Where it sits
Siem Reap province runs from the northern shore of the Tonlé Sap up towards the Kulen hills, and the Angkor Archaeological Park occupies the plain between. The provincial town sits about seven kilometres south of Angkor Wat, close enough that you can be at the moat for sunrise twenty-five minutes after leaving your hotel.
The name is usually translated as “Siam defeated”, a reference to a Khmer victory over Ayutthaya, though historians treat the etymology with some caution.
What to see
Angkor Wat, built by Suryavarman II in the first half of the twelfth century, is the obvious centrepiece. Angkor Thom and the Bayon, with their serene stone faces, belong to Jayavarman VII at the end of that century. Ta Prohm — left partly in the grip of silk-cotton roots — is the third of the essential three.
Beyond them the province holds Banteay Srei with its pink sandstone carving, the river carvings at Kbal Spean, the vast barays that watered the city, and the floating and stilted villages of the Tonlé Sap at Kompong Phluk and Kompong Khleang.
In town, Phare — the Cambodian circus — is the best live performance in the country, and the Angkor National Museum is a useful hour before you go anywhere near a temple.
Practicalities
The Angkor pass costs US$37 for one day, US$62 for three and US$72 for seven, and children under twelve enter free with a passport as proof of age. Buy it at the official ticket office on Apsara Road or online at ticket.angkorenterprise.gov.kh.
A pass bought after 5 pm activates immediately and remains valid through the whole of the following day, which is how you skip the sunrise queue.