Sunrise Tour at Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia

My Experience Taking a Sunrise Tour at Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia

I had to edit this photo to have the red show, it was a moody morning

Some History About Angkor Wat

This is a total must do if you are in the area. I didn’t know a lot about it going in, much of my knowledge had come from 1) knowing Tomb Raider had been filmed there; and 2) seeing friends travel there. But I knew I wasn’t going to skip it!

Like with many super popular attractions, I tried to find out when the best time of day to visit would be so I can be there when the least amount of people will be. Goals. Although very popular, the sunrise tours seem to be when crowds remain the lowest (and the sun isn’t baking you like a cookie!). This is how I found the tour I ended up taking to see the three temples: Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, and Bayon.

Angkor Wat is the largest of the three – it is the one that you will watch the sun rise over, and there is a small body of water in front of it. Even a relatively untalented photographer like me can get shots of the temple being reflected. It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west. Scholars are divided as to the significance of this, but the prevailing opinion is that it is because of its Hindu roots. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992. It is also on the flag of Cambodia!

Ta Prohm Temple is the one from Tomb Raider and has remained overrun with trees. It was originally called Rajavihara. This temple is roughly 3kms from the Angkor Wat Temple, so you do need to account for this distance in your planning (see below for how I did this). It was founded by the Khmer King Jayavarman VII as a Mahayana Buddhist monastery and university. Unlike the other two temples, this was left in the same state that it was found in, which makes it very cool to walk around, but may be problematic if you are traveling with certain physical limitations.

Bayon Temple is the one with many smiling faces. It was built in the late 12th or early 13th century as the state temple of King Jayavarman VII. Bayon stands at the center of Jayavarman’s capital, Angkor Thom. This is the “newest” temple of the three, and is 3.3 km from Angkor Wat, or 4.7 km from Ta Prohm Temple.

The site itself is about 6 km from the town of Siem Reap, where many travelers to this historic site will stay. Keep in mind that these are temples, and it is disrespectful to show your shoulders and knees, therefore choose your outfit for the day wisely. It really is quite cringe when people do not respect the customs and beliefs of places they are traveling to.

My Day Biking Around Angkor Wat

*I took this tour on June 18, 2017*

Although I cannot seem to find any information about the exact tour I took in my email or find it again online, I did a Sunrise Mountain Biking Tour of the three temples which included breakfast and lunch. I’m so surprised there is nothing in my email about it, so I am wondering if I booked it at my hostel and simply have no memory of it! Here is a link to a very similar tour if you like the sounds of my story below, and also the one I would book now! No shade, but yes I would make a different choice, and you will understand why if you keep reading!

The day starts very early – around 4:30am, and I was the first one to be picked up. I was waiting on the road for what felt like an “oh my god what am I doing out here” long time. When I feel like I am waiting too long for something, I start wondering what I have done wrong; is it the right day? Is it the right time? Am I in the right place? You know, the usual mild panic attacks solo travelers tend to be able to give themselves. Anyway, eventually this minivan shows up and we are on our way! We went to the next hotel to pick up the only other 2 guests on the tour, and they weren’t waiting outside like I was. They also don’t respond to the guide going to see out where they may be. After the two guides talk to each other for a bit (I have no idea what they are saying) one guide goes back into the hotel for a few minutes and then says they are coming. I guess they had slept in. I was starting to get antsy as I was going to be upset if we missed the sunrise. Next, we drive to the place where you have to buy your tickets to the temples. The lines there are pretty long, even at this hour (it was about 5:15am at this point) and I was still feeling nervous that we would “miss” it because I am a control freak and I worry a lot about these things. There are tuk tuks everywhere, and people showing up in droves. Spoiler alert: we were not late and we did see the sunrise. It wasn’t a dramatically beautiful sunrise that morning, but that’s why we learn to edit photos!

Although not much of a fashion statement in Canada, these pants were perfect for covering knees in the heat!

