Siem Reap, Cambodia

Viroth's Villa

Price per night from$74.06

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD74.06), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Dinky designer den

Setting

Lush Wat Bo quarter

Creating a bit of a buzz among aficionados of boutique digs, Viroth’s Villa is a chic, petite and intimate base for a romantic yet affordable stay in Siem Reap. Minimalist in style but big on design, this relaxed contemporary bolthole offers heavenly massages, outdoor dining and a tropical pool, perfect for plotting your Angkor adventures.

Smith Extra

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A hand-woven cotton scarf for each room.

Facilities

Photos Viroth's Villa facilities

Need to know

Rooms

19.

Check–Out

Noon, but if the room is available late check-out can be arranged for 50 per cent of the day rate. Check-in, 2pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £71.56 ($90), including tax at 22 per cent.

More details

Rates include breakfast, unless otherwise specified.

At the hotel

Spa, free WiFi throughout, gardens. In rooms: cable TV, minibar.

Our favourite rooms

All follow the same contemporary blueprint, with sensual rain showers, but Room 18 takes top billing thanks to the best pool view in the pad.

Poolside

Given its celebrated status as a small, intimate hotel, the pool is suitably small and intimate. Overshadowed by deliciously verdant vegetation, it is great for a cool plunge on a hot day.

Spa

The garden-view spa specialises in chakra-aligning head and shoulder massages, body brushing and exotic body wrap treatments with avocado, mango and coconut. Boost your circulation with a natural rice scrub, stretch out tight muscles with a traditional Khmer massage and get that holiday glow with a vitamin-rich facial.

Packing tips

Bring your glad rags, as this stylish sanctuary should put you in the mood for a night out (or two). Owners Viroth and Fabien can point you towards some happening spots.

Children

Welcome. Under-threes stay for free (if sharing a bed with parents) in the Deluxe Double or Twin Room, Deluxe Double or Twin with Pool View and Junior Suite with Pool View. For over-threes, an extra bed can be added to these rooms for $35 a night.

Sustainability efforts

Built and designed from energy-efficient local materials makes smart use of green products, including water-hyacinth carpets and solar power. They've also drastically reduced single-use plastic and recycle all glass, plastic and cooking oil as well as using their own compost in the grounds.

Food and Drink

Photos Viroth's Villa food and drink

Top Table

No one particularly stands out, but try to live life on the edge for views of the cityscape.

Dress Code

Khmer cool: linen and leather accents.

Hotel restaurant

The restaurant's menu is traditional Khmer dishes as well as international specialties, with the emphasis on inspired presentation and delicate flavours. Try fish amoc for the essence of Cambodia in a banana leaf and save room for lemon tart or chocolate fondant.

Hotel bar

The bar is all about stylish sofas that suck you in. Settle down with a bottle of wine and let the evening slip by like the equally cooling breeze – priceless in the hot season.

Last orders

Breakfast is served from 6.30am–10.30am, offering up the potential for a cheeky lie-in. Dinner runs until 10pm; the bar plies its trade till 11pm.

Room service

Available from 7am–11pm, room service includes all the dishes on the menu during restaurant hours and selected snacks at other times.

Location

Photos Viroth's Villa location
Address
Viroth's Villa
#14, street 23 Wat Bo village, Sien Reap-Angkor, Cambodia
Siem Reap
0017
Cambodia

Viroth’s Villa has a very central location near the river, within walking distance of Siem Reap’s main café, bar and boutique action. The walled city of Angkor Thom is about eight kilometres away.

Planes

Fly into Siem Reap Angkor International Airport (SAI), which is an hour's drive from the hotel. Transfers can be arranged on request for US$45 each way for up to three guests, and US$65 each way for up to five.

Automobiles

Forget self-drive, as it is not currently available (thank Buddha). Chartering a car with a driver from capital Phnom Penh, about five hours’ away, or the Thai border is an affordable option.

Other

Fast boat services connect Phnom Penh and Siem Reap (US$35), but they aren’t exactly a luxury alternative.

Worth getting out of bed for

Go local with a wander through the pretty grounds of Wat Bo, the most important pagoda in the Siem Reap area. Some of the best Buddhist frescoes from the 19th century adorn the ceilings of this charming place and there is a small collection of Angkorian pottery, regalia and weaponry from the height of the Khmer empire. Seek out some monks to learn a bit about the Buddhist way of life, as several of the ‘DJ monks’ on Wat Bo Radio can speak English.

Local restaurants

For fine French dining, look no further than the art-deco inspired Le Malraux. The menu includes a succulent salmon tartare, as well as Armagnac to put hairs on your chest. Housed in a traditional Cambodian wooden house, Cuisine Wat Damnak combines Cambodian flavours with French technique to delicious effect, with ingredients entirely sourced from local farms and fisheries. At Pou Kitchen & Cafe (no giggling), you'll find delicious curries, roasted pork belly and plenty of vegetarian options. 

Local cafés

Stroll down to the Old Market and into Joe-To-Go (+855 (0)63 969 050; Old Market area), a small café brewing up gourmet coffees and creative caffeine fixes. All profits go towards supporting a school for disadvantaged Cambodian children.

Local bars

A mainstay of the Siem Reap scene is Miss Wong, a cosy little spot inspired by 1920s Shanghai. The cocktails, especially the ones using fresh tropical fruit and the bar’s home-made vodka infusions, are divine. Two American ex-pats from Chicago started a Siem Reap's answer to the Windy City speakeasy with Menaka Lounge; the cocktails are inspired by the three eras of Khmer history. 

