When to Go to Cambodia: Seasons and Angkor

When to go to Cambodia: the dry season (November–February) for Angkor, the rainy season for greenery and reflections. Weather by month, festivals and sunrise over Angkor Wat.

Cambodia has two seasons, and the month you choose determines both the heat and the views.

The dry season (November–April)

The best time: November–February is relatively cool and dry, ideal for the temples of Angkor. By March–April intense heat sets in.

The rainy season (May–October)

Downpours are short, usually after lunch; the landscape turns green, there are fewer tourists, and the moats of Angkor fill with water and beautifully reflect the temples. Roads to distant temples can turn to mud.

Bottom line: for comfort take November–February; for greenery and reflections, the end of the rainy season.

Festivals worth timing your trip around

The Khmer New Year, Chaul Chnam Thmey (mid-April): the country goes on holiday, people splash each other with water and powder each other with talc in the streets, but some venues are closed. Pchum Ben (September–October) is a two-week remembrance of ancestors, when Cambodians bring offerings to the pagodas. And Bon Om Touk, the water festival in November, draws crowds to the Phnom Penh embankments for races of narrow dragon boats.

An unusual fact: the river that flows backward

Bon Om Touk celebrates a rare natural phenomenon: in the rainy season the Mekong swells so much that it forces the Tonle Sap River to reverse its flow and fill the lake of the same name — the largest in Southeast Asia. In autumn the water recedes, and the river flows in its usual direction again. This reversal happens twice a year and feeds a significant part of the country with fish.

Sunrise over Angkor Wat

Unlike most Hindu temples, Angkor Wat faces west — so at dawn the sun rises right behind its silhouette, and the five towers are reflected in the ponds in front of the temple. A clear reflection happens in the dry season, when the sky has no haze; arrive by 5:30 and take a spot at the northern pond — it is more picturesque than the southern one.