No travel list would be complete without a visit to the famous Angkor Wat Cambodia Temple. It is a deep and heavy experience.
Exploring Angkor is a bit like jumping into the jungle book. These massive ruins of divine temples are almost 1,000 years old, and you can tell.
Wherever you look, the once fantastic buildings have been shaped by time and nature — with broken walls, collapsed ceilings, giant tree roots and jungle foliage that the temples are slowly consuming.
This Angkor Wat Temple guide explains how to get there, where to stay and how to see the best temples on Angkor Wat roads, as well as a map of Angkor Wat and everything you need to know before you go!
What Is Angkor Wat? What’s the story?
Angkor Wat was a group of temples built by the Khmer Empire in the twelfth century.
Angkor Wat means “temple city” and the name is appropriate because it is one of the largest religious monuments in the world, spanning more than 160 hectares (400 hectares).
The construction of the temple (in present-day Cambodia) took more than 30 years and involved 300,000 workers and more than 6,000 elephants!
Angkor began as a divine temple but was transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the twelfth century.
It was neglected and then finally rediscovered in the 1800s by a French explorer who described it as follows:
Angkor Wat Temple has been damaged over the centuries by disaster, plant growth, looting, and wars. There were even strikes in Angkor under the control of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. Only the ruins remain.
Today, Angkor Wat is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site and is visited by thousands of tourists every year.
Where is Angkor Wat?
Angkor Wat is located on the outskirts of Siem Reap, in the north-west of Cambodia.
The nearest airport is Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport (Sai), served by a number of low-cost airlines. Among other things, there are flights from Singapore (SIN), Bangkok (DMK) or Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Siem Reap.
Angkor Wat Map for Cambodia
Angkor Wat is about 4 miles (6.3 kilometers) — or a 15—minute drive – from the city of Siem Reap, which you can see at the bottom of this map.
There are a lot of food and drink stalls in Angkor Park, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble staying hydrated.
The part that dehydrated me the most was the rush to get to the sunrise point in the morning, so it’s a good idea to bring at least a bottle of water to start.
