Siem Reap Angkor Airport (SAI) to Siem Reap and Angkor
Every commercial flight moved to the new airport at midnight on 16 October 2023, and it is an hour east of the town rather than ten minutes from it. The airport publishes no transport fares at all, so agree a price first.
- The old airport is closed. All commercial passenger and cargo flights transferred to the new one at 00:00 on 16 October 2023, entirely and in one move.
- The new airport is about 51 km from Siem Reap city and about 40 km from Angkor Wat, in Tayek commune, Sotr Nikum district.
- Budget an hour, not ten minutes. The old airport was on the edge of town; this one is a highway drive away.
- The airport publishes no fares. Its own transport page names a shuttle bus and shows a route map, a toll table and a parking table, and gives no price, timetable or journey time for anything.
- So agree the price before you get in, in full, in whichever currency you are paying.
- US dollars are ordinary money in Cambodia and prices are usually quoted in them.
- This is the second Cambodian airport to move. Phnom Penh did the same on 9 September 2025, when Techo opened and Pochentong closed.
- Check the date on anything you read about getting into town. Guides written before October 2023 are describing a different building in a different place.
What changed
- Siem Reap replaced its airport outright. The State Secretariat of Civil Aviation confirmed that every commercial passenger and cargo flight moved from the old Siem Reap International Airport to Siem Reap Angkor International Airport at 00:00 on 16 October 2023, entirely and one time only.
- The old airport was six kilometres from town. It was the kind of arrival where a tuk-tuk driver quoted a few dollars and you were at your guesthouse before you had changed money.
- The new one is about 51 km from Siem Reap city, in Tayek commune, Sotr Nikum district, and about 40 km from Angkor Wat itself.
- The reason for the move was Angkor. Aircraft on approach to the old field passed low over the temple complex, and UNESCO had raised the matter for years.
Planning the arrival
- Allow an hour on the road, more at the end of the day.
- A late flight is a different proposition here than it used to be. There is no walking out of the terminal and finding the town a few minutes away.
- If your accommodation offers a transfer, this is an airport where it is worth taking. The distance turns what used to be a trivial hop into the most expensive ground journey of a short trip.
On the money, plainly
- We are not quoting a fare on this page, because nobody official publishes one. The airport's own Transport and Directions page names an airport shuttle bus, calls it convenient and cost effective, and shows a landside route map, a highway toll table and a parking table. It gives no fare, no timetable and no journey time.
- The prices circulating elsewhere come from transfer resellers and booking sites, which quote what they charge rather than what the bus charges.
- So: fix the price before the journey starts, and confirm whether it is per person or per vehicle. That is the one habit worth carrying through Cambodia generally.
- Dollars are normal. Cambodia uses the US dollar alongside the riel and most quoted prices are in dollars, with riel given as change.
While you are reading about Cambodia
- Phnom Penh moved too. Techo International Airport opened 28 km south of the capital on 9 September 2025 and Pochentong closed after 65 years. The airport shuttle train that older guides recommend served the old one.
- Two airport moves in two years is unusual anywhere. Treat any Cambodian arrival advice older than late 2025 as suspect until you have checked which airport it means.
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