# Angkor Wat Sunrise: Where to Stand, What Time to Leave and Whether It Is Worth It (2026) > Gates open at 5:00 a.m. and sunrise falls between 5:37 and 6:31 a.m. Which pool to stand at, when to leave town each month, and what to do after 6:30. Source: https://www.angkortourism.org/angkor-wat-sunrise/ · Angkor Tourism Guide · Published September 16, 2026 · Updated October 25, 2026 · Figures checked October 2026 ## At a Glance - Angkor Wat admits visitors from 5:00 a.m. every day of the year, and the sunrise crowd enters on foot over the western causeway, reopened in November 2023 after restoration. - Sunrise at Angkor Wat falls at about 6:31 a.m. in mid-January and 5:37 a.m. in mid-June, so a tuk-tuk leaves Pub Street around 5:15 a.m. in January and 4:40 a.m. in June. - The north reflecting pool, on the left as you face the temple, holds 2,000 to 5,000 people on a peak-season morning. The south pool, on the right, gives a similar reflection with a fraction of the crowd. - Srah Srang, the royal bathing pool about 4 km east of Angkor Wat, opens at 5:00 a.m. and faces east over open water, with a few dozen people on most mornings. - A one-day Angkor Pass costs $37 and a three-day pass $62. Bought online with tomorrow's date, it lets you go straight to the Angkor Wat checkpoint instead of the Road 60 ticket office. - Angkor Enterprise sold about 146,000 passes to foreigners in January 2025 against roughly 47,000 a month from June to October, so a July sunrise has about a third of January's crowd. - Tuk-tuk drivers charge about $5 extra for a 4:30 a.m. start, on top of $18 to $25 for a small circuit day, and the surcharge should be agreed the night before. - The Bakan, Angkor Wat's upper tier, opens at about 7:40 a.m., closes on Buddhist holy days and admits only visitors aged 12 and over with covered shoulders and knees. - Around the March and September equinoxes the sun rises over the central tower, and the March 2026 equinox drew a reported crowd of more than 30,000. The Angkor Wat sunrise is worth the alarm only if it is the first hour of a morning inside the temple, not the whole outing. The sun rises behind the five towers, so the event is a silhouette against a changing sky, reflected in a pool, and it lasts about 20 minutes. What makes the 4:45 a.m. start pay off is what comes after: from 6:45 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. the galleries are emptier than at any other hour of the day, because most of the crowd has gone to breakfast. Search results on this question repeat three things: arrive early, stand at the reflecting pool, bring a torch. They rarely say which pool, they rarely give the departure time by month even though sunrise moves by almost an hour across the year, and they almost never say what to do at 6:30 a.m., which is the decision that determines whether the morning was good. They also treat the sunrise as a dry-season event, when the full pools of August and September are the ones that hold the whole reflection. Prices, hours and transport times below were checked against the Angkor Enterprise ticket pages, the APSARA opening hours and operator websites in October 2026. ## What You Are Actually Getting Up For Angkor Wat faces west. That is unusual for a Khmer temple, and it shapes the sunrise. Standing on the west side at dawn, you look east toward the temple, and the sun rises behind it. The stone itself stays in shadow until well after sunrise. What changes is the sky: black, then deep blue, then a band of orange and pink along the horizon that outlines the five towers. The reflection in the pool doubles it. The best color comes in the 20 to 25 minutes before the sun appears, not at the moment it does. First light arrives about 22 minutes before sunrise. Once the disk clears the towers, the contrast becomes too harsh to photograph, the color drains and the show is over. People who arrive at the published sunrise time have missed most of it. The honest verdict: the sunrise is a quiet, crowded half hour of sky watching, not a revelation. It is worth doing once, on a day when you have slept, and it is worth much more if you stay for the interior afterward. The light that turns Angkor Wat's facade gold is the afternoon light from the west, from about 3:30 p.m., and the best time of day for each Angkor temple covers that side of the clock. ## The Clock: When to Leave Town Angkor Wat opens at 5:00 a.m. every day and closes at 6:00 p.m. The park as a whole admits visitors from 5:00 a.m. Nobody passes the checkpoint before 5:00 a.m., so in June, when sunrise is earliest, the gate opening is the real constraint. The ride from Pub Street to the Angkor Wat west entrance is about 7 km and 15 to 20 minutes by tuk-tuk at that hour, with no traffic. From the drop-off to the north reflecting pool is about 10 minutes on foot, across the moat and along the inner causeway in the