27 Awesome Things To Do in Siem Reap Besides Temples

27 Things To Do in Siem Reap Besides Temples

1. Attend the Phare Circus

Cambodia’s Phare Circus is one of the most unique things to do in Siem Reap, and it’s definitely not your typical circus!

The show combines acrobatics, theater, comedy, music, and some seriously impressive stunts to tell stories inspired by Cambodian culture and history. Phare also has a much bigger purpose behind it. The organization helps provide education and opportunities in the arts for young Cambodians from disadvantaged backgrounds.

There are several different shows in rotation, so the exact performance you see will depend on the night you visit. When you book your tickets, you can choose between open seating in sections A, B, or C. The stage sits in the middle of a semicircle of seats, with section A closest to the stage, section B in the middle, and section C furthest back. We think section A is worth the upgrade. Our seats were amazing!

Phare Circus is located on Ring Road, about 2 kilometers from Pub Street. It only takes around five minutes to get there by tuk tuk, and you’ll usually find plenty of drivers around Siem Reap who can take you for just a few dollars. Drivers also wait outside after the show too, so getting back to your hotel is easy.

2. Try a Khmer Cooking Class

Taking a Khmer Cooking Class is one of the most popular things to do in Siem Reap besides temples! These classes are completely hands on, and you’ll usually make several traditional dishes such as fish amok, lok lak, and Khmer soup while learning about the ingredients and cooking techniques used in Cambodian cuisine. Some even include a trip to a local market to shop for the ingredients you’ll use.

Once everything is finished, you get to sit down and eat what you made, which is obviously the best part. Many classes also send you home with the recipes, so you can attempt to recreate everything later.

3. Visit the Floating Village and Flooded Forest

Cambodia is home to several floating and stilted villages, and Kampong Phluk is one of the easiest to visit from Siem Reap. The village is located about an hour outside the city and sits along Tonle Sap Lake, where homes, schools, shops, and daily life are built around the water.

Visitors can join a tour and travel by boat through the village before continuing out toward Tonle Sap Lake. Water levels change dramatically throughout the year, so the experience can look very different depending on when you visit. The wet season, typically from May through October, is the best time to see the village surrounded by water.

We visited Siem Reap during the dry season, and the water levels were too low for us to do the tour.

Many tours also include a ride through the nearby flooded forest, where small boats weave between partially submerged trees and mangroves. We recommend this Floating Village Tour because it includes both Kampong Phluk and the flooded forest.

4. Party on Pub Street

Pub Street is the center of Siem Reap’s nightlife scene, and it feels completely different once the sun goes down. The area fills with music, packed restaurants, bars, street vendors, and the famous fish pedicure tanks we’ll get to later.

Some parts of Pub Street are loud and chaotic, while others are much more relaxed, so you don’t necessarily have to be looking for a huge night out to enjoy it. Even if partying isn’t your thing, it’s still worth walking through at least once just to see the atmosphere.

Popular spots include Angkor What? Bar, X Bar, and Long’s Bar. Nearby you’ll also find Barcode Bar and Miss Wong Cocktail Bar, which are both very popular.

5. Get a Bamboo Sak Yant Tattoo

Getting a bamboo Sak Yant tattoo was one of the most memorable things we did in Siem Reap! Sak Yant tattoos are traditional sacred tattoos created using a long bamboo needle and intricate designs believed to carry different meanings and forms of spiritual protection. Depending on the design, they may represent things like strength, wisdom, protection, or good luck.

We visited a local Tattoo Studio in Siem Reap and chose designs that felt meaningful to us. After the tattoos were finished, a former monk and Buddhist teacher blessed them.

The whole experience felt completely different from getting a regular tattoo, and we left with one of the most personal souvenirs we’ve ever brought home from a trip.

6. Get Blessed by a Monk

Monk Blessings are a tradition that dates back hundreds of years in Cambodia, and it’s something you should absolutely experience during your trip.

Traditional Cambodian blessings usually include chanting, holy water, and a blessed string tied around your wrist. The blessing is meant to bring things like good luck, health, protection, and prosperity.

You may come across monks offering blessings at temples around Angkor, usually in exchange for a small donation, so it’s possible to experience one without planning ahead. We ended up receiving three different monk blessings during our time in Cambodia, and only one was planned.

The spontaneous temple blessings are usually pretty simple and may only include a few sprinkles of holy water. If you arrange a monk blessing in advance, you may be booking a full water blessing instead. These can involve a lot more water, and yes, you may end up completely soaked.

