Tours in Siem Reap

Siem Reap works on a rhythm you pick up by the second morning. Tuk-tuks wait outside every guesthouse before the heat arrives, people head out early, and by midday the whole town slows down and finds shade. Then the evening comes and everyone is outside again.

Most people come for Angkor, and you should too. Angkor Wat is the one you have seen in photographs, and it is bigger in person than the pictures suggest, with long causeways and galleries you walk slowly. Angkor Thom and the Bayon, with its stone faces looking out in every direction, feel quite different. Ta Prohm is the temple where tree roots have taken hold of the walls, and it is worth reaching early, before the groups. We do not sell a temple tour yet, but a local guide can arrange one for you, whether you want sunrise, a quiet circuit of the smaller temples or a full day.

Then there is the water. South of town, the land flattens out and the road runs toward Tonle Sap, the great lake that shapes life here. Houses stand on stilts, and in places they float, with boats tied up at the door. Out on the lake, the evening light turns the water the colour of copper. Go in the late afternoon, sit back, and watch the villages drift past as the sun goes down. It is the easiest way to give your legs a rest after a day among the ruins.

Back in town, Pub Street fills up after dark, and the Old Market is the place to try amok, a gently spiced fish curry steamed in banana leaf. Give yourself a few days. The temples are the reason you came, but the evenings are what you will remember.