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You know those places that when you visit them teleport you to another era? The sensation of entering the Angkor Temples at 5 am, with the darkness still present, being able to see the sun rise while listening to the sounds of the jungle with Angkor Wat reflected in the lake, is a magical image. It is a mysterious place that makes you wonder how such a huge building could have been built so many years ago. We believe we visited the complex in the best way possible and so we want to bring you a guide to visiting the Angkor Temples by motorbike so that you can do the same.
We’ve noticed that there is a lot of conflicting information about visiting Angkor Temples by motorbike and, after taking a chance on it, we’re going to tell you exactly how it can be done and what to look out for.
We will structure the post in things you should know before going to see the Angkor Temples by motorbike, the route we took, expenses for the day and a map with all the details.
At the end we will leave you a personal reflection on what this visit meant to us. If you read us, we would like you to let us know in comments if you have had similar feelings.
Let’s go with this post to visit the Angkor Temples by motorbike!
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Historical introduction
Angkor, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was built between the 9th and 15th centuries by the Khmer Empire, which dominated much of Southeast Asia for centuries.
It is about 400 square kilometres in size and is remarkable for the advanced engineering that was used to build something so large. It also has a strong spiritual and mysterious character that makes it even more attractive.
One of the curiosities of the complex is that temples of two different religions coexist. When it was built under Jayavarman II and finished by Suryavarman II, the temple was dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. Later, under subsequent kings who were Buddhists, the temples were converted to Buddhism.
Although the reasons are not entirely clear, another key point in its history is its abandonment in the 15th century. Angkor was abandoned as the capital of the Khmer Empire was moved to Phnom Penh.
Although not completely forgotten by the Cambodians, who continued to use the temples for religious ceremonies, the jungle enveloped Angkor for centuries. In the 1860s, the Frenchman Henri Mouhot rediscovered the ruins for Westerners and told the world of their beauty in his diaries, and from then on its fame has grown to what it is today, one of the most visited religious complexes in the world.
Preparations prior to your visit to the Angkor Temples by motorbike
How to get to the Angkor Temples
In order to do the Angkor Temples by motorbike, you need to get to Siem Reap, one of the most important towns in Cambodia. It is located 6km from the entrance to the temples, making it a perfect base. There are two main ways to get there:
- Bus: there are multiple overnight buses into the city from Thailand, Laos or Vietnam (the latter is the most typical, taking a bus from Ho Chi Minh City). You can easily check timetables and prices on Asia’s leading transport app, 12Go Asia.
- Plane: Siem Reap has an international airport, so you’ll have options to fly from nearby countries. We, for example, flew super cheap from Phuket (Thailand).
Where to stay to visit the Angkor Temples by motorbike
As we said, Siem Reap is very close to the Temples, making it the perfect place to stay. We recommend staying in the centre of town, as it is the liveliest area and where you will find the most things to eat and the most atmosphere.
Here are some good accommodation options:
- The Siem Reap Chilled Backpackers (€): The truth is that we were right to choose this hotel. The price is super cheap, they offer you motorbikes to visit the complex at a cheap price and in good condition, tours, tuktuk and other tours. In addition, the restaurant is very good and has a large swimming pool. The rooms are spacious and adequate.
- Darling Pub Hostel (€): For those who want a hostel atmosphere, there is this place with shared rooms at a very good price and with an unbeatable location. It also has a swimming pool and in Siem Reap, it’s very hot 😛
- Realkhom Homestay (€): Cheap, well located but with private rooms (which is appreciated).
- Home Indochine D’Angkor (€€€): Hotel with top pool, large chill out area, bar, restaurant, large and comfortable rooms…. In short, everything you would need in a hotel in terms of amenities, activities and facilities.
Options to visit Angkor (and why we think ours is the best choice)
Tuk-Tuk Rental
- ✔ Comfort: No need to worry about the route.
- ✔ Stress-free: Just enjoy the ride.
- ✘ Limited freedom: Predefined routes.
- ✘ Limited time: Maximum of 6-7 hours.
- ✘ Crowded: Follows the typical tour routes.
- ✘ Not guides: Just drivers.
Guided Tour
- ✔ Information: In-depth explanations.
- ✔ Comfort: No need to worry about the route.
- ✘ Limited freedom: Predefined routes.
- ✘ Limited time: Maximum of 6-7 hours.
- ✘ Crowded: Follows the typical tour routes.
Motorbike
- ✔ Price: More affordable.
- ✔ Freedom: Design your own route.
- ✔ Avoid crowds: Go at your own pace.
- ✘ Effort: You have to drive.
- ✘ Tiring: Can be exhausting.
- ✘ Cold: Mornings can be chilly.
Bicycle
- ✔ Eco-friendly: Environmentally friendly.
- ✔ Freedom: Design your own route.
- ✔ Avoid crowds: Explore at your pace, away from tourists.
- ✔ Price: Very affordable compared to other means.
- ✘ Very tiring: Long distances can be exhausting.
- ✘ High effort: Requires significant physical effort.