dark. Plan to be standing at the pool 30 to 45 minutes before sunrise. | Month | Sunrise (15th) | Leave Pub Street | Crowd level | |---|---|---|---| | January | 6:31 a.m. | 5:15 a.m. | Peak | | February | 6:27 a.m. | 5:10 a.m. | Peak | | March | 6:11 a.m. | 4:55 a.m. | High, extreme at the equinox | | April | 5:51 a.m. | 4:40 a.m. | Medium | | May | 5:38 a.m. | 4:40 a.m. | Low | | June | 5:37 a.m. | 4:40 a.m. | Lowest | | July | 5:45 a.m. | 4:40 a.m. | Low | | August | 5:52 a.m. | 4:40 a.m. | Low | | September | 5:53 a.m. | 4:40 a.m. | Lowest, busy at the equinox | | October | 5:55 a.m. | 4:40 a.m. | Low | | November | 6:04 a.m. | 4:50 a.m. | Rising | | December | 6:19 a.m. | 5:05 a.m. | High, peak after the 20th | Sunrise times are for the middle of each month and shift by a few minutes from the 1st to the 30th. The full year, with sunset and rain, is in [the best time to visit Siem Reap](https://www.angkortourism.org/best-time-to-visit-siem-reap/). ### Buy the pass the day before There is no ticket sale at Angkor Wat except a self-service kiosk at the west entrance, which exists for people who arrived without a pass and gathers a queue of them at dawn. The Road 60 ticket office is on the way, but stopping there at 4:45 a.m. in December or January costs 15 to 25 minutes in line. Buy the pass online at angkorenterprise.gov.kh or in the Angkor-Pass app, dated for the sunrise morning, and the driver goes straight to the checkpoint. A pass dated for tomorrow also admits you from 4:45 p.m. the evening before, which turns the purchase into a free sunset. The rules, prices and the photo requirement for multi-day passes are in [the Angkor Pass guide](https://www.angkortourism.org/angkor-pass-tickets-prices-hours/). ### Book the driver the night before Agree the pickup time, the price and the plan for the rest of the morning with the driver the evening before. Drivers charge about $5 more for a 4:30 a.m. start, on top of the day rate of $18 to $25 for a small circuit. The surcharge is fair. Having it announced at the gate is not. The trade-offs between a tuk-tuk, a car and a bicycle for this run are in [how to get around Angkor](https://www.angkortourism.org/angkor-tuk-tuk-car-bike/). In December and January the open tuk-tuk at 5:00 a.m. is about 20°C (68°F) and feels colder at speed, so bring a layer. ### Walking in Since November 4, 2023, the sunrise crowd has walked in over the restored western causeway, the sandstone road across the moat that Sophia University and Cambodian conservators worked on in two phases from 1996. The floating pontoon bridge to its south, which carried visitors during the work, was kept as the main exit when the causeway reopened. Staff with handheld scanners check the pass at the causeway. Bring a torch or use the phone light: the inner causeway is uneven sandstone with raised edges and no lighting. ## Where to Stand ### The north reflecting pool The classic position, and the right one only if you arrive at the gate at 5:00 a.m. The north pool sits on the left of the inner causeway as you walk toward the temple, about two thirds of the way along. From its western edge the five towers sit centered in the water, and this is the reflection on most postcards of Angkor. On a peak-season morning 2,000 to 5,000 people stand around it, several rows deep, with tripods along the front edge from 5:15 a.m. The limitation: arrive after 5:30 a.m. between December and February and you will see the sky over other people's raised phones, not the water. ### The south reflecting pool The better choice for most people who do not need the textbook frame. The south pool is the mirror of the north one, on the right of the causeway. The reflection is a little narrower and less symmetrical, because the towers sit off-center in the water, but the sky is the same sky. Even in January the front edge usually has space at 5:45 a.m., and the crowd is a fraction of the north side's. The limitation: in the late dry season, from March to May, the south pool can hold less water and more weed than the north one, which shortens the reflection. ### The west approach, before the inner causeway The choice for people who want to watch the temple emerge rather than photograph a reflection. Stopping on the western side, near the gate and the outer moat, puts the whole complex in front of you as a dark mass that slowly separates from the sky. It is quieter than either pool and lets you leave quickly. The limitation: there is no reflection in the frame, and the towers look smaller from here than from the pools. ### Srah Srang, the alternative to Angkor Wat The choice for anyone who wants to see the sun itself rather than a silhouette. Srah Srang is the royal bathing pool on the east side of the small circuit, about 4 km east of Angkor Wat and opposite Banteay Kdei. Allow 25 to 30 minutes by tuk-tuk from Pub Street. It opens at 5:00 