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What You’ll See: Five Khmer temples (Pre Rup, Neak Pean, Banteay Srei, Preah Khan, Phnom Bakheng) on one continuous loop with sunset as the closing act.
How the Day Works and What You Pay: 8:10 AM hotel pickup, ten-hour schedule, sunset-paced closing, $15 starting price on the tour page (adult $19 and child $15 on the live Rezgo booking widget), Angkor Pass on top at $37, $62, or $72.
Who This Loop Suits: Travelers on a two-day Angkor plan who want day two away from the busy main-circuit crowds and willing to time the Bakheng climb to the season.
You know that feeling when one Angkor day covers Angkor Wat and Bayon, and the second day feels half-hearted? The Banteay Srei and Grand Circuit Heritage Tour trades the busy main temples for five quieter Khmer sites, with the pinkish-red carvings at Banteay Srei winning the day. Pickup hits your Siem Reap hotel at 8:10 AM, the loop runs ten hours, sunset at Phnom Bakheng closes the schedule, and pricing starts at $15 with the Angkor Pass on top at $37, $62, or $72. I point every traveler on a two-day Angkor plan toward this version, since the Bakheng finish gives you a sunset the main circuit never reaches.
Key features
The day begins at 8:10 AM with pickup from your Siem Reap hotel. The driver and guide wait in the lobby, the air-conditioned vehicle pulls away from Pub Street and the usual tuk-tuk traffic, then heads north toward the Angkor Archaeological Park entrance. Around 8:40 AM you arrive at the main ticket office along the road past Angkor Wat, where travelers with their Angkor Pass already in hand will scan straight through; those who bought in advance the night before skip this stop entirely, which is why most hotel concierges in Siem Reap recommend stopping at one of the official counters the evening before rather than wasting first-light minutes in line.
By 9:10 AM you stand at the base of Pre Rup, a 10th century Hindu temple mountain built of brick, laterite, and sandstone as the state temple of Khmer king Rajendravarman, who consecrated the site in 961 or early 962. The eastern staircase climbs in three tiers, each flanked by guardian figures and small shrines, and the uppermost platform catches the earliest sun, warming the pinkish laterite nicely. Spend about forty-five minutes here, walking the enclosures, looking out across the surrounding forest from the south face, and listening to the guide place the temple inside the wider Khmer cosmology of Mount Meru.
At 10:00 AM the vehicle rolls along a narrow road through tangled brush toward Preah Khan, and by 10:15 AM you step onto the causeway leading to Neak Pean. This Buddhist temple sits on a circular artificial island in the middle of Jayatataka Baray, the enormous Jayavarman VII reservoir from the late 12th century, and the four connecting ponds symbolize the sacred rivers of Indian cosmology. The small central sanctuary is rarely crowded because the climb involves a narrow wooden path across the water, so it makes for a quiet break before the longer midday drive.
Leaving the baray at 11:10 AM, you begin the longest transfer of the day, roughly 25 kilometers north to Banteay Srei. The road passes through villages, rice paddies, and cashew groves, and the guide typically points out a few roadside silk farms along the way. Arrival at 12:00 PM puts you in front of the temple commonly called the Pink Temple or the Ladies Temple, a small 10th century structure dedicated to Shiva and famous across Cambodia for having the most skillfully executed sandstone reliefs anywhere in the country. The carvings are finer than at Angkor Wat because the red sandstone here is much softer than the grey variety used in the main park, allowing artisans to work with the same precision seen on jewelry or ivory. Several scenes depict scenes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and the eastern gopura doorway is decorated with figures so crisp that even the fingernails and hair tassels are visible. The temple was a major Khmer Rouge base up until the late 1990s, when regional stability finally made it accessible to visitors, and its isolation is part of what kept the carvings so intact.
Lunch break begins at 1:30 PM, usually at one of the small family-run restaurants near the Banteay Srei parking area, where set menus include fish amok, Khmer red curry, stir-fried morning glory, and rice, with bottled water and a soft drink included.
At 2:30 PM the vehicle turns back south, retracing the road past the Banteay Srei turnoff and then branching east toward Preah Khan, the sprawling 12th century Buddhist complex commissioned by Jayavarman VII in honor of his father. Preah Khan was the largest single temple project of the king’s reign, and the inscription at the southern gopura records both its religious and its administrative functions.
