Tips & Advice

In what manner should you visit Angkor, how much time should you invest, which order could you chose for visiting the temples, - all these questions spring up when planning a tour. In the following are some tips and advice which could be helpful for the planning.

One thing is for sure - not only for a personal discovery of Angkor: be as free as possible from (self-imposed) stress and go on your way with your eyes open. Therefore include as much time as possible in your plans. During that time rather visit only few temples but really enjoy these in peace - temples do not unveil their secrets, their charm, their character necessarily in a second. I always have to think of a race when I see this journeying from one temple to the next and let anybody take a picture of one at each of them - which, to my surprise, can often be observed for Asians.

I had the luck to visit Angkor at a time when Cambodia counted around 10,000 visitors annually - so I had the temples virtually for myself. Today, with millions of visitors each year, one will nearly step on each other's feet, already barriers exist in front of the Bas-Relief Angkor Wats and the inner area of banteay srei cannot be entered anymore. The proposition had been raised to spread (red) rugs to protect the ground plates of the temples and to guide the inrushing "hordes". One will not be able to get away from the other visitors but how about the following: look for a nice place near a smaller temple like the Neak Pean from where you can see the entire temple district and… wait!
Visitors will come and go, moments of unrest will turn in breaks full of peace, everything will be in a flow, everything will be moving - and the temple will outshine everything with majestic calmness. After some time you will not observe people anymore but the impression of the temples will carve into your memory - its charm will open, its character will spread out, its secret will be revealed. In my opinion this is the way to discover "your own" Angkor still these day.
Or you visit the temples "anti-cyclic": Most visitors follow the circular routes (little / grand circuit) in a clockwise direction; in the morning more visitors are in Ankor Wat than in the afternoon; tour busses follow strict departure and arrival schedules and a strict route;…

If "Time" is so important, how much of it should you include when planning then? Planning means to approach the issue analytically, but I am most reluctant to approach the myth of Angkor in an analytic way; at least to me it happened that I wanted to go to Bayon in the morning and in the afternoon to the terrace of the Lepra-King - well, in the evening I was still on Bayon, fascinated by the countenance of the Lokesvara, their calmness, their smile, their greatness,…
Anyhow, a list of the temples to be visited without fail is helpful, count per day with two, three temples and already the number of days is known, which one needs at least (and under three days one should not even begin).

Independently of the season these day can be pretty strenuous. The heat, the distance, the steps, the weight of the photo-case, all that wears out your condition. At least take your time on the first day (you can still increase then) and pass noon time with a refreshing drink and delicious food in the shadows. It is often recommended to return to the hotel but the Khmer built a small food market close to the Bayon under big trees. This has always been the alternative most preferred by me. Whatsoever, it is better to get up early and visit the temples in the morning, rest at noon and keep on visiting more temples in the afternoon or early evening.
This handling of things has a remarkable side-effect: one avoids the dazzling light at midday and instead one sees the temples suffused in the warm, soft morning resp. evening light - sometimes a strange, almost unreal mood builds up. If you do not fall for the magic of Angkor then …
And if you are lucky enough to be at full moon in Siem Reap, do not miss a visit of Angkor Wat in a hopefully clear night.

Unfortunately the entrance fees are graded somewhat statically; indeed, additionally to the one-day pass there are cheaper three-day or six-day passes, but one "has to" visit the temples then in days following each other.
For some temples one does (did?) not need a ticket (e.g. the Roluos-Group); it is recommendable to check out the present situation on the spot and to then change the planned order, if necessary.
If you have enough time and do not depend too much on money, you can e.g. buy a few one-day passes and make one or a few " relaxing days" in between - SiemReap and the surroundings are beautiful.

Now that we have already deviated from the topic "Angkor": I can only recommend a ship tour on the TonleSap! Especially in the dry time the crossing over the Tonle Sap-Lake is a special event, not only because of the swimming villages but also because of the humid, almost swampy, gigantically wide and with reed and grass covered banks. And you have to get through there to reach the road… (The Tonle Sap-lake functions as a natural collecting tank for the melted snow and ice of the Himalayas which is transported by the Mekong; the TonleSap, which ends near PhnomPenh in the Mekong, changes its stream direction in the moment the water is dammed by the Mekong delta and directs it into the Tonle Sap-Lake whose surface triples by that.)
The ship goes the distance Phnom Penh - Siem Reap in about one day and costs about $25, look at the photos.

Generally you can visit Angkor at any time you like but the best time is between November and March because then the temperatures are more endurable. April and May are often hot and humid and afterwards it rains until September. This might make unexpected breaks necessary - in September 2000 the Mekong overflowed half of Cambodia because of the heaviest monsoon rains for decades.