a.m., and its stone landing terrace, with naga balustrades and lions, faces east across water that stays in the basin through the dry season. The sun rises over the far bank with nothing between you and it. On most mornings a few dozen people are there. Banteay Kdei across the road opens at 6:00 a.m., and Ta Prohm is five minutes beyond it, which makes Srah Srang the best start to a morning on the eastern side of the park. The limitation: there is no temple in the view, and the photograph is of a sunrise anywhere in rural Cambodia. Pre Rup, the brick temple-mountain a short ride east of Srah Srang, also opens at 5:00 a.m. and works for sunrise, but its real hour is sunset. The comparison of both ends of the day is in [the Angkor sunset guide](https://www.angkortourism.org/angkor-sunset-spots/). ## Crowds by Month The crowd at the pools follows Angkor Enterprise's ticket sales closely, because almost every first-time visitor does the sunrise once. The 2025 figures for foreign pass holders give the scale. - **January:** about 146,000 for the month, roughly 4,700 a day. Sunrise is at its latest, so the crowd builds slowly from 5:00 a.m. and peaks at about 6:00 a.m. - **February:** about 133,000, around 4,800 a day, the densest month per day. Chinese New Year, on February 17 in 2026 and February 6 in 2027, brings the fullest week of the year outside Khmer New Year. - **March:** about 119,000, roughly 3,800 a day, with the equinox around March 20 to 22. The sun rises over the central tower for a few mornings, photographers are in position by 4:30 a.m., and the March 2026 equinox drew a reported crowd of more than 30,000. - **April:** medium numbers, plus Khmer New Year on April 14 to 16, when Cambodians enter the park free and the causeway fills with families. - **May to October:** about 55,000 in May and roughly 47,000 a month from June to October, about 1,500 a day. The pools have space at any hour. The September equinox brings a smaller version of the March gathering. - **November and December:** about 102,000 in November and 88,000 in December, with a quiet first half of December and a full last ten days. For the full calendar of who comes when, including the holiday weeks, see Angkor crowds by month. ## Sunrise in the Rainy Season From May to October the sunrise is a different and often better event. Rain in Siem Reap falls mostly as afternoon and evening storms, so a 5:00 a.m. start is usually dry. The moat and both reflecting pools are full to the edge, the grass is green, and broken cloud catches more color than the empty blue sky of January. Three things change. First, the alarm is earlier: sunrise is around 5:37 a.m. in June, so you leave town at 4:40 a.m. and stand at the gate at 5:00 a.m. Second, some mornings give nothing: a low gray ceiling in August and September can hide the sun completely, and nobody can forecast that the night before. With a three-day pass valid over 7 days, the answer is to keep a second morning in reserve. Third, the paths are wet. The grass around the pools is mud after a night storm, and the sandstone of the inner causeway is slippery. Sandals with grip are better than flip-flops. The case for the whole season, temple by temple, is in [Siem Reap in the rainy season](https://www.angkortourism.org/siem-reap-rainy-season/). ## After 6:30 a.m.: The Part That Matters Once the sun clears the towers, roughly half the crowd turns around. Hotel breakfasts, tour buses and the next temple pull them back toward the gate. This is the moment to do the opposite. ### 6:30 a.m. to 7:40 a.m.: the lower galleries Walk up the inner causeway to the temple itself. The lower level is wrapped in bas-relief galleries about 800 meters long, carved with the Mahabharata and Ramayana battles, a procession of Suryavarman II's army, and heaven and hell. The east gallery's southern wing holds the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, about 50 meters of gods and demons pulling a serpent, which takes 20 minutes on its own. The eastern galleries catch the low sun at this hour. For an hour the corridors hold a few dozen people instead of a few hundred. ### 7:40 a.m.: the Bakan The upper tier, the Bakan, opens at about 7:40 a.m. The queue at the foot of its steep stairs is short at opening and long by 9:00 a.m. It admits only visitors aged 12 and over, closes on Buddhist holy days and can close early for ceremonies without notice. Shoulders and knees must be covered, and the guards at the stair check. The rules that actually turn visitors away are in [the Angkor dress code and temple rules](https://www.angkortourism.org/angkor-dress-code-rules/). ### 8:30 a.m.: out, breakfast, next temple Leave by 8:30 a.m. by the floating bridge south of the causeway. Stalls along the road west of the moat sell noodle soup, fried eggs and iced coffee for $2 to $4 a head, and this is where the drivers eat. From