Things to Do in Siem Reap

Siem Reap is the small town in north-west Cambodia about 6 km south of Angkor Wat, and most trips here are planned around the temples. The harder question is what to do in Siem Reap once the temple days are done. The answer is a social-enterprise circus, stilt villages you reach by boat, a waterfall pool you can swim in, cooking and pottery classes, and three night markets within walking distance of Pub Street. The 30 things to do in Siem Reap below run from a Rs 190 bicycle to a Rs 57,000 helicopter flight.

Prices on this page were collected on 3 November 2026 and converted at Rs 95 to the US dollar, the dollar being the currency most activities in Siem Reap are priced in. Phare's seat prices come from the circus's own ticket page. The Angkor Pass prices come from Angkor Enterprise, the official ticket seller.

Things to do in Siem Reap at a glance

Explore the temples as experiences

Temples come first on almost every list of things to do in Siem Reap, but the way you see them matters more than the count. All seven experiences below use the Angkor Pass except the balloon. For the history and layout of each temple, our places to visit in Siem Reap guide and the individual temple pages go deeper.

1. Watch sunrise at Angkor Wat

The ticket office opens at 4:30 am and the crowd gathers by the north reflecting pool from about 5 am. Stand on the left of the pond to get all five towers mirrored in the water. The sky colours 20 to 30 minutes before the sun clears the towers, so there is no need to rush. Once it is up, walk straight into the temple while the tour groups head off to breakfast. A one-day Angkor Pass costs US$37 (Rs 3,515). Read the full Angkor Wat guide before you go.

2. Ride the Small Circuit by tuk-tuk

The Small Circuit is a 17 km loop linking Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom with the 216 stone faces of the Bayon, and Ta Prohm, the Tomb Raider temple where roots swallow the galleries. A tuk-tuk and driver for the day costs about US$15 to 20 (Rs 1,425 to 1,900). Agree the price and the stops the night before.

3. Cycle or ride the Grand Circuit

The Grand Circuit adds Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon and Pre Rup. The roads are flat and shaded, which makes this the best loop for a bicycle (about US$2 a day) or an e-bike. Guided cycling tours run about US$35 to 60 for a full day with lunch, and the Angkor Pass is extra. Add the Roluos Group, late 9th-century temples and among the oldest at Angkor, as a half day if you have a third temple day.

4 and 5. Ride the Angkor Balloon or take a sunrise balloon flight

Hot air balloon rides in Siem Reap are of two types. The Angkor Balloon stays tethered to one point, a short ride from Angkor Wat's west entrance, and lifts you on a cable for a 10-minute view over the temple and the forest. Tickets cost US$20 for adults and US$10 for children under 12, with sunrise slots slightly dearer. The other type is a free-flight balloon that drifts over villages and rice fields outside Angkor at sunrise. It runs in the dry season, from about November to March, spends about an hour in the air and costs about US$100 to 130 (Rs 9,500 to 12,350) with hotel pickup. Choose the tethered ride with children. Choose the free flight for the countryside light.

6. Catch sunset at Phnom Bakheng or Pre Rup

Phnom Bakheng is a 15-minute uphill walk with a view of Angkor Wat's towers from the west, but only 300 people are allowed on top at a time, so be in the line by 4 pm. Pre Rup, on the Grand Circuit, has a wider view over rice fields and fewer people. Buy tomorrow's one-day pass after 4:45 pm and it also gets you in for sunset that evening, a free extra on the eve of your temple day.

7. See Banteay Srei and walk to Kbal Spean

Banteay Srei, 37 km north-east of town, is a small temple of pink sandstone carved so finely it looks like woodwork. Pair it with Kbal Spean, a 1.5 km uphill forest walk to a riverbed carved with lingas and Vishnu figures, the "River of a Thousand Lingas". Both are in the Angkor Pass. Go in the morning and stop at the Landmine Museum on the way back. The same road passes lotus farms where boardwalks run out over the flowers.

