Overlook floating village in Siemreap

Rattanack Ath

There are plenty of amazing things to see in Siem Reap: sights even include Cambodia's most famous temple, Angkor Wat. Here's a brief look at some of the top Siem Reap sights that you can explore while visiting this beautiful city and its surrounding areas.

Museums

It's always a good idea to learn a bit about the history and culture of a place to which you've decided to travel. And here in Siem Reap there's plenty to learn, both about the people today and the Angkor society of the past. Start with the Angkor National Museum to learn all about pre-Angkor times and the times up through the last Angkor kings. You can then see Angkor Wat in Miniature, a display that includes many of the famous temples in Siem Reap Province. Make a trip out to the Cambodian Cultural Village to see reproductions of Cambodian style houses, a wax museum of famous people throughout history and various traditional performances. Finally, make a point of stopping at the Cambodia Land Mine Museum and Relief Center to see a more recent piece of Cambodian history.

Temples

The main reason that anyone visits Siem Reap is to journey back in time by roaming around the temples of Angkor. Angkor Wat is the most famous of these, and is now the symbol of Cambodia. Angkor Thom, the ancient capital of the kingdom, contains Bayon Temple, another famous structure thanks to the colossal faces that grace the facades of the towers. Ta Prohm was made famous when it was pictured in the film "Tomb Raider," but holds its own with the other great temples with its towering jungle trees that have merged with the ruins to create a stunning scene. There are plenty of other smaller temples dotted around the area outside of Siem Reap, and you can hire a driver for the day to take you to any or all of them.

Market

Siem Reap includes many markets, the most popular of which is Psar Chaa. Here you can pick up all the souvenirs that you wish to take home. You can also sample many Cambodian foods, including pork, soups, and Prahok, a Cambodian fish paste. You can even have a go at some delicacies that remain from the French colonial times-- frogs and baguettes.

Tonle Sap

Don't miss out on another of the Siem Reap sights located just outside of the city-- Tonle Sap Lake. This lake drains out to the Mekong Delta but is an incredible sight during the monsoon season (starting in June) when the river backs up into the lake, swelling it to a gigantic size. Visit at any time of the year to see the floating villages and enjoy the picturesque scenery.

Siem Reap is the city starting point for excursions to Angkor Wat. Only a few kilometers north of the city sits one of the worlds most impressive temple grounds - with a whole collection of significant and very distinct temples.  Perhaps it is rather no surprise that sights in the city are rather limited in comparsion the World heritage nearby. However Siem Reap is worth exploring, not only for the bustling bars, cafes and atmosphere (tourism has brought realtive wealth to this district) but also for such sights as the floating village on Tonle Sap lake, (the lake shoreline changes dramatically between the wet and dry seasons, so the floating village moves with it) as well as the Silk Farm out past the airport, West Baray - a man-made lake just past the airport (catch a boat to the island where there are ruins and a small contemporary Buddhist shrine) and the war and landmine museum, also near the airport. This is a stark reminder of the tragedies of the 1970s and early 1980s. Further out from town are the Koulen Mountains - where there are waterfalls: though be warned, tourists are changed a steep admission.