7. See an Apsara Dance

Apsara dance is one of Cambodia’s most recognizable traditional art forms, and Siem Reap has several places where you can see a performance over dinner.

For a more polished night out, we recommend Kanell Dinner Show. The experience feels a little more upscale, with higher end food, a beautiful setting, and a mix of Apsara dancing, traditional music, folk performances, and Bokator martial arts.

If you want something more casual and traditional, Apsara Theatre is another great option. The focus is more heavily on the performance itself, and dinner is served family style at the table rather than as a more elevated plated meal.

Both are great choices!

8. Walk with Elephants

Feeding and walking with the elephants at the Kulen Elephant Forest Sactuary was the highlight of our trip and the best elephant encounter we’ve ever had.

The experience starts with making food for the elephants by mixing the ingredients together yourself. Then you get to feed them before heading into the forest for a relaxed walk alongside the herd. This was easily our favorite part of the experience. Walking through the forest with elephants right beside you feels completely surreal, and it gives you plenty of time to watch them wander, eat, and interact with each other along the way.

Kulen Elephant Forest opened in 2019 as a home for elephants that previously worked in tourism around Angkor. The sanctuary now focuses on giving the elephants a more natural environment while still allowing visitors to spend time with them in a responsible way.

9. Get a Foot Massage Every Day

One of the easiest things to take advantage of in Siem Reap is how affordable massages are. You’ll find massage shops all over the city, and basic foot massages can cost as little as $5 or $10 for an hour.

Full body massages and nicer spa treatments are easy to find too, and even the higher end options are usually much cheaper than what you’d pay back home. Jake got a three hour massage for only $80 at a really nice spa!

We also appreciated that the massage shops we visited never felt pushy. We weren’t constantly being pressured into upgrades, add ons, or more expensive treatments, which made the whole experience feel really easy.

After long days walking around temples, markets, and the city, this quickly became part of our routine. We got a foot massage every single day of our trip, and if massages are significantly more expensive where you live, you might as well take advantage while you’re in Cambodia.

10. Explore the Old Market

The Old Market, also called Psar Chas, is one of the best places in Siem Reap to wander around without much of a plan. Vendors sell everything from fresh produce and spices to clothing, souvenirs, household goods, and plenty of things you may not immediately recognize.

Some sections are filled with fruits, vegetables, dried foods, and spices, while others have butchered poultry, live seafood, bags, clothing, and trinkets. It’s crowded, colorful, a little chaotic, and the smells can be intense depending on which aisle you’re walking through.

The market is covered, so there’s plenty of shade, which makes it an easy stop even in the middle of the day. We loved just walking through and seeing what was for sale.

11. Get a Fish Pedicure

Fish pedicures are one of the stranger things you’ll see around Pub Street. You sit with your feet in a tank while tiny fish nibble away at the dead skin, which sounds worse than it feels. They don’t have teeth, so it’s more ticklish than painful.

You’ll find fish pedicure setups all over the Pub Street area, and they’re usually very cheap. Some even include a drink with the price.

We skipped this one in Siem Reap because we had already tried it before, but if you’ve never done a fish pedicure and you’re curious, this is an easy place to try one.

💣Antisocial Tourist Tip — Fish pedicures are controversial and have been banned in some places because of sanitation and health concerns. If that makes you nervous, do a little research before deciding whether you want to try one.

12. Meet the HeroRATs at APOPO

If you want to learn about Cambodia’s landmine history without spending an afternoon in a traditional museum, visit the APOPO Visitor Center in Siem Reap.

APOPO trains African giant pouched rats, known as HeroRATs, to detect landmines and unexploded ordnance. During the tour, you’ll learn how the rats are trained, see one work through a mock minefield, and get a better understanding of the ongoing work to clear Cambodia of explosives left behind from decades of conflict.

And yes, you actually get to meet and hold one of the HeroRATs at the end! Tours are currently $10 per person, and APOPO recommends booking ahead.

13. Take a Workshop at the Lotus Silk Farm

The Lotus Silk Farm is one of the most unique things to do around Siem Reap, especially if you like hands on experiences.

This Lotus Silk Farm Masterclass will show you how artisans extract incredibly fine fibers from lotus stems and turn them into lotus silk. Then you’ll get to try six different crafts yourself, including making lotus paper, spinning lotus fiber into yarn, creating jewelry from dried lotus seeds, making incense, decorating a silk scarf, and carving lotus leather.

