Angkor Wat Travel Forum

I am arriving at Siem Reap in the early afternoon and will then stay for two days therafter. Is two and a half days enough to do Angkor Wat justice? What would you recommend as the must see points of the area. Also how do I get to Angkor from Siem Reap, and what is the best way to get around the sites once there. Is it better to go with an organised tour or independently? If with tour guide can you recommend the best people to go with.

It is fine to go by yourself around Siem Reap but if you want you can hire a guide for the day very cheaply. Perhaps a guide for some of the time if you are unsure about what you want to see.

We did everything independently, hiring a driver to take us out there and we kept him for one day. The next day we made our own way out and wandered around by ourselves getting bikes when we needed to get to another site. It was really easy to do and was lovely not beign restriced by a tour.

We had a good map of the sites and were able to see almost everything in 3 days.

Have a wonderful trip

We only gave Angkor Wat a day, which wasn't long enough. We did manage 4 of the main sites before the heat got to us. We booked a tuk tuk through our hotel and paid $12, which took us to the sights from Siem Reap. The tuk tuk driver took us around the main sights and we used our guide book as reference.

I would definitely recommend Ta Prom and Ankhor Wat. Ta Prom was my favourite.

Most people seem to get a three day pass to Angkor - I've done that twice, and would still go back for more. Depends on your penchant for temples. We lucked out on our first trip, and ended up hiring the random driver who we went from the airport to our hotel with. That was 3 years ago, and it cost US$40 for 3 full days - from sun up til late at night if we wanted to go out. I does cost more than that now, as fuel is more expensive, and Siem Reap is more expensive and busier in general.

I do recommend having a driver for the whole time at Angkor - you simply get to see more, and its much faster to get between temples - as well as having the welcome reprieve of a few minutes in an airconditioned car with some cold water. Guides can be expensive, and, if our driver's information is correct, mostly giving "kick back" to the police and/or government. Our driver was a passionate local, who knew a great deal. As he was not a guide though, he could not come into the temples.

If you have a look at my tips on Angkor, which aren't really complete YET - you will see that we went to the River of 1000 Lingas (which involves climing up a hill) and to the Ruluos group on the second visit (with the same driver). Just shows that there is plenty to see in this massive complex, and well worth allocating a few days to the visit. You may never get back that way again.

Happy journey.

The taxi from the airport to town was $5.00, very high for Cambodia, but who cares. It is only 5 bucks. The driver took me around to all of the hotels to find one I liked and had room and a pool available. He also told me he would take me to all of the temples the next day for $25. This was a bargain!

He met me in the morning, helped me get a ticket, took me to the first temple and waited down the road for me to finish. Then to the next and later to the main temple at Angkor. He would take me back to the hotel during the hot hours and pick me up later when it was cooler. He also took me downtown to the pub street for dinner and the market. I think this is the only way to go. His name was Phan. I think you can ask for him at the airport taxi stand.

The other thing we did was go on the boat ride to the lake to see sunset. I would not do that again. There is another place to go for sunset, I would choose that. He was quite flexible, so you can taylor the tour to suit you.

HI!

Do note that the passes you will need to buy to enter the complex of Angkor is US$20 for 1 day, US$40 for 3 days and US$60 for 1 week, so it will kinda determine how many days you would want to spend. Generally 2.5-3 days will suffice before you suffer from temple fatigue. The main structures are of course Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom but there are many beautiful side sights as well.

Have a page on Siem Reap and Angkor should you care to take a look and see if the tips are any useful.

Thank you for all your responses. I did think of cycling but maybe with the heat and distance this is too much? Hiring a driver seems a shame as I'd like to explore on foot where possible but maybe I don't appreciate the scale of the place yet. Are your drivers happy to just sit and wait hours at a time for you while you go off exploring? I will look up your travel tips definetely before I go also.

Thanks again,

Kyle

There's plenty of walking exploring to do, and, yes, drivers are accustomed to sitting and waiting - or chatting with other drivers - for long periods, while you do just that. Undoubtedly, all of this will make more sense when you see the size of the complex.

Hire the driver. You will support a very nice poor person. The driver only takes you on the major distances between temples. They let you off at one end and tell you to meet them at the far end. They all wait with their friends for you to walk down to them. I can't imagine how you would do this on your own and see the major sites. It is a big complex with widely spread temples. It is miles by road between them.

Driver it is! Thanks again for all your excellent advice.