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New Year Special Angkor Day Tour with Bakong Sunset: Best Sunset Deal | Southeast Asia Journeys
A 9:30 start, a private guide and five temples ending on Bakong at 5:48 PM. The New Year Special Angkor Day Tour with Bakong Sunset shows that a late start still delivers the whole story, without the four o'clock queue at the ticket office.
New Year Special Angkor Day Tour with Bakong Sunset: Best Sunset Deal | Southeast Asia Journeys
No dawn queue and no rushed galleries, just your own van, Angkor Wat at mid morning, and the New Year Special Angkor Day Tour with Bakong Sunset finishing on a pyramid while the sky above Roluos turns amber.
This is a private day trip that starts at 9:30 in the morning, which means you skip the four o’clock alarm and still walk through five temples before the light goes.
- The New Year Special Angkor Day Tour with Bakong Sunset runs on seven dates only, beginning on 29 December and finishing on 4 January, so the calendar is short and the route stays fixed.
- You visit Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, Bayon, a roadside fruit stall and Preah Ko before climbing Bakong, where the sun drops behind the plain at 5:48 PM on 1 January.
- A licensed guide and an air conditioned van stay with your group from the first causeway to the last staircase, and cold towels sit waiting on the seats after every walk through the ruins.
- Lunch lasts 45 minutes at a local restaurant, where you order and pay for your own plate, which keeps the total lower than the all inclusive packages sold along Pub Street.
- Choose the New Year Special Angkor Day Tour with Bakong Sunset when a calm Bakong sunset tour sounds more appealing than sprinting through Angkor before breakfast.
Highlights
- A civilised start. Your guide meets you at Angkor Wat at 9:30, which means breakfast first, a proper cup of coffee, and nobody knocking on your hotel door at four in the morning while you are still asleep.
- Angkor Wat with the stories attached. Two hours and fifteen minutes inside the largest religious monument on earth, guided by somebody who explains what the carved panels actually describe instead of waving at them from the lawn.
- Ta Prohm once the coaches leave. The tree temple is at its calmest around midday, when most organised groups are sitting down to eat and the narrow courtyards finally empty out.
- Bayon in warm light. More than two hundred faces sit stacked on the towers, and the afternoon sun throws shadows across them that make photographs look composed rather than snatched through a bus window.
- Fruit from a roadside stall. Sugar palm fruit, tiny sweet bananas and sticky rice grilled inside bamboo, bought by your guide from a stall he knows well and already paid for before you arrive.
- Preah Ko at four o’clock. Six brick towers finished in 879 turn rose pink late in the day, and there is usually room to stand still and look at the stucco without somebody stepping into your frame.
- A sunset facing the right direction. Bakong sits west of the road, so the sun falls directly in front of you at 5:48 PM on 1 January while the towers turn black against a sky that stays bright for another twenty minutes.
- A finish that suits dinner. You reach your hotel near 6:45, which leaves the whole evening free for a restaurant in town or a drink on a rooftop.
New Year Special Angkor Day Tour with Bakong Sunset – Where You Go and What Each Stop Gives You
Five temples sit on this route, plus one stall that most tour vans roll straight past without slowing down. Each stop does a different job, and the running order is built around light and crowd patterns rather than a box that needs ticking before lunch.
- Angkor Wat. You come for the scale and stay for the west gallery, where the bas-reliefs run for hundreds of metres and tell a single story in sequence. Mornings stay cooler, and the sun falls across the stone at an angle instead of flattening every carving into a pale grey wall.
- Ta Prohm. Silk cotton roots have prised galleries apart for centuries, and the temple was left in that condition on purpose when the restoration teams moved on. It is the most photographed ruin in Cambodia, and the mood shifts the moment the biggest groups head off to eat.
- Bayon. Two hundred faces sit stacked on towers in the middle of Angkor Thom, and no two of them carry the same expression. The outer walls show markets, cookery and a circus, which makes the history feel less like a lecture and more like gossip overheard in a courtyard.
- The stall near Roluos. Your guide buys whatever happens to be ripe that week and hands it round the van, including fruit most visitors have no name for until they taste it, and nothing here is staged for a camera.