The experience also includes a 30 minute boat ride through the lotus fields, where your boatman will make a lotus flower bouquet along the way. When you’re finished, you’ll leave with all six things you made, which makes this one of the best souvenir workshops in Siem Reap.

14. Have a Drink at Miss Wong Cocktail Bar

Miss Wong Cocktail Bar is one of the most popular places for drinks in Siem Reap and a fun option if you want somewhere a little more stylish than Pub Street.

The bar has a 1920s Shanghai inspired look with red lanterns, dark interiors, and a much more polished atmosphere than most of the nightlife around the city. The cocktail menu is the main draw, with drinks like the Apricot and Kaffir Lime Martini, Miss Wong Punch, and Singapore Sling, plus a small menu of dim sum and bar snacks.

Miss Wong is located on Street 26, only a few minutes from Pub Street by tuk tuk, so it’s easy to stop in before or after dinner.

15. Catch a Drag Show at Barcode

Barcode Bar is one of the most popular nightlife spots in Siem Reap, especially if you want something more entertaining than a standard night out.

The main draw is the nightly drag show, which brings together music, costumes, dancing, and a lot of energy in a sleek, modern bar. After the show, the space turns into more of a dance club and stays lively late into the night.

Barcode is located near Pub Street, so it’s easy to work into an evening downtown. If you’re planning to go specifically for the show, check the current start time before heading over since schedules can change.

16. Go on a Khmer Food Tour

Khmer food ended up being one of our favorite parts of Cambodia! Some of the dishes you’ll see everywhere include fish amok, mango salad, beef sour soup, grilled meats, and plenty of rice based desserts.

We did a food tour on our first day in Siem Reap, and it was a great way to figure out what we liked early in the trip. We ended up becoming obsessed with passionfruit sodas and fresh lime juice and ordered them everywhere after that.

We recommend this Private Food Tour, which includes transportation by Tuk-Tuk and ten different tastings around Siem Reap.

17. Check Out the Angkor Night Market

The Angkor Night Market is one of the best places in Siem Reap to browse for souvenirs, clothes, jewelry, street food, and plenty of random things you probably don’t need but may end up buying anyway.

We actually preferred the Night Market over the Old Market because there was more street food and a much bigger selection of souvenirs, clothing, and jewelry to look through. The atmosphere also feels more lively once everything gets going for the evening.

The market is located near Pub Street, so it’s easy to visit both in the same night. Most stalls start opening in the late afternoon and stay busy well into the evening.

18. Relax on a Gondola

💣Antisocial Tourist Tip — This tour includes hotel pick-up and drop-off, but it’s best to do it while you’re already near the Angkor Wat Temple. If you plan on doing the gondola ride before or after exploring the temple, choose Angkor Wat as your pick-up location, and they’ll pick you up at the temple entrance.

19. Take a Pottery Class

If you like hands on workshops, this Cambodian Pottery Class is a fun way to make something that actually feels connected to Siem Reap.

During the two hour class, a local artist will teach you how to use the pottery wheel and shape your own bowl from Cambodian clay. Once you’ve made your piece, you’ll use traditional tools to add Khmer inspired carvings and designs.

Hotel pickup and drop off are included, along with all of the materials you’ll need. You’ll even leave with a Cambodian potter’s diploma. If you want your pottery fired, ask about it during the class because firing is optional and takes additional time.

20. Have Breakfast with Capybaras

For one of the more unusual animal experiences in Siem Reap, you can Have Breakfast with Capybaras! You’ll eat breakfast inside the capybara area while the animals roam around you and may even wander right up to your table. After breakfast, you’ll get food to hand feed them and spend some more time interacting with them up close.

They do offer a Dinner with Capybaras, as well. The experience takes place at Casa de Capybara, which is actually a capybara themed hotel. So if an hour with the capybaras isn’t enough, you can stay overnight and make the whole thing part of your trip.

The breakfast experience lasts about an hour and groups are kept small, giving you plenty of time around the animals without it feeling overly crowded. If getting ridiculously close to capybaras sounds like your kind of morning, this is definitely one of the weirder things you can add to a Siem Reap itinerary.

21. Explore Khmer Villages by Quad Bike

A Quad Bike Tour through the villages around Siem Reap is a fun way to get outside the city and see a completely different side of the area.

You’ll ride along rural roads, through rice fields, and past small Khmer villages while making a few stops along the way. It gives you a chance to see more of everyday life outside central Siem Reap without spending half the day in a van.

