Siam Reap, Cambodia

Scruff

Going to be there for 2 days with the missus to see Ankor Wat. Anyone recommend any hotels etc?

nj23

We stayed in the Royal Angkor Resort which was close to the airport and close to the temples. Beautiful hotel, HUGE swimming pool excellent service, but lacked atmosphere. I think myself and boyfriend were only two westeners there, and they knew us by name after a few hours there. There were mainly chinese staying in the hotel. We arrived from thailand and phoned before we got there, think it cost about 100 dollars a night from what i remember.

kenmc

We stayed in Sun Sengky guesthouse in the centre of Siam Riep, about 10 euro a night all in. No pool, but aircon and tv. lovely owners.
Recommend getting yourself the Khmer Curry or the Amok there's a whole load of bars in the centre of town, and the one pretty much directly opposite the Angkor Wat bar is great for food.
Siam Reap is class. You may be shocked at the amount of amputees though, all the result of landmines. I'd recommend a trip to the land mine museum, it's near the entrance to Angkor.
2 days will be REALLY pushing it to be honest. if you can extend your trip I would. Expect to pay around 10 USD a day for a moto-tuktuk to bring you to and back from the temples.

Darren

kenmc wrote:

We stayed in Sun Sengky guesthouse in the centre of Siam Riep, about 10 euro a night all in. No pool, but aircon and tv. lovely owners.
Recommend getting yourself the Khmer Curry or the Amok there's a whole load of bars in the centre of town, and the one pretty much directly opposite the Angkor Wat bar is great for food.
Siam Reap is class. You may be shocked at the amount of amputees though, all the result of landmines. I'd recommend a trip to the land mine museum, it's near the entrance to Angkor.
2 days will be REALLY pushing it to be honest. if you can extend your trip I would. Expect to pay around 10 USD a day for a moto-tuktuk to bring you to and back from the temples.

That's where I stayed and I have their business card. Their email addy is sengky@camintel.com or sunsengky@yahoo.com.

Glowing

Darren wrote:

That's where I stayed and I have their business card. Their email addy is sengky@camintel.com or sunsengky@yahoo.com.

I'll third that place! Very central, clean, lovely owners and great value for money!

shrapnel222

i think siem reap, is very different from south east asia when travelling due to this place being a HUGE tourist attraction and not only for travellers. The price range of hotels ranges from 2000 to 2 dollars a night, so there's something for everyone. I, personnally, when i went there, decided to splash out just a little, compared to the 5 or 10 dollars a night we'd been spending travelling up to now. We found a beautiful little hotel built around a garden and with a swimming pool. after 8 hours a day visiting the temples, god did we appreciate that pool!!!! this place was about $50 a night, but hey, we felt like it.

One thing though i can't recommend enough, is to get a guide for the temples, and this again will depend on your buddget. We found other people in the hotel who'd just arrived, and got a guide and a car for 6 of us to tour the temples for 2 days. I think it came to about $100 per person all in all, but it was definitely worth it. The guides there have studied languages and history for the last 5 years and being a guide around ankor is considered one of the most prestigious jobs in the country. We got him through the hotel and he was brilliant!!! There's no way you'll find out as much about the country and history of the place.

Unfortunately, siem reap has become an incredible money machine (thankfully a lot of that money is recycled in restoring the place), but whilst there, it certainly is worth splashing out a bit more to really appreciate the history of the place.

On the 3rd day though we went our own way, got a motorbike driver to carry both of us to the temples and then just wandered on our own, but doing this every day wouldn't have been an option as some of the most beautiful and fascinating temples are a good hour by car.

any way, have a great time. I' m jealous!!!!:p

Scruff

Thanks for the info. Might be able to give it an extra day. Going to be traveling from Bangkok but after doing a quick look online last night I was surprised at the cost of return flights there from Bangkok, nearly €550 for the two of us with bangkokairways\siamreapairwas, seems on the expensive side to me. Can you get cheaper in a Travel Agents in Bangkok when we get there? (Flying out tonight, woohoo!)

nj23

The flights from bangkok to siam reap are very expensive. as far as i know bangkok airways has a monopoly. That price actually seems ok for two of you, return, i think we paid about 200 one way each, booking a day before travelling.

kenmc

you can fly siem reap KL if you want with air asia, if BKK is not fixed on your itinerary.
alternatively you could bus it from BKK to SR if you are feeling REALLY adventurous

shrapnel222

we bussed it. it was bumpy to say the least!!!! a few bridges collapsed along the way also so we had to go cross country a few times- it makes for a very long day!!! and this was during the SARS outbreak so we all had to have a medical at the border- it was like a scene out of close encounters of the third kind with men in white everywhere asking you questions and pushing you along