9 Remarkable Angkor Wat Photography Locations (with map)
Scribbled by Claire ◊ 22 Feb 2025
Before heading off to photograph the incredible Angkor Wat ruins, check out our favourite, most photogenic places and moments, accompanied by tips and the best times of day, all with examples.
Angkor Wat is absolutely huge. It’s more than just the one famous temple – the entire area is a giant complex consisting of hundreds of structures, all spread over many kilometres.
So as a photographer, how do you choose the most photogenic spots, with limited time, in one of the most beautiful human-made places in the world?
We’ve spent several weeks exploring these magnificent, awe-inspiring ruins (they’re one of my favourite places on Earth!). Below details a few of our favourite spots, all suitable for a single day trip (if you’re short on time).
For loads of photography tips, including Angkor Wat ticketing hints, the best seasons for a photographer, what to pack, getting around, and more, have a look at our related Angkor Wat photography tips post.
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Beautiful Photography Locations in Angkor Wat Map
Below is a savable Google Map which includes all the locations mentioned below. The map is split into colour-coded layers:
Green | Angkor Wat ticket office
Yellow | our top Angkor Wat photography spots
Blue | places we saw the most monkeys
Beautiful Photography Locations in Angkor Wat
Below are a few of our favourite photography spots in the Angkor Wat complex, along with why we love them and any photography tips we have!
1. Neak Pean
I love Neak Pean. It’s a large water tank filled with lotus flowers, featuring a long, photogenic wooden bridge that crosses over to a pretty, but unassuming, temple.
The atmosphere is almost otherworldly in the early morning when you’re the only one there and the sun is just peaking over the trees.
The tank itself is the draw – filled with forlorn trees, luminous flowers, morning mist and numerous species of birds. Combined with clear, calm weather, the water is particularly flat and reflective – perfect for photographers.
It’s included as standard on the ‘grand tour’ that the tuktuk drivers will take you on. Most visitors are less than impressed with it because hanging out on a bridge with a million others in the flat, midday sun and exposed heat is not so fun. It’s not a fan-favourite purely from the time-of-day people visit.
However, for photographers, this place is magic in the dawn light (in my opinion).
2. East Entrance to Angkor Wat
Most visitors to the main Angkor Wat complex enter from the western side, wander through, then meet their driver on the east (particularly during early morning, after watching the sunrise). However, this is not fun, or a good plan.
Contrarily, entry from the east entrance of Angkor Wat is mostly empty, spectacular and photogenic. For some reason, especially first thing, few people visit from this side even though Angkor Wat definitely looks its best from the east at sunrise!
The initial view of the temple, looking down the long thoroughfare leading to the structures is epic, I promise. The road is slightly raised at the eastern end, so you have a tiny perspective advantage in your photos by being slightly higher up.
The light is great from the east all through the morning and afternoon, but we found it to be particularly striking a little after dawn.
3. Pre Rup at Dawn
I’ve been to Pre Rup a few times at dawn and never seen another visitor there for quite a long time. It’s just empty.
The temple, when viewed from the east on the road, is magnificent. It is set up atop a small, raised plinth, so its five lotus towers catch the sun perfectly as it rises over the trees.
It’s quite a dominating structure – one that I wasn’t expecting to love as much as I did.
Tip | take a walk around the outside near the road from south to east – it’s an amazing spot for catching the first light.
4. Srah Srang Lake
The lake across from Banteay Kdei is a quick stop most people make on their tuktuk circuit, but never first thing in the morning.
Srah Srang lake is my favourite sunrise spot in the Angkor Wat complex because it’s beautiful, silent, empty and has super easy access (perfect if you’re like us and are always nearly late for everything).
You don’t even need to wait around to have a ticket checked by a guard. It’s perfect.
RENTING A TUKTUK IN SIEM REAP
We rented our very own tuktuk in Siem Reap for our journeys in Cambodia.
This provides flexibility to explore Siem Reap and the epic Angkor Wat ruins independently and at your own pace, which we would absolutely recommend, particularly for photography. It’s a fantastic option, especially if you don’t have a motorbike license.
