Siem Reap Water Festival or Bon Om Tuk marks the end of the monsoon and rice season, the reversal of the flow of the Tonle Sap (Great Lake), and the start of the fishing season with boat races, water rituals, traditional ceremonies, such as moon worship and floating lanterns, as well as fireworks, street food, beer bars, bands, and concerts. This is our guide to the Siem Reap Water Festival, held early November each year. We update this annually. We’ll add more details as they become available.
Siem Reap Water Festival, part of the nationwide Cambodia Water Festival, is our favourite Cambodian festival. There are many. We also love Pchum Ben Ancestors Festival and Khmer New Year, as well as events such as the Angkor Wat International Half Marathon, which weaves through forested Angkor Archaeological Park.
We’ve been to Siem Reap Water Festival or Bon Om Tuk, the ‘Boat Paddling Festival’ in Khmer, every year it’s been held since we settled in Cambodia’s charming city of Siem Reap in 2013. We’ve always lived a block or two from the lovely Siem Reap River, our favourite place to spend time, and have walked the shaded riverside paths many thousands of times over the years.
The part we love most about the water festival are the boat races on a stretch of river in Siem Reap’s heart, close to our home in Wat Bo neighbourhood, where every year Terence can be found on the river banks capturing scenes from Siem Reap Water Festival.
We first published this guide to Siem Reap Water Festival in 2013 as there was very little information online at the time, and we update it annually. We’ve just updated it and we’ll continue to update it as information from authorities becomes available, so do bookmark this page if you’re heading to Cambodia and feel free to ask questions in the comments at the end of this post and we’ll reply.
Official festival details usually aren’t announced by Siem Reap’s City Hall and Siem Reap Provincial Administration until a month before the event with the program released just days before. That’s too late for most travellers to plan a trip to Cambodia and the festival is worth planning a holiday around. We’ve kept the 2024 Siem Reap Water Festival program at the end of the post, but as there was very little information in it, we have also kept the 2023 Siem Reap Water Festival program just to give you an idea as to what to expect.
Note: in 2023 the authorities announced the re-naming of Siem Reap Water Festival to the Royal Water Festival, ‘The Festival of Floating Lanterns and Worshiping the Moon’, and Ok Ambok, a traditional ritual of making the flattened rice specialty ‘ambok’, as a key event of the festival. We’re sticking to Siem Reap Water Festival for now, as that’s what most of you will be searching for and we want you to find this information.
First Published 5 November 2014; Updated and Re-Published Annually; Most Recent Update 22 October 2025. We’ll continue to update this post as information becomes available.
Siem Reap Water Festival – A Celebration to Mark the End of Monsoon
Like Khmer New Year and Pchum Ben Ancestors Festival, Bon Om Touk is one of the most important Cambodian holidays of the year. Occurring on the full moon of the Buddhist month of Kadeuk in October or November each year, Bon Om Touk is celebrated with Siem Reap Water Festival here in ‘temple town’, gateway to UNESCO World Heritage listed Angkor Wat and Angkor Archaeological Park.
Held as part of the nationwide Cambodian Water Festival, Siem Reap Water Festival or Bon Om Touk Bon Om Tuk, also see spelt as Bon Om Touk, Bonn Om Teuk or Bonn Om Toeuk in the Khmer language, has traditionally marked the end of monsoon and a bountiful rice season, the reversal of the Tonle Sap (Great Lake) current, and the start of the fishing season, with boats races, water rituals, celebrations, and fireworks.
Where to Stay During Siem Reap Water Festival
You need to book accommodation well ahead of the Siem Reap Water Festival as it’s one of the busiest times of year in Siem Reap. The Old French Quarter and Wat Bo neighbourhood are the best areas to stay for the Siem Reap Water Festival, with plenty of excellent budget, mid-range and boutique hotels within walking distance of the river.
