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Set in northwest Cambodia, Siem Reap is best known for being home to the incredible Angkor ruins, a sprawling World Heritage-listed complex of ancient temples with the magnificent Angkor Wat as the focal point.
While the complex is surely one of the globe's most amazing historical sites, Siem Reap province is also home to an array of other ruins, such as Beng Mealea and Bantaey Srei. So if ancient temple ruins are your thing, this province -- an expansive piece of flat land, covered in rice fields and brush -- must be explored fully. It runs along the north coast of the Tonle Sap, Cambodia's "Great Lake", and north to Oddar Meanchey province. Few visitors get around to the fringes.
The provincial capital of Siem Reap is also a transportation hub, with many people coming through here en route to Phnom Penh, Poipet (the northwest border crossing to Thailand) or by boat to Battambang.
Siem Reap's international airport now takes in more tourists daily than the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. Mass tourism has well and truly arrived to this part of Cambodia.
The town itself is situated three kilometres south of the temple park. Siem Reap has exploded from a relatively small backwater town to the fastest growing settlement in the nation. Annually, more than one million visitors travel through the small city to see the adjacent Angkor ruins. This tourism hub now has three PGA-rated golf courses, the presence of hotels like Sofitel and Raffles, and an airport with 38 international flights arriving daily. Developers scramble to build facilities that complement the impressiveness of Angkor Wat, described by Henri Mahout, the Frenchman who re-alerted the West to it in 1860, as "a rival to that of Solomon and erected by some ancient Michelangelo ... grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome."
The chaotic growth has not always had the best results and some would argue it has all happened far too quickly and unsustainably. No matter what your opinion, Siem Reap is booming and is set to remain a key stop for travellers to Southeast Asia for years to come.
Set astride the Siem Reap River, the town itself is home to a couple of minor sites of interest, some reasonable shopping and hundreds of guesthouses and restaurants. If you're planning on seeing Angkor from anything other than your aircraft seat, you'll be staying here. Take your pick from a full range of accommodation options, from $4 flophouses to $3,000-plus a night luxury hotels.
Home Sweet Home Guest House
Sweet Dreams Guesthouse
The King Angkor Villa
Happy Guest House
Good Kind Guesthouse
Popular Guest House
13th Villa
Siem Reap Rooms Guesthouse
Popular Guest House
Ponloue Angkor Siem Reap VillaHere are some discussions off the Travelfish forum, perhaps related to Siem Reap. You can find the full forum here.
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