For more information on tuktuk rental in Cambodia, check out our comprehensive guide.
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5. Wildlife
If you’re keen to do some wildlife photography at Angkor Wat, then monkeys are most likely to be your primary subjects. We spotted them everywhere, particularly around Bayon and the edges of the southern tanks of the main Angkor Wat temple.
There are substantial hordes of monkeys around Bayon, especially near the southwestern car park and up to the Baphuon structure in the northwest. There were so many, we even found one inside our tuktuk and another sat in a motorbike bike helmet. They also swarm around the Tonle Om Gate to the south. We saw them in their greatest numbers during early morning and late afternoon.
They are pretty used to people (sadly). They have been fed by humans too, so can be aggressive if you have food or tease them. We even saw a monkey viciously snatch a bag of fruit away from a girl’s hand.
Please, please don’t feed them or interact with them. It’s terrible for the monkeys, and for us.
Tip | bring a longer lens. It’s easy to capture quality photos without disturbing the monkeys at Angkor Wat. All our monkey photos were taken from many metres away.
6. Bayon Temple
Bayon is iconic. It’s the temple with the multitude of faces (216 apparently). It may be popular, it may be well known, it may be crowded, but there’s a reason for that – it’s spectacular.
There are creative opportunities for photographers from every angle, especially with a longer lens (contrary to popular opinion).
There are also beautiful spots to take wide angle shots even when there are crowds (we never struggled to find a peaceful spot over multiple visits).
Tip | Bayon is set in a kind of symmetrical square which you can drive all the way around. This means that technically, any time of day has its benefits as the sun moves around the structure. As with most temples, earlier morning and later afternoon are great (not at actual sunrise and sunset though, because it’s densely surrounded by tall trees).
It’s nice to just sit and watch the sun moving across the faces late in the day, though.
Note | for the past few years, the best bits of Bayon have been shut off for renovation – there’s no telling when (or if) the upper levels will open again. It’s a pity because the best spots are in the middle, at the top (which we only got to experience before we had a camera).
7. Smaller Temples Around Angkor Wat
This is a bit vague, I know.
The thing is, there are just so many options for superb, minimally visited photography spots; ones that are just as beautiful as the heavily frequented ones around Angkor Wat.
Amazingly, they aren’t even far away, nor difficult to reach.
For example, an area that is often neglected by visitors is just east of Bayon, with temples like Thommanon, Prasat Ta Keo, Prasat Chau Say Tavoda and more. We took a secluded walk around these and found striking tree roots, a watermill on the Siem Reap River and a plant nursery, among other things. It’s an adventure and far more exciting that following the standard tourist route.
Tip | you’ll be far better off using your own transport to explore off the beaten path. If you choose a motorbike or self-drive tuktuk, you can pretty much park anywhere you see a pretty structure hidden in the trees.
WANT TO TAKE A BETTER PHOTO?
There are three parts to travel photography –
◊ Planning your trip
◊ Taking the photo
◊ Editing the end result
To get the highest quality, most sophisticated photos from your travels, you’ll need to perfect all three (plus a tiny bit of luck).
So, we’ve written a lot of country-specific guides about planning trips to various destinations, and also collated our absolute top tips for taking photos on location. We’ve also written a dedicated post on how to take the best black and white travel photography. Check them out if you’re interested!
We also write about typical editing mistakes to avoid. To complement that, we’ve collated a more intermediate user’s guide to editing travel photography. This covers more elegant, advanced and refined skills, ones that will promote your photos to the centerpiece of anybody’s wall.
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RELATED | 15 RESPONSIBLE PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS
8. Tonle Om Gate
There are quite a few quirky, statue-lined paths that lead to the ornate stone gates scattered around Angkor Wat. One of the most well-known ones is Tonle Om Gate, the southern gate to Bayon, which almost every visitor drives through on their tour.
For us, Tonle Om was particularly beautiful really early in the morning, while the water was calm and there were few visitors, providing some great photo opportunities of the gate, statues, monkeys and reflections on the water.
