Siem Reap now reopens to travelers. From March 17, 2022, you don't need to do the nucleic acid test or post-arrival test to enter Cambodia as long as you're fully vaccinated.
Three days is good enough when planning a trip to Siem Reap. On day 1 explore the 'small circuit': Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prom and Bayon Temple. Then on day 2 expand to the 'big circuit', visiting Bantey Srei, Beng Meala and Cambodia Museum of Landmines. In the last day conclude with a boat ride on Tonle Sap Lake, to see the floating villages.
Siem Reap in Cambodia, the gateway to Angkor Ruins, including numerous ancient temples of the World Heritage-listed complex, is ranked #5 on TripAdvisor out of 2016 travelers' top 25 destinations in the world. Over 100 million travelers every year go to explore this magnificent place, with 1000 years of stone-crafted history.
The best time to visit
Temperatures do not vary too much; it is hot all year round. The yearly mean temperature is around 28°C.

Dry and cool season
The best time to visit Siem Reap is the dry season from early December to late March, when it is relatively cool (with a seasonal mean temperature of 20°C – 30°C) and there is less rain than average.
This dry season is also the high season for tourism in Siem Reap, which means travelers need to have a higher budget and to be prepared for crowds everywhere. It is not uncommon for some hotels to be twice as expensive during high season than low season.
We promise you enjoy 100% refund of any payments made to China Highlights prior to 3 weeks before departure (detail⇒).
Hot season
The hot season falls in April and May with daily mean temperatures of approximately 40°C. Cambodian New Year usually falls in mid-April. Crowds seem to disperse suddenly at the end of April.
If you don't mind the high temperatures, this period could be another good time to visit, with fewer crowds and cheaper accommodation. Remember to dress lightly and wear enough sunscreen under the tropical sun! The chance, however, of seeing floating villages during this time is slim, because of the low water levels in Tonle Sap Lake.
Rainy season
The rainy season in Siem Reap runs from June to November, governed by the southern monsoons simultaneously affecting the bordering countries of Thailand and Vietnam. It is not too hot, thanks to the rain. Occasional showers predominate from June to August, but heavier rains follow in September and October, sometimes leading to floods.




98.8% positive customer reviews among 10,000+
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Trip-of-a-lifetime
In addition, I want to specifically mention the guides provided in certain locations. Rum, in Siem Reap, made the most memorable experience possible. His positivity was contagious - even when it felt like 1000 degrees and we were tired. He brought it all to life, and created a couple days of Ankor Wat, etc. that we will never forget! He heard my daughter's request for specific Cambodian food, and changed our itinerary to go to a village and eat at a locally known shop. He brought the dessert she asked about to us in the car! Overall, he and his driver "Lucky" were a reason to go to Siem Reap. In addition, the other guides (minus one which was switched out immediately) were stupendous. Mon in Bangkok was friendly and provided a great day there; Eak in Chiang Mai gave us a world-class food-tour and day touring the city and its surrounding temples with lots of laughs; Tommy in Hanoi kept us from getting killed in the traffic and gave a stupendous food and architecture/history tour - so very friendly and funny; the fishing village tour in Hoi An, as well as the side-car tour in Saigon, were both unforgettable! Thank you Sharon, and Asia Highlights. Would definitely use again for future trips! More
Teri Simpson,
Apr 2023
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Cambodia and Vietnam adventure!
