Wake Park Cambodia - view over the lake from the beach

Siem Reap with family: what to do and where to stay (2025)

Siem Reap is a destination that ends up on many travellers’ lists as it’s the gateway to the amazing Angkor Wat. But as a city we were surprised to discover how much we loved it in it’s own right. Siem Reap has so much to offer families beyond the temples! If you’re considering visiting South East Asia with kids, then read on to find out why a trip to Siem Reap with the family should be on your itinerary.

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Siem Reap with the family: At a Glance

Where to stay: Passport Villas, Siem Reap

How much is accommodation?: We paid £21 per night for a family room

What is there to do: Visit Angkor Wat, meet the Hero Rats, play mini golf, take a chocolate tour, make jewellery from discarded bullets and wander along the riverside and markets

How to get around: Book Ron, our fab tuktuk driver!

Where is Siem Reap?

Siem Reap is located right in the heart of Cambodia.

Cambodia itself is a fascinating country with loads to offer travelling families. There’s temples galore at Angkor Wat (read our full review of visiting Angkor Wat with kids here), deserted paradise islands, heartbreaking history lessons and wonderful people who are incredibly welcoming. 

But if you only have a limited amount of time in Cambodia, then Siem Reap is where you should head for. 

How do you get to Siem Reap?

There are international flights in to Siem Reap’s airport that can connect you with the rest of South East Asia and beyond. 

If you’re travelling overland, there are buses and minivans to destinations across Cambodia. Onward travel is easily booked via your accommodation or at any of the agencies dotted around town.

We took a direct bus from Bangkok with Giant Ibis. If this is the route you plan to take I would highly recommend them. The buses are modern and have loads of room and the staff are really helpful at the border crossing between Thailand and Cambodia. 

Where is the best place to stay in Siem Reap with kids?

Siem Reap is absolutely bursting with accommodation options for all budgets. There are some very luxurious options (particularly around the outskirts of the city), budget hostels and everything in-between.

We stayed at Passport Villas which is located really close to the centre of Siem Reap. However, it’s down a little unpaved side street so it’s lovely and quiet. They have several rooms of various sizes; we stayed in the family room on the ground floor, which sleeps four in a double and a set of bunks.

This was perfect for us – we had loads of space, a very nice modern bathroom with walk-in shower and a little fridge and a kettle for basic self-catering. 

To top it off there’s a lovely pool in the courtyard. Siem Reap is one place where I would absolutely recommend booking somewhere with a pool. Days out at Angkor Wat are very hot, sweaty and tiring so a dip in the pool is wonderful when you get back and need to chill out. 

The owners are really knowledgeable and can book loads of excursions and tours for you, as well as onward transport. 

We paid c.£20 per night for our stay in 2024.

Why visit Siem Reap as a family?

Siem Reap offers so much for travelling families. If you want history and educational activities you’ve got them in the form of Angkor Wat, the Killing Fields Memorials and the Hero Rats at APOPO. On the flip side, if you want to relax and have some fun you’ve got mini-golf, wakeboarding, inflatable obstacle courses, jewellery-making and chocolate!

But it’s also just a very easy city for families. It’s centre is very walkable – you can wander round the little shops and restaurants or along the riverside, stopping for drinks and snacks at food stands. And if little legs (or big legs!) get too tired you are never more than a few metres from a tuktuk (seriously, there are more tuktuks here than anywhere else we visitied in SE Asia!).

Plus it’s very affordable – unless you’re on an incredibly tight budget you can stay in some lovely hotels with pools and eat some great food from the local restaurants. 

Family friendly things to do in Siem Reap

This is just a bit of an insight into some of the things on offer that are particularly great if you’re visiting Siem Reap with family. We personally did all of these actitivities during our stay and really enjoyed them all!

Hero Rats

A trip to see the Hero Rats at APOPO was one of the very best things we did on our entire family gap year.

APOPO is a foundation set-up to clear landmines in Cambodia and in certain conflict-affected areas in Africa. The work they do is simply amazing. The rats in question are African Giant Pouched Rats and they are specially trained to sniff out the explosives in landmines and alert their handlers to the location. As the rats are so light they don’t set off the landmines themselves, so this is a much safer way to clear areas. 

The centre in Siem Reap walks you through a brief history of what happened in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. It also goes in to detail about the scale of the landmine problem and how this is on-going across big parts of Cambodia. You then get to see a demonstration from the handlers and their rats. Plus you get to meet them and hold them yourselves!

If you’re visiting Siem Reap with family then this is really not to be missed. It’s hugely educational but in a way that the kids could understand, and it’s a place that really demonstrates hope and how ingenious ideas can help to solve real-world problems.