- Preah Ko. This is the oldest temple on the route, finished in 879, with three kneeling bulls facing six brick towers on one raised platform. Late afternoon pulls the colour out of the brick and the site goes quiet as the coach traffic drains away.
- Bakong. A five level pyramid with moats, stone elephants and a view that runs flat to the horizon in every direction. The New Year Special Angkor Day Tour with Bakong Sunset ends here, and it ends on a high note.
New Year Special Angkor Day Tour with Bakong Sunset – Itinerary
9:30 AM, Angkor Wat. Two hours and fifteen minutes. Cross the stone causeway over the moat, begin in the west gallery, then work through the inner courtyards and the long row of apsara dancers. When the line for the upper level looks short, climb the wooden stairs to the Bakan and look down over the towers.
12:00 PM, Ta Prohm. One hour. Ten minutes east by minivan, where roots spill over the roof, galleries sit split open to the sky, and the courtyards are quiet enough to hear birds instead of tour guides.
1:00 PM, lunch. Forty five minutes. A local restaurant with cold drinks and Khmer food cooked to order, including amok, lok lak or something lighter when the heat has taken your appetite, and lunch stays outside the tour price.
2:00 PM, Bayon. One hour and thirty minutes. Lower galleries first, then the upper terrace where the faces crowd around you. Ask your guide to point out the circus panel, because most visitors walk past it without noticing the acrobats.
3:30 PM, fruit and snack stop. Thirty minutes. East towards Roluos, past rice fields and sugar palms, where the traffic thins out after the last temple car park, and this part is included in the price.
4:00 PM, Preah Ko. Forty five minutes. Six towers, one platform, and almost nobody else on the steps at that hour, so look at the stucco first and then at the sandstone guards beside each shrine.
4:55 PM, Bakong and sunset. Two kilometres further east, where you climb to the second level and stay put while the light changes across the plain. On 1 January the sun sets at 5:48 PM, you leave near 6:10, and you reach your hotel by about 6:45.
Why the New Year Special Angkor Day Tour with Bakong Sunset Starts Late
Most temple itineraries are written around sunrise, because that is what visitors ask for before they have experienced a Cambodian afternoon. Once they arrive, the arithmetic changes quickly. A four o’clock start costs you the rest of the day, and by two in the afternoon the heat and the lost sleep have caught up with everybody in the van. Beginning at 9:30 keeps your group fresh through Bayon and leaves enough energy for the climb at Bakong, which is where the day is meant to end.
New Year Special Angkor Day Tour with Bakong Sunset Pricing
Start at 9:30 in the morning and skip the four o'clock alarm. Your private day covers Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, Bayon, a roadside fruit stop and Preah Ko, then ends at Bakong where the sun drops at 5:48 PM on 1 January. The route runs on seven dates only, from 29 December to 4 January.
| Group size | Tour price per group | Price per person |
|---|---|---|
| 1 traveler | $140.00 | $140.00 |
| 2 travelers | $160.00 | $80.00 |
| 3 travelers | $195.00 | $65.00 |
| 4 travelers | $240.00 | $60.00 |
| 5 travelers | $275.00 | $55.00 |
| 6 travelers | $300.00 | $50.00 |
| 7 travelers | $315.00 | $45.00 |
| 8 travelers | $320.00 | $40.00 |
| 9 travelers | $315.00 | $35.00 |
| 10 travelers | $320.00 | $32.00 |
Please note: Prices are based on the total number of travelers in your private group, and the rate per person drops as the group grows. The one day Angkor Pass costs US$37 per person and lunch is paid at the restaurant, so neither sits inside the tour price. Private guide, air conditioned vehicle, fruit and snack tasting, drinking water, cold towels and all government taxes are included. For groups larger than 10 travelers, please contact us for a custom quotation.
Pickup and Drop Off
Your day begins at your hotel door rather than at a meeting point across town, and the driver waits with the engine running while you finish your coffee. The New Year Special Angkor Day Tour with Bakong Sunset includes pickup and drop off anywhere inside Siem Reap city, and your driver confirms the exact time the afternoon before you travel.
