Cycling Routes in Siem Reap & Angkor Wat
A visual guide from the Siem Reap and Angkor Wat travel guide — see all posters in Visual Guides.
The Angkor plain is dead flat and the temple roads are shaded for long stretches, which makes a bicycle the best way to move through the park: quiet enough to hear the cicadas, slow enough to notice the moats. From the Old Market it is roughly 7 km north up Charles de Gaulle Road to Angkor Wat, then another kilometre and a half to the south gate of Angkor Thom, where the causeway of stone figures makes an obvious first stop. Heat, not gradient, is the thing you plan around here.
The two classic circuits
The Small Circuit runs about 17 km inside the park and links Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and the Bayon, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm, Banteay Kdei and the Sras Srang reservoir; with the ride out and back from town, expect 30 to 35 km and a full day at temple pace. The Grand Circuit adds roughly 9 km, swinging north to Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon and Pre Rup — quieter, better shaded, and the better second day. Beyond the park, the flat run east on National Road 6 to the Roluos group is around 13 km each way but shares the road with lorries; the lanes west toward Puok and the West Baray are far pleasanter.
Bikes, timing and rules
City bikes rent for a few dollars a day around Psar Chas and from most guesthouses; a hybrid, mountain bike or e-bike costs considerably more and earns it on the longer routes. Several outfits, Grasshopper Adventures among them, run guided rides down back lanes most visitors never find. Start at first light — around 05:30 if you want Angkor Wat at sunrise — and be off the bike by late morning. Carry at least two litres of water and refill at the temple stalls. A valid Angkor pass is required on a bicycle exactly as in a car and is checked at the park entry points, and several park roads run one way.