Siem Reap 7-day itinerary

Rise at 4:30am for the iconic sunrise at Angkor Wat. Position at the north reflecting pond and wait for the five towers to silhouette against the orange sky. As the crowds thin, enter the temple — explore the ground-floor bas-relief galleries depicting the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, the Battle of Lanka, and scenes from the Ramayana. The detail across hundreds of metres of carved wall is staggering. Buy the 7-day Angkor Pass ($72) for maximum flexibility.

Return to Angkor Wat in the afternoon to explore what you missed. Climb to the third level for views across the jungle canopy from the highest point of the temple. The carved apsara dancers on the upper galleries number nearly 2,000 and each one is unique. The library buildings in the courtyard, the cruciform terrace, and the outer gallery's battle scenes all deserve careful attention. Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument ever built — one visit is not enough.

Welcome dinner on Pub Street — Cambodia's backpacker strip with $0.50 beers and cheap Khmer food. Fish amok ($3) in a banana leaf, beef lok lak ($3), and fresh spring rolls ($1.50). The energy is friendly and festive. For something quieter, walk to The Lane or Alley West for cocktail bars and live music. Pick up a copy of the temple map to plan your week strategically.

Arrive at Bayon before 7am when the 216 stone faces catch the first light and the temple is nearly empty. The smiling faces on 54 towers create an ethereal atmosphere in the early mist. The upper terrace puts you face-to-face with the carvings. The ground-level bas-reliefs are uniquely valuable — they depict everyday 12th-century life: markets, fishing, cockfights, childbirth, and Khmer naval battles against the Cham.

Walk the Terrace of the Elephants — a 300-metre carved wall depicting elephants, garudas, and lion-headed figures that once formed the viewing platform for royal ceremonies. Continue to the Terrace of the Leper King with its multi-layered wall of carved deities. Visit Baphuon — a massive 11th-century temple mountain recently restored after decades of painstaking anastylosis. Climb Phimeanakas, the small pyramid temple in the former Royal Palace grounds.

Join an evening Khmer cooking class ($15–25) — learn to make fish amok, green mango salad, and Khmer red curry with fresh market ingredients. Classes typically start with a market tour to buy the kroeung (spice paste base) ingredients: lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, and kaffir lime. You eat everything you cook for dinner. The combination of market tour and hands-on cooking provides the best food education in Cambodia.

Start early at Preah Khan — a sprawling temple-monastery with long atmospheric corridors, elaborate carved lintels, and a unique two-storey structure with round columns. Built by Jayavarman VII as a Buddhist university and monastery, it housed nearly 100,000 people including teachers and students. Enter from the west and walk the full east-west axis — the sense of discovery as you move through successive doorways framing deeper and deeper views is extraordinary.

Continue to Neak Pean — a small island temple reached by a wooden boardwalk over a lake that reflects the sky beautifully. Then Ta Som — a compact temple where a giant strangler fig frames the east gopura (gateway) similar to Ta Prohm but without the crowds. Finish at East Mebon — a 10th-century temple with life-size stone elephants at each corner and excellent carved lintels. The isolated setting in a former reservoir gives it a different atmosphere from the densely packed central temples.

Climb Pre Rup for sunset — the steep brick temple towers offer 360-degree views over the jungle and the distant spires of Angkor Wat. The warm brick glows red-orange in the setting sun and the atmosphere is special. Return to town for dinner at Genevieve's on the river — excellent Khmer and fusion food in a garden setting ($5–10 mains). Or eat street food at the Old Market — Khmer noodle soup for $1.50.

Return to Ta Prohm at opening (7:30am) when the temple is nearly empty and morning light filters through the tree canopy creating dramatic shafts. The giant silk-cotton and strangler fig trees consuming the walls are the result of centuries of abandonment — the French chose to leave Ta Prohm unrestored to show how all the temples looked when European explorers first arrived. Walk slowly through the corridors and experience the eerie beauty without crowds.

Drive 55km east to Kompong Khleang — the largest stilted fishing village on Tonle Sap lake. The houses perch 10 metres above the dry-season waterline on massive wooden stilts. Take a community boat tour ($15–20) through the village and out onto the vast lake — schools, markets, and pagodas all built over water. The scale of life on Tonle Sap is extraordinary and this village sees far fewer tourists than the closer Kompong Phluk.

