MegatopLover

What's the current lay of the land on luxury hotels in Siem Reap?

I know about Amansara. I love amans, but I just can't bring myself to spend $1000 a night in Cambodia.

Raffles? Sofitel? Refurbished Hotel de la Paix? Others?

MikeFromTokyo

I am considering the Park Hyatt Hotel de la Paix and Anantara. I realize neither will be comparable to Amansara, but I would rather spend that money at Amantaka instead.

Pausanias

I've stayed at Amansara. The room rate is rather more than $1000 a night. But it isn't just a room rate. It's all-inclusive - pre-breakfast, breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks and they even give you a carafe of whatever you fancy in your room. You also get two private tours every day out to the ruins of Angkor - the tours are tailor-made and are usually well away from the hordes of tourists. If you factor in all that, plus the airport pick-ups and drop-offs, and compare that to other hotels I think Amansara represents fair value. We loved it, stayed four nights, and I'd happily go back for a week.

Big_Foot

I think it's way too late to go to Cambodia.

cruisr

Service was Incredible and the Champagne Breakfast Buffet outstanding. The pool area is great and is a great place to relax after a day of touring. The rooms are very comfortable. I had a lovely garden view. Their Kobe beef cheeseburger is to die for.

Musken

We stayed at the Amansara last october and did not experience ant crowds like this. Often we were alone at the sights. For example for sunrise at Angkor wat, we were inside the temple while everyone else were waiting outside. That is what Aman does so extremely well.

Pausanias

The Raffles is across the road from Amansara. While clearly a smart hotel, it is very big, noisy and full of package tours.

I echo the views of Musken - the Aman people organise their trips to avoid the crowds wherever possible. We often had temples to ourselves and were alone for the sunrise at Angkor Wat.

MikeFromTokyo

This is making me reconsider. It seems like private tours and exclusive access to the sights are reasons to choose Amansara. Plus, the pool suites look quite nice.

Musken

Ask Sally (still there??) to send you a proposed programme. You do need to get up early, but they organise everything smoothly with small breakfast before you go, private tours and all perfect aman style. Take the Tonle sap boat trip as well. Fantastic!

Big_Foot

this is quite funny.

You do NOT need aman to wake up early and drive to a remote temple.
You just simply need a driver. I did it myself, spend 6 days in Angkor
and visited and photographed all the remote temples, most of the time
with nobody else around. It's not the point and aman doesn't bring you
any additional value unless you are not able to plan it yourself.
Second - the crowds are doubling every year, that's actually the point.
It's not about how to do it, it's about NOW being simply too late...

Very similar to many used-to-be-great places overrun by tourists.
Even places like Bhutan or Birma are being destroyed, how do those
much less known destinations compare to Angkor?

Baghoarder

For those who have done the Amansara/Amantaka journey, how easy/convenient were the international connections i(e Cambodia-Laos)? Did Aman arrange this as part of the package or did you organise it independently?

Kagehitokiri

especially towards end of this thread > http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...ctivities.html

whenever i end up doing amansara, i will probably pay for higher level guides

vietnam airlines has a nonstop >
http://info.flightmapper.net/route/YY_REP_LPQ

Musken

Remote Temples yes. You can go early and visit yourself pretty much alone. If you find them.. And if you manage to communicate with the driver so well that he understands. And also understand that you will take another exit and that he should wait for you there... Etc. I have never tried this, I admit, but have tried similar things and always found it very difficult to organise alone plus never close to aman experience.

Angkor wat private sunrise is private. Everyone else were outside. Amman used a back entrance and we were allowed in alone.

For other temples: when do you know which time is best to avoid hordes? Aman and their guides know.

Pausanias

I do understand Big Foot's point of view which applies to just about everywhere in the world. Personally, I regard the three top archaeological sites I've seen are Angkor in Cambodia, Leptis Magna in Libya and Petra in Jordan. I first went to Cambodia in 1992, stayed for 4 days and I reckon there were less than 50 tourists on the entire site. I went to Leptis in 1982 and there were five of us. In Petra, 1981, we walked down the Siq at night and saw the Treasury Building lit up by a full moon. The next two days were spent exploring the site and I reckon there might have been 100 people there.

It's true that Angkor is busy these days, especially for that sunrise shot, and it's great if you can do it on your own. In 1992 you couldn't because of landmines, so we had a guide. Four our most recent visit, If I'm totally honest, I'd have preferred just to have a driver and not the Aman guide who talked and talked and talked until we decided to tell him to shut up. We like to absorb the atmosphere of a place, take some photos, just be there. The guides tend to think you want a Smithsonian-style lecture while standing in the sweltering heat.

Baghoarder

I understand this point of view as well. Discovering a place alone can be wonderful. I'll never forget my first visit to the sun temple at Konark, Orissa. We drove for a couple of hours from Bhubaneswar to see it, stopping at a seaside fishing village on the way there, and for a G&T under creaking fans on the verandah of a crumbling railway union guesthouse on the return journey. We chose a guide (an old man who looked like he knew a thing or two about the significance of the carved symbols on the temple) and had a fantastic time.

But on the other hand, if I hadn't had the Aman guides in Bhutan, I probably would never have been able to watch the nuns making intricate altar decorations from dough in a convent outside Thimphu.

In my brash student days I used to think "independent travel" was per se a sign of sophistication. But now, within reason, I don't much mind either way. I still wouldn't get on a tour bus, but the reality is there's a limit to how authentic my experience can be, however I travel. If it makes me think, however it does that, then it has delivered on the promise, as far as I am concerned.