Come to Siem Reap of Cambodia not only to see the Angkor temples, but you must not miss a half-day or a full day seeing one of the floating villages in Siem Reap.
Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. Due to its abundance of nature including a seasonal population of water birds, it is a designated UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. In the rivers and waterways which flow into the lake, there is a multitude of settlements, termed ‘floating villages’, which the fisherman who harvests the waters of Tonle Sap call home along with their families.
The fascination with people who live in floating houses, travel to floating schools, and eat at floating restaurants is quite an attraction for the many visitors who come to Cambodia. As well as the floating villages, there are also stilted villages along the banks of Tonle Sap Lake, where houses and buildings rest on tall, thin stilts that keep the occupants dry during the wet season, with giant ladders to reach the lower levels during the dry season.
In Siem Rap, there are several communities floating villages on the Tonle Sap Lake. 5 main villages are accessible from Siem Reap all year round, and a variety of ways to get there:
1. Chong Kneas Floating village
2. Mechrey Floating village
3. Kampong Khleang Floating Village
4. Kampong Phluk Floating Village
5. Preak Toal Floating village
Best Time to Visit Floating Villages in Siem Reap
If you want to experience the village actually “floating” then the best time to go is between June to November during the wet season. The dry season is also not a bad alternative to experience the tall wooden stilts that hold the houses up. Between March to May, the level of water in the canals is very low so sometimes it takes more time to reach the main lake.
Now, let's learn a bit more about those floating villages to understand the local life on the water!