Keep in mind that many streets are closed during the Siem Reap Water Festival and traffic gets heavy. So while you want to stay close to the river, you will need to check into your Siem Reap accommodation the day before, especially if you have heavy luggage, as airport taxis and tuk tuks may not be able to get close to your hotel.
What to Expect from Siem Reap Water Festival
Here’s what to expect from the Siem Reap Water Festival:
WATER FESTIVAL EVENTS
On Siem Reap River, there are boat races, boat rides and a ceremony where locals float lanterns. On the river banks and riverside roads between the main city bridges, there are markets, street food stalls, pop-up beer bars with live music, musical performances, and traditional games.
In the Royal Gardens and riverside park near Raffles Hotel Grand d’Angkor, there’s usually a large concert stage, the biggest beer bar of all, and markets, while out at Angkor Archaeological Park there are more traditional games and demonstrations of Bokator, the Unesco-listed ancient Khmer boxing. Festival-goers can also try their hand at pounding rice in an enormous mortar and pestle, part of the Ok Ambok tradition.
There are also nightly fireworks, while young Cambodians take over Pub Street for a change and party in what’s normally a tourist zone for foreigners.
BOAT RACES
Unless something changes (and that’s always a possibility in Cambodia!), based on previous years, the Water Festival boat races take place over the first two days of the festival. We’ll paste the program at the end of this post when it becomes available.
Day #1 of the Boat Races typically begins with a blessing ceremony of the boats at 3pm on the Siem Reap River, while Day #2 of the Boat Races begins at 8am with final rounds typically scheduled for 3pm, but often starting later. The closing ceremony usually takes place around 5pm and at 11pm there’s the lighting of the floating lanterns on the river.
WHERE TO WATCH THE BOAT RACES
The best places to watch the boat races are on the grassy riverside areas of the Old French Quarter and, on the opposite bank, the riverside areas of the Wat Bo neighbourhood. There are plenty of trees shading the riverside, but wear a hat and sunblock. More tips at the end of this post.
TRADITIONAL ARTS EVENTS
Last year there were also cultural events at various venues around town, such as a show by the Sbek Thom Khmer Shadow Puppet Theatre Troupe, which performed on Street 26 in the Wat Bo neighbourhood, offering a rare opportunity to see the Unesco-listed Khmer Shadow Theatre, which is on Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list, and a chance to support Khmer arts and artists.
The Long History of the Siem Reap Water Festival
Not to be confused with Songkran in Thailand, Bon Om Touk in Cambodia is a traditional celebration that has its beginnings during the Khmer Empire reign of King Jayavarman II, whose capital, Angkor, is just 15 minutes from Siem Reap — which probably makes the Siem Reap Water Festival the oldest water festival in Southeast Asia.
Visit the sublime Bayon temple in Angkor Archaeological Park, and the former garrison city of Banteay Chhmar, built during the reign of King Jayavarman II, whose kingdom extended as far as Sukhothai (in Thailand) and Champa (in Vietnam), and you will see bas reliefs depicting water festival ceremonies, boat races and navy battles on water.
Today’s Siem Reap Water Festival dates back to the regattas held under King Jayavarman VII, who chose the champions as the sailors who would go into battle on the lake and seas. The races were also a way for the navy to practice and show off their strength and stamina and it must have been quite a motivating tool.
Inscriptions indicate that from the 12th century on, the victories of the navy were celebrated every November with boat races on the rivers and lakes and ceremonies of gratitude for the fertile land and rain that provided rice for sustenance and strength.
Traditionally, the festival featured ceremonies that included the floating of a candle-lit boat (Loy Pratip), a full moon ceremony (Sampeas Preah Khe), and the pounding and eating of new rice, generally with coconut water (Ork Ambok), to give thanks to the land and water. If you’re in Siem Reap you’ll notice that in addition to the more traditional floating candle ceremony, there are modern floats illuminated by flashing neon lights.
It’s said that in the old days, the boats, called pirogues – manned by both men and women – had a dancer who moved gracefully on the bow to motivate the rowers. There are no dancers these days, but nor do any of the rowers need motivating!
