Arrive in Siem Reap. There is no airport pick-up and you have to make your own arrangements to reach your hotel, the Lotus Angkor Hotel. Check into your hotel. The Lotus Angkor Hotel is a four-star property that offers convenience and luxury, all close to downtown and only 7 km from the international airport. All 108 rooms at the hotel are well-appointed with in-room amenities like a baby crib, hair dryer, bathrobes, telephone, and TV. The hotel also has an airport shuttle service, mail service, catering service, boutique, city shuttle service, car hire, dry cleaning and laundry on-site. The Lotus Blanc Restaurant serves both European and Asian food, in a refreshingly decorated restaurant overlooking the charming garden and swimming pool.
Your English-speaking tour guide will meet you at your hotel at the appointed time and you will be taken in an air-conditioned luxury coach for a sightseeing tour of Angkor.
The highlights of the tour are:
• Angkor Thom: This is a fortified Royal City, built by King Jayavarman VII, who ruled from 1181 to 1201. The city has five monumental gates and is encircled by a moat 100 meters wide. In the center of the walled city are the city’s most important monuments including Bayon, Baphuon, the Terrace of Elephants, the Terrace of the Leper King and Phimeanakas with Royal Enclosure.
• Bayon: Jayavarman VII's temple mountain that stands at the center of Angkor Thom. It is one of the most popular of Angkor's monuments and a place of narrow corridors, steep flights of stairs and an amazing collection of towers decorated with over 200 smiling faces.
• Baphuon: The pyramid shape represents the mythical Mount Meru and marks the center of the city that was here before Angkor Thom.
• Phimeanakas: Near the center of what was once the royal palace within Angkor Thom. Phimeanakas means ‘Celestial Palace’, though today there is not much left to indicate its former splendour.
• Former Royal Palace: Nothing remains today except two pools that were used by royalty for washing.
• Terrace of Elephants: This terrace was used for viewing public ceremonies and was a base for the King’s grand audience hall. The famous lines of elephants are at either end of the retaining walls.
• Terrace of the Leper King: North of the Terrace of Elephants is a platform named ‘Terrace of the Leper King’. On the platform is a nude statue – one of Angkor’s mysteries.
• Visit the Angkor temple for sunset: Watch the sun set over the Cambodian countryside from the upper terraces of an ancient Angkorian temple.
Overnight at your hotel in Siem Reap.
After breakfast, your English-speaking tour guide will meet you at your hotel at the appointed time and you will be taken in an air-conditioned luxury coach for a some more sightseeing of Angkor.
The highlights of the tour are:
• Angkor Wat: This famous temple is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu by King Suryavarman II, who reigned between 1131 and 1150. It was constructed over a period of 30 years and is world famous for its beauty and splendour. Angkor Wat features the longest continuous bas-relief in the world, which runs along the outer gallery walls and narrates stories from Hindu mythology. In 1992, the UNESCO declared the monument and the whole city of Angkor a World Heritage Site.
• Ta Prohm: One of the most popular attractions of Angkor as much of the jungle has not been cleared, it looks very much as most of the Angkor monuments would have appeared when European explorers first stumbled across them.
• Banteay Srei Temple: Built in the late 10th century, it is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva. The temple is square with entrances on the east and west. Of main interest are the three central towers which are decorated with male and female divinities and beautiful filigree relief work.
Overnight at your hotel in Siem Reap.
After breakfast, your English-speaking tour guide will meet you at your hotel at the appointed time and you will be taken in an air-conditioned luxury coach for a some more sightseeing of Angkor.
The highlights of the tour are:
• Roluos Group Temples: These monuments mark the beginning of classical art, as some of the earliest great temples built by the Khmer. They served as the capital of Indravarman (who reigned from 877 to 889).
• Lolei: Built on an islet by Yasovarman I (who ruled from 889 to 910), the founder of the first city of Angkor.
• Preah Ko: Erected by Indravarman I in the late 9th century in dedication to his defied ancestors in 880. There are inscriptions in Sanskrit on the doorsteps of each temple.
• Bakong: Built and dedicated to Shiva by Indravarman I, this is the largest and most interesting of the Roluos Group of temples and still has an active Buddhist monastery.
• Visit Ta Som: his was built in the late 12th century by Jayavarman VII for his teacher ‘Som’.
• Neak Pean Temple: This was built by King Jayavarman VII (ruled 1181 to 1201). It is a Buddhist temple consisting of a square pool with four smaller square pools arranged on each axis. In the centre of the large central pool is a circular island encircled by two nagas with intertwined tails.
• Preah Khan: This is a temple built by King Jayavarman VII with towered enclosures and shoulder-hugging corridors in a jungle setting. Preah Khan covers a very large area but the temple itself is enclosed within a rectangular wall of around 700 by 800 meters.
Overnight at your hotel in Siem Reap.
After breakfast at your hotel, you are at leisure to spend the day and explore the city of Siem Reap.
Your tour ends after you check out of your hotel.