- Pickup window. Between 8:40 and 9:00 AM, depending on where you stay and how heavy the morning traffic runs along National Road 6.
- Vehicles. A private air conditioned car for two or three guests, or a van with room for families and groups of four to eight.
- Luggage. Bags stay in the vehicle all day, so you can head to the airport or check into a new hotel afterwards without doubling back.
- Return. Around 6:45 PM at your hotel, later if you ask the driver to stop for dinner in town on the way back.
Included
- A licensed English speaking guide for the full day, not a driver reading from a script.
- A private air conditioned vehicle and driver, with fuel and parking covered for the whole route.
- Hotel pickup and drop off inside Siem Reap.
- All five temple visits in the order shown above.
- Fruit and snack tasting near Roluos.
- Chilled bottled water and cold towels between stops.
- All government taxes and service charges.
Tour Exclusions
- The Angkor pass, which costs US$37 for one day and is bought at the ticket office on the way in.
- Lunch and drinks, paid at the restaurant at the end of the meal.
- Tips for your guide and driver.
- Personal spending and souvenirs.
- Travel insurance.
What to Bring
Pack for heat and stone, because that is what the day is made of. Keep it light on the New Year Special Angkor Day Tour with Bakong Sunset, since everything except a small bag stays locked in the van while you walk between temples.
- Shoes with grip. Sandstone steps at Preah Ko and Bakong are worn down in the middle, where feet have crossed for eleven centuries.
- Shoulders and knees covered. A light scarf handles shoulders, and a sarong over shorts is accepted at every temple on this route.
- Hat, sunglasses and sunscreen. January afternoons sit in the low thirties, and shade between temples is scarce.
- Your Angkor pass. Keep it where you can reach it at the gate without unpacking your whole bag in front of a queue.
- Small bills. Riel or dollars for lunch and drinks, because card machines are rare at the smaller restaurants around the temples.
- Phone storage. Ta Prohm eats memory faster than most people expect, and the light shifts every ten minutes.
Additional Information
- The pass is separate. Buy it at the Angkor Enterprise ticket office on the way in, or ahead of time at angkorenterprise.gov.kh. One day covers every temple on this route, so the New Year Special Angkor Day Tour with Bakong Sunset never asks you for a second entry fee at the gate.
- Group size. Private departures run from two to eight guests, and larger families can be split across two vehicles travelling together.
- Fitness. The walking is easy to moderate. Bakong has a steep wooden staircase, and the upper level at Angkor Wat is closed to children under twelve.
- Monk blessings. A blessing is not part of this route, and we will not pretend otherwise. Tell us when you book, and we will suggest a day where the timing fits your schedule.
- Weather. December and January are the dry, cooler months. Rain is rare, though a short shower can still pass through in the afternoon and leave the sandstone slippery for twenty minutes.
- Children. Guests under twelve travel at a reduced rate, and the 9:30 start suits families far more than a sunrise departure does.
- Cancellation. Free cancellation up to 72 hours before departure, which matters over New Year when plans shift and flights get rebooked.
- Longer routes. Want Beng Mealea or the floating villages as well? See our Siem Reap temple tours for the wider list.
Seven dates, one route, and a finish that most day trips do not offer, which is exactly why this departure fills early. If you have been putting Angkor off because sunrise stories sound exhausting, this is the version that fits a holiday rather than a training plan. Book the New Year Special Angkor Day Tour with Bakong Sunset for 29, 30 or 31 December, or for 1, 2, 3 or 4 January, and send your hotel name together with your group size. We confirm availability the same day, and your guide handles everything that follows.
Cancellation Policy
- Full refunds are issued for cancellations made with at least 24 hours’ notice.
- Non-refundable: Cancellations made within 24 hours or no-shows will not receive a refund.
- Amendments: Changes must be communicated at least 24 hours in advance.
- Refund Processing: Refunds will be issued within 7 business days.
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Southeast Asia Journeys designs authentic, thoughtfully planned trips across Cambodia and the wider region, backed by dependable local support from arrival to departure. Experience the magic of an Angkor Wat sunrise, then travel further with knowledgeable local guides, comfortable transport, and personal service tailored to your journey.
