Siem Reap sits 7 km from Angkor Wat and exists because of it. The name means defeat of Siam, commemorating a victory over the Thais that may or may not have happened. Before the 1990s it was a small provincial town; it now has hundreds of hotels and, in a normal year, receives millions of visitors.
The centre
Pub Street and the lanes around it are the tourist core: bars, neon, dollar beer, foot massage and fish spas. It is exactly what it looks like and can be enjoyed or avoided accordingly. The Old Market, Psar Chas, sells food to residents in the morning and souvenirs to visitors from noon. Kandal Village a few streets north has the boutiques and the better coffee.
Phare
The Cambodian Circus is the single best evening in Siem Reap. It is run by an NGO that began as an art school for children returning from refugee camps, and the performers are its graduates. The shows combine acrobatics, theatre and live music and tell Cambodian stories, including the Khmer Rouge years. Tickets fund the school.
Museums
The Angkor National Museum is expensive, air-conditioned and a genuinely useful orientation before the temples, with a hall of a thousand Buddha images. The Cambodia Landmine Museum, 25 km out towards Banteay Srei, was founded by a former child soldier who has cleared tens of thousands of mines by hand and supports children injured by them. The Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity and the Apopo rat centre, where the mine-detection rats work, are both open to visitors.
Eating
Siem Reap has the best restaurant scene in Cambodia, from street stalls selling num banh chok noodles at breakfast to Khmer fine dining that has revived pre-war recipes. Cooking classes are widespread and usually start at a market. The night markets sell food alongside the crafts.
Beyond the temples
Silk farms, a rice paddy tour, quad bikes at sunset through villages, and the floating villages on the Tonle Sap are all sold from the same offices. Choose the operator carefully; the floating village tours vary from respectful to exploitative.
Practicalities
The new Siem Reap Angkor International Airport opened in 2023 and is 50 km east of town, so the transfer takes about 45 minutes. Buses from Phnom Penh take six hours. Tuk-tuks are metered by app or negotiated, and the town is small enough to walk.