Siem Reap Travel Guide
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Siem Reap Hotel Guide: Hotel De La Paix's Hidden Water Wonderland
A few weeks ago, we discussed the merits of Hotel De La Paix from afar. This week, we had the chance to step inside the hotel and snoop around. Despite a distinct feeling of inferiority like only the French can impose, the experience was pretty sweet.
Our takeaway? Other than enjoying the avant garde installations in the hotel's swank lounge and discussing with a cocktail waitress the myriad wildlife living in the giant Bayon tree in the center of the hotel's courtyard, the thing we most enjoyed about the place was its pool. This thing is ridiculous.
Hidden on the hotel's second floor, it has everything: a bridge, an infinity ledge overlooking the ground-floor courtyard, poolside beds and cabanas, benches and tables in the water, and a series of tree-laden canals that made us wonder how many lovers have taken advantage of the privacy all the nooks and crannies afford.
Whereas the rest of the hotel has this understated, Egypt-meets-Art-Deco feel to it, everything about the pool is over the top. And we like it.
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Siem Reap Hotel Guide :: Raffles, In Contrast, Is Fit For A Queen
Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor provides what's expected of it...no more and no less. Like Amansara nearby, the hotel focuses on understatement to liken itself to royal tastes and emphasize its subtle class. The hotel's sterile, colonial exterior continues inside the building's hallways and guest rooms. The result is a removed feeling from the air and bustle of Siem Reap--welcome to some and disconcerting to others.
Still, it's the best way to see how high society of yesterday (and today) experience Angkor, from a safe, removed distance. The newly-built extension continues the hotel's austere feel that the more critical might (and do) call "uninspired." The rear gardens resemble a place where Queen Elizabeth might let her basset hounds roam. And the buiscuits served at tea resemble something she might serve her guests, though the confections seem a bit too rich for such a disciplined woman.
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Siem Reap Hotel Guide :: La Residence Gets A Facelift But More Work Is To Be Done
La Residence D'Angkor is Siem Reap's greenest and wettest hotel. And as of August 1, the place just got greener and wetter. La Residence reopened after a three-month revamp. Orient-Express, which owns the hotel, brought in Pascal Deyrolle, a 16-year veteran manager with the company specializing in "troubled properties."
Pascal added even more trees to the already dense foliage, he says, updated the grounds' many ponds, redecorated the outdoor lounge terrace, and added a new outdoor BBQ spot (complete with $50 imported Australian steaks). To hammer the theme home, guests receive complimentary coconut-flavored, green welcome cocktails.
And Pascal has more grand plans for the hotel, he tells Hotelchatter. While a few guests right now have to suffer through the adjacent construction, by next year, the hotel will feature a multi-story spa with VIP treatment rooms.
He's also adding eight new suites, with indoor/outdoor spa bathtubs. And with all the new trees, nobody swimming down at the saltwater pool below can see how you choose to use this amenity.
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Siem Reap Hotel Guide :: Angkor Century Resort Goes Big
More than eight million tourists visit Angkor Wat annually. The innumerable hotels in Siem Reap, the neighboring town that houses and feeds these visitors, all seem to shout for market share. Cheapest! Priciest! Best Golf Course!
Undoubtedly, Angkor Century Resort & Spa, yells the loudest. It's by far the largest hotel in Siem Reap, in terms of the size of its ground--2.4 hectares--and its number of rooms--190. Even the swimming pool is the biggest in town, the hotel's friendly Malaysian manager informed us.
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Siem Reap Hotel Guide :: Of Course, Amansara Is Fit For A King
It makes sense that, after a long day of visiting Angkor Wat, the famed temple ruins of Cambodia, that one should retire to Amansara, the five-star hotel in the adjacent town of Siem Reap.
That's because, throughout the 10th, 11th, and 12th centuries, Khmer kings vied for glory by one-upping each other and building the most impressive temples honoring themselves, and, secondly, the popular Hindu and Buddhist gods of the day.
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Cambodia Hotel Guide :: Siem Reap's Hotel De La Paix
HotelChatter and Jaunted Contributing Editor Claire Duffett is now reporting from Cambodia and this week she is giving us the low-down on the hotel scene. Any questions about accommodations? Send 'em to us and we'll get them answered for ya.
Angkor Wat is Cambodia's penultimate symbol, source of national pride, and hottest travel destination. The network of ancient temples'--built during the height of the ancient Khmer culture and abandoned in the jungle during its decline--attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. Dozens of hotels in the nearby city of Siem Reap accommodate this steady influx.
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New York Times Continues Aggressive Coverage of Hotel Booze Beat
It's rough out there for travel junkies and road warriors. All that time away from home, checking into hotel after hotel, staying in new cities: it's enough to make you want a stiff drink. Or, apparently, not:
"Do you have nonalcoholic beer?" a guest asked a passing waiter. "Yes sir, we have beer," he was told. "But do you have nonalcoholic beer?" "Yes sir, we have beer," the waiter said again, politely gesturing toward the menu. "But do you have ... Oh, forget it. Bring me a beer."
That's the latest word from Stuart Emmrich who checked into the Hôtel de la Paix in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Wait, so a high level of service is now frowned on by the Times? (We give the waiter points for graciously doing his best.) Surely the hotel has something to make up for its lack of O'Douls? Indeed it does:
Even the standard rooms are huge: a soaring loft space with a large seating area, a comfortable, spacious bed on a wooden frame, and a terrazzo bathtub big enough for two (or three, for that matter), as well as a walk-in shower
The hotel spa and gym also get high marks, and an on-property cafe has free WiFi that draws tourists who don't want to drop $300 on a hotel room in Cambodia. Not paying inflated hotel WiFi rates: the quickest way to more beer money.