We got off the mini bus and walked up to the viewing area to wait. The sunrise tour is actually quite nice because even though there are a lot of people there, the temple isn’t actually open yet, so you can get some great photos without people in them. But this is how many people were there, and they kept coming!

Everyone who watched the sunrise before the temple opened

Once the sunrise was over and the temple opened, we walked around there, and went up the stairs to the viewing area at the top (this is a must even if the line is long!) CNN put out an article in 2014 naming the stairs to Angkor Wat as ‘scary’ and that “Guides claim the steps were made to be so steep to remind people that heaven was hard to reach—though you might make the same argument about Earth as you try not to tumble on the way down” which is simply not true anymore, there have been wooden stairs built overtop of the older stone ones, which have a railing and is 47 steps steep. This has been there since approximately 2009. So if you have read that and had reservations, don’t fear. They are still quite steep and may prevent you from using them if you have certain physical limitations, however they are not scary!

The wooden stairs built over the stone ones you will use

The temple was very cool, and our guide was really knowledgeable. I would have loved to have someone with me for a few decent photos, but my iPhone and I persevered.

Taking some timer selfies to prove I was there!

The inside of the upper level of Angkor Wat

After touring the entirety of Angkor Wat, we got to the first bicycle part of the tour, and the reason why I would not rebook this type of tour. I am not a great bike rider, but I can get by. I had done a few days on a pedal bike in Vietnam and thought with the distance between the temples it would be a great way to travel between them, and likely offer the lowest crowds. Both of these things are true. But, the way that we took was a more challenging bike ride than I was anticipating. We did not take the shortest distance between the temples, traveling the area on a mountain bike was supposed to be part of the fun! The couple on the tour knew this, and were great riders. I certainly was not and held the group back (so much so that on the last leg of the biking part they suggested I take my bike back to the bus and get our driver to take me!)

The second temple we visited was Bayon Temple and our guide knew the spot to get a picture of us facing one of the stone faces. Mine isn’t perfectly lined up but it’s definitely better than if I had been trying! This temple was a bit crowded as we got here at roughly 8-9am but nowhere near what it gets to once the people who opted to not be there for sunset show up.

After this, we biked to a place where breakfast was served to us. And it was a lot more than what I was expecting, eggs and bacon and as much fruit as you could want! I was expecting something much more rudimentary, but this was great!

Then, we went to the last temple, and of course I struggled the whole way there on the bike. At one place we were riding along a very narrow raised bank and I fell off the bike! I will say again – I did not enjoy being on the bike!

When we arrived at the Ta Prohm Temple you immediately saw how it is very different from the others, with trees growing directly out of it. It is something straight out of a movie (for real – this is a filming site of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider starring Angelina Jolie!) The temple itself can feel a little cramped but they have done a good job of making it accessible to walk through and see, although not that accessible if you have certain physical limitations, so that is something to keep in mind. Even from the outside it is very worth exploring though.

Me for scale on how massive these trees are!

After this temple, as mentioned above, I was required to break away from the group for what they considered to be the most challenging biking portion of the tour (I was more than happy to get driven to the next place we were going!) which was to a little shady tree area where we had some more fruit and could use some toilet facilities. We hung out here for a bit, and the day ended with us having lunch at Kolab Angkor Restaurant. I don’t remember much from lunch, which means it was neither amazing nor awful! I recall that it was simply people who stopped there at the tail end of their tour, and therefore the menu geared in that direction. They did have air conditioning which was appreciated after a long day in June!

My Stay Overall

Siem Reap has such a vibrant atmosphere, I really enjoyed my stay there. I have two regrets: booking at a fairly inactive hostel, and two not doing research outside of Angkor Wat on things to do in the area.

There are very touristy areas with great food and cheap drinks (hello $0.50USD beers!) with the main area, called Pub Street being the most active, you can find tons of small shops and market stalls selling everything from homemade items to things you could find at Target!