Reviews

Photos Viroth's Villa reviews
David  Thompson

Anonymous review

By David Thompson, Master Chef

I’m sorry, we don’t have your booking,’ says the smiling receptionist, flicking through the reservation book. It’s late, we’ve caught the last plane into Siem Reap and, after a long day, all I want to do is slip into our room and turn off the light. My eyes dart from the receptionist to Mr Smith and back as I splutter plaintively.

Normally, when tired and emotional, I take such things rather badly, but this time I can’t. Viroth’s affable front-of-house manager makes the problem seem easy to fix. It’s that kind of hotel – the staff members are genial, helpful and genuinely friendly. It is then that Mr Smith confesses he may have forgotten to make the booking, but in the face of such grace there is little I can do but smile. Within a few minutes we are settled in a large, cool, slate-floored room. The initial hiccup of our arrival is immediately forgotten as we Smiths retire early, promptly tucking ourselves up and resting peacefully in our very comfortable bed: you see we have come to Cambodia on a mission.

The real point of coming to Siem Reap is to see the magnificent temples. There are so many architectural wonders that it’s a good idea to start your research and planning a couple of weeks before you arrive. Once in town, the best time to go is at dawn, before the torrid heat builds, or in the late afternoon as it abates. Explore one or two for a few hours at a time so you’re not overwhelmed by the grandeur or fatigued by the sun’s biting rays – that’s our plan anyway. Having arranged a car with the hotel, we stumble down the stairs well before daybreak to find our guide already waiting for us.

We walk through the portal of iconic Angkor Wat, the area’s best-known temple, and onto the causeway to see the sun rise. However clichéd it sounds, the sight inspires awe and wonder. Around the outer galleries, the crowd thins out and there is some shade. I find the bas-reliefs mesmerising – their deep, elegant carvings depict the Khmer universe, its gods, wars, myths and beliefs. We walk silently along the arcades, trying to comprehend a world so different from our own.

Once back in this world, we return to Viroth’s just in time for a late breakfast. All is quiet as we climb the stairs to the broad, shaded terrace. We are alone, a blessing after contending with the masses at the temple. Breakfast is simple, a small menu but with some surprisingly good croissants. Afterwards, walking downstairs, we see the hotel in daylight for the first time. Its cool grey floors, white walls and lush green trees create a relaxed yet urbane feel. Viroth’s is a place to feel at ease. A lap or two in the turquoise mosaic pool is a good way to feel even better in this bijou bolthole. The wise escape the mounting heat – and recover from early temple trips – by heading off for a nap. We Smiths retire too.

There are only seven rooms here, all generously sized, and most have a terrace, albeit très petite. The crisp, functional minimalism is softened by warm colours and splashes of red. I sleep well, but Mr Smith has other plans. I awake to find he’s retreated to Viroth’s rooftop spa, where he has a massage, a soak in the Jacuzzi and, I suspect, a little additional spa treatment.

Viroth’s is an easy stroll – 10 minutes or so – across the small river and into the centre of the old town, where we wander for a spot of shopping. Most of Siem Reap’s markets are at their best in the morning, although the main market continues into the late afternoon. We dive into its dark, shaded alleyways, finding the bundles of smoked fish, pots of freshly made palm sugar and piles of excellent pepper far more enticing than the glittering Angkor souvenirs, the fake antiques and the kitsch that litters the outer rim. We push our way past the frivolous fringe hawkers into the market proper, sit down at one of the stalls and have a local lunch of nom banchok namya, silken white noodles topped with a mild green curry made with ground fish and lemongrass.

Up for more Angkor culture, we take in another temple. The Bayon is extraordinary – countless towers ringed with the face of the Buddha smiling serenely at the passing world and surveying the clamouring tourists passing through the galleries. We manage to find some shade and a bit of tranquillity on one of the upper levels and sit there for a while. It’s magnificent – the colour of the faces change as time passes and the shadows stretch into the late afternoon.

About an hour out of town is Banteay Srei, an outlying temple of remarkable beauty, and possibly the most perfect jewel in the whole Angkor complex. Many of the pink sandstone carvings, more than a thousand years old, are still so precise, delicate and in flawless condition. The scale of this sanctuary is small, and its distance from town means it’s less crowded, making it much easier to appreciate the shrine in peace. We stay until the sun sets before driving back to Viroth’s.

Siem Reap has some seductive eateries too. Do, however, ensure you book at the hotel’s restaurant, a few minutes’ walk away. Its marvellous open courtyard is surrounded by wooden decks, sectioned off by wafting orange screens, underneath the span of some ancient trees. The Khmer menu offers something for everyone and we decide it has some of the best food in town. I like the local fish stewed in coconut cream, while Mr Smith is partial to the grilled pork wrapped in betel leaves. Afterwards, we walk into town, crossing over a small bridge to the night market, where beer, Westerners, spruikers and even flesh-nibbling fish thrive each evening.

Viroth’s may not be as plush as some of the bigger hotels in large cities, but its wonderful charm lies in the sincerely sweet staff who chat and advise (not because it’s their job but because they want to). They bring life to the hotel and ensure that those who stay return. Mr Smith and I have already made another booking – this time for sure.
 

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Price per night from $74.06