Siem Reap: Angkor at dawn, then lunch and a nap

Angkor Wat at sunrise is worth the alarm. So is the nap afterwards.

Why go

Angkor is the long weekend from Singapore we'd tell anyone to stop postponing, as long as they accept the deal: a 4am alarm, temples until the heat gets serious, then lunch and a proper nap. Do it that way and a long weekend covers the headline temples without a single sweaty midday marathon. Book the flight, buy the Angkor Pass the evening before your first sunrise, and keep the middle of every day for lying down.

The catch is the new airport. Siem Reap Angkor International Airport opened in October 2023, about 50km east of town, and the transfer takes over an hour (Siem Reap.net puts it at around an hour and a quarter). The old habit of landing at lunch and being at a temple by mid-afternoon no longer works, so treat arrival day as a write-off and an early night.

How to get there

Singapore Airlines flies direct to the new airport, and at roughly 2h20 the flight is the easy part; check frequencies with the airline before you fix the dates. On arrival, don't go hunting for a tuk-tuk, which may not be allowed inside the airport. Book a car through Grab or PassApp, or take the official airport shuttle bus, and check current fares before you fly.

Where to stay

Stay near the Old Market and Kandal Village, so dinner is a walk rather than another tuk-tuk. Two older favourites are worth a look if they are still trading as they were: Anantara Angkor Resort & Spa, a boutique resort with a salt pool, a Khmer-style spa and a free tuk-tuk into town, and Angkor Village Hotel, the one with Apsara dance dinners. What we know about both dates from 2019, so check status and rates before you book.

What to eat

Siem Reap's restaurant scene has long leaned on social enterprise, and that is where we would start. Spoons had students of the hospitality school EGBOK cooking and serving Khmer dishes; Cuisine Wat Damnak served a tasting menu in a traditional wooden house and could book up a month ahead in peak season. Both details are from 2019 reporting, so confirm they are open before you plan an evening around either. If Wat Damnak is, book it at the same time as the flights.

What to do

Buy the Angkor Pass first, and only through official channels: online via Angkor Enterprise, at the ticket office or at the vending machines. There are one-, three- and seven-day passes; for a long weekend the three-day is the one (prices are in the facts box). Buy after 4.30pm and the pass is good the next morning, which is the whole sunrise trick. Angkor Wat opens before dawn. The upper sanctuary, the Bakan, opens later and enforces a strict dress code, so cover shoulders and knees and don't bet on a loose scarf getting you in.

Give Angkor Wat three to four hours, the face towers of the Bayon an hour or two, and the tree-wrapped Ta Prohm an hour or so. Banteay Srei, with its red sandstone carving, is about 25km out and needs the full Angkor Pass, so give it a morning of its own. Further-flung Beng Mealea and Kbal Spean sell their own tickets. For sunset, Pre Rup and Phnom Bakheng stay open later than most temples. In the evening, Phare, The Cambodian Circus, a social enterprise run by graduates of the Phare Ponleu Selpak arts school, is the show we would book; check performance dates first.

What to skip

Pub Street, unless a night of loud bars is what you flew for. Kandal Village, the quieter strip of shophouses, cafés and boutiques nearby, is the better evening. And skip the midday temple marathon, above all between March and May, when it is at its hottest. The nap is not optional (it is, quietly, the second-best part of the itinerary).

Good to know Buy the Angkor Pass only through official channels, carry clothing that covers shoulders and knees, and allow over an hour for the airport transfer. November to February is generally cooler and drier.