skeldale

hello!

i plan to spend two days in siem reap this month, i have several questions for that;

1. is 2 days enough?
2. how much would a tour at angkor wat would cost?
3. would be be able to recommend a local tour guide who could speak english, has his/her own transportation?
4. any other things that you could recommend in siem reap?

thank you so much.

skeldale

Kathie

It takes a full three days just to see the so-called major temples. If you have any real interest in the temples, you may want more time. We spent a week and didn't come close to seeing all of the temples - or even all that we wanted to. If you are someone who gets bored after a few hours of looking at temples, then two days might be enough. Buy Dawn Rooney's book, Angkor, in order to prepare. This book will also give you more of a sense of how much time you want there. You can also take a look at our photos at www.marlandc.com to get more of a sense of the temples.

The cost for a 1 day temple pass is $20, 3 day temples pass is $40, 7 days pass is $60. A car and driver costs about US$25, more for the distant temples. A guide is another US$25-30.

Many people like Ponheary Ly or one of the guides she can arrange. Ponheary is also very involved with making education accessable to Cambodian children. Take a look at www.theplf.org

There have been a number of other guides recommended here, a search should turn up more names.

mrwunrfl

I think two days (three nights) is enough, or at least it is a good minimum. A third day would be better. A fourth day would be good.

I hired a driver and a guide through the Sofitel. He was fine for me but I would not recommend him (he expressed unsolicited negative opinions about tourists from certain countries; some people might have been uncomfortable by that). His English was very good and I remember hearing other local guides speaking English and other languages fluently.

jcasale

We spent three days and that was probably about right for us, but we could have managed to do the things we really wanted to do in 2 days. We hired Ponheary to be our guide (you can contact her at [email protected]) and I thought that made it much easier and also more enjoyable and informative. One morning she was tied up and so she had her brother Dara guide us and he was great also (and has a wonderful eye for photography). I would also recommend going out to the floating village on Tonle Sap if you can. We paid $240 for three full days, so I would assume that two days would be about $160 for the guide and driver.

Ponheary tends to divide the day into two parts with a rest in the heat of mid-day. You could plan to do the following:
Day One: Ankgor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon
Day Two: Banteay Srei, Ta Prohm, Floating Village

You might also want to go to the Artisans d'Angkor and see the kind of work that organization is doing to help promote the arts and provide income to the rural areas. Their website is: http://www.artisansdangkor.com/

A couple of good restaurants to check out: Viroth's, Red Piano, Bopha Angkor restaurant, Viva (if you are craving Mexican food).

Siem Reap was great! If you end up with a tuk-tuk drive named Mr. Million tell him that we said hi ;-)!

LuxePacker

Do you have a hotel selected? If not, give me a budget and I'll make a few recommendations. For dining, I've a post of favorites...

http://www.luxepacker.com/files/best..._cambodia.html