How To Visit The Temples of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap – Budget Travel In Cambodia

The temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia are an absolute must-visit if you are planning a trip to Siem Reap.

We decided to leave our visit to the temples of Angkor Wat until the end of our stay in Siem Reap as we needed to do a little more research on what would be the most cost-effective way of visiting. The weekend also fell in the middle of our time in Siem Reap and we figured that would make an already busy site even busier.

How Expensive Is Angkor Wat?

Our first discovery was that Angkor Wat is very expensive to visit. Prices have recently shot up and now tourists must pay $37 for a single day pass, $62 for a three-day pass and $72 for a week-long pass. The three-day pass is valid for 10 days and the week-long pass is valid for one month. If you buy a single day pass after 5 pm, you can use it to watch the sunset and it is still valid for the next day. Do not buy tickets from anywhere else other than the official ticket centre. They will not be accepted. Note that travel agencies offering trips to the site are only offering the travel, not the admission.

How To Get To Angkor Wat From Siem Reap

We had decided to make a one day visit and, to keep costs down, make our own way there. Cycling to the site had mixed reports online, with many saying it was too hot and was very tough going.

Hiring E-Bikes In Siem Reap

Instead, we looked into hiring electronic bikes and we found a couple of places offering rental. We decided to go with ‘Green E-bike’ (map).

We had hoped to take the bike up to Angkor to watch the sunset and then return the next day, using our single day ticket. Bikes are rented out for 24 hours, enabling you to do so. However, we were informed that we were too late to do this as the Angkor Wat ticket office closed at 5 pm, meaning we did not have enough time to get there.

So, the next morning we returned to ‘Green E-bike’, filled out the forms, paid the $12, listened to the advice of how to make the most of the bike and where to re-charge. Then it was time to get on the bikes for a test drive.

Same Same, But Different

The website insisted that no previous experience was necessary and if you could ride a bicycle, you would be fine with an e-bike. This was not to be the case. I couldn’t get use to keeping a steady pace, instead jolting and slowing on repeat. There was too much to become familiar with and the roads of Siem Reap are probably not the best place to learn. I figured that I would get used to it soon enough as the journey was fairly straight. I returned to the shop to wait for Joanna.

Joanna seemed to have disappeared. I had no idea where she had gone. The guy from the shop went on a bike to look for her. At first I thought maybe she enjoyed it so much, she just kept on going! Then I thought it was more likely that she was too scared to turn, so just kept going! Finally, she returned and I could tell from her face that she had not enjoyed the experience. Time for plan b.

Cycling To Angkor Wat

The understanding ladies at ‘Green E-bike’ told us where we could rent bicycles and so off we went. The shop is not on Google Maps but is located somewhere around here. I rented a basic city bike for $2 and Joanna decided to splash out and pay $5 for a top-of-the-range mountain bike. Any disappointment at not experiencing the e-bikes was overshadowed by the comforting familiarity of using bicycles.

Angkor Wat Ticket Office

Angkor is approximately 7 km from Siem Reap and is a straight drive up Charles De Gaulle. About halfway up, you will need to take a right turn to visit the ticket office (map). This is the only place you can buy tickets to visit Angkor Wat. Watch out for the buffalo herds.

It was straight forward buying our tickets. There are different queues for the different types of pass so make sure you are in the correct queue. You do not need to take a photograph with you as they take a photo witch is then printed onto your pass. From here, we returned to Charles De Gaulle and continued our cycle towards Angkor, passing many monkeys along the way.

Angkor Wat Ticket Office Opening Times: 5 am – 5.30 pm, every day.
Angkor Wat Entrance Fee: Click here for current prices.

Angkor Wat Temple

Our first stop was Angkor Wat. We parked our bikes in the parking area and began walking towards the ruins. The heat was immense and we were pretty soon gulping down our water. One thing is for certain when visiting Angkor; you cannot have enough water! Thankfully there are plenty of vendors selling cool drinks.

The temple is vast and incredible. It is hard to not be impressed with the detail and sheer size of it. Especially when you climb a steep staircase and see how much is on the second floor. This must have taken some building!

Surprisingly, it was not overly crowded. It may be because the place is so big or that we arrived later than we planned and a lot of the tourists had already moved on to other temples.

It was a breathtaking start to our Angkor exploration. We returned to our bikes and began the 3.4 km cycle to the next temple: Angkor Thom.

Using the bicycle to explore Angkor was, so far, proving to be effective. Angkor is very flat and the roads are long but straight and cycling gives you an opportunity to stop at any time to explore some of the lesser known ruins in the area. Such as this one:

Angkor Thom Temple

Angkor Thom is the temple with all the faces carved into the stone. You know you’re heading in the right direction when you come to this entrance:

This is where we caught up with the tourists. It is VERY difficult to take good photos here as it is just so busy. It would be so much easier if people just took photos of the relics, without feeling the need to stand in from of them, meaning no one else can get a shot without some grinning tourist spoiling it. Rant over.

Angkor Thom is a labyrinth of creepy stone faces and we got lost whilst in there. It has an spookiness that appealed to me and I preferred it to Angkor Wat.

Near to Angkor Thom, we had a look at some other temples including ‘Baphuon Temple’, ‘Terrace of the Elephants’ and ‘Terrace of the Leper King’. We then began our final long stretch of cycling to ‘Ta Prohm’; the temple made famous by the film ‘Tomb Raider’. This is a 5 km cycle but its flat and on good roads and there are other smaller temples to spot along the way.

Ta Prohm Temple

Whilst many people in the west might know this because of the film ‘Tomb Raider’ with Angelina Jolie, it is also well known for being the temple that nature has reclaimed. Unlike the other temples, this one has been left alone, apart from some renovations, and it is this that makes it arguably the most impressive temple in Angkor.

There are two entrances to this temple and we entered from the west side. At first, there appears to be nothing significant about it but, as you move around, you will be astounded by its beauty as it reveals itself. This was probably my favourite of all three temples.

Cycling Back To Siem Reap

After we finished at Ta Prohm, we decided we’d had enough so began our cycle back to Siem Reap, a distance of 13 km! We were not expecting the journey home to be the longest journey of the day. We got back into town after cycling for over 30 km!

Is Angkor Wat Worth Visiting?

A visit to Siem Reap, or even Cambodia, would not be complete without exploring the temples. It is very expensive but unmissable. We bought the one day ticket and I think that would be enough for most people. Cycling gave us the freedom to move as we wished and, though it was VERY hot and exhausting, it is definitely doable if you have a certain level of fitness (I do not exercise and I drink, though not the night before my visit). You can hire guides at the site if you wish as there is no information on display. We chose to simply enjoy the buildings and the atmosphere of the place. There is nowhere like it anywhere else in the world.

For more information, visit https://www.visit-angkor.org/