Siem Reap Starter Pack

Siem Reap Angkor International (SAI) replaced the old in-town airport in 2023.

The new airport is well east of town, so budget around an hour for the transfer.

Regional flights connect Bangkok, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur.

Buses from Phnom Penh take five to six hours on a good road.

Land borders with Thailand at Poipet, and onward buses from Bangkok.

Arrange the airport pickup with your accommodation. Fares from the new airport vary wildly otherwise.

Ask for the ordinary visa (type E), not the tourist visa (type T), if you might stay.

The tourist visa extends once, for a month. The ordinary visa extends indefinitely.

EB extension: the common route for people working, job-hunting or accompanying a worker.

ER extension: the retirement route, for those who qualify.

Extensions are handled by agents almost universally, and do not require leaving the country.

E-visa is available online, but confirm it grants the class you actually want.

November to February: dry, cooler, and the high season for both visitors and rents.

March to May: very hot, regularly 95-100°F.

June to October: the wet season, with heavy but usually short afternoon rain.

The temples are greenest and least crowded in the wet months, and the moats fill.

Roads outside the centre turn to mud after heavy rain. A motorbike is not always the answer.

The town noticeably empties in the low season, and some businesses close for months.

Ambulance: 119

Police: 117

Fire: 118

Response times are slow. For anything serious, a private clinic transfer is usually faster.

Have your insurer’s evacuation line saved. Bangkok is the standard destination.

The centre is small enough to walk or cycle, and flat in every direction.

Tuk-tuks are everywhere. The app-based ones (PassApp, Grab) remove the haggling.

Remorks (the trailer kind) for temple days, motos for short hops.

Motorbike rental is cheap monthly, but foreign licences are not straightforwardly valid.

The Angkor park is 6km from town and best done by bike, tuk-tuk or e-bike.

Streets are unlit outside the centre. A torch and a working bike light matter.

Smart and Cellcard both sell cheap data-heavy SIMs with good in-town coverage.

Fibre at home is inexpensive and widely available in the centre.

Power cuts are common enough that a laptop with real battery life is a work requirement.

Cafes are used to people working all day, and many have generators.

Coworking exists in a handful of places, mostly around the Wat Bo and Kandal Village areas.

Keep a mobile hotspot configured as a fallback before you need it in a call.

The US dollar is everyday currency. Riel is used as small change below a dollar.

ATMs dispense dollars. Ask for smaller denominations, as fifties are hard to spend.

Torn or heavily marked dollar notes are refused. Check what you are handed.

ABA is the bank most foreigners use, and its app is the local standard for payments.

Opening an account is comparatively easy here, usually with a passport and a visa.

KHQR payment codes are accepted at markets, cafes and tuk-tuks alike.

Wat Bo: the long-standing expat side of the river, quiet, walkable, mid-range rents.

Kandal Village: cafes, boutiques and the highest concentration of Western food.

Sala Kamreuk and Svay Dangkum: cheaper, more local, still close to the centre.

Pub Street and the Old Market: loud until late. Pleasant to visit, hard to sleep beside.

Sok San Road: hotels and guesthouses, useful for a first month while you look around.

Houses with land are cheap by regional standards. Long leases are negotiable, especially off-season.

Routine care is fine and cheap. Serious care means a flight to Bangkok.

Royal Angkor International Hospital is the usual first stop for foreigners.

Angkor Hospital for Children treats Cambodian children free of charge. It is not a general clinic.

Pharmacies are everywhere. Buy from established ones: counterfeit medicine is a known problem.

Insurance with medical evacuation cover is treated as essential here, not optional.

Dengue is present. Repellent and mosquito screens are worth the small effort.

Fish amok, lok lak and kuy teav are the dishes to learn first.

Psar Leu is the big local market: produce, fish and everything else, early in the day.

The Old Market area has the tourist prices, the side streets have the local ones.

Cambodian coffee culture is strong and cheap, iced and sweet by default.

Western food is plentiful for a town this size, thanks to the long NGO presence.

Tap water is not drinkable. Refill stations are common and cheaper than buying bottles.

Angkor passes come as one, three or seven days. Residents can buy longer-term access.

Beyond Angkor Wat: Bayon, Ta Prohm, Preah Khan, and the quieter outer temples.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat is crowded. Sunset at Pre Rup or Phnom Bakheng is calmer.

Tonle Sap floating villages, best in the wet season when the lake is high.

Phnom Kulen for waterfalls, and Banteay Srei for the finest carving in the region.

Cycling clubs, quiz nights and a real live-music scene for a town of this size.

Bag snatching from passing motorbikes is the common crime. Carry bags on the inside, off the shoulder.

Never buy from children selling at the temples. It keeps them out of school.

Dress covered at the temples: shoulders and knees, enforced at Angkor Wat’s upper level.

Unexploded ordnance is still a hazard in rural Cambodia. Stay on marked paths outside town.

Orphanage visits and volunteering placements are a well-documented scam here. Do not.

The town runs on the season. Sort housing and work before the low season empties it out.