Siem Reap is more popular than Phnom Penh

  Siem Reap, as the first gateway to Angkor Archaeological Park (incl. Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and other temple areas), is more popular than Phnom Penh. Tough it is the capital city of Siem Reap Province, Siem Reap is still a small town in the northwestern of Cambodia, having international airport with limited flights to many countries.

  At the turn of the millennium Siem Reap was a Cambodian provincial town with few facilities, minor surfaced roads and little in the way of nightlife. Tourism industry catered largely to hardy backpackers willing to brave the tortuous road from the Thai border on the tailgate of a local pick-up truck. There were a couple of large hotels and a handful of budget guesthouses. Tuk-tuks and taxis were non-existent and the trusty motodup was the chosen means of touring the temples of Angkor.
  The proximity of the Angkorian ruins turned Siem Reap into a boomtown in less than half a decade. Huge, expensive hotels have sprung up everywhere and budget hotels have mushroomed. Property values have soared to European levels and tourism has become a vast, lucrative industry. The Siem Reap of today is barely recognizable from the Siem Reap of the year 2000.