When to visit Siem Reap: Early morning temple visits (sunrise at Angkor Wat) before the midday heat and afternoon monsoon showers
When is the best time to visit Siem Reap?
Avg Temp
25–34°C
Rainfall
High, ~150mm/month, monsoon season
Best Time
Early morning temple visits (sunrise at Angkor Wat) before the midday heat and afternoon monsoon showers
Packing Tips (4)
- Lightweight, quick-dry clothing for monsoon humidity
- A poncho or umbrella for sudden afternoon downpours
- Modest clothing covering shoulders and knees for temple visits
- Sturdy sandals for uneven, ancient stone steps
What does Siem Reap cost?
Typical prices
- Budget meal$4.00
- Mid-range meal$12.00
- Cappuccino$2.00
- Domestic beer$1.50
- Taxi (per km)$0.50
- Public transport ticket$1.00
- Museum entry$37.00
- Mid-range hotel (night)$45.00
Local currency: USD
Food & Drink
Cuisine Wat Damnak
A tasting-menu restaurant by chef Joannès Rivière built entirely around Cambodian ingredients and seasonal markets, widely regarded as the city's finest.
Pou Restaurant
A refined Khmer restaurant run by a social enterprise supporting local youth, serving dishes like amok and lok lak in a garden setting.
Marum
A nonprofit training restaurant near Wat Damnak serving creative Cambodian dishes like red tree ant salad, staffed by disadvantaged youth in culinary training.
Pub Street food stalls
The buzzing tourist strip in the Old Market area lined with restaurants and stalls serving fish amok and Angkor beer.
Pub Street
Siem Reap's main nightlife strip near the Old Market, lined with bars, happy-hour deals, and a lively night market.
Miss Wong
A 1920s Shanghai-themed cocktail bar just off Pub Street known for creative Asian-inspired cocktails.
Culture & History
Angkor Wat
The largest religious monument in the world, a 12th-century Hindu-Buddhist temple famed for its sunrise silhouette over the moat and detailed bas-relief galleries.
Angkor Thom / Bayon
The last great capital of the Khmer Empire, centered on the Bayon temple with its 216 serene stone faces.
Ta Prohm
A jungle temple left largely unrestored, famous for enormous strangler fig and silk-cotton tree roots engulfing its stone corridors (featured in Tomb Raider).
Angkor National Museum
A modern museum in town displaying over 1,000 Angkorian artifacts and statues, providing context before or after visiting the temples.
Pchum Ben
A significant Cambodian ancestor-honoring festival with offerings at pagodas across the country (falls in autumn, not summer).
Nature & Outdoors
Kbal Spean
A 'river of a thousand lingas' where riverbed carvings of Hindu deities lie beneath a jungle waterfall, a day trip north of Angkor.
Phnom Kulen
A sacred mountain considered the birthplace of the Khmer Empire, with a waterfall, reclining Buddha carving, and river carvings.
Cities in Cambodia
Planning Siem Reap?
Try a ready-made trip first.
Open the demo trip with no sign-up: Barcelona on your own, or Rome, Florence and Venice as a group. Then plan Siem Reap your way.