You’ll get a quick lesson before heading out, so you don’t need any previous quad bike experience. Hotel pickup and drop off are included too.

22. Cycle Through Countryside Villages

Cycling is one of the best ways to slow down and see what life looks like outside central Siem Reap, and this Countryside Bike Tour includes a lot more than simply riding through rice fields.

Over about five hours, you’ll cycle along back roads and through small villages while stopping at places like a local market, mushroom farms, Buddhist temples, lotus farms, and a rice wine distillery. You’ll also get to try local fruits and snacks along the way.

This is a great option if you want to spend more time actually stopping and exploring the countryside, while the Quad Bike Tour above on this list is better if you’re more interested in the ride itself.

23. Take a Ride on an Ox Cart

A traditional Ox Cart Ride is one of the more unusual ways to explore the countryside around Siem Reap. The ride itself is slow, hot, and definitely bumpy, but that is part of what makes it memorable. Most ox cart tours also include time in a local village, so the experience is about more than just riding around in a cart.

We recommend this Ox Cart Tour and Village Experience, which includes a village walk, a 40 minute ox cart ride through the countryside, and a stop for fresh fruit from a local family’s garden. Round trip transportation from your hotel is included.

💣Antisocial Tourist Tip — You may see some people taking your photo at some point during your ox cart ride. These same people will meet you at the end of the tour and try to sell you the photos on a handmade frame.

24. See the Kulen Waterfall in Phnom Kulen National Park

Phnom Kulen National Park is located about an hour and a half from Siem Reap and makes a great day trip if you want to get out of the city for a while.

The biggest draw is Kulen Waterfall, a large jungle waterfall where visitors can cool off and swim in the pool below. The park also has several cultural and historical sites, including the River of a Thousand Lingas, where ancient carvings cover sections of the riverbed.

We recommend this Private Tour of Phnom Kulen National Park, which includes round trip transportation from your hotel and a local guide.

25. See the Carvings at Kbal Spean River

Kbal Spean, also known as the River of a Thousand Lingas, is one of the more unusual archaeological sites around Siem Reap. Instead of walking through another temple, you’ll find ancient Hindu carvings etched directly into the rocks and riverbed.

Reaching the carvings requires a moderately uphill walk through the forest, so wear decent shoes and bring water. Once you get there, look closely because some of the carvings blend right into the stone.

The Private Tour to Phnom Kulen National Park that we recommended above includes both Kbal Spean and the Kulen waterfalls, which makes it an easy way to see both in one day.

26. Visit Theam’s Gallery

Theam’s Gallery is one of the most interesting art spaces in Siem Reap and a great place to see contemporary Cambodian art outside of a traditional museum.

The gallery is the home and studio of Cambodian artist Lim Muy Theam, whose paintings, sculptures, and lacquerwork are displayed throughout the property. The space itself is part of the experience, with art spread through the house, garden, and studio areas.

You can also watch artisans working on different pieces while you visit, including painting, sculpting, and lacquerwork. It feels much more personal than simply walking through a gallery, and the peaceful setting makes it an easy break from the busier parts of Siem Reap.

Theam’s Gallery is located about a 10 minute tuk tuk ride from Pub Street.

27. Try Khmer Style Carving

If you want one more hands on experience in Siem Reap, this Khmer Style Carving Workshop lets you try the same types of patterns and carving techniques you’ll see throughout the temples around Angkor.

Instead of carving stone, you’ll work with plaster, which makes the process much easier for beginners. A professional artist will guide you through creating your own piece, and once the carving is finished, you can add paint or gold leaf before taking it home.

The three hour workshop takes place at SM Art Center and includes all of the materials, entrance to the museum, and a drink afterward in the garden.

We love workshops that connect back to something you’ve been seeing throughout a trip, and after spending days looking at intricate Khmer carvings around Angkor, getting to try the technique yourself feels like a pretty perfect way to end this list.

Angkor Wat and Temple Hopping in Siem Reap

There may be plenty of things to do in Siem Reap besides temples, but Angkor Wat is still something you should absolutely make time for. It’s the largest religious monument in the world and the main reason most travelers come to Siem Reap in the first place.

Beyond Angkor Wat, some of the most popular temples to visit include Bayon, Ta Prohm, Banteay Srei, and Phnom Bakheng. The Angkor Pass covers dozens of temples and archaeological sites throughout the Angkor area, including most of the major sites you’ll want to visit.

