Angkor Wat - Cambodia

It is the largest religious monument in the world, a gigantic masterpiece of architecture and visited by almost 3 million people each year. The temple complex near Siem Reap is a must visit for every world traveler and should definitely be on your bucket list.

Here you‘ll find some recommendations on how to get around, where to get your tickets for Angkor and where you might want to stay while in Cambodia.

The airport in Siem Reap is brand new and there are tons of taxi drivers waiting for you at the exit. First go and get money at the ATM right at the outside of the airport. In Cambodia they accept pretty much every currency. Cambodian Riel, US Dollars, Thai Bath and even Euro. You might want to choose US Dollars at the ATM since you can easily use it after your Trip to Cambodia. Otherwise you desperately need to get rid of the Riel.

I recommend not taking a taxi and take the bus instead. First of all, it is way cheaper (around 8 Euro) and second, the bus is taking you directly to the bus terminal where you can arrange your trip to the temple for the next day for very fair prices.

Saat the Scooter-Riksha driver welcomed us at the bus station and immediately explained all the options to visit Angkor Wat the next day. We exchanged phone numbers and he handed us a map and a rough plan for the upcoming trip the next day.

Before entering Cambodia you have to apply for a visa. You can easily arrange it with the official Cambodia App and it will cost you around 40 Euro. Use the same App to get your day tickets for Angkor. This will save you some time in the morning of your visit, since the ticket counter is not located at the main entrance of the temple.

Siem Reap is kind of a small town in the middle of nowhere. Everything and everyone is gathering around „Pub Street“. Tons of Backpackers and travelers from all around the globe meet up and share their experiences and adventures they made in the past. Siem Reap is one cheap place. You can easily have dinner for 2 for under 10 Euro. 50 cent for a beer, 1 Dollar for a cocktail, 2 dollars for a full meal, crazy just crazy!

"Downtown" you find heaps of food markets and little shops selling cloth, art and handcrafted stuff.

I always like to bring something special home from my trips and so the last years I was always searching for pieces of art from local artists and/or painters. I found this really beautiful painting of monks in front of the famous buddhist temple and negotiated a crazy good price of 11 US Dollars. If you are into art and paintings such as I am, Siem Reap will be a place that makes you really happy.

Bargaining is, as in the most Asian countries, also common in Cambodia. You can easily start your negotiation with minus 30 to minus 40 percent of the price tag. Still I never had the feeling that neither the seller nor I was scammed. Just keep it fair.

My hotel was located at „Night Market street“ round about 5 minutes walking distance from Pub Street. 

„The Urban“ is for sure a place that makes you feel home away from home. 

This accommodation was only 20 Dollars (low season!) a night, offering huge rooms, a wonderful large pool, massages and a fine restaurant cooking local as well as western food.

The staff was just too nice. Welcoming you with a huge smile every time you walk by.

4:00 am, Saat picked us up with his Scooter-Riksha, it was raining heavily and our mood was kind of down. He was positive about the weather and sure it‘s gonna be a sunny day (in the end he should be right) but I was worried, that this is gonna be a wet experiance. 

4:30 am we got of the Riksha and in the dark we were already able to see the massive towers of the famous temple. Got really excited. You know that feeling you get, when you‘ve seen something a thousand times on TV or online and finally are able to see it with your own eyes. What a moment!

It was kind of mystic, when the sun appeared behind the main monument and entrance gate of Angkor Wat. 

There where heaps of people, still it was not hard to find some photospots since this place is enormous.

After we took about 100 pics, we started our journey into the Wat. The famous Wat of Angkor is just one of in total over 1,000 single Wats in this area. There is a reason why some people buy a 3-day-ticket. But hey, let‘s be honest, one full day of old stones and walking around is enough.

So we explored the main temple for about an hour and met up with Saat again. He handed us water and fresh towels, it was only 6:30 am but already sultry as hell.

Our cambodian guide recommended 5 temples for our tour. So the next few hours we where driving around and got to see some more really impressive old buildings.

Personally Ta Prohm temple, famous for the Tomb Raider movie really was one of my highlights this day. Enourmous trees grow out of all the old walls on this sight. This really was a kind of Indiana Jones experiance. Cool tunnels, monkeys and a lot of crazy photospots really make this temple a place you want to linger for a while.

After another two temples the sun was hammering down merciless. We asked the guide to show us around in the area around Siem Reap, 4 hours of temples and heat was enough for me that day.

Saat is such a wonderful guy, the whole day trip only cost us 25 dollars (in total). He said, that it‘s our special day in Siem Reap and never gave us the feeling that he was just doing his tourist thing. So lucky we spent the day with him! He took us out into the country side and showed us some more of Cambodia. 

We drove for about one hour, green fields and pure nature everywhere. Unfortunately a lot of poverty as well, Cambodia is a roller coster for your feelings. Feeling high as you see all the spectacular sights, meet these wonderful people & see this stunning nature, feeling down seeing a lot of people struggle really hard with life.

I only spent 3 nights in Cambodia so this time my "food and drinks category" will be really small. If you are into party, Pub street is the place for you but there are several very nice bars not directly located on pub street where you can have a blast as well. As I said before - this place will not kill your budget - we were heading out one night - had a really good time with some guys from New Zealand, a guy from Israel and a German dude - we were drinking pretty much all night and my bill was 12 US Dollars.

Anyway a good place for some really nice vietnamese food was the "Wat Else Cafe" (love the name). A french guy is offering amazing Banh Mi and authentic Vietnamese cold brew coffee. I loved it there - you have to give this place a shot.

Like I said, didn't go out much this time but since Siem Reap is a place for tourists from all over the globe you will find something you like.

• Spend at least one full day in Angkor Wat and all the other temples
• Have a night out at Pub street and meet cool new people
• Gather around the markets all over town 
• Try to get a little outside of town to see some more of the country
• Get a Banh Mi Sandwich at "Wat Else Cafe"