Attend Phare, The Cambodian Circus ($18–38) — acrobatics, theatre, dance, and live music telling Cambodian stories. Performers are graduates of Phare Ponleu Selpak, an NGO arts school for disadvantaged youth. Shows run nightly at 8pm and sell out regularly. The artistry is world-class and the social enterprise model means your ticket directly supports young Cambodians escaping poverty through the arts.

Drive 37km northeast to Banteay Srei — the "Citadel of Women" and the most intricately carved temple in the Angkor complex. Built from pink sandstone, the miniature scale allows for extraordinarily detailed carvings: devatas, mythological scenes, and floral motifs so precise they look like lacework. The 10th-century temple predates Angkor Wat by 200 years and its pink stone glows warmly in the morning light. This is many visitors' favourite temple despite its small size.

Continue 15km further to Kbal Spean — the "River of a Thousand Lingas." A 40-minute uphill jungle trek leads to a riverbed carved with Hindu symbols: lingas (fertility symbols), Vishnu reclining on a serpent, and Shiva-Parvati carvings, all submerged beneath the flowing water. The carvings date to the 11th–12th centuries and were designed to bless the water flowing downstream to the capital. A small waterfall at the base makes for a refreshing stop.

Return to town for a night exploring Siem Reap beyond Pub Street. The Kandal Village neighbourhood south of the Old Market has craft cocktail bars, independent galleries, and trendy cafes. Miss Wong is a speakeasy-style bar in a colonial shophouse serving excellent cocktails ($4–6). Laundry Bar has live DJs. For cheap eats, the night food stalls along Sivatha Boulevard serve Khmer barbecue ($3 for a mixed grill set) and fried noodles ($1.50).

Take a temple-free morning and visit the Angkor National Museum ($12) for essential context. The Gallery of a Thousand Buddhas, the Khmer Empire timeline, and the audio-visual exhibits on Angkor's hydraulic engineering help you understand the civilisation behind the ruins. The museum is air-conditioned and a welcome break from the heat. Allow 2–3 hours for the full experience including the temporary exhibitions.

Visit Artisans Angkor (free guided tour) — a social enterprise training disadvantaged youth in traditional Khmer crafts: stone carving, silk weaving, lacquerwork, and painting. The workshop tour shows the entire process and the showroom sells high-quality souvenirs at fixed prices. For a deeper experience, ride 16km to the Puok Silk Farm (free shuttle from the shop) to see the full silk production from silkworm to finished fabric.

Splurge dinner at Cuisine Wat Damnak — Cambodia's top-ranked restaurant serving a 5-course tasting menu of modern Khmer cuisine ($15–28) using traditional ingredients in innovative presentations. Or Haven — a training restaurant for at-risk youth with excellent food ($8–12 mains). End with a $7–10 Khmer massage at one of the many shops along Sivatha Boulevard — the body fatigue from a week of temple-climbing deserves attention.

Drive 68km east to Beng Mealea ($5 extra entry) — a massive temple almost completely consumed by the jungle. Unlike the partially restored central Angkor temples, Beng Mealea is largely collapsed and overgrown, creating an Indiana Jones atmosphere of genuine exploration. Wooden walkways thread through the ruins and over collapsed walls covered in moss and tree roots. The temple is nearly the same size as Angkor Wat but feels entirely different — wild, remote, and untamed.

Return to Angkor Wat one last time in the afternoon light — the warm golden glow on the west-facing entrance facade is completely different from the sunrise experience. Revisit your favourite gallery, find details you missed, and spend time simply sitting in the courtyards absorbing the scale and artistry. The late afternoon is surprisingly quiet as most visitors leave for sunset elsewhere. This is your private moment with the greatest temple ever built.

Final dinner at your favourite discovery of the week — whether that is fish amok at a market stall, tasting-menu Khmer at Cuisine Wat Damnak, or cheap noodles at the Old Market. Browse the night market for last souvenirs: pepper from Kampot, silk from Artisans Angkor, and temple rubbing prints. One last $0.50 beer on Pub Street, one last walk through the warm Siem Reap night, and the realisation that Angkor Wat stays with you forever.