If you want to save time, you can buy your pass in advance instead of stopping at the ticket office before your first temple day. This can be especially helpful if you’re planning an early morning visit or sunrise at Angkor Wat.

💣Antisocial Tourist Tip — There are many Guided Temple Tours available, but most do not include your Angkor Pass, so check the inclusions before you book.

How to Get Around Siem Reap

Normally we love renting a car so we can explore on our own, but you really don’t need one in Siem Reap. Tuk tuks are everywhere and are easily our favorite way to get around the city.

For the easiest experience, download Grab before your trip. The app lets you enter your destination, choose a tuk tuk or car, and see the price before you book, so there’s no need to negotiate every ride.

You can still grab a tuk tuk directly from the street, and we did this plenty during our trip too. If you find a driver you really like, don’t be surprised if they offer to exchange WhatsApp numbers so you can contact them again later. We did this with one of our drivers and basically ended up with our own personal chauffeur for the rest of the trip.

Short rides around central Siem Reap are usually very inexpensive, especially by tuk tuk. For longer trips to places like Angkor Wat, you can either book individual rides or arrange for a driver to stay with you for several hours.

The new Siem Reap Angkor International Airport is much farther outside the city than the old airport, so plan for roughly an hour of travel time between the airport and central Siem Reap. Grab is available for airport transfers, or Book an Airport Transfer in advance if you’d rather have a driver waiting for you.

Best Month to Visit Siem Reap

The best time to visit Siem Reap is generally from November through February, when the weather is drier and temperatures are a little more comfortable. This is also the busiest time of year, especially around December and January.

We visited at the end of February and thought the weather was perfect. It was definitely hot during the middle of the day, but the mornings and evenings were much more comfortable. We also experienced very few crowds, but tourism in Siem Reap has grown a lot in recent years, so you should expect it to be busy.

March and April are still part of the dry season, but temperatures start climbing quickly and April is usually the hottest month of the year.

The wetter season runs roughly from May through October. You can expect more frequent rain and heavy afternoon downpours, but that doesn’t necessarily mean nonstop rain all day. The upside is greener scenery, fuller waterways, and fewer tourists, so visiting during the wet season may work for travelers who are willing to be more flexible with the weather.

How Long to Spend in Siem Reap

For most travelers, we think three to four days is enough time in Siem Reap.

That gives you time to see Angkor Wat and a few of the surrounding temples while still fitting in some of the other experiences around the city. If you try to do everything in two days, you’ll probably end up rushing.

If you’re planning several day trips, want to spend more time around the temples, or have a long list of workshops and activities you want to try, you could easily stretch your stay to five days or more.

Where to Stay in Siem Reap

Siem Reap has a huge range of hotels, but these are three of our favorite options if you want somewhere stylish, comfortable, and well located.

OUR TOP HOTEL PICKS IN SIEM REAP

📍Shinta Mani Angkor and Bensley Collection [OUR TOP PICK]
Shinta Mani Angkor is our top pick and where we stayed during our trip. The hotel is located in a quiet but central part of Siem Reap, so you can easily reach restaurants, markets, and Pub Street without staying right in the middle of the chaos.

The property was designed by Bill Bensley and has a much more distinctive look than a typical luxury hotel, with tropical gardens, two pools, a spa, and several places to eat and drink. We also loved how easy they made getting around. Tuk tuk drivers were always available outside whenever we needed one.

📍Golden Temple Retreat
Golden Temple Retreat is a great option if you want a quieter boutique hotel with a more traditional Khmer inspired look. The rooms and suites are especially spacious, and some have direct access to the pool. The hotel also has a spa, restaurant, and large pool surrounded by greenery.

📍Viroth’s Hotel
Viroth’s Hotel is our pick if design is high on your priority list. The hotel has a retro mid century look, lots of greenery, and a 20 meter saltwater pool that feels surprisingly peaceful considering how central the location is. There’s also a spa, fitness center, restaurant, and bar.

They also have a smaller sister property called Viroth’s Villa, which has only 19 rooms and is a good option if you want something even more intimate.

Final Thoughts: Siem Reap Beyond Temples

Angkor Wat may be the reason most people come to Siem Reap, but it definitely shouldn’t be the only thing you do while you’re there.

Between animal encounters, workshops, food tours, nightlife, local markets, and day trips outside the city, there are plenty of things to do in Siem Reap besides temples. Some of our favorite memories from Cambodia came from the experiences we had after we were done temple hopping for the day. Especially the elephants. 🐘

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