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អរុណរះSunrise · The temples

Angkor Wat at Sunrise, Privately

Before the world wakes, the Kingdom belongs to you.

  • Angkor
  • Half day
  • Private
Register interest See the itinerary
First light over the towers of Angkor Wat

The experience

A pre-dawn collection from your hotel, a private guide, and the sun climbing behind the five towers of Angkor Wat. Then into the temples in the quiet first hours, ahead of the day’s crowds. The single most iconic morning in Southeast Asia, kept intimate.

Highlights

  • Sunrise behind the five towers of Angkor Wat
  • Collected from your hotel before dawn
  • A private guide for your party alone
  • The bas-relief galleries in the quiet first hours
  • Ta Prohm’s strangler figs and the stone faces of the Bayon

In pictures

The morning in pictures

Angkor Wat’s towers silhouetted at sunrise behind sugar palms, mirrored in the pool
01First lightThe sun comes up behind the towers, mirrored in the reflecting pool.
Two monks in saffron robes walking past the galleries of Angkor Wat
02Saffron at dawnAngkor Wat has been a place of worship since the day it was built.
Carved bas-reliefs on the outer gallery of Angkor Wat
03The outer galleryHundreds of metres of bas-reliefs, read scene by scene with your guide.
A Buddha statue draped in orange cloth inside Angkor Wat
04A Buddha in the galleriesBuilt for Vishnu, Angkor Wat had become Buddhist by the 14th century.
Giant tree roots spilling over a ruined gallery at Ta Prohm
05Ta ProhmSpung trees and strangler figs, left much as the first archaeologists found them.
A stone gate tower with carved faces in the walls of Angkor Thom
06The gates of Angkor ThomFaces look out from the gate towers of Jayavarman VII’s walled city.
Serene carved stone faces on the towers of the Bayon
07The faces of the BayonSome two hundred were carved around 1200, and 173 survive.
The towers of the Bayon rising from the centre of Angkor Thom
08The BayonJayavarman VII’s temple at the heart of Angkor Thom.

Photos: 1 Sebastian Latorre, Unsplash · 2 Vldimir Pankratov, CC BY-SA 4.0 · 3 Marcin Konsek, CC BY-SA 4.0 · 4 Vince Gx, Unsplash · 5 Kitty A, Unsplash · 6 allPhoto Bangkok, Unsplash · 7 LBM1948, CC BY-SA 4.0 · 8 Mario La Pergola, Unsplash

The story

A temple that faces the sunset

Angkor Wat was built in the first half of the 12th century by King Suryavarman II as his state temple, dedicated to Vishnu. Guinness counts it as the largest religious structure ever built: 162.6 hectares inside a moat about five kilometres around and nearly two hundred metres wide, standing for the oceans at the edge of the world.

It also faces west, which almost no other Khmer temple does. Scholars still argue over why. Vishnu was linked with the west, and some read the temple as a funerary monument. What it means for you is simple: from the western approach, the sun comes up behind the towers. At the March and September equinoxes it rises directly over the central tower.

By the 14th century Angkor Wat had become Buddhist, and it has never stopped being a place of worship. Going at first light isn’t only about the sky. The bas-reliefs, Ta Prohm and the Bayon are at their quietest in the early hours, and that is when we take you in.

Itinerary

How the morning unfolds

  1. Collected before dawn

    Your guide meets you at your hotel in Siem Reap while it is still dark. Sunrise at Angkor moves by about an hour through the year, so we set your pick-up to your date rather than to a timetable.

  2. Sunrise behind the five towers

    Take your place on the western approach as the sky turns from indigo to gold. The five towers, shaped like lotus buds, come out of the dark one by one, and in the wetter months they double in the reflecting pool in front of you.

  3. The galleries, ahead of the crowds

    Walk in while the temple is still quiet. Your guide reads the bas-reliefs with you scene by scene: the Churning of the Ocean of Milk on the east side, where 92 demons and 88 gods haul on a serpent to stir up the elixir of immortality; the battle of Kurukshetra on the west; Suryavarman II’s own procession; and heaven and hell.

  4. Ta Prohm

    Jayavarman VII dedicated Ta Prohm in 1186 as a royal monastery, honouring his mother. When French archaeologists cleared Angkor last century, they left this temple much as they found it, with giant spung trees and strangler figs rooted through its walls. Indian conservators have worked since 2003 to hold it together without removing the trees.

  5. The Bayon

    At the centre of Angkor Thom, Jayavarman VII’s Bayon rises in towers of calm stone faces. Some two hundred were carved around 1200 and 173 survive. Tradition reads them as Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, perhaps with the king’s own features.

  6. Back to your hotel

    Your guide drives you back to your hotel before the heat of the day, with the afternoon yours.

Plan your trip

The details

Duration
Half day
When
Any day of the year. We set your pick-up time around sunrise on your date.
Best time of year
November to February is dry and cooler. January is the coolest month and April the hottest.
Format
Private: your party and your guide
Where
Angkor Archaeological Park, just north of Siem Reap
Tickets
Every visitor needs an Angkor Pass, sold only through Angkor Enterprise. We’ll confirm whether yours is included when we put your morning together.
What to wear
Shoulders and knees covered, which temple staff enforce. Shoes with good grip for steep steps and uneven stone.
What to bring
A light layer for the cool before dawn, a hat, sunscreen and water.

Before you go

Questions, answered

Will it be crowded at sunrise?

Sunrise at Angkor Wat is popular, and you won’t have the causeway to yourself. The privacy is in everything around it: your own guide, your own pace, and the galleries, Ta Prohm and the Bayon in the quiet first hours, before most visitors reach them.

What time will you collect us?

It depends on your date. Sunrise at Angkor runs from about 5:30 in June to after 6:30 in late January, so we confirm your pick-up when we arrange the morning.

Do we need an Angkor Pass?

Yes. Every visitor needs one, and passes are checked at temple entrances. They are sold only through Angkor Enterprise: at the official ticket office, on its website or in its app.

Will the sun rise over the central tower?

At the March and September equinoxes it comes up directly over the central tower. On other days it rises a little to one side, and the towers still stand in silhouette against it.

Is it suitable for children, or anyone less steady on their feet?

Much of the morning is on foot over old stone, with steep steps in places. Tell us who is travelling and we will pace the morning around them.

Can we combine it with other experiences?

Yes. It pairs well with an afternoon with the HeroRATs in Siem Reap, or a day with the retired elephants beneath Kulen Mountain.

Arranged around you

No fixed times. You choose when.

Every One Journey experience in Cambodia is private. Tell us your dates and who is travelling, and we will arrange it around you.

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