Full-Day Angkor Tours With Sunset: What 12 to 17 € Actually Buys
7 min read
The short answer: for most visitors the Full-Day Angkor Wat Guided Tour with Sunset is the one to book: €12.12 per person, 4.9 out of 5 from 4,025 reviews, five temples and the sunset from Phnom Bakheng. For a few euros more, a second tour adds lunch and an earlier start. A third finishes mid-afternoon with no sunset. The fourth is a sunrise tour that is over by early afternoon. None of the four includes the Angkor pass, so the price you see is not the price of the day.
Group day tours are the cheapest way to see Angkor with a guide, and they look almost identical on the booking page: air-conditioned minibus, English-speaking guide, hotel pickup, five or six temples. The differences are at the edges, and the edges are exactly what you will notice at two in the afternoon.
Before the comparison: the pass is on top
Every tour below needs a 1-day Angkor pass, 37 US$ per person, which you pay separately. The booking pages differ on how: some say your guide helps you buy it on the way in, one asks you to have it before the tour starts, and one recommends buying it online a day ahead. One page also notes that children under 12 need no ticket. The details, and why a three-day pass is often the better buy, are in our Angkor pass guide. Budget the pass as its own line and the 12 € tours stop looking quite so cheap, and also stop looking quite so different from the 17 € ones.
The four side by side
| Tour | Duration | From | Rating | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-Day Angkor Wat Guided Tour with Sunset | 9 hours | €12.12 | 4.9/5 from 4,025 reviews | most visitors; the cheapest with sunset |
| Full Day Angkor Wat Temple Experience with Sunset | 9 – 10 hours | €16.93 | 4.9/5 from 1,532 reviews | those who want lunch included and an earlier start |
| Angkor Wat: Full-Day Temples Small Group Tour | 8 hours | €16.93 | 4.8/5 from 747 reviews | anyone who wants to be back at the hotel by late afternoon |
| Angkor Wat Sunrise or Sunset Guided Tour | 8 – 10 hours | €11.85 | 4.9/5 from 2,763 reviews | early risers who are done by lunch |
The sunset day: the cheapest of the four
The booking page lists five temples: Angkor Wat, Bayon, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm and Phnom Bakheng for sunset. Pickup is between 9:10 and 9:30, with a drop-off between 18:30 and 19:00. Group size is capped at 13. There is a lunch break of an hour, but meals are not included, so you pay at a restaurant near the temples. Cold water and a cool towel are included.
The late pickup is both the draw and the catch. You sleep in, and you also walk the middle of the day in the park, which is the hottest part. From April the temperatures reach the high thirties, so this is a tour for the cool season. The page lists babies under one year and people over 70 as not suited.
Check availability and prices for the full-day tour with sunset
The sunset day with lunch
This one costs about 4.75 € more. For that you get an earlier start (pickup between 8:00 and 8:30), a lunch that is included with a vegetarian option, unlimited bottled water and cool towels, and a stop in the village of Phum Preah Dak. It also takes in Angkor Thom, Bayon and Ta Prohm and ends with the sunset from Phnom Bakheng. The page asks that you have your Angkor pass before the tour starts and says the small-group option is not suitable for children under 10.
One review theme to know about: some travellers say the sunset stop involves long waits. The hill is the same one every sunset tour uses, so expect company, whichever tour you book.
Check availability and prices for the full-day tour with lunch and sunset
The small-group day that ends in the afternoon
This is the tour without a sunset. Pickup is between 7:40 and 8:00 and the drop-off is between 16:00 and 17:00. It visits Angkor Wat, the south gate of Angkor Thom, Bayon, the Terrace of the Elephants and Ta Prohm, and the page mentions a skip-the-line entrance. The pass costs 37 US$ more, payable on the day, and lunch is paid for locally.
The page lists children under seven and wheelchair users as not suited, and it asks for covered knees and shoulders. If you want daylight on Angkor Wat itself at the end of the day, read our guide on why the temple is best in the afternoon before choosing this one, because this tour is over before then.
Check availability and prices for the small-group full-day tour
The sunrise day that finishes by lunch
Pickup is between 4:00 and 4:20 in the morning, and the drop-off is between 13:00 and 13:30. It visits five temples, starting with the sunrise at Angkor Wat, and it breaks for breakfast. It costs 12.30 €. The page recommends buying the temple pass online a day before. It lists wheelchair users and people over 70 as not suited.
If you want to decide between this and a private tuk-tuk, we compare them in Angkor Wat at sunrise: small-group tour or your own tuk-tuk. The small-group tour in that article has more reviews than any other in Siem Reap, 12,198 of them.
Check availability and prices for the sunrise-or-sunset guided tour
Who should not book a group day tour
If you walk slowly, a nine-hour group day is hard work, because the group sets the pace and the minibus leaves when it leaves. If you are in town for three days or more, a one-day pass is not the best value, because the three-day pass costs 62 US$. And if you cannot stand heat, do not book the 9:10 start in April. More options, including private ones, are on the Angkor Wat tours page.
What I would book
The full-day tour with sunset at €12.12: lowest price, the most reviews of the four, and a sunset to end on. Take the lunch-included tour instead if an early start matters more to you than 4.75 €.
