What are some of the best things you can do with a week in Siem Reap? Our eight nights across New Year felt like the perfect amount of time to hang around, but we already have another trip planned too because there’s more if you’ve time.
Siem Reap has enough cultural sites and experiences to last you for months if not years. But for those who like to keep things diverse and varied or are travelling as a family and keeping it fun for a wide age group like us, there’s also great places for entertainment, pampering, amazing food, general relaxation and chill time.
Siem Reap is a super friendly, clean, smiley and safe feeling town. It’s really easy to navigate, with transport like the tuk tuks always on hand. These were never hassle, and never an effort bargaining. It’s also a super easy destination to organise your trip yourself. Book your flights and jump online to find some great accommodation options. When you arrive, even the airport is beautiful and a great first impression. Jump online to do all of the visa details before you get to Cambodia and your trip through the airport will be way quicker but you can organise your visa on arrival if you need to.
For accommodation we stayed at Chateau d’Angkor La Résidence. It’s a great little spot with really nice big rooms and a great little pool. In hot towns, we always try to find a place with a pool as it ends up being the entertainment for hours most days and a great way to cool off after some serious walking. Our kids will swim in it however cold the water is. This place is in a great part of town too – easy walking distance to the market, pub street, heaps of great food, and not far by tuk tuk to anywhere.
I’m assuming everyone visiting Siem Reap will be hitting some of the temples so here’s our recommendations;
Ta Prohm – this is the temple made famous in the 2001 Tomb Raider movie. The ruins are a beautiful balance between the feeling of other worldly discovery and enough restoration to be able to visualise the way things may have looked close to a thousand years ago when they were built. Everyone loved a morning out here. The trees that have become part of the ancient structures make it an amazing place to see.
Bayon – this is the temple with all the big faces. Its great because it’s slightly more ruinous and feels like you’re a bit more off the trail with way less visitors when we came. There’s a ton of dark passageways to explore and get lost in as well as heaps of photo opportunities of course.
And who’s going to miss Angkor Wat on a trip to Cambodia? There’s not much I can add that does that place justice in words. We watched the sun come up on New Years Day 2023. Maybe the timing after the world’s pandemic limited the crowds but it was nowhere close to as busy as we were expecting. Watching the sun rise over the massive temple structures was like being in a bucket list dream.
Our best advice for visiting the temples is to go early, early in the morning. You’ll avoid a bunch of the crowds and the most intense heat of the later part of the day. And the other thing that made the temples a great experience was breaking up our trips out to them. We bought a ticket to make 3 visits across 5 days so we could mix up what we were doing and not get everyone all templed out. There’s an official set up at the entrance to the area dominated by the temple complexes where you buy your tickets. It’s all pretty straightforward and hassle free.
We organised our driver to take us around ahead of time online and he was great. He wasn’t an official guide so he didn’t accompany us everywhere, but was the perfect balance, being on hand for our first day, taking endless photos for us as well as giving us a great insight into a bit of crowd avoidance at Angkor Wat – dropping us off at the front but picking us up later in the morning from the back where at one point, we were the only 4 people there. Amazing experience. You can find this amazing driver come guide, on facebook under Kakada Morl Tuktuk Driver.
When you’re travelling with kids, or you’re a big kid yourself, you’ll want to mix up the culture and ancient ruins with some out and out entertainment of course. And Siem Reap does not disappoint.
A bit more costly than most experiences we had in Cambodia, but absolutely worth every dollar, was Angkor Zipline. Fabulous adrenaline fun up in the jungle canopy, this was a morning full of smiles and a highlight on the whole trip. This is a top notch outfit and the guides that take you around are safety crazy. Our recommendation, definitely do the Gold Eco tour. The extra ziplines are well worth it and you’re already here right. This whole experience is set back out in the jungle in the same area as the temples so you’ll need a temple ticket to get to it, or travel in using their own transport which is the easy option in an aircon people mover that picks you up right at your hotel.
Another not to miss experience is the Phare Circus. This was Jarvis’s favourite thing to do on the trip. These guys and girls are truly amazing with breathtaking acrobatics that had us all on the edges of the seats. And I couldn’t help watching the musical director who orchestrates the whole show sitting at his drum kit. He writes all the music for the shows and his playing is a real visual treat too. There’s snacks, drinks and nicnaks to be had and the whole evening show goes on to around 9:30pm by the time you’ve taken your photo op with the cast so I’d recommend to eat before you head there. You can always eat later too right!
