It’s not a surprise that after excitement and adventure filled time in South East Asia travelers need some time to rest. It is as important part of traveling as all the new experience. It lets us gather thoughts, contact our families and most likely post some photos on facebook.
Naturally, nobody wants to sit around in the hotel room or lobby for too long, but taking few days off discovering the world won’t harm anyone. More importantly, when we do take a break we don’t want to spend too much. Here’s few ways to get a break from adventure, and excessive spending, in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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Toggle1. Where to stay in Siem Reap
Siem Reap is rather famous for cheap places to stay, but it’s important to know what exactly to expect. For budget travelers it should be between $1-$4 per night per person. Depending on the number of people traveling together and one’s attitude to comfort and haggling. To give you an easy let me introduce some options I have checked out already.
Garden Villa
One of the most “backpacker” friendly places in Siem Reap. That’s a place where you can get into a bunk in the dormitory for as little as $1. You will sleep on a roofed and mosquito netted mattress outside the building, but shouldn’t complain for the price you pay. Alternative is a room with just less than 30 people and a fan for $2, and single and double rooms for slightly higher price. This place is certainly one of those where you’ll meet a lot of like-minded people and get a drought beer for only 50 cents in a roof-top bar.
Orchidae Guest House
An amazingly stylish, family-owned and cheap place. Enjoy a higher quality and probably more secure room than the one previously mentioned at not a lot more expensive bill. There’s nothing better to relax all day than a hammock outside where you can connect your laptop to power plug as well as free wifi. Food and drink prices are not as attractive as the ones listed later, but still provide value for money.
Booking in advance
There’s even a way to rest from haggling without paying extra. That can be achieved by planing in advance where exactly you’d like to stay and booking online. There’s a number of accommodation options advertised daily online for less than $4 per person. It also cuts down on time spent asking different places for prices.
 2. Where to eat in Siem Reap
We’ve mentioned before (here) that the variety of Khmer food isn’t great, but it doesn’t mean you will starve in Siem Reap. Better still, there are places to for as little as $0.5. It’s easy to fill your stomach all day, while washing it down with beer, for under $4.
5 Sons
You’ll find it on the street which immediately where Pub Street ends, down the road from X Bar, on the left. Staff is great, food brilliant and more than affordable.
Street food away from Old Market
Yes, street food is always the cheapest option, but within the city centre it’ s still not as competitive as for example 2 km away. The further away you go, the less expensive it gets and the more variety you can choose from. It’s actually not only street stalls but also local restaurants that offer good prices. Don’t hesitate to try food in less than appealing places – you will be surprised how good it is.
3. Transport
Without a doubt bicycles give the most freedom to explore the city (faster than on foot). Whereas tuk tuks are relatively cheap and certainly very comfortable, they may double (if not triple) your daily expenses.
Don’t fall in a trap of either being limited or charged every time you want to go somewhere. Bicycles are the answer. With a possibility of renting one from $1 to $5 a day (depending on a type and quality) they don’t cost a fortune. Rent a local bike for $1 a day and never haggle for a reasonable fare with sometimes greedy tuk tuk drivers.
You can easily get to Siem Reap from Phnom Penh or Bangkok in a comfortable van.
You can see now that it’s easy to spend less than $10 a day and have all the time in the world to relax and/or explore surround areas. Do you have a tip to share with others?
29 thoughts on “How To Spend a Day in Siem Reap For Less Than $10”
That is incredibly cheap! I can’t believe the prices you quoted. Means even more small change for beer! ;-)
It is so cheap indeed. That means you can travel the whole month in Siem Reap for $300 :). Yeah, having some spare change for a beer sounds good to me.
The beer is very cheap there also. Even more so in Sihanoukville. I love the deals in Cambodia. Even with the influx of travellers, they still keep things relatively inexpensive. The only thing that cost a lot though is the pass to Angkor park. That’s $25 just for one day I believe. But worth it.
Yes, that’s true people find exploring Angkor Wat so expensive. As far as I remember it was $20 for 1 day pass and $40 for 3 days. Pretty expensive. When you add up the cost of hiring a travel guide and tuk tuk driver it’s even more expensive. We took our bikes instead and cycled around. Great experience and still affordable. The beer is always cheap in Asia :)
You might be right at the $20 price. I got the three-day pass. I think my driver was $5 for the day, but with getting to Angkor Wat at sunrise and exploring so many temples, I think my day ended at noon, lol.
