The Very Best Angkor Temples Travel Guide For First Timers

Are you planning a trip to Siem Reap but unsure how to see the Angkor temples? This travel guide answers essential questions to help you have a problem-free first visit to the ancient Angkor temples of Siem Reap.

Planning a trip to the Angkor temples in Siem Reap can seem daunting at first. In my experience, some online information is misleading, and facts are not always accurate.

To help first-time travellers plan their Siem Reap itinerary, I have written this travel post to give you the best travel advice to help you plan the perfect trip to see Angkor Wat Temple and the surrounding Angkor temple complexes.

This post answers essential travel questions, including how to get to the Angkor temples from Siem Reap, how to purchase a ticket for entry, how to see Angkor Wat, and the best times and months to visit the ancient temples in the Angkor Archaeological Park.

I have also suggested how long you should stay in Siem Reap. Is one day enough to see all of its tourist attractions, or should you embrace slow travel and plan a stay for two, three, or, as I did, four days?

Read on for the best travel advice on seeing the Angkor temples in Siem Reap for the first time.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Angkor Temples

Where is Angkor?

Six kilometres from the town of Krong Siem Reap in Cambodia is the Unesco World Heritage site of Angkor Archaeological Park. Angkor is spread over a vast area and is home to the world-famous Angkor Wat temple and many other impressive Khmer temples.

Go back to a time when the mighty Khmer civilisation built the magnificent jungle temple cities that appear on most travellers' bucket lists.

Once a thriving metropolis, the inhabitants disappeared without a trace, and Mother Nature reclaimed the temple structures, returning them to the dense jungles they once dominated.

Is Angkor Wat the name of one temple or the whole area?

A common misconception among travellers planning a trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia, is to refer to all Angkor temple complexes as Angkor Wat. This information is incorrect.

Angkor Wat is a single temple complex, the most significant ancient religious monument in the world, comprising many structures. It is the most famed Angkor temple complex in Cambodia and appears on Cambodia's national flag.

Angkor Archaeological Park is the correct name for the much larger area that houses the other ancient temples. Within the archaeological park, you will find the walled city of Angkor Thom, which houses the famous Bayon temple complex.

In addition to Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, the park contains numerous other temples. These range from magnificently restored complexes such as Preah Khan and Ta Prohm to small-scale ruins that visitors could easily pass by without a glance.

Angkor Wat Temple Map

Here is a map of the Angkor Archaeological Park. The blue outline indicates the rivers that surround the temple sites.

The best months to visit Angkor

November to March offers a respite from the heat, with slightly cooler, more bearable Angkor weather. These months are also when most tourists arrive!

The weather is scorching and humid from April to June, so fewer travellers visit Siem Reap. I travelled in mid-April and can vouch for the high temperatures and humidity.

Expect rain and warm weather from June to November, so not particularly pleasant for temple-hopping.

However, with the hot and humid weather in Siem Reap comes fewer tourists, so weigh your preferences. Better weather / more tourists or unfavourable weather / fewer tourists.

Prepare to experience heat like never before, especially if you are a visitor from a Northern Hemisphere country.

Also, keep drinking bottled water as you travel around the temples. In the heat, you will lose significant fluid through sweating, so you must maintain adequate fluid levels.

How many days are needed to see the Angkor temples?

The answer depends on time restraints, personal budget, and what you want to see on your Cambodian temple trip.

I stayed for four days in Siem Reap as I was nearing the end of my whirlwind 3-month world trip and wanted to experience Angkor in full without rushing.

I also wanted to have time to experience some of the other attractions in Siem Reap Town.

Don't worry if you only have one or two days in Siem Reap; you can still see all the most famous Angkor temples, albeit at a more hectic pace.

Nevertheless, a guided tour will help you achieve your mission and give you a local expert's insight into Cambodia's impressive archaeological park.

Angkor Wat Temple Tours

If you want a guide to take you to the temples, you can book one of the many Angkor Wat Temple Tours. The major landmarks in Siem Reap are close together.

Visiting Angkor without a guide

You can easily visit Angkor Wat and the temple complexes on a self-guided tour. We did, and we loved the freedom it allowed us to stay as little or as long as we wanted in each temple.

I arranged a tuk-tuk to take me to and from the temples and reviewed the history of the Angkor temples before I went. I think that is a key step, as without a guide, you will have no idea what you are looking at.

Getting from Siem Reap to Angkor Wat and Angkor Archaeological Park

The Angkor Archaeological Park is around 6km north of central Siem Reap.

Depending on the time of day, a tuk-tuk ride should take around 20 minutes, which is the most popular way to get around Siem Reap. Of course, you can also cycle to the temple or join an organised tour group.

The journey will take a little longer if you need to stop and buy your Angkor Park Pass.

To reach the Angkor complex, we hailed a tuk-tuk from outside our hotel, agreed on a price, and asked the driver to pick us up at the same time each afternoon to visit the temples.