Our guide in Cambodia, Meas Darapolaith (Pol), was absolutely amazing. He was knowledgeable, friendly and so helpful. His English was excellent and he shared important insights about history and the magnificent sites we visited. We highly recommend him! More
Jennifer Roth Krieger,
Apr 2023
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My daughter and I wanted to discover SE…
My daughter and I wanted to discover SE Asia. Being the first in that region, we wanted to use a tour service company. We ended up using Asia Highlights. From the beginning we were impressed with their services. We left home with of mind because all the pre-travel arrangements were taking care and communicate to us efficiently. All our questions were answered promptly. Once in the countries, we were welcome by our excellent tour guides. Everything was taking care for us. We did not have one issue. They selected the right tours guides for us, they were highly knowledgeable and so much attentive to our needs. We had Dhat in Vietnam and Borin in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I highly recommend Asia Highlights. I came back home so much rested, and with plenty of wonderful pictures and memories. I will definitely use Asia Highlights again for my next trip to Asia. More
Isabelle Dessaux,
Apr 2023
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Fabulous tour and guide in Cambodia
We have been touring Cambodia, guided by Borin ( and driver 007) for the last 2 days. What a fabulous experience! Borin has been a wonderful guide, the best so far in Southeast Asia, explaining the history and culture of Cambodia through his tours of the temples in and around Angkor, as well as the Landmine museum. He has answered all our questions, made sure we were comfortable, and that we have had great food. 007 made sure we always had enough water and cool towels for our face/neck.We highly recommend Borin as a tour guide for Cambodia!! More
Monica,
Mar 2023
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Best Travel Service for Asia Travel
Alisa Liu was in charge of making the arrangements and she helped us from the start to make all of the arrangements and also helped us when we had questions and requested some adjustments. Her service is of the highest professional level. We are 100% confident that our trip will be perfect. We’re also 100% confident that, if anything comes up during our trip, that Alisa will be there to guide us through and take care of us. We won’t even consider using another agency for travel around Asia and we would like to have Alisa work for us again. More
Leo Pospichal,
Mar 2023
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Tour of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand
The tour guides and drivers were another high point. All were very good, friendly, knowledgeable and spoke English well. There were two that I want to call out for their excellence. Chan Sovannarith in Siem Reap was our guide in Cambodia. He really made the experience special. His knowledge, willingness to answer all my questions, helpfulness and general attitude made him fun to be around. In order to praise the second exceptional guide I have to explain about an unfortunate occurrence that I had. I'm normally a very active senior, but after leaving Cambodia for Laos I was suddenly struck by the most intense back pain I've ever experienced, couldn't even roll over in bed (turned out to be sciatica). The guide, Mr. Sonophet, really went the extra mile. He went with my traveling companion and bought a back brace and medications for me. When that didn't help much he took me to a clinic where I was seen by a doctor, given a shot and pain meds. He hand-made a walking stick for me that I'm still using! He made it possible for me to somewhat participate in the activities, i.e. a bed on the boat down the river. When it was time to move on to Bangkok he got me a wheelchair at the airport. I can't thank him enough for these kindnesses! This problem lasted for the remainder of the trip, through Bangkok and Phuket and these guides were also very helpful getting wheelchairs, etc. It was a terrible disappointment to have this wonderful trip disrupted, but it would have been SO much worse without the great help that I received from the guides and my poor travel companion! More
Deb M,
Mar 2023
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In good hands with Sam
Sam Ol took very good care of us - lots of information, listened to and answered all our questions, was passionate about the places we visited and about his people and country. He was kind, had a great sense of humor, and made sure we felt safe and comfortable at all times. He helped us to fall in love with Cambodia in 3 short days. More
Carol Jones,
Feb 2023
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Best tour guide in Cambodia
When we first arrived at the airport in Siem Riep it was so nice to be greeted by Mr Sam Ol. We instantly fell at home when we saw his friendly smile. We were impressed by his great English and knowledge of the temples. On the tour to the temples Sam took care of us every step of the way. He took awesome pictures of us. It felt like we were on a tour given by our brother who is also a professional photographer. Also, we appreciate his humor as well as the fact he had an answer for every question we had. I give Sam 5 stars, best tour guide ever :) More
Len S,
Feb 2023
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Mr. Sam
Mr. Sam our guide in Cambodia, he and the driver out standing service they went above and beyond touring, my wife so amazed beautiful country, we're planning back here near the futures. Thank Mr. Sam,We'll feedback the whole trip next week when we be home in US More
