Angkor is composed of 287 temples over 400 square km. Obviously it is difficult to visit every temple of the park. First you will need to spend a lot of time in this city; secondly you will get bored by those temples at a certain point.

Hence they have designed 2 different tours of the most interesting temples that can be easily accessed by any transportation you choose:

• one called the “Small tour”, 5 temples  (around 15km)
• one called the “Big Tour”, 5 temples  (around 35 km)

Here is a picture showing both tours:

You will discover beautiful temples in each tour. One of the most amazing scene is the sunrise on Angkor Wat.

The sunset on top of Phnom Bakheng is also nice:

This two possibilities are included in the small tour.  You will notice that some of temples are at present in renovation and others tend to disappear one day.

Unfortunately visiting these temples is not free. You need to buy a pass that can be issued directly at the entrance of the site. It is very easy to get this pass at 5am in the morning when everybody is watching the sunrise on Angkor Wat, afterward it is crowded and you have to file up .

They offer different options:

• One day US$20
• Three consecutive days US$40
• Seven consecutive days US$60

Those pass are valid for only one person. They take a picture of you which appear on it so it is not possible to share it with anybody else.

It is valid from Sunrise (5am) to Sunset. However pass issued after 5:00pm are valid for the next day.  So if you plan to stay only one day, visiting temple from sunrise to sunset is really exhausting. So I suggest you to buy a pass after 5pm the day before, go and watch the sunset on the Phnom Bakheng temple then the next day you can come back for the sunrise and leave when you are tired.

Angkor Temples are located at 8km from Siem Reap. You can forget the idea to visit them on foot. So it remains only 3 solutions:

• You rent a bicycle: I’ve seen many people doing it. It is a very sporting and original way to do it. However it is a bit slow and you won’t be able to see within one day as many temples as the other options. It means you have to stay at least 3 days in Siem Reap. I don’t really know the cost of a bicycle but I would expect something around US$3 per day.
• You hire a tuk tuk: It is the most common way that people use to visit the temples. There are so many tuk tuks in the street, they all provide this service for a cost between US$9 to US$15 (with an extra cost of US$3 for the sunrise). It is very convenient as they pick you up at yor hotel, bring you to each temple, and send you back to your hotel. In any case, I advise you to confirm every details of the tour that you plan to do with the driver of the tuk tuk to avoid any misunderstanding on the price. It happened that they charged a lower price but in fact it was a price per person and it didn’t include all the temples. So be careful.
• You hire a car or mini-van: maybe it is the most comfortable and expensive way to visit the temple (nice seat with air conditioning). It costs around US$20 per day for a car with a driver.

Honestly I preferred using the services of a tuk tuk, it is a typical Cambodian experience that you should not miss. Here is one of the tuk tuks:

When visiting the temple I’ve noticed that a lot of people were hiring a guide. It is not so expensive even though it is not really needed. A good English speaking tour guide normally costs between US$20 and US$25. They also provide tour guides for many other languages but I’ve been told to be very careful. It seems they are not really fluent so it is sometimes very annoying because they don’t really understand you. The best is to know somebody who already used their services.

It is really a wonderful and amazing trip.

First advice: be careful, because the park is very big and you need more than one hour to go from the town to the farthest temples. During  rush hours some of them are invaded by tourists. It is better to visit the temple when its less crowded so I recommend to leave your hotel the earliest possible.

Second Advice: don’t forget to take an anti-malaria treatment and bring with you specific tropical regions products against mosquitos because the temples are located in the center of the tropical forest with malaria risks.

Related Blog Posts:

• 5 temples you must see in Angkor
• Pre Rup: A Pyramid in Angkor
• How to go from Bangkok to Siem Reap by yourself?
• Every Map You Need To Visit Angkor & Siem Reap
• Discover The History Of Angkor In Video