moretimeoffguy

What's the best way to see Angkor Wat over 3 days including the services of a guide? And how much can I expect to pay? My hotel had some insanely priced 3 day Angkor Wat package, over USD $500. Surely it shouldn't cost that much for transport and a knowledgeable guide. Shouldn't it be more like $100 to $200 tops?

kaspars

There are multitude of guides (dressed in similar uniforms) what you can arrange for at the Angkor Wat yourself. But do you really need it? Just hire a tuk tuk with driver for a day, and he will bring you around and will wait you when you climb the ruins. Any hotel will gladly help you, not more than 30 USD for all this if I remember

moretimeoffguy

Thanks. Yes I want a guide to explain what I’m looking at each day. Otherwise it will just be “eye candy.” I think I’d have a much richer experience with a good guide.

kaspars

Each day? Angkor complex is waste, but unless you are an archeologist I think its no need to purchase overpriced 3 day ticket. One day would be enough, go for sunrise

moretimeoffguy

Thanks for your opinion but no. It’s well known that it takes 3-5 days to see the place properly. Just learned a cousin of mine who’s traveled a lot in Asia, and whose opinion I respect highly, has been to Angkor tells me 3 days is reasonable.

I’m interested in hearing from people who’ve hired a guide and spent several days at Angkor Wat.

markmongold

We did a driver for two days but did our own self guided touring of the various temples and sites. We found it plenty informative done that way. The on site guides are a bit of a racket as they tend to gouge since they are the only ones "officially sanctioned" to be in the sites. Our Tuk Tuk driver gave us plenty of background on each temple he took us to and also suggestions about which parts to see and what the key areas were. He also did a smart thing but taking us to the main exit of each temple to enter there in the morning and go backwards through the site, so we avoided the large crowds that all show up with busses and guides and the entrances. We overlapped the crowds of course but it always seemed like we were able to run our own time and route through each site and not just group along in line with a guide giving a canned speech.

We used a nice man named Sovann Khim, +85593863051, [email protected] and it was very reasonable, maybe US$20 per day for two days, including a sunrise trip one day and a sunset the other.

kaspars

Well, I have spent multiple times in Angkor, as well as remote locations such as Koh Ker, Preah Vihear etc. But what do I know.... Enjoy

moondog

"Well known" according to which (non-opinionated, of course) sources?

moretimeoffguy

Nice try, no cigar.

moondog

I actually am curious about the origins of your 3 day minimum idea because I've yet to meet anyone outside of academia that feels it's more than a one day attraction. But, if 3+ days is "well known", there must be sources out there?

markmongold

When we were there, We found that one day was not enough to see multiple temples and locations. Two days felt about right for us, but there were still locations we had to give up trying to see with only two days. Remember it is not just the one temple, Angkor Wat to see. I agree that it can be seen in detail in 4 or 5 hours, but there are almost 15 or 20 other temples that are all part of the whole place and some of the smaller ones are actually even more impressive and beautiful than the big, well known ones. I think in the two days we were there, we visited almost 8 or 10 temples, and had two great lunches, saw a sunset from one temple and a sun rise from in front of Angkor Wat. It was two pretty full 10 hour days and we left with some things we wanted to see but ran out of time.

moretimeoffguy

Simply searching google on “how many days to see Angkor Wat” yields answers largely of 2-3 days at minimum.Please don’t troll me any further. Thanks in advance.

moretimeoffguy

Great answer. It’s my understanding that Angkor Wat is a complex of 72 main temples and hundreds of minor ones spread out over 402 acres. As you say, it’s certainly not 1. My source for this is the Wikipedia article on Angkor.

So I’m happy with my choice of 3 days. Anecdote is not evidence and personal incredulity is a logical fallacy.

Further criticism over the number of days to devote to this UNESCO World Heritage Site is off-topic and quite frankly rude in appearance if not intent. I’ve asked about hiring a tour guide. If you have nothing to contribute please be courteous and refrain.

moretimeoffguy

Anyone here taken a hot air balloon ride over Angkor Wat? If so who did you use and how interesting is it to view from the sky? Any visibility issues I should be aware of? One dream of mine is to do a hot air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, but I'll settle for Angkor Wat.

I'm also interested in "trike" flights over Angkor Wat. I've always wanted to fly in a trike every time I've visited Hawaii but have never gotten around to planning it.

skitraveler

I believe the hot air balloon is a glorified elevator, it just goes up and remains tethered to the ground to get a view of the complex.
I used Affinity Angkor for a ~48hr trip, the picked me up at the airport (old one so close to city) did a night market tour then drop off at hotel. Next two days saw 18 temple complexes including Angkor Wat and dropped me off at hotel.
Driver, modern van with AC and had tons of cold bottled water and cold towels, and a certified guide. Bit expensive at $350 but worth it. It was April and way too hot (118 with the heat index and very humid) to want to take a tuk tuk everywhere to save money.
Should be a lot cheaper if only want to see Angkor Wat