Pho Lover,
Feb 2023
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Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand
We are still in the middle of our trip, but we are just finishing up our time in Cambodia and our guide, Borin, has been AMAZING!!! He has truly made our time here unforgettable and I plan on referring all of my friends and family to come visit this beautiful country! Thank you, Borin, for everything you did to make our trip so fantastic! More
Danielle Blount,
Feb 2023
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Excellent service and Wonderful Guides
All of our guides have been terrific. Mr. Sam in Siem Reip was especially wonderful. Both he and our driver were polite, safe knowledgable and informative. Sam made our trip memorable and enioyable. We will definitely recommend Sam and Asia Highlights to our friends. More
Kaaren,
Feb 2023
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Great tour guide Charity at Siem Reap
Our experience in Siem Reap could not have been any better thanks to our outstanding and cheerful guide, Charity. Her very good English speaking made it so easy to learn so much from her. She understood and answers all of our questions.She was relaxed and very knowledgeable. She went out out her way to help us make amazing pano photos of the cotton trees at Siem Reap and on our sunset cruise. She also advised us on Chanrey Tree restaurant—what we found to be the very best vegan restaurant on our first three weeks of our Asia tour. So glad to have vegan meals with very little oil!!! We are not supposed to have oil and is very hard to find vegan with no oil. Went went back the next night. More
Barbara Cornyn,
Jan 2023
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Best guide and driver in Cambodia
Mr Rum takes his profession very seriously and enriches the visits with his depth of knowledge and his interesting and relevant stories. He is a great story teller. More importantly, he is a nice person who we very much enjoyed getting to know in our short time together. Both he and Thary have winning smiles. They are easy to be around and fun to spend time with. It’s not surprising that Mr Rum has maintained contact and friendships with many previous clients. More
John Mullin,
Jan 2023
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Charity and Cambodia were amazing!
We had a fantastic time in Siem Reap. Charity was our tour guide and was the best! She brought knowledge and enthusiasm as she took us around. She was friendly, warm and open making our tour and experience in Siem Reap so wonderful. She gave us awesome suggestions for us to do at the end of the day such as go see a dance performance or visit the night market as well as an early morning activities like watch the sunrise from a hot air balloon. It was magical and we are so grateful to Charity for making this such a memorable trip. She also gave us great suggestion for food and went far and beyond to make sure our vegetarian and food requirements were met. Our driver and car was fantastic as well. We had the best time in Cambodia and would love to visit again. We recommend visiting and having Charity as their tour guide to anyone who has the opportunity to come! More
Prema,
Jan 2023
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Amazing tour of Cambodia with excellent…
Amazing tour of Cambodia with excellent guide Luch.. Luch was very knowledgeable and took an extra mile to explain us the Angkorwat sculptures.. the private car was very comfortable.. well planned .. we loved Cambodia and would definitely recommend my friends.. Asia highlights are the best More
Koustuv Sarkar,
Jan 2023
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Our rep in Cambodia Chan Sovannarith…
Our rep in Cambodia Chan Sovannarith was very attentive and accommodated my daughter not feeling well by taking us to a chemist to get medication for her. I highly recommend Chan as a rep with Asian highlights he did an excellent job when taking us back to the airport he literally waited to make sure we were all set for our flight to Chang Mai in Thailand. I felt safe knowing he was there incase there were issues. Again, great rep. Thank you!! More
Karen Brooks,
Dec 2022
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We enjoyed our trip VERY much
We enjoyed our trip very much. Our guide, Mr. Polrith is very knowledgeable and provided insightful information about the history, culture and religions of the country. Temples of Cambodia are amazing. They are more beautiful than you can imagine. Thank you so much Mr.Polrith and see you next time More
Tugba Balc,
Dec 2022
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A truly magical experience
You measure the quality of a tour company with how they handle the bumps along the way. Encountering unexpected baggage fees from Cambodia Angkor Air in Siem Reap.Albee without hesitation agreed to cover this cost. More
Bob Bosshard,
Mar 2020
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Great trip with Asia Highlights
We had already booked two trips in China with China Highlights. Both trips were a great experience. So when planning our trip to Cambodia we immediately thought of Asia Highlights because they offer a trip to Vietnam More
Frank & Nadia,
Nov 2019
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Asia Highlights is perfection
My husband and I just returned from an 8 week trip thoughout China- Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and also Singapore and Phuket. I worked with Ruby of Asia Highlights for months designing my dream independant private trip. More
Barb,
May 2019
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How to get to Siem Reap
Siem Reap is easily accessible by air, boat and bus.