For us, looking at the table of pros and cons, the best option is the motorbike, as it is economical and gives you a freedom that the others do not. For us, seeing things on our own will always weigh a lot…
If you want to book a tuk tuk, you won’t have a problem, all the hotels offer it and all the tuktuk on the street offer this service. They usually charge 20€, so make sure they don’t charge you more.
If you want to visit them with a guided tour (which, hey, we don’t think is a bad option if you’re interested in the history and details of a guide), you can do it from the best activity booking platform, GetYourGuide, on this super complete day tour of the Angkor Temples with sunset view.
Aspects to take into account when renting motorbike
Where to rent a motorbike?
We rented it directly from the hotel. They had options from 8 to 12 euros a day, all 125cc scooters. A 125cc is more than enough to visit the area (and I would even say a 49cc) as they are short and very easy to drive.
However, there are plenty of options with good reviews in Siem Reap to rent a scooter, such as:
Do you need licence?
Yes, you will need an international driving licence to do the Angkor Temples by motorbike. We weren’t asked for one and we saw very few police, but it’s good to have one, just in case.
Restrictions to visit the Angkor Temples by motorbike
There aren’t any. If you read it somewhere, it is because it is in people’s interest to hire tuktuk. In the end, they are national roads and you just show your ticket at the gate of the temple. To park your motorbike, you can park it where all the tuktuks are waiting for people, usually at the entrances to the temples.
Petrol Station
It’s best to take advantage of the opportunity to fill up with petrol in Siem Reap. A full tank of petrol is enough for one day, and will cost you between 2 and 3 euros.
If you need to fill up on the way to the temples, we’ll leave you a point on the map below where you’ll find one that is very cheap.
Entrance to the site
There are 3 types of entry to Angkor, 1 day ($37), 3 days ($62) and 7 days ($72). We took the 1-day ticket and did everything express (as we’ll tell you below), but it’s possible to do it. If you have more leeway and want to take it easy, you can take the 3-day tour. The 7-day tour is for those who want to discover all the temples and dedicate a lot of time to them.
To get tickets, you have several options:
- The first is online (this is the one we used), which sends you the tickets by post and you can scan them directly at the door of the temples without having to go to the ticket office beforehand. This is the official Angkor website, where you can buy your tickets.
- You can go to the ticket office from 5 pm to buy tickets for the next day.
- Go to the ticket office on the same day to buy your tickets (less advisable because of the queues).
Food, Angkor temples by motorbike
Don’t worry, there are plenty of areas where you can eat inside.At every temple you’ll find local food stalls where you can stop for a bite to eat.You’ll also find that as you drive along the roads there are plenty of local places to eat cheaply as well.The great thing about visiting the Angkor Temples by motorbike is that you are free to stop at any temple you like, you are not ‘forced’ by a tour.
Route planning
There are two recommended routes to do in one day to visit Angkor:
- Long Route: Angkor Wat, Preah Khan, Neak Poun, Ta Som, East Mebon, Pre Rup.
- Short Route: Angkor Wat, Prasat Kravan, Banteay Kdei, Srah Srang, Ta Prohm, Ta Keo, Chau Say, Thommanon and inside Angkor Thom visit: Elephant Terrace, Terrace of the Leper King and Bayon.
The reality is that we didn’t follow any of these as they are laid out and were quite improvised trying to avoid the crowds. Normally, the tours always do the routes clockwise, so we preferred to do it counterclockwise and it worked, we were alone in quite a few temples.
Our route in the Angkor Temples by motorbike
We were able to visit the following temples in one day. It was quite a beating, so if you want to take it easy, we recommend the 3-day ticket. However, if you are short on time, it can be done in one day.
Sunrise in Angkor Wat
We started our route to visit the Angkor Temples by motorbike at 5 am to see one of the highlights, the sunrise at the Angkor Wat temple.Here we have to lower our expectations, as we believe that many people go with the idea of seeing the sun rise behind the temple, and that only happens at a certain time of the year.
However, it is a very beautiful moment, as watching the sun rise with the spectacular temple reflected in the lake is a top experience. We recommend you to go early in the morning, enter before 5:30, to get a good spot on the lake and be able to take pictures. Then it will get crowded and you might not have such a good angle.
Once the sun has risen, our best recommendation is to get out of Angkor quickly to head to the next temple, as most people will be visiting then and it will be the busiest time.
Second Stop of the visit to Angkor Temples by motobike: Bayon Temple
If there is another iconic temple in the complex, it is the Bayon Temple, known for having 216 smiling faces.
We could say that it was our favourite, as we managed to visit it without many people and it was the one that generated the most sensations in us, as it has a halo of mystery and a special mysticism. It is very curious to walk around and see faces looking at you with that smile that looks like they are laughing at you. If I hadn’t taken Andrea out of there, I would still be taking photos and videos of every detail :).
Another special thing about this place is being able to see monkeys all over the complex, who welcome you as hosts in their home. But don’t get too close if you have food with you or they will take it away 😀
The visit to the temple lasted about 45 minutes, as we stopped to take pictures of almost every corner.
Third Stop: Ta Prohm, Angkor Temples by motorbike
Following our atypical tour of the Angkor Temples by motorbike, we wanted to visit another well-known temple in the area, the Ta Prohm temple or temple of the roots.
