15 Best Things To Do In Siem Reap Besides Temples

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Thanks to its proximity to the famous Angkor complex, the Northwestern city of Siem Reap is one of the main tourist attractions of Cambodia. However, Siem Reap is more than just the home to a world-renowned temple complex.  Let’s see the 15 best things to do in Siem Reap and what the city offers!

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Siem Reap’s Pub Street

Siem Reap’s Pub Street is considered the busiest street with a row of restaurants and lively and bustling bars. Located in the center of Seam Reap, is home to pubs, Western restaurants, and magnificent, opulent, and polite Khmer cuisine. Most of the bars here are open all day, but they are only really open from 5 pm to 12 pm and even all night.

The type of massage thrives here inside the street corners and alleys in Siem Reap’s Pub Street. The staff is mostly Cambodians, well-trained in each massage, cupping, and reflexology. This style of therapy is very popular on street corners and alleys. Since massage therapy only costs from 3 USD, many tourists like this form of relaxation, and it becomes very crowded after 5 PM.

  • Opening hours: All day
  • Address: Street 08, Krong Siem Reap, Cambodia

Read more: Cambodia Travel Guide: Everything You Need to Know before Traveling

Best things to do in Siem Reap: Phsar Chas Old Market

This Old Market, located along the Siem Reap River, is the oldest Khmer market in the city. Also known as Psar Char, locals flock to this open-air market in the morning to buy fresh produce as well as household items. There are also many reasonably priced souvenir stalls near the entrance to the market along with items such as silks, jewelry accessories, shoes, and antiques.

However, keep in mind that you must pay for that low price because most of the products sold to tourists in this area are highly expensive.  The central area of ​​the Old Market has many restaurants with soup, rice dishes, bread, frogs, dried fish, and pork sausages. The best and most interesting places to shop in Siem Reap are Psar Char and Angkor Night Market.

  • Opening hours: 7 am to 8 pm every day.
  • Address: Psar Chas Road, Siem Reap

Siem Reap Night Markets

More than 200 bamboo tents selling a variety of clothing and crafts made by native people and NGOs can be found at the Siem Reap Angkor Night Market. Set in a landscaped garden in the heart of Siem Reap, the market was established in 2007 to help preserve Khmer craft traditions and improve people’s lives.

The Angkor Night Market in Siem Reap, in contrast to most other shopping areas, only offers “special goods” such as silk paintings, ball dolls, and purses manufactured from recyclable materials.  There are also intricately sculpted stones to beautify in silver or brass. Of course, you’ll also find a few mass-produced goods from China, a must-have in any market in Southeast Asia. Besides, there are also several food stalls in the market, where you can enjoy live music performances, local food, beer, cocktails, and smoothies at extremely attractive prices.

  • Opening hours: 4 pm to 12 pm
  • Address: Off Sivatha Boulevard, Siem Reap

You can explore more tours from Ftrip: An Absolute Cultural Exploration & Photography of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

Cambodian Landmine Museum

Cambodia Mine Museum is located south of Banteay Srey temple and is located inside Angkor National Park. This location, which was opened in 2007, has four galleries and is used to store various bombs, weapons, and firearms from the Cambodian wars.

This place is also associated with Aki Ra, who gathered bombs and mines throughout Cambodia to bring back and show in order to illustrate the horrors that war has brought upon this lovely nation, is also connected to this location.

  • Opening hours: 7:30 am to 5:30 pm
  • Address: 67, Phumi Khna, Cambodia

Siem Reap war museum

Wat Preah Prom Rath City Temple

Wat Preah Prom Rath, like the majority of other Buddhist temples in Cambodia, is open to visitors. Although there is no entry cost, donations are encouraged. 

Although hiring a guide or taking a tour might provide valuable cultural background, many tourists choose to visit Wat Preah Prom Rath solo. The temple is occasionally included on tours of downtown Siem Reap, but its location more than its historical or architectural value is what draws tourists there.

  • Opening hours: 7:30 am to 5:30 pm
  • Address:  Opposite Temple Coffee & Bakery, Pokambor Ave, Krong Siem Reap 17254, Cambodia

Read more: Ha Giang Loop Tour by Motorbike – A Complete Travel Guide

Kulen Mountain 

King Jayavarman II picked Kulen mountain, with its spreading hill form, as the first capital in 802, ushering in the Angkor era. Kulen mountain is located at an altitude of 300m, roughly 45 km northeast of Siem Reap city.

Today, the road to the top of the mountain is very narrow, winding and dangerous, and there is only one lane, so it is prescribed that from early morning until 12 am, the road will be opened for cars to the top, and after 12 am, the road will be opened for vehicles to run. down. Tickets to the mountain to visit are $ 20 for foreign tourists. There are many guides here to serve the attentive tourists, even the children here can also act as guides for visitors. Up to the top of Mount Kulen, visitors can visit and explore such as the River of Thousand Linga, waterfall, bat cave, Mahendara hill.