In Siem Reap, the water levels have been so high some years that the rowers have had to quickly duck as the boats zipped beneath the bridges, which might have been challenging for those graceful dancers.
A Chance to Celebrate with the Locals
As we discovered after moving to Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh in 2012, and then to Siem Reap in 2013, Cambodians love a celebration. They relish spending leisure time with family and friends.
No matter how rich or poor they are, Cambodians make an effort to bring their extended family together to spend their spiritual and national holidays together, with everyone from old grannies to the littlest kids coming together to enjoy the festivals.
And Cambodians love a party. They treasure few things more than the chance to sit with loved-ones, drinking, eating and chatting, sharing some cold beers and a small bottle of rice wine with friends and family. They go out to have a good time and they make the most of it.
Cambodians also appreciate the communal aspect of holidays. They treasure being part of a community and being surrounded by other people enjoying themselves. Everybody cheers for every boat that is racing. There’s little of the favouritism, competitiveness or aggression that you see at so many of these sorts of events around the world. Everybody seems to be there to support… well… everyone.
One thing that strikes foreign visitors is how incredibly warm, welcoming and kind the Cambodian people are. They are generous with their smiles and greetings and always seem genuinely delighted that visitors want to experience their culture and traditions and celebrate holidays with them.
There have been so many times over the years during the festivals when people looked at us and seemed truly pleased to see us getting involved and enjoying ourselves, giving us the thumbs-up and smiling approvingly.
If Cambodians speak English, as many young people do, they’ll ask you if you’re having a good time and make an effort to include you. During Khmer New Year, I was on the receiving end of a number of invitations to join the round dancing. At the Water Festival, people made room for us to squeeze in to watch the river action and apologised if they were in my way or we stepped on each other’s toes.
Celebrating with the locals at traditional holidays such as the Siem Reap Water Festival, Khmer New Year and Pchum Ben is a wonderful way to get an insight into the culture and the everyday life of a place, as well as just have a great time with the locals.
A Mood of Optimism on Display
We have been witness to an ever-increasing sense of optimism and entrepreneurial spirit during our time living in Cambodia, especially during public celebrations and national holidays. We see it during every Khmer New Year and Siem Reap Water Festival, each time on a whole different level to the year before.
The leafy riverside streets are closed to traffic during the Siem Reap Water Festival and behind the masses of people crowding the riverbank to watch the boat races, scores of stalls line the road and fill the parks, and vendors roam the streets selling all sorts of things with a smile. And they are selling everything, from tractors, children’s toys and fashionable clothes to phone plans, rice cookers and cold drinks.
Each year we’re impressed with how the street food is on a scale and variety we hadn’t seen on the streets of Siem Reap before. There are the ubiquitous sellers of corn on the cob, steamed dumplings, barbecued meats and offals on skewers, grilled sausages, pickled fruits, baby duck eggs, crunchy river crabs, roti, and pancakes.
But last year there were also glass cases crammed with fresh spring rolls, trays upon trays of deep-fried treats, from dumplings to fried spring rolls, cauldrons of rich aromatic curries, mountains of sandwiches and burgers (perhaps for the foreigners?), and pyramids of traditional colourful desserts.
Countless travel stories depict Cambodia as a site of tragedy, where the people remain gripped by the suffering and grief they experienced at the hands of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime of the mid to late Seventies. But those representations are no longer true and don’t depict the Cambodia we know.
While many older Cambodians probably do still struggle with post-traumatic stress from that tragic period, if the mood of the hundreds of thousands of people who converge on Siem Reap for the Water Festival each year is any indicator, Cambodians appear to be loving life right now.
How to Experience the Siem Reap Water Festival
If you’re heading here during the Siem Reap Water Festival, make a beeline for the riverside roads and side streets, the Royal Gardens and riverside park opposite, where most of the activities take place each year.
Expect to find bands performing on stages, stalls selling food and drinks, and tables and chairs spread across the parks that will be crammed with groups of Cambodian families and friends.
