Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor

A road, a garden and a temple. The Grand Hotel d'Angkor was laid out in 1932 at the end of Vithei Charles de Gaulle, the avenue that runs north out of Siem Reap to Angkor Wat, and the hotel's gardens face the Royal Residence and the public park across the road. The temples are eight kilometres away. Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor was the first hotel of its kind in Cambodia and is still the one that visitors to Angkor measure the others against.

History

The Société des Grands Hôtels Indochinois built the house for a new trade: travellers arriving by river steamer or by the new motor road from Phnom Penh, bound for the temples that French archaeologists had been clearing since 1907. The early guests were explorers, writers and the first package tourists of Indochina. Charlie Chaplin stayed in 1936 on his tour of Asia, and in 1967 Jacqueline Kennedy came to Siem Reap on her visit to Angkor and the hotel kept the memory of her stay. The civil war and the Khmer Rouge years closed the hotel for most of the 1970s and 1980s. Raffles took it on in the mid-1990s, restored it over two years and reopened it in 1997 alongside its sister, Raffles Hotel Le Royal in Phnom Penh. A further renovation closed the hotel for most of 2019 before a second reopening in the same year.

Architecture and design

Ernest Hébrard, the chief architect and planner of French Indochina, designed a long, low building in the colonial manner with a central block, two wings and tiled roofs. The lobby holds the famous lift, a wrought-iron cage dating from 1932 that still carries guests between the floors. Black-and-white tiles, ceiling fans, rattan and teak furniture and French windows opening on the gardens set the tone, and the restoration kept the original plan. The gardens behind the main building are planted with frangipani, palms and lotus ponds around the pool.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has around 119 rooms and suites in the original building and the garden wings. State rooms in the main block have high ceilings and period furniture; the Landmark Rooms and the suites along the garden look onto the pool and the lawns. Several suites carry the names of the hotel's famous guests. Every room has a sitting area and a bathroom with a deep tub.

Dining

The Elephant Bar, in the former library, is the hotel's institution: deep sofas, a long counter and the Airavata cocktail named after the three-headed elephant of Khmer myth. Dinner is served in the restaurant of the main building and in the Conservatory off the lobby, and the Apsara Terrace stages open-air dinners with classical dance in the garden on set evenings. The hotel's kitchens have made a point of Khmer royal cuisine since the 1997 reopening.

Wellness

The pool is the largest in Siem Reap, a long tiled basin among the lawns with a pool bar at one end. Raffles Spa has treatment rooms in a garden pavilion, a gym, a sauna and steam rooms.

Weddings and events

The hotel hosts weddings in the gardens and receptions in its function rooms, and has long been the address for diplomatic dinners and conferences in Siem Reap. The lawns and the Apsara Terrace are the settings most couples choose, and the main building's rooms serve meetings and gala dinners. The facts file does not record capacities.

Location

Angkor Wat is 15 minutes north by car or tuk-tuk, and the hotel runs its own excursions with guides. The Old Market, Pub Street and the river are a short walk south. Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport, opened in October 2023, is around 45 minutes east. It is the obvious luxury hotel in Siem Reap for a first visit to the temples, and the only one with a lift that was there before the war.