It can take a while getting your bearings on in Siem Reap, I totally get it when people said they didn’t like their time there. It’s easy to fail to see the beauty outside of Angkor Wat if you wound up on dusty old Pub Street, amidst drunk tourists and pushy street vendors. But scratch the surface a bit and you’ll discover a town where social projects and vegan restaurants abound. A place I would 100% call home if I had the luxury to still be nomadic. Siem Reap is also emerging as one of the newest most affordable hotspots for digital nomads with great cafes and hostels, as well as very convenient visa options. Travel there with your Cambodia visa ready and keep reading to discover the best hostels in Siem Reap, ranked and researched. Whether you are a solo backpacker or five-suitcase family, Siem Reap has a home for you.

There is a lot I have missed about Southeast Asia since I was last here – sunshine, fruit that tastes like sunshine, a focus on space as opposed to time, tuk-tuks, negotiable prices, … There is less I currently miss about Berlin – except for one thing. My recycling bin. Traveling as a vegan is becoming a relatively straightforward thing to do, but integrating all my conscious habits from back home is a different story.  Especially in Southeast Asia, where they really really REALLY love their plastic packaging, and recycling facilities are currently as mythical as unicorns… So when I rocked up at luxury boutique hotel and ethical resort Jaya House Siem Reap, I was excited not just at the anticipation of a comfy beds and good coffee (fine, I miss these a little bit too), but to find out what a hotel with the ambition to be 100% plastic free is like.

As the last few days of our Cambodian visa quickly trickled down, we sat through several bus journeys only to 1. Ride on a flimsy bamboo bridge before it collapses, 2. Take the chance to see some of the 80 or so critically endangered irrawady dolphins living in the Mekong in Kratie and 3. Backtrack past Kampong Cham and all the way to Phnom Penh. Whether that was going to be worth the 20 or so back breaking bus hours or not, we did not know.

I had not heard all that much of Siem Reap, apart from the fact that it is the city that serves Angkor Wat. Yet I discovered a surprisingly charming riverfront town, full of markets, cafes and healthy restaurants, and we decided to linger around even after being done with our Angkor 3-day tickets. Yes, it is largely westernized and tourist oriented, but what are two frazzled, sleep-deprived, sunburnt people to do in such case? Go play mini putt, is what!

I don’t think there is much else to be said than what already has in regards with the spendour of Angkor…