Temporary beer bars are established and stalls start to get set up a couple of days before the boat races, with the action on the water starting around 3pm on the first official day of the boat races of Siem Reap Water Festival.
You can usually find the starting line for the boat races near Siem Reap’s main bridge, known as the Old Stone Bridge, on National Route #6 (the main highway to Phnom Penh), which is also known as Airport Road on the other side of the bridge.
This is the bridge that’s closest to the Royal Gardens and riverside exercise area. The bridge is usually closed to traffic during the Siem Reap Water Festival, sometimes for 2-3 blocks either side of Siem Reap River.
Don’t bother trying to track down a boat race programme just yet. They’re usually released much closer to the date of the festival. Plus race times are typically off by 30 minutes to one hour, with the boat races often running up to an hour later than scheduled, and the fireworks sometimes starting half an hour earlier. A closing ceremony was scheduled for 3pm on day two of last year’s Siem Reap Water Festival, however, it began closer to sunset…
Our best advice is to be flexible and go with the flow. Try to stick around for the closing ceremony as it’s quite a sight seeing all the boats on the water at once and the teams celebrating as the sun begins to sink. It’s magic if there’s a pink sky.
On the evening of day two, starting around 7-8pm there are usually some official speeches followed by traditional water festival and full moon rituals that date back to the Khmer Empire era, including a candle lighting ceremony, floating of paper boats on the river, a rice husk pounding ceremony, the traditional form of shadow puppet theatre called Sbek Thom, and more fireworks, live music, eating and drinking. It’s a fantastic time to be in Siem Reap.
Our Tips for the Siem Reap Water Festival
- The 2025 Siem Reap Water Festival will be from 4-6 November 2025 but festivities will likely continue until the weekend. The boat races are usually held on the first two days, which will be 4-5 November this year, but we’ll update those details if that changes.
- Book your Siem Reap accommodation as far in advance as you can – budget and mid-range accommodation can book up weeks ahead of the holiday. Visitors are overwhelmingly Cambodian tourists and prefer to stay in more affordable mid-range accommodation while people from the provinces will camp out on the riverbank in tents, under mosquito nets and on fold-out beds. The Siem Reap Water Festival has become a major event on the Cambodia tourist calendar and attracts more and more tourists each year, so do plan in advance.
- Resist the urge to plan too far ahead of time – the schedules for the last three Siem Reap Water Festivals were released only a few days before the holiday, so don’t expect full details regarding the boat races until close to the event.
- Be flexible and prepared to go with the flow – based on our experience of the Siem Reap Water Festival over the last decade, the first boat race usually takes place at 2pm on day one and the finals and prize giving at around sunset on day two. However, this is Cambodia and things change.
- Monitor the weather in Cambodia as there could still be a little rain – the festival takes place on the full moon of the Buddhist month of Kadeuk, which falls in October/November, marking the end of the monsoon. While the rainy season is meant to be over by this time, if there’s a downpour see our ideas for things to do in Siem Reap when it rains.
- See our guide to Cambodian street food to try during the Siem Reap Water Festival, but when you’re ready to sample more Cambodian food, browse our guides to breakfast in Siem Reap, the city’s best markets, and our reviews of the best Cambodian restaurants for authentic food.
- Prepare as you would for the temples – be respectful and dress modestly. While the weather is starting to cool down, it will still be warm, so wear loose linens or cottons, a hat, sunblock, and drink lots of water frequently.
- Read our comprehensive Guide to Responsible Travel in Cambodia to ensure you’re travelling ethically, sustainably and responsibly.
- Need suggestions for other activities and excursions, see our guide to Things to do in Siem Reap.
- Travelling here with the kids? See our Guide to Siem Reap for Families and whatever you do, don’t miss the Phare Cambodian Circus (incredibly charming, funny and talented performers only; no animals!)
