Apsara dance Siem Reap tickets

What you're booking

This is an evening package, not a bare entry ticket. The provider, Euro Khmer Voyages, collects you from your accommodation by tuk-tuk, takes you to a buffet restaurant where a dance show is performed during dinner, and brings you back afterwards. The whole evening is listed at about two and a half hours. The show is an Apsara dance programme of about an hour. The booking page presents it as a look at Khmer folk beliefs and Hindu and Buddhist myth, with the hand gestures as a central part of the dance. You choose a date and a group size, and nothing else. Hotel pickup is part of the same booking. It suits travellers who want the evening organised, not people who want to pick their own venue.

What's included, and what isn't

The inclusions are short and clear. The page lists drinks and other expenses separately from them, so plan to pay for those yourself. If you are also visiting the Angkor temples, your pass is a separate purchase from the official Angkor ticket site. The pickup details appear when you check availability for your date, so read them before you pay rather than after. Keep the booking confirmation to hand on the night, because it holds the details your driver needs. Nothing in the inclusions mentions the Angkor temples, so treat this as an evening only.

• Hotel pickup and drop-off by tuk-tuk, with a driver
• A buffet dinner
• The Apsara dance show
• Not included: drinks and other expenses

The show: five sets in about an hour

The show has five sets, about an hour in all, and it is performed while you eat. The booking does not list the pieces. Apsara dance is one piece in the repertoire of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, performed by women in tight-fitting traditional dress, with codified gestures that narrate classical myths or religious stories. UNESCO lists the Royal Ballet, also called Khmer classical dance, on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. What fills the other sets is up to the venue, so treat any line-up you read online as indicative only. UNESCO notes that dancers master the gestures only after years of intensive training, which is why even a short show rewards close watching.

Read next: What is Apsara dance? Visitor guide

Hotel pickup by tuk-tuk

Pickup at your accommodation and the drop-off at the end are part of the booking, and the driver is listed as English-speaking. Tuk-tuks are plentiful in Siem Reap, so this is an ordinary local ride rather than a special vehicle. The page says to check availability for the pickup details. Enter your hotel name and address exactly, and add a phone number that works in Cambodia. If you are staying well outside the centre, make sure your address is covered before you pay. The drop-off at the end is the same arrangement in reverse, so you do not need to find a tuk-tuk after dark.

Why this guide gives no start time

The booking page shows starting times only when you check availability for a date. Times can change, so this guide does not print one. The booking calendar and your confirmation show the time for your date, and you can plan your pickup from it. The show runs every day of the week, which makes it easy to fit around a temple day. Check the time before you commit to anything else that evening, such as a late dinner reservation or an early start at Angkor the next morning.

Which venue is it?

Many people search for a named Siem Reap theatre, but the booking page does not name the theatre or restaurant. It describes a buffet restaurant with a dance show. Siem Reap has several tourist restaurants that stage dance, and these are modern entertainment venues rather than historic performance spaces. If a particular named venue matters to you, this booking is not a way to choose it. Check your confirmation for where you will be taken, and compare listings that name their venue before you book. Note the name when your confirmation arrives, since it lets you read about the place afterwards.

A busy buffet room

Expect a restaurant, not a concert hall. Guests walk to the buffet while the show is on, and plates and cutlery are audible. The provider has acknowledged this in its replies to reviews, and several reviewers mention it too. That is part of how a dinner show works, and it suits people who like a relaxed, sociable evening. If you want to watch in near silence, a theatre performance with no dinner service will suit you better.

What reviewers praise and what they flag

Reviewers praise the dancers and musicians, the variety and quality of the buffet, and drivers who were punctual and friendly. The complaints are consistent too: noise from plates and cutlery, other guests talking or getting up during the show, and a show that feels short at five scenes. Both sets of comments match what the booking describes, a one-hour show during a buffet dinner. If the praise sounds like your evening and the complaints do not put you off, this is a fair match. Ratings change, so read the current reviews before you book.

Booking here, elsewhere or on the day

Booking through the listing this site links to gives you the date and group size in your own currency, free cancellation up to 24 hours before for a full refund, and the option to reserve now and pay later. You can also look at other Siem Reap dinner shows, which differ in venue, inclusions and whether pickup is part of the price. Compare four things: whether the venue is named, whether pickup is included, the length of the show, and the cancellation terms. Read the terms of the exact booking you choose, because they differ between providers.

Pairing it with Angkor

The Angkor temples are a separate outing. The official Angkor ticket site sells one-day, three-day and seven-day passes for the Angkor Temples Park, and none of them is part of this booking. The pass types differ in how many days they cover, so give the temples a day of their own. The park has fixed opening hours, so the dance works as the evening half of a day, not as part of a temple visit. If you see Angkor Wat first, you can look for the apsaras carved on its walls, the figures that inspired the dance you will watch that night.

Read next: The Apsara Carvings of Angkor: Myth Carved in Stone

Who this isn't for

If you want a quiet, concert-style performance, a buffet restaurant is the wrong room. If you want to pick a named theatre, this booking does not name one. If you have dietary restrictions, the booking page does not describe the buffet, so ask the provider before you pay. And if you want to see Khmer dance in a historic setting, this is a modern evening for visitors: the court and the temples were where the tradition lived, and a dinner show is a short introduction to it, not a replacement.