Review: Tanei Guesthouse In Siem Reap

Our Cambodia trip was all about the ancient temples of Angkor Wat.

I wanted to show Darling Man and Miss M one of the most amazing places I’d ever seen – the mysterious temples “discovered” in the jungle by Henri Mouhot in 1860.

(Of course, the locals knew the temples were there the whole time. And some Westerners had visited the temples before Mouhot, he was just the guy who made them famous in a Hollywood-esque kind of way.)

Angkor Wat

Siem Reap is the increasingly touristy town that’s a few kilometres down the road from the temples of Angkor Wat. When I visited Siem Reap pre-kid, I only needed a place to crash, eat and prepare for my next visit to the temples.

Post-kid, my needs are slightly different.

We needed a home base that could contain and entertain Miss M between temple bouts. And we needed something that was close to eating places so Darling Man and I could feed ourselves and our obsession with street food.

We hit upon an absolute winner with Tanei Guesthouse in Siem Reap. (We were guests of Asiarooms.com but we would have been just as thrilled with the place if we’d paid for it ourselves.)

Down a groovy back alley with a village feel and hidden in lush tropical gardens, Tanei Guesthouse is just a short walk from the main drag of Siem Reap.

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There’s a restaurant on-site, so we didn’t have to drag ourselves out after a hard day of sweaty temple-ing. And there’s a pool, perfect for a lounge-y cool temple recovery session. (And for splashing around and screaming, of course.)

With a deluxe room (for up to three people) available on Asiarooms.com for as little as US$22.96 and a family room (for up to four people) from US$27.21, Tanei Guesthouse is a fabulous find find for budget family travelers.

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There’s no lift, so our third floor room was hard on our legs after a long day of carrying Miss M up, over and around the temples. A vague query about moving to a lower floor was met with such attentive service (and a new room on the second floor) that I never wanted to leave.

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Nothing was too much trouble — or too weird — for the lovely Tanei staff. From delivering food to the room to helping turn on the spa beside the pool, everything was done quickly and efficiently and with such wonderful smiles.

Sokun, the manager of Tanei Guesthouse, seems to have thought of every single thing a visitor to Siem Reap could want. The reception desk can book everything from in-room massages (the legit kind) to bus tickets and plane tickets for hotel guests.

There’s also an onsite tour guide, the fabulous Mr Chan, who took us to Mae Chrei floating village on Tonle Sap lake and then shared an amazing street food lunch with us.

Tonle Sap floating village

* Many thanks to Darling Man for the photos in this post. I am trying really hard to get him to write some guests posts containing some of his wonderful pictures.

** Thanks also to AsiaRooms.com for hosting us in Cambodia. We had an amazing trip and we can’t wait to explore more of this amazing country.

12 years ago

By: Barbara

A career girl who dropped out, traveled, found love, and never got around to going home again. Now wrangling a cross-cultural relationship and two third culture kids.

3 Comments

  1. Tanei guesthouse is definitely one of the better guesthouses in town. I also stayed there for a couple of days when I just arrived in Siem Reap. I live here now for over 2 years and still enjoy it every day! 🙂

    Very nice post. I always enjoy reading and looking at pictures of Siem Reap!

  2. budget jan says:

    We will be there end of October this year and have bookmarked this page. I love the plants, they remind me of places I have stayed at in Bali.
    budget jan recently posted..Fantastic Friday Moroccan Father and Son

    • Barbara says:

      The staff are just lovely, too, Jan. I hope you have a fabulous time there. I just love Siem Reap.

      This place is just far enough away from the main tourist drag to seem like you’re in a Cambodian village. Yet it’s only a block or so to walk to the tourist area. It’s the best of both worlds.

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