Rated as the #1 trip destination in the world in 2018 by TripAdvisor, Angkor Wat is a huge temple in Siem Reap. Is it worth the hype?
Definitely yes!
Getting there from anywhere in Siem Reap is a snap.
There’s a bunch of ways, bicycle, tuk tuk or private car.
The reason you’d want to go by bicycle is because it’s actually quite a pretty trek. If you like active travelling this is way to go. On the road you get to see all sorts of neat things like roadside monkeys.
I saw a lot of bicyclists when I was going there by Tuk Tuk. (Because I’m lazy, there’s no way you could convince me to cycle there!)
I would advise against a private car or tour group because it’s not necessary at all. The ride there by Tuk Tuk is just fine. And it's not necessarily a better either
(Although my Tuk Tuk did break down on the way to the ticket office!)
(The driver pulled into a nearby roadside stand, the kind you see all over the place in South East Asia, with little bottles of gasoline for sale in Abolut Vodka bottles, or Pepsi bottles. They fixed the flat and off we went!)
The price of a tuk tuk was $15 USD for a day of temples. This is pretty much a standard rate. The drivers have all spoken uniformly fluent English, so there’s no problems getting one. (On my hostel street, I get asked if I want a tuk tuk at least three times before I can get around the corner to breakfast!)
With Covid now, the prices are even cheaper!
They’ll first take you to the Angkor Wat ticket booth where you have an option to buy either a 1 day, 3 day or 7 day pass. I bought the 1 day pass for $37 USD.
The official link to see up to date pricing for everything is here LINK TO ANGKOR WAT TICKETS (Also has dress code there).
We were at the ticket office at 5am because we were hoping to get to Angkor Wat for sunrise. We did make it for sunrise time, but unfortunately because of the clouds the site wasn’t much different.
We spent about 5 hours there, and could have spent more time, but it was enough time for us. It is a huge complex! When you get there they’ll ask if you want a tour guide. The guides speak fluent English, Japanese, Spanish & French. That’s part of the reason, I say that don’t need to book an organized tour. (Literally I saw a group of Japanese tourists and the Cambodian guide speaking fluent Japanese blew my mind. Cambodia so far has the best language skills I’ve ever seen in the world. \
Would I recommend going to Angkor Wat? You bet. Try to get here before all the tourism returns. It's worth it, because you have all of the temples to yourself.