used as small change at the currency rate is 4000 Riels = $1. It is difficult to exchange Riel outside of the country, so you can exchange to dollars since dollars is widely accepted in Cambodia even outside the touristy areas. In addition, ATM is widely available in the cities in Cambodia. ATM usually gives you the options of withdrawing Dollars or Riels.

An interesting fact when travelling to Cambodia is that you can mix currencies. Over 80% of transaction in touristy areas in Cambodia use US dollars. For any changes less than 1$, you will be given riel together with the dollars change.

• 1000KHR = 25 cents
• 2000KHR = 50 cents
• 3000KHR = 75 cents

Simcard & Internet Package

There are 4 main providers in Cambodia Sim card: Cellcard, Smart, Qp, Metfone. You can easily find a Sim card of many different providers at the airport Kiosk. As my local friend suggested, I purchased a Cellcard together with internet GB for 7 days for 4$ at a small shop near my hotel.

1GB	1 day	0.25 $	Dial #1000# to activate
4GB	7 days	2$	Dial *6767*200# to activate
8GB	30 days	5$	Dial *6767*500# to activate
18GB	30 days	10$	Dial *6767*1000# to activate

Find more information at Cellcard

Angkor Code of Conduct

• Respect all signs: There are many temples are under construction and renovation, there are many signs at the temple entrance and inside the temples that are needed to strictly follow by all travelers.
• Do not touch the monuments: Touching, leaning, climbing or sitting on the temples structures is strictly prohibited.
• Do not give money to the children: giving children money encourages them not to go to school. There are so many poster and signs to prohibit this action in front of many travelling destination in Cambodia.
• Wear respectful clothing: Wearing shorts, tank tops or skirts above knee is considered very disrespectful.
• Do not litter
• Do not smoke
• Respect the monks: women are not expected to sit or stand close to the monks
• Sacred sites: As Angkor is a sacred site, loud conversation and noises and other inappropriate behavior in Cambodian culture is considered to be offensive and may disturb other visitors.
  

What to prepare for visiting Angor Wat

Book a guide: We can not explore the whole Siem Reap without having a reference, many detail and history stories will be missed. Thus, you can consider to book a guide from the tour operator or in front of the Angkor temple. However, there are many ways to explore the country yourself without spending too much money on tour operation, like visiting the museum before your trip to the temple or buying a guide book.

Do some research, read some online guidebook or articles to know briefly about the Cambodia and Angkor Wat history.

Buy a book onsite: there are some local people selling books in front of Angkor Wat, buy one, travel slow, read the temples history when reaching each spot.

Visit the Angkor Museum before visiting the Angkor: If Angkor Museum is in your list, you should visit the museum first to learn about Cambodia history before visiting the real Angkor Wat. However, the museum ticket is far expensive, 12$ per foreigner, so consider yourself.

Prepare for a walk-a-lot: the Angkor complex is vast so do not forget to wear your comfortable shoes and ready for a-day-walk travel.

Spend enough time at each temples or at least at the Angkor Wat to fully comprehend the history or just to feel the ancient atmosphere inside each temple.

My travel budget in Siem Reap as a backpacker

Siem Reap trip can be cheap or expensive depends on what kind of travelers you are, luxury ones or backpackers or wanderers. Below is my recommended budget for backpackers. Actually Cambodia is a very cheap country to travel, food, hotel or souvenir, clothes is low -priced; however, the museum tickets and Angkor tickets are far expensive.

• Drink: You should buy drink at the supermarket or the big shops, the cost is only 0.6$/big bottle while you will get the same one with $1 -$2 in front of the temples.
• Food: my breakfast costs me only $1 at the local restaurants. For restaurants in the center, it is around $2 -$4/ meal. You can find local food at the street restaurants closed to the Old Market/ Night Market. My favorite avocado smoothie is only $1/drink there which I rarely can find in Malaysia.
• Transportation: bicycle rental is $2-$4/day. Tuk-tuk is around $10-30/day.
• Hotel: Dorm in Siem Reap for backpackers is around $2-$4/night which is nice enough for your trip. My hostel including swimming pool and bar is quite nice and comfortable.
• Clothes: Siem Reap is the best place to purchase your travelling clothes, there are countless shops in Siem Reap for you to wander around. Siem-Reap pants is $2 -$3, skirt is $3-$5, shirt is $1-$3. Don’t forget to walk around, check the price and bargain hard before you purchase it yaaa!!

Popular historical destinations in Siem Reap

Siem Reap is a historical city, so do not miss those places listed below when travelling to Siem Reap:

Central Angkor	Eastern Angkor	The East Baray	Northeastern Angkor
Angkor Wat Ta Prohm Kel Angkor Thom Bayon Bapuon Prasat Bei The Royal Palace Elelphant Terrace	Ta Prohm Thommanon Chao Say Tevoda Spean Thma Ta Keo Ta Nei	Pre Rup East Mebon Bantaey Samre	Preah Khan Neak Pean Krol Ko Ta Som

Other resources & readings about Cambodia

Some of my other articles in Cambodia

Angkor Wat Temple – Travel and History

Bayon, Siem Reap – Travel and History

Top Things To Do In Siem Reap

Top Things To Do In Phnom Penh

Other sources that may be useful for you trip to Cambodia: Cambodia photo gallery, the guide book Ancient Angkor, by Michael Freeman, Claude Jacques, National Geographic documentary about Angkor Wat, Documentary The City Of The God Kings from Timeline – World History Documentaries.

Hope you have a great trip which is filled with a lot of sweet memories 💟💟💟