Siem Reap International Airport is only 5 kilometers, or 10 minutes' drive, from downtown.
The Siem Reap Wharf in Tonle Sap Lake is 15 kilometers from downtown. If you do the boat trip, only do it during the rainy season from June to November when the water level is high enough for larger boats. In the dry season only small boats work on the water and it is possible to get stranded; sometimes the whole route needs to be completed by mini-bus or pickup truck. All boats stop working when the water level is too low.

Traveling by bus is a popular option for backpackers. Mekong Express and Capitol Tours enjoy a good reputation.
Train service is currently unavailable in Cambodia.
Phnom Penh – Siem Reap
The distance between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap is 320 kilometers. The journey between them takes 45 minutes by air at $150, six hours by boat at $35, and six hours by bus at $6.
Sihanoukville — Siem Reap
It is 530 km from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap, taking 1 hour by air. As of April, 2016, one flight has been available per day. Overnight bus takes 13 hours and requires transfer in Phnom Penh.
Battambang – Siem Reap
The distance between Battambang and Siem Reap is 170 km. Bus is the most popular transport, taking 3 hours. It costs about $5. There are 3 buses every day.
One boat per day goes between Battambang and Siem Reap. The 5-hour boat ride costs around $20 – $25. It is a scenic option, along Tonle Sap River and passing many floating villages.
From Vietnam to Siem Reap
Flights to Siem Reap are provided from major cities in Vietnam, i.e Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City. It usually takes around 80 minutes (from HCMC) to 2 hours (from Hanoi).
Buses running between Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City take about 7 hours at $18-25. Then transfer from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap by bus or taxi.
The boat trip is a scenic alternative. Cruises traveling from Ho Chi Minh City/Can Tho/My Tho to Siem Reap via Phnom Penh, taking 8 days and 7 nights. A cheaper option is taking a 3-hour bus from Can Tho to Chau Doc and transferring to Phnom Penh by ferry. Then complete the journey by bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap.
From Thailand to Siem Reap
Bangkok is one of the main airports connecting with Siem Reap, with about 8 flights a day. It takes only an hour, at $50 – $150.
Overland travel via the Aranyaprathet/Poipet border-crossing takes about three hours by bus. A bus ride takes 8 – 11 hours at $28, depending on the crowds at the border.
From Other Asian Countries to Siem Reap
Many major Chinese cities support flights to Siem Reap e.g. Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hong Kong and Taipei. It takes about 4½ hours from Shanghai and 2½ hours from Guangzhou.
Siem Reap is also accessible by air from Seoul (South Korea), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Luang Prabang (Laos).
Exploring Siem Reap
How long to stay
Asia Highlights suggests travelers stay in Siem Reap for at least three days. Besides the amazing temple complex, there are other outdoor activities to be enjoyed.
Visitor attractions
There are around 15 highlighted attractions worth visiting. Temples roughly fall into three categories: Small circuit, big circuit and outlying temples.
Small circuit (day 1 and day 2) attractions are centrally located, at Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, the grandest temple with the ancient capital next to it. These are good for a whole day's exploration. They are most beautiful at sunrise and sunset. Other major sites are Bayon Temple and Ta Prohm Temple, the favorites of movie enthusiasts; each takes 1 or 2 hours to visit.

Big circuit (day 2 and day 3) attractions are at sites further north and east. Banteay Srei is the most famous.