Entry costs US$10 per person.

Ammo Jewellery Workshop

This came so highly recommended that we thought we’d give it a go.

Run by a not-for-profit foundation, the AMMO workshop trains young people from Siem Reap in the art of jewellery making. Most of their products are made from old bullets that were collected after the Khmer Rouge war. Which makes them very unique and distincly Cambodian. 

They run the jewellery making workshops several times a week. It’s a really fab activity for both kids and adults! I wasn’t sure whether it would be geared towards kids but it definitely was. You get to pick the type of item you would like to make from a range of options. This includes keyrings, earrings, necklace pendants and more. You then spend some time drawing up your design. There are a range of stamps that you can use to hammer the designs on to your item. But before you do this, you get a sheet of metal to practice on to make sure you’ve got the technique right! This was great as the boys spent ages trying out various designs and getting the process right (with a lot of help from the lovely staff!).

Once you’ve created your item they finish it off for you in the heat. And then it’s yours to take home! There is also a little shop attached to the workshop where you can buy a range of pre-made items. 

We paid US$20 for adults and US$12 for each of the kids (this is the rate for kids aged 6-15years) for the 1.5hour session. It was one of the more expensive activities we did in Siem Reap but we felt it was worth it as it’s like a history lesson and a craft activity rolled in to one.

Angkor Wat Putt

Once you’ve visited the real Angkor Wat temples, it’s time to visit them again in miniature golf form!

Located on the outskirts of Siem Reap this is a fun way to spend a couple of hours. It’s open until 8pm so you can visit in the evening if you want to avoid the heat of the day.

There are 14 holes in total and each golf hole is based on a temple at Angkor Wat. The attention to detail is pretty amazing! They vary in difficulty but none were too difficult for our boys (who were 10 and 8 when we visited). 

They also have ice creams, cold drinks and beers available. A round of golf costs US$5 for adults and US$4 for children (under 12years). 

Wat Chocolate Tour

This was a lovely little place to spend an hour or so with the kids. They are a local enterprise that make and sell their own artisan chocolate. You get to see the whole process with a tour guide (on the day we went we were the only ones, so it was a private tour). And then, of course, you get to sample some of the chocolate. We also ended up buying a few different bars as it was all so delicious!

Tours are free and run on Monday-Saturday from 2-5pm.

Wake Park Cambodia

Located just outside Siem Reap (about 20minutes in a tuktuk) is this little gem. If you’re craving a day at the beach while you’re in landlocked Siem Reap, then this is your answer! This relatively new attraction offers a big lake for wakeboarding and a smaller one that has an inflatable obstacle course (AquaLand) set up on it. The boys spent hours on the inflatables and in the water cooling off!

If you’d prefer to chill out (which was me during our visit!) you can instead lounge on the sandy beach with a cocktail from the little bar/restuarant that’s attached to the centre. There are bamboo huts, sunloungers, beanbags and comfy sofas to choose from. And take the occasional dip in the lake to cool off too. 

Entry to the Aqualand inflatable course is US$8 per person (and lasts all day).

Boy holds Giant African Pouched Rat at APOPO in Siem Reap
Two boys sit at workshop table in the AMMO Jewellery Workshop session

How expensive is Siem Reap?

We found Siem Reap incredibly affordable; in fact, it was probably one of the most affordable stops on our way round South East Asia. 

Our stay at Passport Villas cost £21 per night for the four of us. We found we could eat in a local-style restaurant for around £6-7 (including drinks). And tuktuks were an easy and affordable way to get around – a whole day’s hire cost us c.£8 (far less for short hops). 

The infamous Pub Street is fun to have a wander down at night but you will pay much, much more for food and drink here. For this reason we stuck to smaller streets and more local restaurants. 

In fact, you can see exactly what we spent on our entire family gap year (broken down by each country) in this post here.

Siem Reap with the family – the verdict

We visited for Angkor Wat this time but would come back to Siem Reap in a heartbeat just to hang out for a while. It’s a brilliant destination to visit with kids with so much to offer! If you’re planning a longer term travel adventure then it’s also got a vibrant worldschooling community to tap in to.

Top tips for visiting Siem Reap with the family

  • Book somewhere with a pool – you’ll be grateful for somewhere to escape from the heat!
  • Take a wander down Pub Street but if you’re on a budget (or just want a more authentic experience) then eat elsewhere
  • If your hotel can recommend a tuk-tuk driver then having a reliable one with a number you can call when you want to go somewhere is very handy!

Planning a trip to Siem Reap with family (or wider South East Asia)?

If you’re planning a family travel adventure to South East Asia then check out our other posts below for more inspiration, tips and reviews.

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