Sun Rise at Angkor Wat Small Group Day Tour from Siem Reap

Experience the breathtaking sunrise at Angkor Wat and explore the world’s largest religious complex on this small group full-day tour. Avoid the crowds, meet locals, and capture stunning photos along the way.

Duration: 8 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Angkor Wat - Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world. It was built in the 12th century. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it’s the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation. We will enter the great temple in darkness from the little-visited eastern side. We continue our journey on foot and creep through a jungle path to the North ancient library pool where we will wait for the Sun Rise. Listen to the explanations of your expert guide, then spend time venturing into the central chambers of the temple, where your local guide will reveal the history, myths and stories depicted on the stone bas-reliefs (the longest stretch of bas-reliefs carvings in the world) then you will venture deep into the central chambers of this truly great temple. Your knowledgeable guide will ensure that your visit to Angkor Wat leaves you with a rich understanding of the history and purpose of the great temple, and also of the mighty Angkorian civilization.

  • Angkor Thom South Gate - The South Gate is one of the five gates of Angkor Thom (the Ancient Capital City of the Khmer Empire). The gate flanked by a row of 54 stone figures on each side was the entrance to the fortified city of Angkor Thom. At the height of its greatness, Angkor Thom had a population of more than one million people and was larger in size than the city of London. It is one of the most popular tourist spots in the Angkor Wat area.

  • Bayon Temple - The Bayon is a richly decorated Khmer temple at Angkor in Cambodia. Built in the 13th century as the state temple of King Jayavarman VII, the Bayon stands at the centre of Jayavarman’s capital. The Bayon’s most distinctive feature is the multitude of serene and smiling stone faces on the many towers which jut out from the upper terrace and cluster around its central peak. You’ll see its beautifully crafted central towers, covered in more than 200 enormous faces. The temple has two sets of bas-reliefs, which present a combination of mythological, historical and mundane scenes. The outer wall of the outer gallery features a series of bas-reliefs depicting historical events and scenes from the everyday life of the Angkorian Khmer. The inner gallery bas-reliefs depict mythological events.

  • Angkor Thom - Hidden Gem:
    Your guide will take to you a place that most tourists have never seen it. Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.

  • Terrace of the Leper King - The famous Terrace of the Leper King. The U-shaped structure is thought by some to have been used as a royal cremation site. It was built in the 13th century under King Jayavarman VII, though its modern name derives from a 15th-century sculpture discovered at the site. The statue depicts the Hindu god Yama, the god of death.

  • Terrace of the Elephants - The 350 m long Terrace of Elephants was used as a giant reviewing stand for public ceremonies and served as a base for the king’s grand audience. Some local Khmer residents call it “the Ancient Khmer Stadium”. It was built in the 13th century under King Jayavarman VII.

  • Angkor Thom - Secret stop:
    A majestic place that set the tone for the day’s adventure. Don’t listen to what they say, go to see. All journeys have secret destinations of which the travelers are unaware.

  • Ta Prohm Temple - The jungle-enveloped Ta Prohm (Tomb raider temple)– one of the most atmospheric of all temples in Angkor. Ta Prohm was built in the 13th century. Unlike the most Angkorian temples, Ta Prohm is in much the same condition in which it was found, the photogenic and atmospheric combination of trees growing out of the ruins and the jungle surroundings have made it one of Angkor’s most popular temples with visitors. UNESCO inscribed Ta Prohm on the World Heritage List in 1992. Today, it is one of the most visited complexes in Cambodia’s Angkor region. Ta Prohm was a religious temple located in the centre of the Ancient Khmer University during the 12th and 13th century.