Culture and entertainment

These are the best things to do in Siem Reap at night and on the hot middle hours of a temple day. Several are run as social enterprises, so your ticket pays for training and jobs.

8. Enjoy the circus: Phare, The Cambodian Circus

If you book one show in Siem Reap, make it Phare, and keep it for the evening after a temple day. The show tells a Cambodian story through acrobatics, juggling, music, dance, drama and comedy in about an hour under a big top. No animals are involved. Many performers trained at Phare Ponleu Selpak, the arts school in Battambang that started the circus to give underprivileged children an education and future employment. The mix of traditional Khmer style and a contemporary flavour has drawn comparisons with Cirque du Soleil.

Shows start at 8 pm. Book a day or two ahead from December to February.

9. Watch an Apsara dance over dinner

Apsara dance recreates the celestial dancers carved on Angkor's walls, with slow hand gestures that each carry a meaning. Buffet dinner shows in town start at about US$18 and run to US$35 depending on the menu and seat. For a big-stage production, Smile of Angkor stages the Khmer story from creation to the building of Angkor, with seats listed at US$30 and US$40 on its official site. Most shows start between 7 and 7:30 pm and finish by about 8:30 pm.

10. Take a Khmer cooking class

A three-hour class starts at about US$26 (Rs 2,470) and often begins with a walk through a local market to buy the herbs. You will usually cook Fish Amok (fish steamed in coconut curry in a banana-leaf cup) and Beef Lok Lak (peppery stir-fried beef with a lime dip). Vegetarian travellers can ask for tofu or vegetable versions when they book. See our guide to street food in Siem Reap for what to order afterwards.

11. Watch artisans at work and buy fair-trade crafts

Artisans Angkor runs free guided tours of its workshops in town, where young craftspeople carve stone, gild lacquer and weave silk. Its Angkor Silk Farm at Puok, west of town, shows the whole process from mulberry leaf to loom. The Angkor Handicraft Association runs on the same idea as a non-profit, with proceeds going back to the local community and to keeping the craft alive. At its Fair Trade Village visitors can see artisans handcraft bags, jewellery, scarves, decorative pieces and paintings from scratch. Our guide to shopping in Siem Reap lists where else to buy.

12, 13 and 14. Visit the museums

Three museums cover three different stories. The Angkor National Museum (US$12 adults, US$6 children) explains the Khmer empire and its gods, and works best before your first temple day. The War Museum Cambodia (US$5, guide included) displays tanks, artillery and landmines, and some guides are war survivors who tell their own story. The Cambodian Landmine Museum (US$5, under-12s free) was founded by Aki Ra, a former child soldier who cleared mines by hand. It sits on the road to Banteay Srei, about 45 minutes from town. More options are in our museums in Siem Reap guide.

15. Meet the HeroRATs at APOPO

At the APOPO Visitor Centre, giant African pouched rats show how they sniff out landmines faster than a metal detector. The 45-minute session ends with a close-up meeting with the rats. Entry is about US$10 (Rs 950). Children love it, and it pairs well with the Landmine Museum because it shows how clearance works today.

16. Spend an afternoon at the Cambodian Cultural Village

The Cambodian Cultural Village is a theme park of model villages from Cambodia's ethnic groups, miniature temples and short dance shows through the afternoon. Entry is about US$15. It is a little staged for adults, but it is shaded, on National Road 6 west of town and easy with small children. It closed in 2020 and reopened in 2022 as Angkor Green Gardens Park, though drivers and booking sites still call it the Cultural Village.

Nature and day trips

The countryside around Siem Reap is flat rice land that floods every monsoon, which shapes almost every trip below. Water levels on the Tonlé Sap rise from June and peak around September and October.

17. Take a boat through a Tonlé Sap floating village

The village you pick decides the trip. Kompong Phluk is the classic choice, with stilt houses up to 10 m tall and a paddle-boat ride through flooded forest. Kompong Khleang is bigger, farther away and far quieter. Chong Kneas is the closest and the most commercial. Read more in our guides to Siem Reap floating villages and the Tonlé Sap lake.