I bet cycling it yourself was even better. I would have done that but the heat was excruciating.
$5 for the tuk tuk is pretty cheap. Biking was so much fun and we were very flexible. Never forget the picnic time in the Angkor Wat area :)
A nice overview. However, I spent about $20-25 two years ago. $5 hotel, $5 tuk tuk, $10 meals, $5 beer ;) not counting Angkor Wat entrance fee
That’s so cheap. Well done :)
This is much less than I thought it would be! I’m going in about a week and people have told me it’s pretty pricey. Good tips on bringing the $ down a bit. Definitely going for bike rental.
I’m really happy someone will use these tips. Siem Reap can be very cheap or very pricey, all depends on the approach. Once again I would really recommend Orchidae Guest House. Cheap and good, you’ll see once you walk through the gate.
Have fun in Siem Reap!
I can’t believe I missed out on this place on my South East Asia backpacking trip. When we visited (about 12 years ago) it was advised too dangerous to go. I’ve got a good excuse to go back to this part of the world now though!
Siem Reap and South-East Asian countries are not dangerous anymore, at least I think so. There are many families with kids travelling there, it’s a very safe part of the world nowadays. That’s a real pitty you missed oout on this place, but it’s never too late to go back out there! :)
i stayed in orchidae when i was in SR too ;-) cheap and nice place… nice folks managing the hostel as well…
That’s a cool place with a great staff.
Good round-up. It’s been years since I was last in Siem Reap, but I do remember similar rates!
I guess Siem Reap has not changed that much in terms of prices. Still cheap :) which we liked a lot.
Thanks for the helpful tips! i was curious about the food and places to eat…
I’m going in march for 1 week and i already booked the hostel (was really cheap!!) my usual question now :)…is the food spicy?? :)
I’m a bit terryfied since i’m allergic to chili!!
oh and i think the bike option is great! i am going to rent one for sure.
Can’t wait!!
The food is a little bit spicy, but they don’t put chili in every meal. You will be fine as long as you mention before you get your meal prepared that you are allergic to chili. Most of the meals are served with chili, but no worries. You can always go for chili free options like papaya salad or Pad Thai. Street food is the best one, especially on Khao San Road and it’s so cheap. Can’t wait to see you being there and trying some new dishes!!! LOVE x
Thanks Agness, i was thinking to get a Tattoo done on my forehead saying “no spicy food” in Thai ahahah, oh well i will survive!! writing down the papaya salad and pad thai :)) thanks a lot!xx
My pleasure. Keep me posted and hope you will have a time of your life!!! x
Sleeping in a hammock would be coooooool!! and free wifi – what a plus!
Oh I am SO glad I have found your website! This post along with your other asian posts are super helpful to a budget backpacker like myself. I seem to keep coming across bloggers and people in general that claim to travel asia on the cheapest budget… of $50 a day! I was convinced I wouldn’t have to spend even half of that… and thanks to your blog I have proof to convince my boyfriend that we’ll have the money by february 2015!
Thanks for sharing your adventures xx
Alissa @ The Living Spree
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Awesome Ali! Great to have you here!! :)
I have now been to SR twice, and I’ll be back again for sure. Love that place. I’ll check out the restaurant you listed. Looks good. I’m moving full time to Bangkok in Sept, so gotta watch my pennies, so I’ll be turning to your blog more often from now on!
Hi Mike, you mentioned that you’ve been to SR twice now! I’m going there in October with my boyfriend and was budgeting for $60/day for us? Would it be enough? Ofcourse excluding the Angkor Wat entrance fee.
Thanks for the tip. Planning to co to siem reap this coming april!
I would never be able to stay in this sort of a hostel. Siem Reap has some really good hostels as well, international standards, except for the language problems.
This is just too cheap and it does not even look comfortable. Considering that you are in a third world country, I think its ok to loosen your purse strings a little!
I think Sinn Sisamouth Cafe needs to be included in this list. It’s a hidden gem – cheap, authentic and fresh where food starts at $1.50 but this has rice and meat and the servings are generous. With the way we ate last time, I would hardly describe it as cheap eating, we were amazingly satisfied! :) The restaurant is even dedicated to preserving traditional Khmer music and the garden setting is just adorable.
Thanks for the suggestion, Liro! ;)