Siem Reap Highlights

Arrive to Siem Reap where you will meet your guide and transfer to your hotel to settle in for a leisurely evening. If you have free time, wander out to explore the town or visit the well known Siem Reap night market where you can shop for an array of goods. 

Depart this morning with your guide for a full day of touring the main highlights of Angkor. The Angkor Archeological Park is visually and architecturally breathtaking, and one of the most important sites in all of Southeast Asia, if not the world. The forested park contains some of the most magnificent remains of the capitals of the Khmer Empire, which thrived from the 9th to 15th centuries.

Start with a visit to Angkor Thom and take an optional walk along the wall to another hidden temple in the jungle. Next visit the temple of Bayon whose 54 towers represented the 54 provinces of the Great Khmer Empire. Enjoy lunch at Chanrey Tree restaurant. After lunch, visit the temple of Ta Phrom. built in the mid 12th to early 13th centuries. Ta Prohm was largely left as it was found, with overgrown jungle trees and vines causing many parts of the temple to crumble to the ground. The picturesque ruins very much live up to their portrayal in the film Tomb Raider.

Spend the rest of the afternoon visiting the famed Angkor Wat, one of mankind’s greatest achievements. Wander this 12th century city which was constructed modeling Mount Meru, or the home of the gods. Inside the temple, walls are covered with stone carvings and bas-reliefs that depict Hindu mythology and wars Suryavarman II fought during his reign. Construction is thought to have taken around 30 years of intensive labor and today a depiction of Angkor Wat is said to symbolize the soul of the Khmer people. Explore the ruins before returning to your hotel later this evening.

After breakfast this morning you set out to visit the Roluos Group Temples, the remains of the first major capital of the Angkorian-era Empire. Visit the sandstone carvings of Lolei, built on an islet by Yasovarman I. Next you see Preah Ko which was erected by Indravarman I in the late 9th century. Admire the inscriptions in Sanskrit on the doorsteps of each temple. Last visit the Bakong Temple, the largest of the three which still acts as an active Buddhist monastery.

Enjoy lunch at Mahob restaurant before continuing on for a scenic drive to see Banteay Srey, or the "Citadel of Women". Built between the 11th and 13th centuries, it houses some of the finest and best preserved examples of classical Khmer bas-relief and classical art and is uniquely covered in a pink sandstone not seen anywhere else in Angkor. Continue to the Cambodia Land Mine Museum. A child soldier named Aki Ra was forced by the Khmer Rouge to lay thousands of mines as a child, and has now devoted his life to clearing them. He has removed over 50,000 so far and now runs the museum which is part orphanage, school and clinic to victims.

Finish your full day with a sunset tour at Pre Rup Temple. The beautiful rusty-red hue of the laterite stone and brick used to build Pre Rup is accentuated during sunset.

Transfer to the airport for your flight home or on to your next destination.