Never buy rice or school supplies from a boat stop on the way. Give to a registered organisation instead.

18. Spot storks at Prek Toal bird sanctuary

Prek Toal, one of the three core areas of the Tonlé Sap biosphere reserve, is described as the most important breeding ground in South-East Asia for large water birds. Go between December and early February, when painted storks, spot-billed pelicans and greater adjutants crowd the flooded forest. The birds stay on into March, but the lake is falling by then. In February and March the boats may not reach the treetop platforms, so ask your operator what is open before you book a late-season trip.

It is a full day. Expect a pickup at about 6 am and a drive to Chong Kneas or Mechrey pier, depending on the water level. A boat takes you across the lake to the floating village, and a small ranger boat goes on into the core area.

Book with Osmose, the Sam Veasna Center, the Cambodia Bird Guide Association or the village-run Prek Toal Tours & Travel. Tours usually cover transport, a guide and meals, and the price per person drops as your group grows. Osmose sells the sanctuary as a bird-watching supplement on top of its village tours (US$60 per person for one or two people, US$35 each for three or more), so a plain village tour will not take you to the nests. On its 2026-27 list a full day with birding comes to about US$195 (Rs 18,525) each for two people, US$117 (Rs 11,115) each for three to six and US$95 (Rs 9,025) each for seven to 15. Travelling alone, you pay double the two-person tour rate. Going on your own costs about US$55 for the return boat from Chong Kneas plus US$30 for a ranger boat into the core area. If you do that, hire an English-speaking guide, because the rangers speak little English. Your fees help pay for the rangers who guard the nests.

Pack binoculars, or ask your tour company to lend you a pair, since you watch the nests from treetop platforms at a distance. The Sam Veasna Center also sets up spotting scopes on the platforms. Bring a hat, sunglasses and strong sunscreen for a long day of glare off the water, plus quick-dry clothes, shoes that can get wet and insect repellent. Serious birders can ask any of these operators for an overnight trip to catch the dawn flights. More in our Siem Reap wildlife guide.

19. Swim at the Phnom Kulen waterfall

Phnom Kulen is the holy mountain where Jayavarman II declared the Khmer empire in 802. It is about 50 km and 1.5 hours from town. The day combines a riverbed of carved lingas, a giant reclining Buddha carved into a boulder at the summit pagoda, and a two-level waterfall with a pool for swimming. Entry is US$20 (Rs 1,900), paid in cash and not covered by the Angkor Pass. The falls are strongest from July to November and can thin to a trickle by April. The mountain road is one-way, with traffic going up only until about 11 am and coming down only after midday, so leave town by 8 am. See our guides to Kulen Mountain and waterfalls near Siem Reap.

20. Climb through Beng Mealea, the jungle temple

Beng Mealea is an unrestored temple of collapsed galleries and moss, reached on wooden walkways about 1.5 hours east of town. The Angkor Pass covers it, or you can buy a US$10 ticket on its own. Pair it with Kulen on the same day, or with Koh Ker and its seven-tier pyramid as a long day trip. Koh Ker has its own ticket, about US$15.

21. Zipline, quad bike or ride a horse

Within the Angkor park, the Flight of the Gibbon zipline takes you over the jungle canopy on ten lines, with sky bridges, platforms and an abseil to finish. The shorter course costs about US$65 and the full course about US$99, riders must be at least 1 m tall, and with luck you may spot a few gibbons. Quad-bike tours through the villages south of town run from about US$30 for an hour, and the Happy Ranch offers gentle horse rides through rice fields. For walks, see trekking in Siem Reap.

22. Take a sunset boat cruise on the Tonlé Sap

Siem Reap's own river is too shallow for a real cruise, so the sunset boat goes out on the Tonlé Sap from Kompong Phluk, Chong Kneas or the quieter Mechrey. A boat-only ride costs about US$15 to 25 (Rs 1,425 to 2,375) including the village stop. A packaged tour adds hotel pickup at about 2 pm, an English-speaking guide and the village entry for about US$25 to 49 (Rs 2,375 to 4,655), and takes 4 to 5 hours door to door. It ends on open water as the sun drops into a lake so wide you cannot see the far shore.