What's Included
  • Hotel pick-up and drop-off included for convenience
  • Stay hydrated with complimentary bottled water
  • Comfortable travel with in-vehicle air conditioning
  • Knowledgeable English-speaking guide throughout the tour
What's Not Included
  • Temple entrance ticket (USD37.00 per person which covers all temples in this day tour. Child is FOC)
Additional Information

Starting before dawn, you’ll be picked up from your hotel and take a short ride to Angkor Wat. We will enter Angkor Wat in darkness from the little-visited eastern side and then creep through the Jungle Path to the ancient library pools and wait to watch Sun Rise. Angkor Wat is the world’s largest religious complex. After soaking up the atmosphere of dawn, you will wander past the longest stretch of bas-relief carvings in the world. Your guide will share with you all the history and culture. Then you will venture deep into the central chambers and up to the upper terraces of this truly great temple. After the breakfast break, you will visit the famous Jungle-enveloped Ta Prohm (Tomb Raider temple).

Next up, you move onto the southern gate of the walled city of Angkor Thom and marvel at the eerie stone heads and evocative bas-reliefs of the Bayon temple and the Terraces of the Elephants and Leper King.

• Enjoy photo opportunities
• Avoid the crowds and escape the heat

  • Your Tour Guide will send you a Link to purchase the temple entrance e-ticket days in advance.
  • To enter some temples, you have to wear clothes that cover your knees and shoulders.
  • Please wear flat shoes that are comfortable for walking.
  • It’s recommended that you take boxed breakfast from your hotel. So you have the opportunity to eat at a local cafe near Angkor Wat
Location
Angkor Wat
Sangkat Nokor Thum,
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
5.0
(14 Ratings)
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M49plkatys
Aug 2, 2024
Excellent visit - Our guide took us round Angkor Wat and several other places of interest in the area. He arrived punctually in the morning and facilitated us buying tickets on the way, before showing us to a great spot from which to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. He was extremely knowledgeable while guiding us around and was very flexible in giving us an unscheduled break when we needed a bit of shade to cool down. After the tour, he took the time to message us with a list of all the places we had visited in the order we had visited them so we would be able to remember which photos were taken where. He also sent us a list of other suggestions for places to visit in the Siem Reap area. All in all, it was a great tour with a very good guide.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Trek36276825723
Aug 1, 2024
An absolute must for visiting Angkor Wat - This tour was more than a sunrise. It lasted the whole day, up to 3pm for us. The guide explained throughly and we were able to understand the meaning behind everything we saw. The benefit of this tour is the they show you all the best picture spots, which temples are worth seeing, a detailed explanation of a lot of the carvings, transport to every temple, and free water whenever you need. The guide goes according to your pace, though we were a tour of 2 people only. Some advice before visiting Angkor Wat: 1. Visit the Angkor Wat museum the day before as you will need a lot of exposition to truly understand the significance of everything you will see. 2. Pack Mosquito repellent as you will get bitten to holy hell in the forested parts of the tour. 3. Go with a pre-packed breakfast and lunch to keep your energy levels up. 4. It's 12 hours of walking so make sure to dress for comfort. 5. Wear clothes that cover your knees and shoulders else you will have to buy overpriced clothes from the vendors nearby. I would recommend using a tour guide at least for your first day of Angkor Wat because it will be quite overwhelming to navigate and know where to go on your first time. Thank you to our tour guide Sim for a memorable experience.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Heathb76
Apr 14, 2024
Excellent tour with amazing guide. - Our guide was Sim and he was very knowledgeable about all of the temples and the history of Angkor. He also answered all of our questions and took us to the least crowded areas. Thank you Sim, for a lovely tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Departure36171531639
Mar 31, 2024
Memorable tour of Angkor temples - We had a memorable tour. The guide and driver arrived at hotel lobby on time at 4:30 am. We were pleasantly surprised that it was a private tour as we had small group of 3 family members along with a air-conditioned car having ample chilled water bottles which was a relief on a sweltering day. We had purchased tickets online before hand. Moonlit Angkor wat temple at 5:30 am was a awesome sight. Our guide found us a comfortable to sit for an hour till Sun Rise at Angkor Wat. The temple compound was huge and explained in detail. We took 40 mins break for breakfast before going for next temple Ta Prohm. This was followed by Victoria Gate of Angkor Thom, Bayon temple and South Gate of Angkor Thom. We returned to hotel at 1 pm exhausted but satisfied. We were able to self pace our tour considering the hot day. Our guide was with us very step with detailed historical knowledge of every nook and corner. We are thankful to our guide and driver for a wonderful day. Highly recommended.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Tracy_n
