We’re Visiting Angkor Wat - What Next?
A few years ago we traveled to Cambodia and knew we had to see Angkor Wat, an ancient temple complex, UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the most important archaeological sites in Southeast Asia. We weren’t sure how easy it was to access, but we quickly learned that the large town of Siem Reap is only 10-15 minutes drive from Angkor Wat. As such, we immediately started looking for lodging in Siem Reap and were honestly pretty overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of hotels (over 1,000 for our dates!).
Decision to Stay at Cambana d’Angkor Suites
After filtering for price and review scores of 4.5/5.0 and above, we eventually found Cambana d'Angkor Suites and decided to stay based on the wonderful reviews, included breakfast, beautiful styling of the rooms and property, and proximity to Angkor Wat (14 minute drive).
Getting to Cambana d’Angkor
If you’re traveling to Siem Reap from outside Cambodia, you will most like arrive in Phnom Penh and then travel onwards from there to Siem Reap. Fortunately, you have multiple options, from 45 minute direct flights to buses. We ended up taking an overnight sleeper bus from Phnom Penh with Giant Ibis Transport. Siem Reap is pretty big, so we decided not to do the over 3 miles walk from the bus station to Cambana d’Angkor and caught a tuk tuk instead. There are plenty of tuk tuk’s waiting around the bus station so it was super easy and they had no problem locating Cambana d’Angkor, even though it was on a small side street.
Route from the bus terminal to Cambana d'Angkor. It was far enough we caught a tuk tuk, but you can walk it if you really want
First Impressions
It was a relief to leave the very busy main street and pull onto a small (quiet) side street to get to the entrance of Cambana d’Angkor. We immediately got a sense of how charming the interior was going to be just from the incredible huge carved entrance gates with elephant head pulls. As soon as we stepped through the gates we felt like we were in a private oasis. The hotel sits on a relatively small footprint centered around a lush swimming pool ringed with brick walkways and tropical plants. The open air dining area sits adjacent to the pool with the rooms rising several stories around the pool/dining center. The pool has a covered deck with elegant carved wooden beds for relaxing with a second tier of stylish sun loungers on a second floor deck above the pool. While some might find the hotel complex too small (where’s the sprawling grounds to explore, the library?) we found the space really intimate, which felt special.
The beautiful entrance to Cambana d'Angkor
The enchanting pool area just inside the entrance of Cambana d'Angkor Suites
Why use a lounger when you can lay on a bed poolside?! The curtains were an extra special touch.
Looking down at the pool from the walkway to the upper level rooms
The pool at night
Looking down at the entrance the pool area
Each room had its own little table and lounge area
Dining area and bar
The Rooms
Cambana d’Angkor offers several different rooms types with varying sizes/levels of luxury. We picked their most budget room, but still found it to be spacious and beautifully decorated with traditional Cambodian influences. We were greeted with a bowl of fresh fruit, bottled water, tea and coffee making supplies, and plush robes. My favorite thing, hands down, was the gigantic black stone bathtub in our bathroom that had been prefilled with water and scattered with flower petals. I’ve never stayed anywhere since that displayed the bath in such a lovely way that made us feel like we were staying in a spa.
Our room
The spa like bath
The Included Breakfast
We knew that breakfast was included and there’s nothing we love more, so we were pretty excited to try it out the next morning. We were presented with a small menu where we could pick from different breakfast styles for our hot food, all of which are accompanied by a basket of freshly baked pastries, fruit, tea, coffee, and fresh squeezed juice. While we love a good buffet breakfast, the quality of this breakfast was really fantastic and the quantity was good as well. The pastries were melt in the mouth good, the fruit was at its absolute peak (harvested from their own trees per the waiter), and it was the best fresh juice I think I’ve ever had. Even though there wasn’t much variety in the breakfast from day to day, we looked forward to it every morning!
Services Offered
Cambana d’Angkor offers the following services:
Swimming pool
Restaurant
Bar
Gym
Coffee shop
Kitchen
Concierge
Spa
Sauna
Tours
Ticket services
Laundry service
Airport pick up
We didn’t try the spa, sauna, bar, or gym, but made use of everything else and it was top notch. Weirdly enough, the laundry service was a highlight for us. We love to travel ultralight, so had very limited clothing on this trip. We usually wash clothes by hand in the shower, but when a staff member offered to do our laundry and we discovered it was an included service, we were thrilled to take a break from our hand washing routine. We simply gave the staff our clothes in a provided bag and later that day it was returned to us neatly folded and smelling wonderful. We’ve stayed at plenty of other hotels that offer laundry service, but this was the first (and only) place we’ve stayed that did it for free. Such a thoughtful touch that’s really lingered with us.
What We Loved Most
The price tag ($40/night when we stayed) for a truly luxurious experience
How friendly, accommodating, and thoughtful all the staff were
Free laundry service!
The delicious pastries and fresh squeezed juice at breakfast
The gorgeous super deep bathtub in our room prepared with fresh flower petals upon our arrival - we felt like honored guests at a spa
The oasis like pool area complete with beds to lounge on
A free ride to the airport at the end of our stay. A staff member asked if we would like him to call a tuk tuk to the airport when we checked out and we said yes. When the tuk tuk arrived, the staff member paid him the fare and sent us on our way. Truly exceptional service!
Final Thoughts
You can’t go wrong staying at Cambana d’Angkor. The price is fantastic for luxurious boutique experience the lovely super friendly staff really provided us with an exceptional stay. The fact that we still bring up our time at Cambana d’Angkor multiple years later is a good indicator of how much we enjoyed our stay. If we ever return to Siem Reap, we’d absolutely stay again!
Have you stayed somewhere you really loved in Siem Reap? We and our readers would love to hear about it! Leave us a comment below.