He charged $25 (U.S. dollars are the currency used in Cambodia) for a 3-5-hour session each afternoon. Of course, we paid him more as we felt $25 was a low amount for his time.

Remember, your tuk-tuk driver is not a tour guide and will not enter the temples with you. However, if you get a chatty driver, he may be happy to share stories and information with you. Our driver was excellent, spoke superb English, and shared valuable and interesting facts as we toured Angkor Archaeological Park.

Our tuk-tuk driver was also happy to stop if we wanted to take pictures away from the temples.

On one journey back to our hotel, we came across a family of monkeys, and he stopped so we could watch them play and interact.

On another occasion, he took us to a hidden temple that few tourists visit.

After spending four days with him, we realised his time was worth more than the $25 a day we had agreed to, so we paid him more without him needing to ask.

The happiness on his face was worth every penny, and he told us it would help his family. So please consider paying more if your tuk-tuk driver deserves it.

How to get an Angkor Pass

To enter any of Angkor's temples, you must buy an Angkor Pass.

You can purchase the pass at the official ticket centre, 4 km from Siem Reap town, on the way to the Angkor temples. The ticket office is open daily from 4:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Entrance passes for a one-day visit are issued up to 5 p.m.; passes issued after 5 p.m. are valid for the following day.

You can purchase the official Angkor Pass in one-, two-, three-, four-, five-, six-, seven-, eight-, nine-, or ten-day durations. You don't have to use the pass on consecutive days; for example, a 3-day pass is valid for 10 days, so you can spread out your temple visits if you have time to spend in Siem Reap.

We asked our tuk-tuk driver to stop at the ticket office on the way to our first temple so we could buy our Angkor passes. We both purchased a 3-day Angkor pass and used it on consecutive days.

Angkor Wat entrance fees are $37 for 1 day, $62 for 3 days, and $72 for 7 days.

You can also purchase your skip-the-line temple entrance ticket online.

The pass will include your photograph (taken at the ticket office), so it can't be transferred between friends and family. If you buy online, you must email a photo of yourself to the operator before they can send the temple pass.

You must present your pass to the Archaeological Park security checkpoint guard, who will punch a hole in the ticket on each visit.

Where to eat in Angkor

Many families live in the villages within the park, so you will come across roadside stalls by the main temple complexes selling a variety of food, from meat skewers and rice dishes to fruit and fried insects.

You will also find the occasional toilet by these stalls, but remember you are in Cambodia, so expect the unexpected - it will likely be a hole in the ground.

If you prefer to eat in town, Siem Reap has plenty of great community restaurants and cafes.

Best times to visit Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom

One of the most frequently asked questions from travellers wishing to visit Angkor Wat and the temple complexes in Siem Reap is which time of day is best: sunrise or sunset?

I am going to play devil's advocate and say SUNSET! Why is that, you may ask, when the photographs of the sun rising behind Angkor Wat are some of the most recognised images ever taken? Well, with the idyllic images come hundreds and hundreds of tourists.

That's right. You won't be alone in this serene space, even at around 5 am.

Instead, you will be fighting for a good position to capture your iconic photograph of Angkor Wat while dodging selfie sticks, iPads and telescopic lenses.

Please note: you will need to wake up around 4 a.m. to arrive at Angkor Wat in time to see the sunrise.

Of course, if you can't do without the sunrise image of Angkor Wat, go for it, but be prepared for the crowds.

Why choose the sunset over the sunrise at Angkor?

I was advised to visit Angkor's temples in the afternoon and stay for sunset.

This would give me time to grab breakfast/brunch in Siem Reap, enjoy my hotel pool and, most importantly, avoid all the crowds that descend on Angkor Wat in the mornings for that all-important (but not for me) sunrise shot.

I followed the advice, which worked perfectly; I had most of the temples to myself in the early evening!

Reversing the "normal" tourist choice of early morning visits to late afternoon/early evening visits allows you to see Angkor's temples with fewer crowds.

So, if you want to enjoy the temples with fewer people and at a more leisurely pace, plan to see the Angkor temples at sunset.

Join a guided day tour of Angkor and stay for the sunset.

The best place to watch the sunset is reportedly from the highest temple in Angkor Archaeological Park, on Bakheng Hill. This is one place in Angkor I haven't visited myself, but I have it on good authority that it is a sunset hotspot.

Bakheng Temple is 1.5 km northwest of Angkor Wat, and its elevated position gives visitors panoramic views of the whole area, including the legendary Angkor Wat.

My thoughts on visiting the Angkor temples in Siem Reap

No matter where you have been, nothing quite prepares you for the ancient temples of Angkor. They are unique, mesmerising, and remarkable. To walk around structures built thousands of years ago is mind-blowing.

If you have ever visited the ancient Egyptian temples or the Aztec jungle ruins in South America and felt overwhelmed by their presence, you will get some idea of how the Angkor temples compare.

It is easy to understand why Angkor Wat and the Angkor temple complexes are on many travellers' bucket lists!

Please PIN for future travel to Cambodia.