Related Stories
· Check In, Check Out: Siem Reap [NYT]
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Where Brangelina Will Probably Stay on Their Next Visit to Cambodia
If Brad Pitt and Angelina ever want to get away without the kids to Cambodia, and they don't want to deal with other hotel guests, then maybe the The One Hotel in Ancient Siem Reap might be the best choice for this jet-setting humanitarian duo.
So what makes The One the one? It's single room. Yup, for $250 a night you can have this one-room hotel to yourself.
Think of it as your own stylish pied-à-terre. While the row house's wooden jalousies, potted plants and thatched roof are straight out of a Graham Greene novel, the neighborhood itself is of the moment, with art galleries, a day spa and owner Martin Dishman's funky lounge, Linga Bar, just across the street.
And since you got the place all to yourself, you can get whatever you want with four staffers serving you and another four serving your travel partner. Some other perks include a complimentary cell phone to use during your stay, a penthouse suite on the second-floor for guests that includes a breakfast area and an open-air jacuzzi, and a master bedroom with a king-size bed and a 32-inch flat screen TV.
Just make sure you bring someone with you when you stay here because one can make a very lonely number.
Related Stories:
· Cambodia Hotel: It's the one [CNN]
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Privacy and Luxury in Cambodia
It's not like we really care to visit all the places mentioned in those books called "Places You Must Go Before You Die or You're a Real Loser", but we'd be lying if we did not admit to feeling slightly cool about ticking some of these strange places off our list. Siem Reap, Cambodia is one of them.
Our pick here is definitely the Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor. Not only do we get the exotic touches of Khmer culture, but French hotel design. Plus we don't have to go far; the hotel offers dinner theater and traditional Cambodian dance performances. Although the Cambodian performance art style is full of ornamentation, bright gold masks and costumes, the hotel apparently doesn't push the bling:
If you are looking for bling and glamour and mood music in elevators then this hotel is not for you. This hotel is in an old colonial mansion with a newer wing along the side. The pool is one of the largest in Siem Reap and hardly ever has people around it. Privacy is good and ample at this property. This hotel is old world elegance.....not new showy glitz.
This is all the more reason why it's our pick in Siem Reap. The last thing we want when we're in Cambodia is a Las Vegas style hotel. Besides after the dinner theater music that will without a doubt be ringing in our heads, we wouldn't be able to handle any elevator music anyway.
Image via Muffadoodoo/Flickr
Related Stories:
· Raffles Hotel d'Angkor Reviews [TripAdvisor]
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One Room at One Hotel Angkor
The One Hotel Angkor in Siem Reap has one room, one blood, one life you got to do what you should.
Seriously, we are guessing it is really hard to complain about the service when you are the only guests at the hotel. The 360 square foot high ceiling bed room is pretty much your one and only room. However, there is also a rooftop terrace with a queen sized day bed, an outdoor shower, and a hot tub.
Get this, supposedly the One Hotel provides you with an iBook and Ipod and mobile phones for the duration of your stay. If they upgrade to a MacBook Pro and split the cell bill with us we are thinking of opening up a new HotelChatter Cambodian branch office inside this room--at least for a couple nights.
Since this hotel is so small it can only have, at most, ~365 guests in a year, if we did the math right. If you are/were one of the lucky ones send us pics and stories will ya?
Related Stories:
· Siem Reap Hotel Coverage [HotelChatter]
· Siem Reap Photos Flickr [Flickr]
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This Guest House Is Half New York Half Cambonian
Traveler Cathy Chase calls The Monsoon Bed and Breakfast in Siem Reap, Cambodia
a good choice for those longing to visit the temples at Angkor but wanting to avoid the tour bus crowds and the large luxury hotels springing up around Siem Reap at an alarming rate.
Former filmmaker, photographer, and New Yorker Jerry Gorman and his wife, native Cambodian Thina Ollier, founded this B&B about a year ago.
The couple not only hosts your stay, but also serves as an invaluable source of local area information. For instance, Vietnam Airlines is apparently notorious for canceling flights, and these affable hosts went to the local airline office to make sure Cathy's flight was taken care of--nice touch.
The guest house offers airport transfers, they will pack you a lunch upon request, and they will make local taxi, temple, and restaurant arrangements for you.
All rooms have air conditioners, deluxe rooms with private baths start at $55/night.
Related Stories:
· Follow The Reader [SF Gate]
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Cambodian Design Hotel
The Foreign Correspondents' Club Angkor is a bit of riverside luxury in the midst of the jungles of Cambodia.
The property is a former French governor's home and now boasts 29 rooms complete with flat screen tvs, WiFi, and citrus scented candles in the bathroom. Furthermore, there is a pool and spa on site.
The hotel arranges complimentary airport pick-up and organizes plenty of guest tours for you to take advantage of.
If you go, think about asking for a room without an adjoining door. One visitor who didn't said:
We could hear every single word of the 2 girls next door. We moved room the second night.
At around $90 a night (prices are higher in peak season), you will be hard pressed to find more value for your money.
Currently, if you book any weekender package you will receive an extra night of accommodation free, compliments of the FCC Angkor.
Related Stories:
· FCC Angkor Hotel Reviews [Trip Advisor]
· FCC Angkor Weekenders [FCC Cambodia]
· FCC Angkor - Siem Reap, Cambodia [Luxury Travel]
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