there the south gate of Angkor Thom is five minutes north by tuk-tuk, and [the Bayon and Angkor Thom](https://www.angkortourism.org/bayon-angkor-thom/) take two hours on foot before the heat builds at about 10:30 a.m. Ta Prohm is the other option, and [the Ta Prohm guide](https://www.angkortourism.org/ta-prohm/) explains why its shade makes it the right temple for the late morning. The alternative is to go back to the hotel at 7:00 a.m. with everyone else. It is a legitimate choice if you are tired, and it turns the morning into a 90-minute outing for $5 of surcharge. It wastes the best two hours of the day inside the temple. ### A guide for this morning If you hire one licensed guide during a stay, this is the morning. Licensed English-speaking guides cost about $30 to $50 a day in 2026 rate lists, and one agency adds $15 for a sunrise start. The galleries without a guide are carved walls. With one, they are stories. When a guide earns the fee and when a book does the job is in hiring a licensed Angkor guide. ## Is It Worth It? Worth it if you have slept, if you will stay inside until 8:30 a.m., if you come between May and October when the pools are full and the crowd is a third of January's, or if you stand at the south pool instead of fighting for the north one. Not worth it on the morning after a long-haul arrival, which is why [the 3-day Siem Reap itinerary](https://www.angkortourism.org/siem-reap-3-days-itinerary/) puts it on day two. Not worth it for children under about eight, who spend the best half hour asleep in the tuk-tuk or crying in a crowd. Not worth it a second time unless you are photographing. And not worth it at all during the week of Chinese New Year if crowds are the thing you cannot tolerate. ## By Situation ### You have only one day at Angkor Do the sunrise, because the day is going to start early anyway. Stand at the south pool, stay inside until 8:30 a.m., then do the Bayon and Ta Prohm before noon. The order that fits all three into one day is in [Siem Reap in one day](https://www.angkortourism.org/siem-reap-1-day-itinerary/). ### You landed yesterday Skip tomorrow's sunrise. Spend the first afternoon on Ta Prohm and the Bayon from 2:00 p.m. and watch sunset from Pre Rup on a pass dated for the next day. Do the sunrise the morning after, rested. ### You are traveling with children Children under 12 enter free but cannot climb the Bakan. Most families do better sleeping in and arriving at 7:00 a.m., when the sunrise crowd is leaving and the galleries are empty. Srah Srang is the gentler sunrise if the children are set on one: flat, quiet and five minutes from Ta Prohm. More in [Angkor with kids](https://www.angkortourism.org/angkor-with-kids/). ### You want the photograph Arrive at the gate at 5:00 a.m., go to the north pool, and take the front edge on the western side. Bring a small tripod and expect to share elbow room. Consider the equinox only if the alignment matters to you more than space. The lens and light detail is in the Angkor photography guide. ### You hate crowds Go to Srah Srang, or come between June and October and stand at the south pool. Either gives the sky without the 5,000 people. ## What It Actually Costs | Item | Cost | Notes | |---|---|---| | Angkor Pass, one day | $37 | Online, in the app, at Road 60 or at the west entrance kiosk | | Angkor Pass, three days | $62 | Any 3 days within 7 days of the start date | | Tuk-tuk, small circuit day | $18 to $25 | For the vehicle, not per person | | Sunrise surcharge | About $5 | For a 4:30 a.m. start, agree it the night before | | Licensed guide | $30 to $50 a day | One agency adds $15 for sunrise | | Breakfast at the stalls by the moat | $2 to $4 | Noodle soup, eggs, iced coffee | | Children under 12 | Free | Carry the passport | Pay the driver in US dollars. Change under $1 comes back in riel, at about 4,000 to the dollar, and torn notes are refused. Coffee at the stalls is often priced in riel. More in money in Siem Reap. ## What Other Guides Get Wrong 1. **"The sun rises over Angkor Wat."** It rises behind it. You watch a silhouette, and the color peaks before the sun appears. Arriving at the published sunrise time means arriving at the end. 2. **One departure time for the whole year.** Sunrise moves from 6:31 a.m. in January to 5:37 a.m. in June. A 4:30 a.m. pickup in January means 45 minutes of standing in the dark, and a 5:15 a.m. pickup in June means missing it. 3. **"Buy your ticket at the gate."** The only sale at Angkor Wat is a kiosk with a dawn queue. Buy online the day before and take the free sunset that comes with a pass dated for tomorrow. 4. **Treating the north pool as the only place to stand.** The south pool has the same sky and a fraction of the people, and Srah Srang gives the actual sun. 5. **Ending the visit at 6:30 a.m.