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From Times Online

September 19, 2006

Is Angkor Wat too touristy now?

The Sunday Times opens its travel clinic on a daily basis to answer your holiday queries. Today: Angkor Wat, Cambodia

I've heard that Angkor Wat in Cambodia is wonderful, but not quite the Tomb Raider experience it used to be. Is there a good time to visit if I want to avoid the tourist hordes? Brian Forsythe, Cumbria

A Sunday Times travel expert responds: It's true, since Cambodia opened up to tourism in the early 90s, Angkor Wat has become something of a honey pot, receiving over half a million visitors every year, many of them staying in Siem Reap's burgeoning coterie of five-star resorts.

And it's hardly a surprise the world¹s largest religious structure packs as much punch as the Pyramids, Machu Pichu and Petra.

Angkor Wat may no longer be a "lost city", but neither is it seething with people in fact the size of the place (the outer wall is 2.2 miles long) makes it quite easy to find a quiet spot to savour its special mystique. Moreover, Angkor is only one of 100 temple structures spread over an area some 80 miles across, much of it still covered with jungle. If you hire a tuk-tuk driver for a day (around £6 for his sedate two-seater moto-cab) he'll happily suggest temples off the tour bus milk-run.

Alternatively, consider hiring a mountain bike (around £1/day) so you can explore the area on your own; dirt tracks off the main arterial roads around the Angkor complex can take you to all manner of ancient treasures tucked away in the forests.

One of the busiest temples is Ta Prohm. Reclaimed by the jungle, it offers the signature photograph of huge stone edifices being penetrated by the roots of enormous banyans and of course was made famous by Angelina Jolie's shenanigans in Tomb Raider. You can however have your own Lara Croft moment by going to Beng Mealea; some 70km out of town, this jungle-busted ruin is far enough to deter all but the most intrepid.

It's probably fair to say there is no quiet season to visit the temples of Angkor, though the May-October rainy season reduces numbers somewhat. Early mornings and late evenings are good times to visit temples; and at noon, most tour buses beetle back to Siem Reap for lunch.

we have just returned from an amazing 3 days based in Siem Reap, and would suggest the last 2 weeks of September, just as the rainy season ends, to be an ideal time, as the crowds have not really arrived yet. There were hordes of South Korean Tourists, but apparently this is a permanent state of affairs, with very few other nationalities around. We had a wonderful guide through our hotel, and can thoroughly recommend it.

dominique thompson, bristol, uk