Why this shape and not another
Angkor is roughly four hundred square kilometres. A one-day pass buys you the three temples everyone photographs, in the company of everyone photographing them. A three-day pass buys you the outer sites, the early mornings and the option of an afternoon off.
Day by day
Day 1 — Arrive Siem Reap
Transfer in from the airport, which sits a good way out of town. Evening free.
Day 2 — Angkor, the main circuit
Angkor Wat early, Angkor Thom and the Bayon, then Ta Prohm. Back by early afternoon — the heat makes anything later unpleasant.
Day 3 — Angkor, the outer sites
Banteay Srei for the carving, Banteay Samre, and the eastern temples where the crowds thin out completely.
Day 4 — Tonle Sap and on to Battambang
The lake in the morning — stilt villages whose water level moves metres with the season — then three hours south.
Day 5 — Battambang
The old French quarter on foot, the hilltop temple at Phnom Sampeau, and the bat cave at dusk, which is a genuine spectacle and free.
Day 6 — Battambang to Phnom Penh
Five hours east. Afternoon at the Royal Palace and the silver-floored pagoda beside it.
Day 7 — Phnom Penh and depart
The National Museum, or Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek for those who want them, before the airport transfer.
What you should know before booking this one
- Angkor passes are bought in person with a photograph taken at the ticket office — allow half an hour on the first morning.
- Temple mornings start before six if you want Angkor Wat at sunrise. That is a real alarm clock, three days running, and you can decline any of them.
- The Battambang and Phnom Penh legs are three and five hours by road. There is no useful flight alternative on either.
- Days
- 7
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