It’s a photogenic, iconic spot – if you have a driver to take you around, make sure they stop there (lots don’t).
Tip | early morning, walk to the right side of the gate as you face it from across the lake. If the water is calm, there are all sorts of pretty reflections to photograph. To the left of the gate on the same side, you might spot some gleaming golden boats moored on the banks that take tourists on trips.
9. Ta Prohm and the Trees
The Tomb Raider Temple with its associated tree. It’s a legendary spot.
The temple is popular, and I hate to say it – but does *deserve* its reputation.
This temple is simply magnificent. It’s more entwined and entangled with the jungle than other locations in Angkor Wat, with a maze-like feel and unimaginably large tree roots knotting themselves like snakes around the ancient structures.
Tip | the Tomb Raider tree is popular (it’s quite striking, to be fair), so there are often long queues of tourists waiting to get their photo in front of it. It’s the busiest part of Ta Prohm, by far. So, if you’re not bothered, take a quick picture and move on. Otherwise, getting a nice photo of the iconic tree is possible by standing on a ledge facing the tree and waiting for a gap in the people. All our photos of this tree were taken with large-ish crowds mingling around.
Time of day | a lot of people swear by Ta Prohm first thing in the morning, which is totally understandable. However, we also really enjoyed the late afternoon light and the dissipated crowds. There are minimal larger groups at this time of day and it feels like a fairy tale enchanted forest, with the sun speckling the structures as it pierces through the trees.
WHERE WE STAYED IN SIEM REAP
We’ve stayed multiple times in Siem Reap, each time trying out a few different hotels.
Our favourites have been:
Hari Residences and Spa ($$) | this hotel is simply outstanding value for money. It’s located in central Siem Reap by the river and old town, so everything is walkable. The staff take customer service *way* above and beyond, and the super clean and comfortable rooms are enormous, with large balconies furnished with swinging chairs. It’s such an arty, thoughtfully designed hotel, even down to the welcome drinks and cake (it was actually decent cake!).
The hotel has one of the best rooftop pool views in the city too! Oh, honourable mention for their outstanding always-included breakfast, which was fresh, vegetarian friendly and massively varied (there were these perfect little bread pudding baked things which I ate far too many of). We had two rooms at this hotel for a week (with a friend) and wanted to stay longer.
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Viroth’s Hotel ($$$+) | this hotel was an immaculate dream that I never wanted to wake from (sounds dramatic, but it’s true). It’s bit pricier than our usual choices, but also worth absolutely every penny (it had a exceptional reputation and I wanted to test it out). With a location near the river, it’s perfect for exploring Siem Reap on foot, although we didn’t really want to leave after arriving.
The staff are second to none (I actually mean that, probably the best customer service we’ve received anywhere), the aesthetic design is top notch and the hotel is pristinely maintained. I’m a plant person, so this hotel was magical for me. The rooms are modern, with extremely comfortable beds, and are way brighter than any others we’ve had in Cambodia. Everything about this hotel was just so thoughtful. Also, the exceptional pool and restaurant are worth staying for, alone.
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FUN AROUND SIEM REAP | APOPO RATS + CAMBODIAN CIRCUS
Final Thoughts – Angkor Wat Photography Locations
Taking photos in Angkor has been one of the genuine pleasures of my life as a photographer. Having the time to meander about the vast, sprawling sites, watching the light change and the shadows move, is a special privilege I’m eternally grateful for.
I genuinely believe that no matter the type of photographer you are, your equipment, or the time of year, this place will surprise and delight anyone. It’s too extraordinary to disappoint.
This isn’t an exhaustive list, by far, but it includes a few places that we returned to more than once, ones that remained in our memory. There were many others, such as Banteay Kdei’s perfect, giant white tree, the bridges and tanks leading into Prasat Preah Khan, Ta Som’s tranquillity, and the vast tanks of Angkor Wat at dawn, all of which were beautiful.
It’s a great place to explore – we hope you get some fantastic photographs!
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