Mar 1, 2024
Great tour of a UNESCO site - with lots of good information and support from the Guide - Nice group - visiting early morning led by Mr Raj - very informative and breakfast stop was much appreciated. Water and cold towels provided in hot temperatures.
Review provided by Viator
163gj
Feb 11, 2024
A wonderful experience - Amazing place to visit. Our guide SEN was so knowledgeable & interesting. He answered all of our questions & was helpful throughout the tour. The temples are awe-inspiring & a sight not only worth seeing but learning about too. It was an amazing experience to see the sun rise over the temples. A truly spiritual place. Thank you SEN & thanks to our driver too, " James Bond"
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Calebm754
Feb 10, 2024
Highly recommended tour experience! - My traveling partner and I don't normally go in for guided tours. We normally prefer to explore by ourselves when travelling, so on our first day in Siem Reap we simply hired a driver and wandered by ourselves in each site, consulting guide books and phones. The Angkor Wat area is so huge, though, that we decided to try hiring a guide for the following day. We are so glad we were able to land Mr. Sim! Being guided by him made our experience so much better. We really appreciated having confidence that we were getting to see the most significant parts of each site, and could trust Mr. Sim's expertise on what parts of Angkor Wat's huge structure we could skip. He also provided historical context, art-historical detail, and answered our questions about the things we were seeing and also life in Cambodia today. Since we had already seen a few of the temples before, we were able to personalize our itinerary in consultation with him and see lesser visited temples, which were great! It was neat to walk around in much quieter places and see the architectural echoes with the main attractions we had just visited. Other reviewers have praised the value for money of the tour, and I heartily concur with that. We were ready to be dropped off back at our hotel after about nine hours of touring, and Mr. Sim would have happily shown us more sights yet! The driver he hired to take us around did a nice job, too, and we were grateful for the cold water provided. It gets hot out there! All in all, I heartily recommend the experience--we're really glad we made the choice we did!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sudeepthagrama
Dec 31, 2023
Knowledgeable guide, great experience! - Mr Sim was a very knowledgeable guide. Not only did we learn a lot about the temples and the places we visited but also a lot about the culture and much more. He also knew the best times to visit certain places so we avoided the crowds as much as we could and got to spend time soaking in the carvings, exploring the ruins and getting some great photos as well. The early start was a little daunting but well worth it as Mr Sim found us a great spot to enjoy watching the sun rise over the spires. Post the sunrise tour, Mr. Sim also sent us a list of the temples we visited for our reference and a whole bunch of other things we can do in Siem Reap!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lorsim
Jul 6, 2023
Great tour with a great guide. - We had a fantastic tour with Sim. He met us at our hotel at 4.30am as scheduled & in complete darkness we entered the Angkor Wat site on the East side. After a long walk across to the West side he found us the perfect place from which to watch the sunrise, slightly elevated on a slope so that the crowds gathered below the water did not block our view. Sadly mother nature did not oblige & on the day of our visit there was no sunrise due to the cloud cover. We managed to get one small blob of pink in one of our photos. Just the luck of the draw. Sim then guided us all around the Angkor Wat site, & we also had a look at the Ta Prohm Temple. We drove around the perimeter of the stunning Bayon Temple area (our choice as we were a bit foot-sore & the heat was getting to us). As we were all "Templed out" by this stage, he switched going to more Temple ruins & instead drove around to show us some places of interest in Siem Reap so we could potentially go back to them. We did stop at the Artisan craft village where a guide showed us around explaining the various crafting processes. Sim was a great guide.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Rentric
Mar 30, 2023
Happy & satisfied - Sim my tour guide was the best his English I could understand very well he had so much useful information about the Temples just the right amount. He was nice & early which I love. I would definitely go with Sim again for any of my tours
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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September 2024
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