Siem Reap Travel Guide
Nearest town to Angkor ruins, Cambodia
The sight is located within Angkor. To prepare for your visit, read the AsiaExplorers Angkor Travel Guide for useful information. Visitors to Angkor stay at the town of Siem Reap. If you are looking for budget accommodation in Siem Reap, use the Cambodia Budget Accommodation Guide to find a place to stay.
Siem Reap is a bustling town near the northern banks of the great Tonle Sap lake in Cambodia. It is also the capital of Siem Reap Province. The name Siem Reap means "the Siamese were defeated", and refers to one of the many clashes between the Khmer and the Siamese forces of Ayutthaya that occured in the 17th Century. Today, Siem Reap is known the world over as the biggest tourist destination of Cambodia, simply because it is the gateway to the ruins of Angkor.
The architecture at Siem Reap is a mixture of colonial townhouses and Chinese-style architecture. This is especially apparent in the Old French Quarter, and around the Psar Char (@ Old Market).
An increasingly commercialized town, Siem Reap is seeing a development boom in recent years, as new and ultra luxurious accommodation mushroom all over town to serve the needs of an international clientele coming for the Angkor experience. At Siem Reap, in addition to Angkor ruins, one can enjoy Apsara dance performances, visit craft shops, silk farms, rice-paddy countryside, fishing villages, a bird sanctuary near the Tonle Sap Lake, go to the spa, and even ride the hot air balloon and helicopter.
Mostly of the smaller budget hotels are concentrated around the Old Market area, while the more expensive hotels are located between Angkor International Airport and the town along National Road 6. There are a variety of mid-range hotels and restaurants along Sivatha, and budget to mid-range hotels in the Phsar Leu area.
A busy intersection at Siem Reap.
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