- If you’re planning a trip for the 2025 Siem Reap Water Festival, keep checking back with us as the festival has been cancelled in the past due to heavy monsoon rains and widespread flooding, as well as during the peak pandemic periods. On a positive note, end of November marks the end of monsoon and rarely sees rain, so you should be right.
- And if you’re heading to other parts of Southeast Asia, see our travel planning tips and Asia travel checklist.
Siem Reap Water Festival Programme 2024 (So You Know What to Expect)
NOTE: The 2025 Siem Reap Water Festival Programme hasn’t been released yet, so we’re leaving the 2024 Siem Reap Water Festival programme and, as it’s very brief, the 2023 Siem Reap Water Festival programme beneath it, just to give you an idea as to what to expect.
Siem Reap Water Festival Programme 2024
Thursday 14 November 2024
3pm Opening Ceremony for Boat Races
(Boat Races will take place all afternoon and usually finish just before sunset).
Friday 15 November 2024
8am Boat races start and semi-finals take place
2pm Boat races finals begins
(The final ceremony and winner is usually celebrated close to sunset.)
8pm Parade and Lantern Floating Ceremony, Moon Worship Ceremony and Ok Ambok (rice ritual) take place.
Along with the programs mentioned above, the event also hosts food exhibitions, local product exhibitions, concerts, arts and entertainment, fireworks to make the Royal Festival even more festive.”
2023 Royal Celebration of Water Festival, Illuminated Floats, Sampeas Preah Khe and Ork Ambok Siem Reap
Day 1
- 1.30pm Gathering of racing boat members and technical committee
- 2pm Arrival of distinguished guests and opening remarks by Siem Reap Governor, national anthem, ‘voice of victory’ and release of balloons at the official delegate box on the riverbank on the Old French Quarter side
- 3pm Boat racing begins on Siem Reap River
- 6pm Boats gather in front of official delegate box to mark the end of day one
- 6.30pm Lighting of the illuminated floats and fireworks
- 8-11pm onwards Public arts performances in front of Raffles Grand Hotel D’Angkor opposite the Royal Gardens
Day 2
- 8am Semi-final rounds of boat racing
- 2pm Final rounds of boat racing
- 5pm Closing ceremony: boats gather in front of official delegate box for closing remarks, presentation of trophies, national anthem, ‘voice of victory’, and fireworks
- 7.30pm Sampeas Preah Khe and Ork Ambok ceremonies begin in front of Raffles Grand Hotel D’Angkor with speeches by Siem Reap Governor and delegates
- 8pm Sampeas Preah Khe ceremony including ritual lighting of candles and incense and moon salutation
- Dal Ambok ceremony (Khmer flattening of rice ritual), victory candle-lighting and wishing for rain ceremony, floating of illuminated floats ceremony, and fireworks
- 8pm-midnight Traditional arts performances and concert in front of Raffles until midnight to greet the full moon
- live bands at the riverside beer bars and partying on Pub Street and surrounding streets.
If you’re not going to be in Cambodia in November 2025, but are planning to travel to Cambodia in 2026, try to time your travel to coincide with the Siem Reap Water Festival.
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First Published 5 November 2014; Re-published with new information 27 October 2023; latest update 6 October 2025
This is so cool, to get your detailed write up of the Water Festival! I will be in Siem Reap at that time. So I will check out the neat things in your article. thank you!
Hi Anne-Marie, thanks for your kind words. I forgot you were going to be there during the water festival :) Hopefully I’ll be back by then and we can meet at last :)
This has been so helpful Lara. We are in Siem Reap now and following all your great advice. Much better than a lot of the information out there! Some bloggers tell people not to visit for the festival but we are so excited to be here. thank you!!
Hi Toni, so pleased to read this! I’m so glad you decided to visit SR for the festival. I was hoping to be back for it but I’m sadly still in Australia and missing it this year. Enjoy the boat races and don’t miss joining the locals in the evenings to float the offerings on the river. It’s very special.
Agree with the others this is brilliant. hoping I can capture images as outstanding as Terence’s. Also spotted his excellent guide to photographing Angkor Wat which I wish I discovered before leaving home.
