Pavillon Indochine Hotel — Hotel in Siem Reap

I don’t think I have ever been more sad to leave a place! We actually extended our stay in Siem Reap by 2 days because we loved it here so much. We chose this lovely boutique hotel due to the photos of the architecture (French colonial) and the gorgeous gardens around the pool, but were wonderfully surprised to see that it’s even better in person. It’s a 10 minute, $2 Tuk Tuk ride out of the hectic town centre, closer to the temples. There’s a few nice cafes within walking distance and other unusual attractions such as the APOPO Hero Rats, and Wat Thmei pagoda directly across the street.

The staff and the owners will give you the warmest welcome, and are extremely helpful. They will arrange tours, restaurant recommendations and reservations (try L'atelier by le bistrot De Philippe's), Tuk Tuks, etc, & will ensure you get a fair price.

The rooms are very comfortable and stylishly decorated; I loved all the 1930s style prints and the local artwork, sculptures and crafts dotted round the premises. We had a queen sized room on the ground floor which opened out onto our own little terrace next to the pool. It’s paradise!

The restaurant is very good and reasonably priced; I had a very tasty Khmer stir fried squid dish with Kampot pepper that I want to try to recreate at home. Breakfast is also lovely; an all you can eat buffet with fruit, cereals, breads, pastries, eggs and bacon to order and homemade fresh yogurt.

We spent a couple hours a day hanging at the little bar by the pool, chatting with staff Srey, Savet, Charly, John and owners Adrian & Nicki. You can see how much they care for their staff & the local community. There’s several friendly cats on site - all rescued by the owners, vaccinated and fixed, so you needn’t worry about being scratched if one happens to jump into your lap for a snuggle when you’re chilling by the bar.

The fact that this hotel was nearly full in the off season, and frequented by a number of long-staying regulars speaks volumes. We’re already planning a return trip to Siem Reap and to Pavilion...

This is going to be a long review but it will help you save your vacation. They say it is close o Angkor. It is not relevant because they are not. That close. You will need a tuk tuk anyway. Get a hotel closer to downtown. On the river side near the market or that area. The hotel is far from anything else and the area is not walkable in any way. The location looks nice but it has a couple of major flaws: 1. The pool is cold. So cold that it is always empty. 2. There are not enough beds around the pool as there are rooms so you might end up without a sun bed 3. The rooms are a bit old and the AC and bathrooms show it 4 The bathroom light is horrible. You cannot shave as a man and as a woman the make-up will be horrible - it is only one lightbulb - white from above 5. Everything closes at 22:00 - lights out bar closed bye bye 6. Gekos and mosquitos in the room 7. Bad pillows 8. HORRIBLE INTERNET - it is not working 90% of the time and there is no cell signal in the room But let’s be honest we are all going to Siem to see Angkor. This is the main goal not the hotel. If you are still ok with all of the above just don’t book a tour with the hotel. When I read the description of the hotel I hoped it was a cultural hub where the guides will be selected and the experience will be imersive. The guide we had the first day was so so bad. His level of english was bad, the information was scarce - i ended up goin on chat gpt to get more info during the tour. The overall experience was a flop. He took us on a running tour in places where there were less tourists so he could get out quicker - with us missing out on highlights. On the second day we dropped the tour and had the sunrise tour and heard the other guides english and amount of info being shared. We did not negociate the cost. They just allocated...

I had booked a family room at the sister hotel Pavillon D’Orient which i had stayed in before. There was a mix up and we had to move to Indochine, not a problem at all as it’s a five minute Tuktuk from one to other.||We had a very big family room (FA3) which is basically two double rooms with the all knocked through. It has one kind and two doubles and a sofa/sofabed plus two bathrooms. It is in need of a lick of paint and one or two bits of furniture tarting up and a few electrical bits fixing. However for the space (its me and 8, 10 and 13) I’m happy to trade a few blemish’s for acres of space that means they have loads of room to spread out and avoid each other. ||The hotel has a nice pool (but the Orient has a nicer pool!), the restaurant is good and the breakfast excellent. As always in Asia its the staff who make the difference, a really nice team of people who are very friendly and super helpful. I understand that the hotels are owned by expat Brits however all the staff are 100% local which i really appreciated. ||The hotel can sort you out with all your tour guides and transport and recommendations for other things to do. Do go to Phare one evening, its an amazing non-profit and great fun. ||The location is in a quiet suburb of town towards the temple entrance. You need to Tuktuk to town in aboutt 5 mins, they can sort that out for you and its 10,000 each way and any Tuktuk in town knows where it is. Personally i prefer the quiet and the short Tuktuk ride over the noise of being in town or the impersonality and cost of the large international chain hotels. ||My fifth trip to Siem Reap, really enjoyed staying here and the sister hotel D’Orient and would only choose one or other if i come back for...