Angkor Wat and the Best Wats in Siem Reap

Angkor Wat is one of those places that you have probably seen pictures of, but may have not realized what it was. When there, it really does feel like you are on the set for the Jungle Book- monkeys and all. After visiting it in person, I completely understand why it is one of the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.” We spent our first full day in Cambodia exploring the incredible wats.

Our hotel arranged tuk tuk driver to pick us up bright and early for a day of wat tours. Did I mention the tuk tuk driver only cost $10 for the entire day? Seriously. And all day access to the wats only cost $20 per person.

We started our day at Angkor Wat, which I would highly recommend doing. It is actually the worlds largest religious structure and was built between 113-5 BC. {I’m a huge nerd and thought that was just too cool! If only those stones could talk!} We woke up before sunrise to a slight thunder storm, but hopped on our tuk tuk and made our way to the wat. Our hotel packed up fresh banana pancakes, fruit, water and coffee, which we ate on our tuk tuk ride {again a definite must. you will be walking all day and need a good boost of energy in the morning}.

Once you get to the Angkor Wat, take the main path over the moat and all the way up to the main interior entrance {it’s a lot further then you might think- the wat is huge}. Once you get to main entrance you will see a pond to your left. Go find a space by the pond and wait for the magical sunrise. We didn’t do this because I didn’t realize it was there, but would HIGHLY recommend it to everyone in the future. Lucky for us, the thunder clouds parted just in time for the sunrise and the Angkor Wat made its grand entrance. It was stunning. {as i mentioned before, i accidentally deleted my disk and lost a lot of pictures… these sunrise pictures were some of them :( i did snag this one on my phone though}

There are dozens of wats you can visit, so Caleb and I chose a handful and asked our tuk tuk driver to stop at each one. We stopped at a few other wats along the way, which we do recommend doing- but these four were probably my personal favorites:

•  Angkor Wat {the main wat- we spent a couple hours here}
• Phnom Bakheng {mostly because we were literally the only people who made the hike up, it was between Angkor Wat and our next temple, and it has gorgeous views of Angkor Wat and the surrounding areas- we spent about 45 minutes here}
• Bayon {the wat with the huge faces- it absolutely down poured on us here, like crazy crazy rain… but it actually added to our experience and made us seriously belly laugh- we spent about 2 hours here partially due to the rain}
• Ta Prohm {the wat with the trees growing on top of it- we spent a couple hours here}.

As we explored, we made friends with a few locals who helped maintain the temples and learned fun facts about each temple. They were more than willing to share their knowledge and it made our adventure even more enjoyable once we understood the details of each wat. We also learned most of the wats were originally Hindu wats but were later converted into Buddhist wats. The details and stories each wat told were incredible!

^^ right before it poured buckets! ^^

• Get to Angkor Wat early early early. Did I mention you should get there crazy early?
• Wait for the sunrise behind the pond on the left side of the Angkor Wat
• Eat breakfast along the way to your first wat
• Bring a water bottle {our tuk tuk driver kept a cooler for us}
• Women- cover your shoulders and your knees. Men- cover your shoulders {It was sweltering hot when we were there, so I wore shorts and bought my sarong skirt right outside Angkor Wat.}
• If you can, split the wats into two days. It can be a bit overwhelming to cram it into one day and by the end you appreciate it a bit less. It was still magical though

Have you been to Siem Reap? What were your favorite wats?
Do you have any tips?

Find more about our trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia here

Stay tuned for more on our trip to Vietnam and Cambodia!