By 3:00 PM you walk down the long tree-shaded avenue, past the row of devata figures carved into the corridor pillars, and into the central sanctuary area, where massive silk-cotton and strangler fig roots have grown into the laterite walls, slowly absorbing the stone without breaking it. The World Monuments Fund has been carrying out structural restoration here for years, and many sections are remarkably well preserved, with intact lintels, miniature reproductions of Angkor Wat-style chevrons, and intact devatas whose faces are still crisp. Allow about three quarters of an hour, then walk back through the tree-root galleries to where the driver is waiting.
By 3:45 PM the vehicle leaves Preah Khan for the short transfer to the southwest, and at 4:00 PM you begin the 15 to 20 minute uphill walk on the access road leading to Phnom Bakheng. Built at the end of the 9th century during the reign of King Yasovarman, between 889 and 910, Phnom Bakheng was the principal temple of Yasodharapura, the capital that Yasovarman founded when he moved the Khmer court from the Roluos area. It was dedicated to Shiva and constructed as a temple mountain with five tiers representing the five peaks of Mount Meru. From its hilltop summit you look out over Angkor Wat, a kilometer and a half to the southeast, with the lower forest and reservoir canals sprawling between.
Around 4:20 PM you arrive on the upper terrace just after a brief huddle with the gate staff about the 300-visitor cap that has applied since 2010 to protect the structure. The actual sunset in Siem Reap varies by month by more than an hour, so what comes next adjusts to the season:
November, December, January. Sunset falls between 5:34 PM and 5:56 PM across the 15th of each month, the earliest windows of the year. You want to be on the summit by 3:00 PM at the latest, which means the Bakheng transfer ideally leaves Preah Khan closer to 2:45 PM, and you climb earlier. The crisp dry-season air gives the longest-horizon view in Cambodia during these months, with the silhouette of Angkor Wat standing bold against orange sky, but the trade-off is competition for the 300 spots.
February through mid-April. Sunset falls between 6:10 PM and 6:17 PM. You can follow the standard timetable with a 4:00 PM climb comfortably. March and April can bring hazy conditions from accumulated heat and seasonal haze, with colors sometimes muted by afternoon particulates.
May through September. Sunset falls between 6:23 PM and 6:35 PM, peaking in late June and late July. You actually want to climb later, around 4:15 PM to 4:30 PM, because the late sunset rewards you with more time at Pre Rup, Neak Pean, and Preah Khan earlier in the day. Wet-season cloud cover can either wipe out the view or, often more pleasingly, deliver the most dramatic reds of the entire year when the sky briefly clears during golden hour.
October. Sunset falls at 5:45 PM on the 15th, dropping quickly as the dry season returns. The climb time should match the November-to-February winter schedule, with a 3:30 PM arrival on the summit advisable.
Across all months, golden hour (the useful warm-light window) opens about 50 to 60 minutes before published sunset, which is why the climb times above matter more than the printed sunset hour. Stay on the summit through sun-down and into the immediate post-sunset color bleed, which adds another 5 to 10 minutes of usable photography light.
Descend Phnom Bakheng by 6:00 PM to give the driver enough time to drive back into central Siem Reap before the dinner-hour traffic pattern begins. By 6:25 PM the vehicle pulls up to your hotel lobby, marking the end of a roughly 10-hour circuit that has moved from Pre Rup, Neak Pean, Banteay Srei, Preah Khan, and Phnom Bakheng in a single loop, leaving the main Angkor Wat inner temples for a second temple day.
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Good Reads and Helpful Resources
• Angkor ticket confusion solved once and for all: Get Your Angkor Ticket Now
• Travel document requirements made crystal clear: Cambodia Entry Rules
• Basic needs covered during your temple journey: Angkor Archaeological Park facilities
• Jungle temple treasure hunt begins here: Beng Mealea Entrance Fee
• Pyramid temple pilgrimage pass information: Koh Ker Temple pass
• Mountain temple and waterfall dual experience costs: Kulen Mountain Ticket
• Immigration forms completed before you fly: Cambodia e arrival card
$15
The Banteay Srei and Grand Circuit Heritage Tour puts Pre Rup, Neak Pean, Banteay Srei, Preah Khan, and Phnom Bakheng onto one ten-hour Siem Reap loop with hotel pickup at 8:10 AM. The day closes with a sunset-paced climb up Phnom Bakheng, and pricing starts from $15 plus the Angkor Pass at $37, $62, or $72. You get the full five-stop itinerary in order, the month-by-month sunset schedule that shifts the Bakheng climb time between 3:00 PM and 4:30 PM, the small-group and private option rules, and the cancellation terms that refund in full when you cancel at least 24 hours ahead. Read on to pick the Bakheng arrival window that fits your travel date and lock in day two of your Angkor plan with confidence.
$130
