Everyone arrives in Siem Reap for the temples, and fair enough – they are the temples. But stay longer than a weekend and a second town reveals itself: one with skate bowls, cable wakeboarding, escape rooms and a mini-golf Angkor Wat where a hole-in-one wins you a beer. Here is our running list of the unexpected stuff, tested and traded at club meetups. Prices and hours change fast in this town, so tap the links before you head out.
Skate and roller sports
K2 Skate Park Club is a rollerblade-focused park with a roller-rink vibe, ramps and slick concrete. Rentals run about $1-2 an hour, it suits all ages, and it gets delightfully busy with local kids.
Krong Siem Reap Skatepark is the outdoor concrete option – a bowl and halfpipe that serve skateboarders and BMX riders properly.
And then there is X Bar on Pub Street, which put a halfpipe on its rooftop because Siem Reap is that kind of town. Pool tables and cheap drinks downstairs, skating above the neon.
Archery
Royal Archery Club runs two ranges – standard targets in the city, and a 3D animal-target course out at Phnom Kroum. Training, bow rentals and a shop; a 90-minute session is about $12 for foreigners. (More info.)
Go-karts
Angkor Speedway is a racing circuit near the Angkor Archaeological Park – single-seat karts around $12, two-seaters $15, open daily 8:30am to 6pm. Yes, you can go karting minutes from a 12th-century wonder.
Mini golf
Angkor Wat Putt might be the most Siem Reap thing on this list: 14 garden holes played around accurate miniature replicas of Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and the Bayon. $5 a round, free drink for a hole-in-one, open daily 8am to 8pm. (Reviews.)
Laser tag
Laser Game Cambodia is a neon-lit arena near Pub Street with ten game modes and room for up to twelve players – which happens to be about the size of a good meetup group. Twenty-minute sessions from roughly $3-9. (Details.)
Escape rooms
The Hidden Temple Escape Game on Wat Bo Road runs Angkor-themed rooms lasting one to three hours.
The Lost Room by Great Escape Cambodia, near the Samsung Service Center on Airport Road, gives you sixty minutes to recover stolen Angkor treasures.
Climbing
Kingdom Climb is building the city a proper climbing scene – bouldering, roped climbing and outdoor climbing tours, founded by actual climbers. (Reviews.)
The Blue Monkey on Bamboo Street is a restaurant-bar with a bouldering wall for adults and kids over eight, a smaller wall for little ones, plus petanque, PlayStation and board games. Dinner where everyone climbs something first.
Wakeboarding
Wake Park Cambodia, about twelve minutes from town, is the country’s only full-size cable wakeboard park – wakeboarding, water skiing, kneeboarding and an inflatable Aqua Land obstacle course, with lakeside bungalows, a beach area and a restaurant. Two-hour sessions from about $24. (Reviews.)
Pool and billiards
Duckmart Riverside is a 24/7 riverside bar with 9ft tournament tables, weekly 8-ball, 9-ball and Killer Pool competitions, darts, chess, live music and sports screens. Private tables about $3 an hour. (Write-up.)
Shooting ranges
For the bucket-list crowd: Cambodia Shooting Range, about 25 minutes out, offers a menu of military-grade firearms across indoor and outdoor ranges, and Siem Reap Shooting Range just outside the city goes further still, with group discounts. Not everyone’s afternoon – but an unforgettable one for those who choose it.
Family wildcards
Old MacDonald Farm near Wat Thmey is a family cafe with a petting zoo of ducks, bunnies and goats, a huge trampoline, an outdoor play area and weekend art activities. Open 8am to 8pm, closed Mondays.
60 Road Night Market and Funfair is where local Siem Reap goes at night: street food, carnival games, small rides, and free Kun Khmer boxing on Saturday nights. Go after 5pm and go hungry.
Better with company
Almost everything on this list gets better with a group – laser tag needs opponents, pool needs someone to lose gracefully, and a wake park is funnier when your friends are also falling in. That is roughly the business model of the Siem Reap Social Club: we turn lists like this into actual plans. Jump into the WhatsApp community and suggest one – someone will say yes.