The Angkor Archaeological Park -

The Angkor Archaeological Park

Angkor Entrance Permits

The passes for the Angkor Archaeological Park can be bought at the new Angkor Ticket Office which is located about 3km east of Siam Reap on Street 60. It is easy to get to as every tuk-tuk driver in Siam Reap knows exactly where it is located. Three different passes are available:

One-Day Pass ($37), which is only available on the day of purchase.
Three-Day Pass ($62), which is valid for ten days from the date of purchase.
Seven-Day Pass ($72), which is valid for a month from the date of purchase.

The best time to buy your ticket is in the evening after 5pm since from this time, onwards your pass will start to be valid for the next day. However, you will be allowed to visit the park at 5pm and it will not count as one of your days, which is ideal idk you want to catch the sunset at Angkor Wat. If you have time to spare I would go for the seven-day pass as it gives you plenty of time to visit the Archaeological Park. Moreover, you are more flexible to time your visit to the more famous temples and thus avoid the large crowds (at least during the low season). More on this in the next section.

Getting Around

Expect to pay around $20 per day to have a tuk-tuk take you around to the various temples. I basically could not be bothered to run around Siam Reap to look for a tub-tuk driver so I booked a driver (Mr Narraf) through my hotel and he charged me $21 per day. Having spoken to some fellow solo travellers in Siam Reap that seemed to be the going rate. However, the $21/day included as many free bottles of water as I wanted, which was definitely appreciated on my part. Running around the temples of Angkor is hot work, even in the rainy season. The water was kept nice and cool, by a huge block of ice that was located under my seat. Alternatively you can go around the Angkor Archaeological Park by taxi or by hiring a bike. Most of the Angkor temples can easily reached by Tuk Tuk or bike. The Roluos Group, Banteay Samre and Banteay Srei are slightly futher out and I visited them by Tuk Tuk.

I found that in order to avoid the large tourist crowds, it is best to visit the main temples (Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, the Bayon and Preah Khan) between 7.30 and 9.00 am in the morning when most people still have breakfast and in the afternoon between 2.00 and 5.30pm. I visited Angkor Wat twice late afternoon and you would not have necessarily said that it was one of the main tourist attractions in the world. The less famous temples such a Banteay Kdei or East Mebon do not attract very large tourist crowds while the small temples such as Preah Palilay or Preach Pithu are virtually tourist free all day round. Although the latter ones are definitely not as spectacular as Angkor Wat or even East Mebon, they are definitely quite atmospheric.

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