Hi Will, thank you for taking the time to drop by and let us know. I’m sure you’ll get some cool shots — there’s so much colour and action on the water, and as you’ve probably noticed by now Cambodians love colourful patterned clothes, especially the lovely ladies with their colourful clothes. Pleased you found Terence’s Angkor photography post. If you didn’t bring the right lenses that’s a good excuse to return again next year! ;) Try to get back for Khmer New Year or Pchum Ben, the ancestors festival — they’re both wonderful festivals and there are loads of opportunities to photograph traditional ceremonies and rituals. More info on the links below. Enjoy the water festival!
https://grantourismotravels.com/khmer-new-year-in-siem-reap/
https://grantourismotravels.com/pchum-ben-cambodia-ancestors-festival/
This guide has the best information, so much better than anything else on the net but I have a question: which are the best restaurants on the riverside so we can take in the action from our tables with a glass of wine in hand? Thank you in advance!
Hi Kirsty, thank you for the kind words. You won’t see the river action from these restaurants through the crowds, but you will be able to take in the action of the riverside and atmosphere of the festival and crowds streaming by, and I’m guessing that’s what you’re asking. My top recommendation for an outside table is Chanrey Tree, but they will be super busy, so you’ll need to get your hotel to book a table. Malis has the best Cambodian food (order the Saraman curry!) and is next to Chanrey Tree, but you won’t see the riverside action unfortunately. You’ll find more info about both restos here:
https://grantourismotravels.com/best-siem-reap-cambodian-restaurants/
A bit further up the road in the direction of the temples/Raffles, the FCC Angkor by Avani in the former French Governor’s Residence has a lovely outdoor bar with snacks and restaurant upstairs with balcony, but we haven’t actually tried the restaurant since their re-modelling. We used to eat at the old restaurant in the FCC a lot before it was sold and rebranded. But the bar is fantastic. I’ll make an effort to try it when I get back to SR in December (I’m currently in Australia).
On the other side of the river, Treeline urban resort has a restaurant with outdoor seating overlooking the riverside. I stayed when they first opened and wrote about it for Conde Nast Traveller and it was excellent. I haven’t tried the latest incarnation of the restaurant but I’m sure it’s terrific.
Just a block or two inland from the riverside are loads of excellent restaurants (and bars), including Banlle, The Sugar Palm and Embassy and elsewhere in Siem Reap, we highly recommend Lum Orng Farm to Table, Mahob Khmer, Jomno, Spoons, and Sala Bai. Although Spoons and Sala Bai are probably closed for the holiday.
Lum Orng:
https://grantourismotravels.com/lum-orng-farm-to-table-restaurant/
Spoons & Sala Bai
https://grantourismotravels.com/siem-reap-hospitality-training-restaurants/
Bars not to miss: Miss Wong, WILD, Asana, Dialogue, the courtyard bar at the FCC Angkor, which I mentioned above, the rooftop bar at Jaya House River Park hotel, the rooftop bar at The Aviary, and of course, The Elephant Bar at Raffles, and so many more. Enjoy!
Lara were at Bangkok airport heading to Siem Reap two days earlier than planned. A chef friend of yours whose restaurant we dined at last night recommended we get over there for the festival and shared your site with us, which we are so grateful for! I noticed you’re online and just replied to a comment while we were reading this post. if you’re still online would love to get your tips for an affordable hotel near the riverside for 2 nights. We’ll book using your link :)
Hey Scottie, I had a heads up from the chef ;) I just checked the booking sites and unfortunately there aren’t many ‘affordable’ hotels left, although the idea of ‘affordable’ varies from person to person, so I’ll share a range of hotels that still have availability. Some hotels have really hiked up their prices for the festival by hundreds of dollars so I won’t be recommending those. In the many years we’ve lived in Cambodia I’ve never seen some of those hotels go for such high rates. So here are my recommendations…
Lowest End of ‘Affordable’:
Mom’s Guesthouse on Wat Bo Road at US$30 a night — backpacker/budget hotel a block in from the riverside.
