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| TRAVELING FROM BANGKOK TO ANGKOR WAT |
 How do I get from Bangkok
to Angkor Wat?
That is the question
most often asked in the Guest Houses of Kaosan Road and Travel Agencies
throughout the city of Bangkok.
The answer is relatively easy for those who just want to get there
as quickly as possible, but not as easy for the truly adventurous who
like to take the route less traveled and avoid airlines whenever
possible, or those who are traveling on a very tight budget.
You can fly
directly
from Bangkok to Siem Reap (Angkor). In
only a little over an hour you can be transported from one of the
most adrenalin charged, constantly hustling, shopping and nightlife
obsessed cities
of the
world, to the edge of a majestic outcropping of ruins that is still
largely in the clutches of the jungle, that it's ancient rulers and
architects had once tamed, if only for a brief moment of it's entire
history.
Flying directly is fairly expensive though for the short one
hour
flight
(currently close to US $200.00), so it encourages many travelers to
find an alternative mode of transportation. Actually a few years ago it
was
double this
price, so in the future the price of flying may become even more
reasonable.
Bangkok Airways - Bangkok's
Suvarnaboumi
Airport to
the Siem Reap Airport. Either book a return flight ticket with Bangkok
Airways or book your return flight with Siemreap Airways International
in Siem Reap.
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| THE
EASY
WAY - July 2010 Update
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Bangkok Airways
-
Bangkok's Suvarnaboumi
Airport to
the Siem Reap
Airport. Either book a return flight ticket with Bangkok
Airways or book your return flight with Siemreap Airways International
in Siem Reap. Current (July 3, 2010) one way Internet Booking fare -
7,180
Baht (could go up or down
any time)
08:00 - PG903 - Seven days a week
11:25 - PG905 - Seven days a week
15:00 - PG913 - Seven days a week
18:45 - PG909 - Seven
days a week
 Air Asia
(Thailand) -
four flights per day from Suvarnaboumi Airport to Phnom
Phen's
Pochentong
Airport
Current one way fare - 3,454 Baht (Internet price - July 3, 2010). From
Phnom Phen you have to take a 6 hour bus ride or a 9
hour boat
ride up Tonle Sap to Siem Reap
Helicopters
Cambodia - http://www.helicopterscambodia.com
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| THE
HARD
WAY |
Trains, Boats, Buses, and Taxis
Trains - the
train
will
take you from Hualompong Station in Bangkok to the Thai-Cambodia Border
at Aranyapratet. Unfortunately the old rail line across the border and
into Cambodia no longer exists.
Boats - once
you
get to
Phnom Phen, Battambang or Sianoukville you can elect to take a boat the
rest of the way to Siem Reap. Depending on the time of the year and the
amount of rainfall this can be a more or less trying experience.
Buses - Big
luxury
tour
buses, Thai government public transport buses, tour company mini-vans,
and trucks with benches make up this often hair raising assortment of
transportation choices.
2009-2010
Update: Most travel guides recommend the Morchit (Northern) bus
terminal in Bangkok. Although it has the most buses traveling to
Aranyaphrathet from Bangkok, it does not take you all the way to the
border and a 100 Baht tuk-tuk ride is required from the bus station to
the border. On the way the tuk-tuk driver will try to take you to a
fake "Cambodia Consulate" for an overpriced Cambodian Visa service and
then deliver you directly to touts at the border. Just be strong and
insist that you already have a Visa. Cambodian
Immigration police will issue you a Visa on
arrival (they will ask for a tip though, so it is really best to get a
Visa on-line or at the Cambodian Consulate in Bangkok.
A less known (but much better) bus service that goes directly from
Bangkok to the Cambodian Border at Poipet is available from Ekamai
(Eastern) Bus Terminal on Sukhumvit Road. There are only a few busess a
day though, so it is best to go to the Ekamai bus station and reserve
your seat ahead of time.
Bangkok Taxi to the border & Cambodian
Taxi to Siem Reap
- (Easy on the Thai side of the border but not so easy on the Cambodian
side) Very
comfortable
taxis and even more comfortable limousines can take you from Bangkok to
the Cambodian border in three hours or so for from 2,000 Baht up. Once
you are across the border it becomes another story all together.
Cambodian taxis traveling from Poipet to Siem Reap tend to be fairly
beat up by the rough roads
and heavy loads that they carry. Taxis can
be shared with up to six passengers and will cost from US $35 to US $60
dollars for the four hour trip.
Poipet
to
Siem
Reap
Road
Update: As of the June 2009,
the road from Poipet to Siem Reap is completely paved and smooth
driving all the way. The trip takes less than three hours, but the taxi
ride (private, no local passengers are picked up) is still around $50.
December
2010
update: There
is now a second Poipet Bus Station and both of them offer buses and
taxis. Unfortunately they have been used to scamming the travelers for
so long that they are still trying as hard as possible to make a few
extra bucks by squeezing 4 to 5 people into a "shared" taxi and
delaying bus journeys untill the bus is full. The bus also has a number
of bus company "employees" on board who chat up as many travelers as
possible to stay at "my" guesthouse.
Share taxis will drop their passengers off at the side of the road on
the outskirts of Siem Reap, where they are handed over to "free"
tuk-tuk (motorcycle trailer taxi) drivers who will insist on bring them
to pre-arranged guest houses. Even the "private" taxi drivers will try
to drop you there (no matter what agreement you made with them), so do
not pay them untill you get to your hotel or guest house.
The
taxi drivers will all give you a sob story about only getting a small
part of the fee and try to get a large tip out of you on arrival in
Siem Reap. The last trip I took, the guy owned the car himself and did
not work for a taxi company (I took a motorcycle into town and found
him on my own), but he still gave me the usual sob story.
The best way to deal with this problem is to pick up (or print out) a
map of Siem Reap, before you leave Bangkok and mark your hotel or guest
house destination on the map. Show it to your taxi driver before you
leave Poipet and insist on being delivered directly there.
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| TRIP
EXPERIENCES |
Angkor Road - blog by photographer
George Man of various trips around Cambodia.
Bangkok to Angkor - trip reports
from Bangkok to Siem Reap and around the Angkor area.
Koh
Ker
–
Prasat
Thom
&
City
of
Lingas -
Trip by 4WD from Siem Reap to Koh Ker, Cambodia – trip report and
photography by George Mann – May 7, 2010
Tales of Asia:
Cambodia Overland - perhaps the best and most complete guide to
independent travel by train, bus, and taxi from Bangkok to Siem Reap.
Most other articles just seem to repeat advice from these pages.
Canby Publications -
Aranyaprathet, Thailand to Poipet, Cambodia - It’s a 465km,
9-12 hour
trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap. The usual route begins with a 4-5 hour
bus or a train ride from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet (‘Aran’), the town on
the Thai side near the border, then a short tuk-tuk ride the last 6 km
to the border crossing to Poipet Cambodia.
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