There is a moment, standing on the second tee at Angkor Golf Resort in the early morning, when you become aware that one of the world's great ancient civilisations is a few kilometres away through the trees. The air smells of red laterite soil and flowering frangipani. The course is deserted except for your group and your caddies. And the thought surfaces: how is it possible that more golfers have not found this place?
Siem Reap is best known as the gateway to the Angkor temple complex — the largest religious monument ever built, spread across 400 square kilometres of northwest Cambodia and attracting visitors from every corner of the world. What most of those visitors miss is that there is a genuine championship golf course here, competently staffed, well-maintained, and connected to one of the most extraordinary non-golf activities available anywhere on a golf tour.
Angkor Golf Resort: The Course
Angkor Golf Resort is the principal course in Siem Reap and the one ASEAN Links plays on the Cambodia tour. The layout is a parkland design of genuine quality — not a temple-adjacent novelty but a proper test of golf with wide fairways off the tee that tighten as you approach strategic landing zones, green complexes with multiple pin positions, and water hazards that punish inaccuracy rather than randomness.
The course is maintained to a standard that impresses most visitors on first arrival. Fairways are consistent, rough is clearly defined, and the greens, while not running at Augusta pace, are true enough to reward good putting. The pace of play is typically excellent — one of the advantages of a destination that does not yet suffer from the overcrowding that afflicts some of the more famous Southeast Asian golf venues.
The caddie corps at Angkor are attentive and course-knowledgeable. Most have worked at the resort for several years and carry a solid understanding of where the breaks in the greens run — particularly useful on the par-3s, where approach angle choice significantly affects your one-putt opportunities.
Angkor Wat Sunrise: The Greatest Non-Golf Experience on Any Golf Trip
Every serious golfer who visits Siem Reap owes it to themselves to arrange an Angkor Wat sunrise visit. This is not a tourist checkbox. It is one of the genuinely transformative travel experiences available on the planet, and its placement within a Cambodia golf trip makes it uniquely accessible.
The setup is straightforward: a 4:30am departure from your hotel, a short drive to the Angkor complex, and arrival at the main reflecting pool facing the west entrance of Angkor Wat before first light. As the sky transitions from black to deep indigo to orange and gold, the five towers of the temple complex emerge from darkness and reflect in the still water of the moat below. The experience attracts visitors, yes — but the scale of the temple grounds means the crowd disperses quickly, and there are vantage points away from the main pool that offer a more private version of the same scene.
The full Angkor complex visit — including the jungle-swallowed Ta Prohm (the "Tomb Raider temple"), the Bayon's forest of stone faces, and the serene Preah Khan — can comfortably fill an entire day without feeling rushed. The ASEAN Links Cambodia itinerary builds in a full day for this, properly positioned within the tour schedule.
Siem Reap Town: Evenings After the Fairways
Siem Reap town has transformed over the past decade into one of Southeast Asia's most enjoyable small cities for evening entertainment. Pub Street and the surrounding night market area are lively without being overwhelming. The restaurants around the old French quarter serve excellent modern Khmer cuisine — fish amok, beef loc lac, green mango salad — at prices that remain astonishingly good value by international standards.
The contrast with Phnom Penh is instructive. Where the capital feels like a city in serious motion — politically complex, economically charged, historically weighty — Siem Reap is looser. The pace is determined by temple tours and morning rounds, and the evenings have a relaxed, convivial quality that makes it an excellent place to decompress after a long day of both golf and sightseeing.
The Angkor Night Market, a covered labyrinth of artisan stalls, is a good place to find quality silk products, carved wooden pieces, and Cambodian artworks. Quality varies significantly — a guide with local knowledge makes a difference here too.
To join the Cambodia Kingdom and Courses tour (Feb 22 – Mar 1, 2027, AUD $3,490) or the Grand ASEAN Tour 2027, contact the team on WhatsApp (+84 70 327 1844) or at aseanlinksgolf@gmail.com.