Bangkok to Siem Reap: flying in while the land border stays shut

Poipet border crossing: why overland is off the table

UK Foreign Office advice states that land borders and crossings between Thailand and Cambodia continue to be suspended, and that covers the Aranyaprathet to Poipet route most Bangkok travellers have in mind. The same advice warns against all but essential travel to within 20 km of the Thailand-Cambodia land border, and it notes unexploded landmines in that border area, which is reason enough to keep clear of it.

Travellers who were planning to pick up a border temple on the way east should drop that part of the itinerary too: Khao Phra Wihan/Preah Vihear, Ta Kwai/Ta Krabey and Ta Muen Thom are all closed under the current situation. Cambodia's entry rules still list visas on arrival at land crossings, which is where much out-of-date blog advice comes from, though those crossings stay shut.

That was the position at publication, and the official confirmation available covers all Thailand-Cambodia crossings as a group rather than Poipet by name. Check the current foreign-office advice for both countries in the week you travel. This is the one detail on the page most likely to move, and it moves without notice.

• Driving, riding or taking a minivan across from Thailand: not possible while every crossing is suspended
• Travel within 20 km of the border: advised against except for essential journeys, with landmine risk noted
• Khao Phra Wihan/Preah Vihear, Ta Kwai/Ta Krabey, Ta Muen Thom: closed
• Practical effect: no bus, minivan or train itinerary from Bangkok reaches Siem Reap by road

The Bangkok to Siem Reap flight: timings and frequency

Bangkok Airways PG905 is scheduled Bangkok Suvarnabhumi 11:20 to Siem Reap 12:40, a flight time of about 1 hour 20 minutes. Check the operating days for your date when you book rather than assuming a daily departure.

In the other direction, Cambodia Airways added a Siem Reap to Suvarnabhumi route from 15 September 2026, operating five weekly flights with ATR 72 aircraft. Between them the two carriers serve the pairing often enough for a two-day trip to work on fixed dates, though five flights a week leaves gaps in the week, so settle the return leg before you book the hotel night.

Both carriers put you down at Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport, code SAI; if an old itinerary or a search result still shows REP, that is the previous Siem Reap International Airport, which handed over commercial traffic on 16 October 2023. Immigration, the visa desks and baggage reclaim all sit in a single passenger terminal, built for up to 7 million passengers a year.

Visa, passport and the first afternoon on the ground

Visas on arrival are available at Cambodian airports, so a Bangkok flight does not force you into paperwork before departure. If you would rather land with it settled, apply for the e-visa at least four days ahead. The passport rule is the one that catches people: it must be valid for at least six months on arrival, and plenty of short trips get booked on a passport with four months left on it.

From arrivals it is about 34 km and roughly 50 minutes by road into the city centre, further out than the temples themselves. A 12:40 landing puts you at the hotel in mid-afternoon, with the park closing at 6:30 PM and Angkor Wat at 5:30 PM, so leave the temples for day two.

Use the afternoon on the pass. A midday arrival from Bangkok leaves plenty of time for the main Angkor Enterprise counter on Apsara Road at the corner of Road 60, which works 5:00 AM to 5:30 PM, and the official help centre notes that anything bought after 5:00 PM is dated for the following day, which suits an arrival afternoon neatly. Travellers on a guided trip can have the guide obtain the pass instead, that being one of five official channels, the others being the website, the app, a kiosk and a staffed counter.

How a two-day trip from Thailand is usually built

Two days is the smallest format that gives the temples a proper morning, which is why the Bangkok trips are sold as overnights. Day one is the flight, the 50-minute transfer and the pass. Day two starts at the 5:00 AM park opening and runs until you leave for SAI.

Opening hours decide the morning order. With a single morning to spend, begin where the gate opens first: Angkor Wat opens at 5:00 AM for sunrise (Srah Srang and Phnom Bakheng also admit visitors from 5:00 AM), while the sun itself comes up around 05:39 at the June solstice and as late as about 06:31 in mid-January. The Bayon, the Baphuon and Ta Prohm stay shut until 7:30 AM, so Angkor Thom comes second, once you have walked the galleries at Angkor Wat and the light has come up.

An evening return flight leaves the late afternoon usable: Preah Khan stays open to 6:30 PM and Phnom Bakheng is listed to 7:00 PM (plan to be down by the park's 6:30 PM closing), both still open after Angkor Wat closes at 5:30 PM. The temple pass is a compulsory separate fee on top of any tour, and $37 buys the one-day pass that suits a single morning.

• Day one: Suvarnabhumi 11:20, Siem Reap 12:40, about 50 minutes into the city, pass sorted before 5:30 PM
• Day two, 5:00 AM: on the Angkor Wat causeway for first light
• Day two, after 7:30 AM: Angkor Thom and the Bayon, then Ta Prohm
• Day two, with an evening flight back to Bangkok: Preah Khan, open to 6:30 PM, or Phnom Bakheng until the park's 6:30 PM closing

When to come, and what to expect at the temples

Pick the dry months if the dates are yours to choose. A two-day trip contains exactly one temple morning, and from June to October Cambodia is in the monsoon, with storms damaging roads, causing landslides and bringing flash flooding; lose that morning to the weather and there is no spare one behind it. A longer stay changes the calculation: the three-day pass costs $62 and stays valid within seven days, so you can spread the visit days across a week and lose nothing to an afternoon of rain.

Crowds are lighter than older advice assumes. Angkor admitted 510,528 foreign visitors between January and September 2026, 27.6% fewer than in the same months a year earlier, so the 5:00 AM start now earns you the light on the west face rather than space to stand.

Choose the clothes while you are still packing in Bangkok: shoulders and knees covered, light fabric, worn from the start of the day. Being turned back is a real outcome, and foreign-office advice says plainly that too-revealing clothing can get you refused entry to religious sites, Angkor Wat included. Keep a scarf or sarong in your bag, and keep the pass on you, since staff scan it at every temple checkpoint.

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