Outlying temples, Roluos temples and the surrounding areas (day 3 and day 4), located about 20 km from Siem Reap, are suitable for visits on day 3 and day 4. Beng Mealea – 77 km from Siem Reap – is highly recommended as the only noted temple retaining its original features. It's fun to do a boat trip on Tonle Sap Lake to observe floating villages; except in April and May when the water level is too low.
Fun activities
Siem Reap has a lot to offer by way of activities. Below is our fun-activities list, or see the Top 10 Things to Do in Siem Reap.
Cycle into the forests and run into many different lesser-known temples, making a perfect mix by visiting both Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm. There are two possible routes: a 25-km-long road trip for beginners and a 45-km-long route for experienced bikers.

Take a quad adventure on the bumpy country roads for a view of the sunset to end your day. This can be done on any day of your visit to Siem Reap. The most recommended trail is a 1½-hour sunset route (5:00-6:30pm). Longer options are also possible.
Join a cooking class and make local food yourself. You can try this either in a hotel restaurant or in the village. Visits to local markets and the village are included in a village cooking class. Half a day is enough for this.
Relaxation
Enjoy massage Cambodia-style, have a drink in a bar near the old market, or just spend an afternoon in your hotel swimming pool (literally a basic facility in most Siem Reap hotels).
Where to stay
The location of the hotel is not so important when booking accommodation, as Siem Reap is not that big. The city provides a wide range of options from low-budget hostels to the luxury Aman Hotel. There are also many different styles of 3-star to 5-star hotel, such as Buddha style, Zen style or holiday resorts.
Luxury: Luxury: Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra Golf and Spa Resort, Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor, and Amansara
Deluxe & Boutique:Shinta Mani Resort, Navutu Dreams Resort & Wellness Retreat, Sokha Angkor Resort, Golden Temple Residence, Maison Polanka, and Angkor Village Resort
Comfort:Tara Angkor Hotel, and Angkor Village Hotel
With a tour or on your own
Tourism is well-developed in Siem Reap and most attractions are nearby. Travelers can easily grab a guide map in a hotel and rent a bike or a tuk-tuk to visit the temples.
A Private Guided Tour Is Highly Recommended
We recommend, however, that you sign up for a tour, especially for a private guided tour with a clean private car. It costs about US$100 per day, with a knowledgeable English-speaking local guide and a driver taking care of every detail.
The guide even knows the perfect way to capture a good photo at every spot. Icy bottled water and a cool air-conditioned car sweep your tiredness away. And the driver drives you as close as possible to your destination, reducing the time you need to walk under the hot sun.
A private tour ensures you maximize your time and your enjoyment in Siem Reap.
If however you prefer to travel on public transport, you still might want to sign up for some trips with a local agency.
What to eat
Basically you can say that Siem Reap is a Connoisseur Camp! If interested in local food, eateries and street foods are worth trying out, in and around the Old Market. Fried locust and spiders can often be seen there; for health reasons, we suggest our customers abstain.
Various nice and fancy restaurants provide different foods with good atmosphere and service. In some places you can even enjoy a meal with Apsara dancing in the background. In most cases US$10 – US$20 per person is enough for such a decent meal. Here is a short-list of nice restaurants we'd recommend you to try
Pro Cuisine (for dinner with night show)
Why: Fresh air in the morning, with nice garden view. An Apsara dancing show is presented in the evening at dinner time. The service is good.
Address: Street Tea Chamrath, #29 | Wat Bo Village
Opening hours: 6:00am – 10:30pm
Viroth's
Why: It is what most local guides would recommend you to try. Simple but nice setting, attentive staff, and good food, make for a perfect meal. Its desserts are definitely worth sampling. This is especially good for couples.
Address: 246 Wat Bo Street, Siem Reap
Opening hours: 10:30am – 10:30pm
Haven
Why: The work in Haven supports local people and enhances their lives. It recently moved to a new location with a lovely atmosphere, delicious food and nice staff.
Address: Chocolate Road, Krong Siem Reap
Opening hours: 11:30am - 2:30pm; 5:30pm - 9:30pm
Visit Cambodia with Asia Highlights
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How to Get to and Around Siem Reap
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