Go between August and December if you can, when the water is high enough for boats from every pier to reach the lake. From March to May the Kompong Phluk channel runs so low that boats can scrape bottom, so ask your operator which pier is running that week. For a group, a private wooden boat can be hired on request, with cocktails and canapés charged on top. On the drive back, ask your driver to stop at a roadside lotus pond.

In the high-water months a public boat also crosses the lake and runs up the Sangker river to Battambang. It takes 5 to 8 hours depending on the water level and costs about US$20 to 30 (Rs 1,900 to 2,850). Pack earplugs for the engine, snacks and sun protection.

If you searched for a Siem Reap river cruise, you probably found multi-day Mekong ships, and that is a different trip. Lines such as Heritage Line's Jahan, Aqua Mekong and Pandaw sell these as multi-day Siem Reap to Saigon sailings through Phnom Penh. The ships end in the Mekong Delta, and a road transfer covers the last stretch into Saigon. For most of the year, roughly mid-December to mid-August, the lake is too low for these ships, so the first or last leg is a 4 to 5 hour coach ride to meet the boat near Kampong Cham. The Angkor temples are a land add-on before or after the sailing, not a stop on it. If you want the river after the temples, compare our Mekong and Ha Long cruise packages.

Markets, nightlife and food

Siem Reap is a small town after dark, and almost everything below is within a 10-minute walk of Pub Street. For bar picks, see our Siem Reap nightlife guide.

23. Spend an evening on Pub Street

Pub Street turns into a pedestrian strip in the evening, with music from rival bars, US$0.50 draught beer and cocktails under US$5. The lanes off it are quieter. The Lane and Alley West have smaller bars and restaurants, and Asana, a traditional Khmer wooden house turned bar, is a short walk away. Go after 7 pm and keep your phone away from the road side, where bag snatching is the main risk.

24. Shop the night markets and the Old Market

Three night markets and one day market cover every souvenir in town. Bargain, starting at about half the first price.

Made in Cambodia is the best place for gifts with a known maker. Our shopping in Siem Reap page lists more.

25. Eat street food, Khmer dinners and Indian meals

A bowl of num banh chok (rice noodles in a green fish curry) or kuy teav noodle soup costs US$1 to 2 at a street stall in the morning. A sit-down Khmer dinner of Fish Amok runs US$5 to 10. Indian travellers are well served, with several Indian restaurants on and around Pub Street and Sivatha Boulevard serving dal, paneer and Jain-friendly cooking on request, and most Khmer places will make a vegetable or tofu stir-fry. See our restaurants in Siem Reap guide for names.

26. Get a Khmer massage or a fish pedicure

After 15,000 steps in a temple, a foot massage is the reward. Street parlours charge US$3 to 6 for an hour, and a hotel spa up to US$50 (Rs 4,750). Parlours run as social enterprises by blind masseurs are worth seeking out. The fish pedicure is the odd one out. Small fish nibble the dead skin off your feet in tanks along Pub Street for a dollar or two, ticklish at first, then oddly refreshing. Skip it if you have a cut on your feet, because the water is shared.

Unusual things to do in Siem Reap

These four are the less obvious things to do in Siem Reap besides temples, and each one gives a side of the town most visitors miss.

27. Make a pot at a pottery class

The Khmer Ceramics and Fine Arts Centre teaches 90-minute wheel-throwing classes from about US$25 (Rs 2,375), with hotel transfers included. You shape a bowl or a vase in the traditional Angkorian style. They fire it, and pieces are ready to collect later in your stay.