  • Address:  Siem Reap, Cambodia

What to wear in Siem Reap

Made in Cambodia Market – King’s Road

This market is the most exciting collection of the top traditional Cambodian handicraft for clients who are passionate about cultural things or local souvenirs. Numerous different Cambodian cultural handicrafts are on display at these booths. Customers can select from a broad range of goods, including scarves, apparel, jewelry, ceramics, gems and pearls, recycled buffalo horns, and decorative crafts of wood, copper, and silver.

  • Opening hours: 12 am to 8 pm
  • Address:  Oum Khun St, Oknha Oum-Chhay St, Krong Siem Reap, Cambodia

Best time to go to Siem Reap

Best things to do in Siem Reap: Cooking Classes

For those who want to learn more about Khmer cuisine and how to prepare delicacies like Cambodian Amok, cooking classes are a lot of fun. If you’re looking for something a little more fascinating to do on a wet day than drinking yourself silly on Pub Street, cooking classes are a terrific option.

Best things to do in Siem Reap Visit the Angkor complex

Visit the Angkor complex

Of course, the most notable tourist spot in Siem Reap is the aforementioned Angkor complex, the largest religious site in the world. Its most famous temple, Angkor Wat, is depicted on the national flag of Cambodia.

The complex comprises over a thousand temples and tombs built in the unique Khmer architectural style. You can book a hot air balloon trip to see the whole area from above – best experienced at dawn or sunset. 

See how traditional crafts are made 

Workshop centers such as Khmer Ceramics & Fine Arts Centre, Artisan Angkor, and Senteurs d’Angkor offers opportunities for visitors to immerse themselves in local culture, help young people earn a living, and even have the opportunity to bring home mementos that they’ve made themselves.

Best things to do in Siem Reap: Hop on a tuk tuk

These motorized rickshaws are very popular as transportation methods in South East Asia, and Siem Reap is no exception. The knowledgeable drivers may even be your tour guides.

Visit the Angkor complex  Hop on a tuk tuk

Try local specialties

Although kralan was used as Khmer Empire military rations, it’s nothing but a treat. Fresh bamboo tubes are stuffed with a mixture of glutinous rice, coconut milk, black-eyed peas or beans, grated coconut and palm sugar, then grilled over coal fires. For the more adventurous (and not so allergy-prone) diner, wild-caught insects and other creatures await, such as tarantulas, scorpions, or crickets. You can also take a night food tour on Vespas and experience the highlights of what Siem Reap has to offer.

Support small businesses

There are plenty of locations to shop for souvenirs in Siem Reap. Phsar Chas, the Old Market at the city center, boasts over a hundred stalls offering merchandise at affordable prices. It’s a good place to buy mulberry silk and silk products. The Angkor Night Market is open from 4 p.m. to midnight, with bandanas, silver items, and jewelry available. The Made in Cambodia Market, where many craftspeople and artisans ply their wares (some of them originating from and benefiting NGOs), also offer exciting live music shows to entertain shoppers. It’s held on Saturdays of the first and third week of the month.   

Get a fish massage

For less than USD 10, you can sit back, relax, and have the dry and calloused skin on your tired feet nibbled at by swarms of tiny fish inside tanks. (Not recommended for ticklish people!) 

Enjoy a show at Phare Circus

The artists were trained by the Phare Ponleu Selpak vocational center, founded by survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime. Their family-friendly repertoire is a wonderful combination of traditional culture and modern performance art. Performers tell uniquely Cambodian stories through theater, music, dance, and modern circus arts.

Enjoy a show at Phare Circus

You can explore more Cambodia tours from Ftrip

Hopefully, through the 15 best things to do in Siem Reap, you will have more information for your upcoming trip. If you want to have interesting experiences in Cambodia, choose FTrip’s tour right away!

Reviewed by

Diep Van

Phone: +84901166884

Email: diep.van@ftripvietnam.com

Diep Van

Founder & Photography Guide

Specialties: Culture, landscape, portrait, hiking, active and adventurous tour

Besides my unlimited passion for traveling, a professional tour guide for over a decade, I have been taking photographs since sitting at Hanoi of the University of Culture in the early 2000s. Photography started as a hobby but it was seriously taken due to my work relations and my significant passion for the beauty of our world, especially in Southeast Asian parts such as Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar.

Within a few years of taking photographs, my works began to be recognized by many reliable international publications such as AFAR Travel, The Times, and The Daily Telegraph newspaper. In addition, I continuously add to my growing profile by winning numerous major awards: 3rd Position of The Independent Photographer 2018, 1st Position of Amateur Photographer of the year 2018, Grand Prize Winner of the AFAR Travel Photography 2019, and a Gold Award of San Francisco Bay International Photography 2020.

I photograph a wide variety of subjects, from travel to landscapes to street scenes. I enjoy documenting the East’s rich cultural heritage and its land soaked in glorious sunrise or sunset light in remote and secluded spots. And, I am very happy to share my knowledge and experience with you. You can visit Luminousvietnamtour to explore tour!


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