Artbox was a fun couple of hours. It’s a 3D trick art museum – which means it has some amazing 2D artwork made to look 3D, and all of your photo ops make everything come to life. Grab a photo of you riding the big wave or uncovering the pharaoh’s treasures. It’s a good giggle and when we went, again, it was super quiet so a very chilled out morning. It’s about a 10 minute tuk tuk ride from the town.
Also out that way is the War Remnant Museum. I wasn’t so sure about what was going on here to be fair. I’m thinking if you’re a war or history buff you’ll love it. It’s a smallish collection of old war machines from helicopters and planes to small arms and mines. There’s some interesting and eye opening info on the impact of mines in the country. I’d say expect to spend an hour here at most. An interesting look around but not much info to piece it all together.
The markets are great for a browse around too for some general daytime chill time. And while you’re about it, rest up and get your feet massaged by the fish. Random but fun apparently.
And if you’re musically inclined, there are some great little venues around with open mic nights. We stumbled across this spot – Laundry Bar. Good beer and good vibes and they gave me a go up on the drums. Great fun even if the music was completely the worst of dad rock. You’ve got to get amongst it right.
There’s also a great gym in the centre of town which you may need if you’re eating as much as we did. Head for Angkor Fitness. It’s a really well kitted out, clean, air conditioned gym where you can pay by the session and your fee includes a towel and locker. Spot on.
And so to the food and drink – the other main reason to travel around this world right. And Siem Reap does not disappoint. The food here is simply fantastic and so super cheap if you’re used to New Zealand prices. The reasonably fancy places would set you back around 5 US $’s for something you’ll remember for quite some time.
First off let’s bridge the gap between entertainment and food. The Cambodian BBQ. Our favourite place didn’t have an English name so I can only tell you where it is – 7 Makara Street, right on the corner. You basically order your choice of meats and veggies and you get a bowl of red hot coals delivered to your table to grill them on. Of course, don’t forget to get plenty of cold beer to wash it all down. We spent a good few hours here eating like locals. It’s great fun to cook the food yourself and the staff are super attentive – they did their best to help 4 novice westerners make the absolute most of the experience. The kids got stuck right in doing the cooking and had a blast. If I had a recommendation of what to try, it would be eat as much as you can – the chicken, the beef, the plates of crispy veggies, and then order more.
And here are some of the other amazing foodie places that blew us away with the most delicious deliciousness and, some ideas of what you might want to try while you’re there for a taste of the local delights.
The fish amok is THE national dish so we had to go find the best. Our driver who took us out to the temples recommended the amazing Sambo Khmer and Thai Restaurant. If you only ate here for a week you’d be happy. We came back two days in a row because we couldn’t stop thinking about it all the next day.
The other national culinary treasure is Lok Lak. Try it at Khmer Kitchen next to the Old market. It’s fantastic.
The spring rolls at Wild are, well, Wild. A fabulous assortment of delicious rolls with a selection of savoury and sweet that will blow your mind.
The Source Cafe was our favourite breakfast spot where we also ended up on more than one occasion. The menu here is interesting and full of tasty twists whilst still giving you a slice of the familiar. Try the chickpeas on smashed avocado, or the breakfast burger. And bring an appetite.
Pomme Siem Reap is a fabulous spot for great food, washed down with a delicious beer tasting plate of their own brews, all while you play a few games of pool.
And for a couple of spots for a little, or a lot of sweetness, try the pancakes and little cake treats at Bayon Pastry Cafe (and school). This place is also a project helping women from challenging backgrounds train up and find a new path in life. And from the food they’re serving up, we’d say training complete.
So then, for a final touch of extreme sugar and decadence, grab a tub of Icecream rolls on pub street – the kids went mad for them, then mad on sugar.
All in all, Siem Reap headed into the top of the list for favourite places ever visited. If you’re still thinking about it – should we go, should we not go? Just go, you’ll love it. And in the meantime, check out more fun places and travel ideas on our web blog – 8brighteyes.com
Thanks for joining us you crazy cats.
For more info on the favourite foods that we tried while in Cambodia, check out our blog here.
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