28. Visit the Wat Thmei Killing Fields memorial

At Wat Thmei, a working pagoda on the road to Angkor Wat, a glass-sided stupa holds the skulls and bones of people killed here under the Khmer Rouge. Panels on the grounds tell the history in English. It takes 30 minutes, entry is a donation, and monks are often happy to talk. Dress for a temple.

29. Watch elephants at Kulen Elephant Forest

Kulen Elephant Forest is a sanctuary near Phnom Kulen for elephants retired from riding and logging. There is no riding. You walk with the herd through the forest, watch them bathe and feed them. Visits are by advance booking only, as morning or afternoon sessions with transfers and a Khmer lunch, so ask the operator for the current price.

30. Fly over Angkor by helicopter

A helicopter flight is the one way to see Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and the barays in a single frame. Flights run from 8 to 30 minutes and cost from just over US$150 to about US$600 per person (Rs 14,250 to 57,000). Pilots keep to set routes and heights around the temples rather than hovering low over them, so expect wide views, not close-ups. The short flight covers Angkor Wat alone, and the longer ones reach Pre Rup, Banteay Srei or the Tonlé Sap.

Free things to do in Siem Reap

Plenty of the best things to do in Siem Reap cost nothing:

• Walk Pub Street and the riverside after dark.
• Browse the Angkor Night Market and the Art Centre Night Market without buying.
• Watch thousands of fruit bats leave the trees of the Royal Independence Gardens at dusk.
• Visit Wat Preah Prom Rath and Wat Bo, two town pagodas with painted murals.
• Pay respects at the Wat Thmei memorial (donation).
• Take the free Artisans Angkor workshop tour.
• Join the morning crowd at the Old Market food section for photos.

Things to do in Siem Reap in 1, 2 or 3 days

Three days suit most people, with two temple days and one for the lake, a show and the markets. Each plan below adds a day to the one before it.

With one day only, buy the one-day pass after 4:45 pm the evening before, watch sunset at Pre Rup, and do the Day 1 plan the next morning.

Plan your Siem Reap trip

When to go

November to March is the dry, cooler season and the busiest. April and May are the hottest months, with afternoons close to 40°C, so start at sunrise and rest by noon. From June to October, the green season brings a short afternoon downpour on most days, lower hotel rates, a full Kulen waterfall and the best water for the floating villages. Prek Toal is best from December to early February, before the falling lake cuts off the treetop platforms. Our best time to visit Siem Reap page has the month-by-month detail.

Angkor Pass

Children under 12 enter free with a passport. Buy the pass at the official ticket centre, online through Angkor Enterprise, or at the official kiosks. It covers Angkor Wat, the Small and Grand Circuits, Banteay Srei, Kbal Spean and Beng Mealea. It does not cover Phnom Kulen, Koh Ker, the museums or the balloon.

What a day costs

Add the Angkor Pass on temple days.

Getting around

Tuk-tuks cost about US$2 for a ride within town. The PassApp and Grab apps show the fare before you ride, which saves bargaining. For the temples, hire a tuk-tuk for the day (US$15 to 20 for the Small Circuit, a little more for the Grand Circuit or Banteay Srei) or a car with air conditioning (about US$30 to 40). Siem Reap Angkor International Airport is about 50 km from town, roughly an hour by shuttle or taxi. Read how to reach Siem Reap for flights from India, including IndiGo's Kolkata to Siem Reap service.

Notes for Indian travellers

Carry US dollars in small notes. Prices everywhere are in dollars, change comes in riel, and torn notes are refused. Apply for the Cambodian e-visa before you fly (see our Cambodia visa for Indians guide), and fill in the free Cambodia e-Arrival card online within 7 days before arrival. At the temples, cover your shoulders and knees. The upper level of Angkor Wat turns away shorts and sleeveless tops. Drones are banned at Angkor.

Ready to plan it? Compare our Siem Reap tour packages, including the 3 nights 4 days Angkor Wat tour, or see the wider Cambodia tour packages. Planning beyond Siem Reap? Our guide to things to do in Cambodia covers Phnom Penh, Kampot and the coast.

Edited by TravelTriangle