** The hour after sunrise is the emptiest the galleries get all day. Leaving with the crowd wastes it. 6. **Calling the rainy season a bad time for sunrise.** Mornings are usually dry, the pools are full and the crowd is a third of January's. The risk is a gray ceiling on some mornings, not rain. ## Where to Go Next The sunrise sits inside a bigger plan. [The Angkor Pass guide](https://www.angkortourism.org/angkor-pass-tickets-prices-hours/) settles the ticket and the 4:45 p.m. entry the evening before. [How many days Angkor needs](https://www.angkortourism.org/how-many-days-angkor/) decides whether this is your only morning in the park or one of three. Once you leave Angkor Wat at 8:30 a.m., [the small circuit versus grand circuit guide](https://www.angkortourism.org/angkor-small-circuit-grand-circuit/) sets the route for the rest of the day, and [Bayon and Angkor Thom](https://www.angkortourism.org/bayon-angkor-thom/) is the next stop five minutes north. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Is Angkor Wat sunrise worth it? Worth it if you treat it as the start of a morning inside the temple, not as a single photograph. The sun rises behind Angkor Wat, so what you see is the five towers going from black to dark blue against an orange sky, reflected in the pool. It is a silhouette, and it is over in about 20 minutes. Not worth it on the morning after a long-haul arrival, with children under about eight, or if you plan to leave at 6:45 a.m. with everyone else. The real reward is the empty galleries between 6:45 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. ### What time should I leave my hotel for Angkor Wat sunrise? It depends on the month, because sunrise moves by almost an hour across the year. Aim to be standing at the pool 30 to 45 minutes before sunrise, and allow about 20 minutes by tuk-tuk from central Siem Reap plus 10 minutes on foot from the gate. In January, with sunrise around 6:31 a.m., leave at about 5:15 a.m. In June, with sunrise around 5:37 a.m., leave at about 4:40 a.m. so you are at the gate when it opens at 5:00 a.m. Add 20 minutes if you still need to buy a pass on Road 60. ### Which pool is better for Angkor Wat sunrise, north or south? The north pool, on the left as you walk in, is the classic one. It gives the most symmetrical reflection of the five towers and gathers most of the crowd, often 2,000 to 5,000 people in peak season, standing several rows deep. The south pool, on the right, gives a slightly narrower and less symmetrical reflection with far fewer people, and you can usually stand at the front edge even at 5:45 a.m. in January. For a photograph with a tripod, the north pool is worth the crowd only if you arrive at 5:00 a.m. For watching the sky, the south pool is the better morning. ### Do I need to buy the Angkor Pass before sunrise? You need a valid pass to pass the checkpoint at the Angkor Wat west entrance, and there is no ticket counter at the temple itself. The easiest way is to buy it online at angkorenterprise.gov.kh or in the Angkor-Pass app the day before, dated for the sunrise morning, and show the QR code on your phone. A self-service kiosk at the west entrance sells passes, but at dawn in high season it has a queue. A pass dated for tomorrow also admits you from 4:45 p.m. the evening before, which buys a free sunset. ### Is Angkor Wat sunrise worth it in the rainy season? Often more than in the dry season. From May to October the rain falls mostly in the afternoon, so mornings are usually dry. The moat and both reflecting pools are full, the grass is green and broken cloud catches more color than a clear January sky. Crowds fall to about a third of the January level. The risk is a low gray ceiling that gives no color at all, which happens on some mornings in August and September. The sun also rises earlier, around 5:37 a.m. in June, so the alarm is earlier too. ### What should I do after sunrise at Angkor Wat? Stay inside. Around 6:30 a.m., once the sun clears the towers, roughly half the crowd leaves for hotel breakfasts. Walk to the temple, start on the bas-relief galleries of the lower level, which run about 800 meters around the building, and be at the foot of the Bakan stairs when the upper tier opens at about 7:40 a.m. Leave by 8:30 a.m., eat at the noodle and coffee stalls by the west entrance, then go on to Angkor Thom and the Bayon before the heat builds at 10:30 a.m. ### Is Srah Srang a good alternative to Angkor Wat for sunrise? Yes, for people who want the sun itself rather than a silhouette. Srah Srang is a royal bathing pool about 4 km east of Angkor Wat, opposite Banteay Kdei. It opens at 5:00 a.m. and its stone landing terrace faces east, so the sun comes up over the water with nothing in front of it. There is no temple in the frame, which is the trade. Crowds are a few dozen people on most mornings. It also puts you next to Banteay Kdei and five minutes from Ta Prohm, both open from 6:00 a.m.