Mid Range Boutique Quality
Lynnaya Urban Resort is right on the riverside with the best location of the more ‘affordable’ hotels. It’s about twice as much as it normally costs at $135 a night, but they haven’t hiked up their price as much as some hotels have.
Sala Bai is on the riverside but not near the action unfortunately, but a worthy cause to support, and just $50 a night.
Higher End of ‘Affordable’
The Aviary has rooms at US$117 a night, Shinta Mani has rooms for US$205 a night, Treeline Urban Resort has rooms for US$212 a night.
Click through to any link in this guide and we’ll earn a small commission on your booking. Thank you, Scottie! https://grantourismotravels.com/where-to-stay-in-siem-reap-best-boutique-hotels/
Enjoy!
We’re in transit en route to Siem Reap but won’t arrive until midday. Is it worth trying to catch some of the boat races and what do you suggest we do tonight? thank you!
Hi Katy, absolutely. If you’re landing at noon, you should reach your hotel by 1.30pm-ish. I recommend dumping your bags and making a beeline for the riverside. If you’re not within walking distance ask the hotel tuk tuk driver to get you as close as he can to the boat races. He’ll probably drop you a block away.
If you need to eat, there will be food stalls along the riverside, otherwise for a sit-down restaurant meal close to the action with riverside views, have your hotel call and book a table before you leave then get the tuk tuk driver to get you as close as he can to one of these: Chanrey Tree restaurant (you’ll want a table in the front garden), the FCC Angkor by Avani hotel’s Scribe bar (overlooks the riverside road and river) or The Mansion restaurant (in the main building overlooking the garden; book a balcony table for views), or Treeline hotel’s Romiet (overlooks the riverside road and river).
Depending on when you finish lunch, you’ll have around a couple of hours of boat racing to watch, including the final ceremony which takes place in front of the VIP area. Then in the evening locals will be floating illuminating offerings with candles, incense and lotus flowers on the river, which is lovely (you can join in), there are beer bars (often with loud bands) where you can sit and drink some beer with the locals, and there will be fireworks (which terrify our poor cat, Pepper), and Pub Street should get busy with locals as well as tourists, which usually only happens during the festivals. Enjoy!
loving the water festival! just wanted to thank you for this great advice! following all your tips. so helpful. loving the vibe!
Hi Danny, so great to hear this! Make sure you participate in floating the illuminated offerings with the locals on the riverside tonight — as well as hanging out in a riverside beer bar! Enjoy!
Lara, so much helpful info here, agree with the others. We’re Bangkok expats at the airport now, heading to Siem Reap tonight and had no idea the water festival was on until the hotel emailed us and said the driver had to drop us a block away. We still want to go to Angkor Wat but how else should we spend our time? Is it worth changing our plan to spend more time at the festival? We’re new expats. Hubbie has a one-year posting. I have a long list of weekend getaways planned so not sure we’ll return. Fellow Aussie from Perth, used your LP guidebooks, so trust you!
Hi Gina, thanks for the kind words. I hear you! When we moved to Abu Dhabi some years ago on 3-year contracts, I had a 3-year plan for travel in the Middle East and Europe, LOL! You’ve come at a great time of year.
Don’t change your plans for Angkor Wat or Angkor Archaeological Park as you’ll want to get to Angkor Wat for sunrise tomorrow and get out to the other temples if you’re planning on visiting on Sunday early in the morning. You can get a taste of the Water Festival in the late afternoon/early evening. Your experience of Angkor Archaeological Park will be different to most travellers’ experience as this is very much a time that Cambodians visit the temples, so while it will be busier than usual it will be busy with locals rather than tourists.
Do browse our other posts here on our Siem Reap guide https://grantourismotravels.com/destinations/asia/cambodia/siem-reap/ and let us know if you have any questions, I’ll be online all weekend and happy to share tips. Enjoy!