Spending just a few days in Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat in early Dec. Any advice on must dos/don't dos and the best places to eat & sleep?

Loads of earlier posts on the topic of hotels. Amansara - www.amanresorts.com is the most premium, boutique experience u can have - just 12 rooms. Across the road, the Raffles property Grand Hotel d'Angkor is a colonial, 200+ room hotel with loads of history in every nook and cranny, true Raffles style grandeur. Smaller boutique otpions are pansea, www.pansea.com or Shinta Mani, www.sanctuaryresorts.com - pull up threads on all of these. Have a meal or a drink at Raffles, a meal at Amansara and def a meal at Shinta mani - pref lunch as they have great 'spa cuisine"

There are places to stay in all price ranges. I visited Raffles (didn't stay there) but thought that the price was really over the top in such a poor country. It also really seemed stuffy and formal to me. A number of people on this board like the Sofitel. I stayed at the Angkor Village Resort, which I very much enjoyed, but several people have reported bad expereinces since my stay there several years ago.

More important than where you stay is the matter of visiting the temples. Do some reading before you go. I highly recommend Dawn Rooney's book, Angkor. Some people like to have a guide, some do not. If you opt not to have a guide, make sure you take the book along. A car and driver will cost you US$20-25 a day. Do try to visit some of the smaller less visited temples, and not just stay on the usual "tourist path." Your driver can help you time your visits so you don't arrive at the same time as busloads of tourists. That will make a huge difference in your enjoyment of the sites.

Anyone stayed at La Residence d'Angkor? Is it a good place to stay in Siem Reap - thanks for the feedback so far.

I just left Siem Reap 9/28. We spent 6 nights. We traveled all over with a guide for 4 days then took one day to travel back to our favorite temples on the 5th day. We definitely needed a break after 2 days of temples only because we had been traveling for another 5 days previous. We chose the www.Angkorvillage.com because it looked very tropical. Admittedly we paid more than I would have liked negotiated the price to $100 including breakfast normally $121 but we did not want to skim on cleanliness feel of hotel etc. They have so many employees it was so funny sometimes you'd see 5 girls at reception or 5 would greet you at the restaurant. They are training a new staff for the new hotel to open in Oct. Everytime I'd take a nap and return to room during the day the bed and room would be made up again! The views are very lush tropical plants and flowers so you don't get to look out at the streets anywhere from the windows; at least that was my experience. We looked inside the Shinta Mani. The place had a very contemporary Asian feel. Very nice but it felt a little cold and expensive to me.
Our guide suggested some of our favorite places. The Khemer Kitchen in a little alleyway is a small place maybe 6-8 tables. Best food the first night, spicey though. $.70 for Angkor beer and $2 for our entree with rice! The crowd was western therefore I felt it must have been recommended to them also. Kulen Restaurant is a huge outdoor restaurant with a typical Apsara dance show. The buffet dinner was the most incredible buffet I have ever experienced! There must have been 7 tables of exotic food! $12 for dinner and show. Not intimate in anyway but the variety and taste of all the food was fabulous. We saw the show in the Angkor Village and preferred that one because it was a small theater so the acoustics were great and show delightful. That was probably $20 per person with dinner, but we chose not to have dinner and paid $10/p. You should try the Red Piano. OUr driver suggested that also. We had dinner upstairs on one of the balconys. Very clean, contemporary and pleasing decoration. I couldn't believe I was in the middle of Siem Reap. Neverless the food was so good. I had the ginger chicken and it was so good I went back the next night after chosing someplace else but not happy with the choice. Their drink the Tomb Raider was EXCELLENT. We went to the Elephant Bar in the grand Angkor. This hotel is very upscale but they have a 50% off for happy hour until 9 pm so the drinks were potent and inexpensive. $2.50 versus $5 for a cuba libre. Restaurants we visited: Only one - ok pricier than others and I felt there was no reason to pay more. La Noria - went to lunch and it was good. I have more stories but just realized I should just send my email and you can write me for more info. We went all over and tried many things so I can go on and on. Sorry about the rambling. [email protected]

Wanda, I'm so glad you had a good experience at the Angkor Village Resort. I stayed there several years ago and had a wonderful time. Unfortunately, after that a couple of people on this board stayed there and didn't have such a good experience. I thought the best food I had in Siem Reap was at their restaurant. And the French manager was so gracious and helpful!

It sounds like you had a great time at Angkor. It's a fabulous experience.