Here you will discover how nature has decided to show who’s boss and take over the temple, coming out from under the earth and landing on top of the walls.
As a curiosity, it is the temple known to appear in Tomb Raider. This temple is beautiful, but I guess we enjoyed it a little less because there was quite a lot of tour and people already seeing it.
The visiting time was also 45 minutes.
Fourth Stop: Pre Rup
One of the good things about Angkor is that each temple is different. And you can see this especially when you get to Pre Rup, the mountain temple. In this temple the aesthetics change, as it has a reddish tone and also the structure, as we are talking about a mountain temple, with many stairs that take you to the top.
On sunny days, it is very hot in Angkor, and this temple confirmed it. There are no shady spots and quite a few stairs, so it’s not the best feeling.
We really liked this temple for being so different and spent about 30-40 minutes visiting it (it is smaller).
Preah Khan Temple
The fifth stop on our motorbike tour of the Angkor Temples was at the temple of Preah Khan. Before entering, we ate at the restaurant at the gate, which was very good value for money.
This temple surprised us and became one of our favourites. We don’t know if it was because we visited it with almost no one there (it was lunchtime), but we sat there for quite a while observing it and taking super cool photos and videos.
Its main curiosity is that it looks like a labyrinth, with a thousand doors and corridors. We started to walk inside and almost got lost 😀 If you manage to get to the back of the temple, there is an area that we loved, which is the one you can see in the picture on the right.
We spent 45 minutes – 1 hour to see it.
Ta Som Temple
This is a curious temple. A guy at the door told us it was his favourite, that it reminded him of the temples in the video game The Legend of Zelda. The reality is that it is smaller but we thought it was cool too. The top point is a mysterious door with a face on the top, quite curious and photographable 🙂
We visited this temple in 30 minutes.
East Mebon Temple
This is the temple we liked least on our visit to the Angkor temples by motorbike and which we would discard.It is less beautiful than the rest and its main attraction is that it has many elephant sculptures.However, seeing how spectacular the other temples are, we don’t think it’s worth it.
We visited it in about 15 minutes.
The most important temple: Angkor Wat
And to end the day, we wanted to see the most famous temple, Angkor Wat. We think this is the best time to see it, as there are fewer people and the colours of the sunset are beautiful (if you have a nice day).
We have to confess that inside we didn’t think it was anything special, there are other more beautiful temples. But on the outside, it is our favourite without a doubt.
It will take you at least an hour to see it, between going inside and looking around. Besides, when you come out you’ll want to take 20,000 photos, especially if it’s a day like the one we had.
We spent an hour and a half visiting the temple, between the visit inside and the photos and videos of the surroundings.
Extra stop
We didn’t have time, but our intention as the last stop of the visit to the Angkor Temples by motorbike was to go to see the sunset at the best possible point, the Phnom Bakheng Temple. So if you replicate our route, you can take the temple out of East Mebon, and gain that time to see the sunset at this point.
Our opinion about the Angkor Temples by motorbike
This section is a bit more personal, but we want to detail what it was like for us to visit the Angkor Temples by motorbike and what this place transmitted to us, as this has rarely happened to us.
From the moment you pass through the gates of Angkor, you are overcome with a sense of curiosity, feeling like an explorer discovering the ruins for the first time. For us, it teleported us to distant times, where the jungle covered the temples even more, to imagine what life there could have been like 10 centuries ago and to fantasise about how all that could have been built with the resources of a thousand years ago.
If you enter a temple and manage to be alone (especially early in the morning), take a moment to listen to the jungle and close your eyes to feel the magic we are talking about.
I guess it’s because since we were kids we have enjoyed archaeology movies and imagined being the discoverers of a new civilisation or because we love the Jungle Book or Indiana Jones, but we really enjoyed this day and it made us reflect that in a way, we wish we could have lived in another time where there were still things to discover. ❤️
Budget of the day (2 persons)
| Item | Price (€) |
|---|---|
| Supermarket Purchase | 6.5 |
| Angkor Tickets (1 Day) | 71 |
| Motorbike Rental (1 Day) | 9.5 |
| Food at Angkor | 10 |
| Various Water Bottles | 1.5 |
| Shakes | 3.8 |
| Motorbike Fuel | 2.4 |
| Dinner in Siem Reap | 8 |
| Accommodation | 12.5 |
| Total | 125 |
| Total Per Person | 62.5 |
We don’t consider visiting Angkor to be cheap compared to other activities in Southeast Asia. As you can see, the bulk of the cost is the entrance fee to the complex.
However, we think it is well worth the price, as it is an essential thing to do if you are in the area. Finally, please note that visiting the Angkor Temples by motorbike saves you money and is cheaper than other options.
Map of the Angkor Temples by motorbike
As you have seen, it is clear to us that visiting the temples of Angkor by motorbike is the best way to do it. We loved the day, one of our favourites from the beginning of the trip, as it made us feel very cool things about this place.
Have you visited the Angkor Temples? Tell us in comments which temples you liked the most and what you would add to the route.
Oh, and don’t hesitate to write us in comments or RRSS if you have any questions.
