Cebu Pacific used to fly you straight from Manila to Siem Reap. That route has been gone since December 2019, and nobody seems to have told the blogs. Half the Filipino guides still ranking for this trip describe an airport that closed in 2023 and a nonstop flight that no longer exists. So before you get excited about a four-day temple trip, here is what the map actually looks like today.
Siem Reap is still one of the easiest big-ticket destinations for a Philippine passport. Visa-free, three hours of actual flying time, and a US dollar economy where your money goes further than it does in Bangkok. The catch is that getting there now takes one connection, and the airport you land at sits 50 km from town. This guide covers Manila to Siem Reap flights the way they really work in 2026: the routes, the fares in pesos, the visa and e-Arrival paperwork, and the airport transfer that surprises almost everyone.
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Manila to Siem Reap at a glance
The short version, current as of September 2026:
- Direct flights: none. Every Manila to Siem Reap itinerary has at least one stop.
- Best connection hubs: Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur.
- Actual flying time: about 3 hours 15 minutes in total. Total journey with a layover usually runs 7 to 12 hours.
- Round trip fares: roughly PHP 12,000 on the low end, PHP 20,000 to 24,000 for a normal booking window.
- Visa: none needed. Philippine passport holders get 30 days visa-free.
- Mandatory before you fly: the Cambodia e-Arrival form, free, submitted within 7 days of arrival.
- Airport: Siem Reap Angkor International (SAI), opened 16 October 2023, 50 km east of the city.
- Currency: Cambodia runs on US dollars. Bring clean small bills.
Rate used throughout: USD 1 = PHP 62.51, the mid-market rate on 2 September 2026. Check it before you budget, because the peso has moved a lot this year.
There is no direct flight from Manila to Siem Reap
This is the part that trips people up, so it deserves its own heading. Cebu Pacific launched Manila to Siem Reap years ago and suspended the route in December 2019. It has not come back. No Philippine carrier flies into Siem Reap today, and no Cambodian carrier flies into Manila.
Siem Reap Angkor International serves 15 airports across 7 countries with about 554 arrivals a month, and Bangkok plus Ho Chi Minh City account for 39 percent of them. It is a well connected regional airport. It just is not connected to us. So when a booking site shows you a “3 hour flight from Manila to Siem Reap,” read the fine print. Three hours is the flying time on the longest leg, not the trip.
The connecting routes that actually work
Four hubs do the job, and the one you pick changes your day more than it changes your fare.
Bangkok (BKK or DMK). The busiest link into Siem Reap, about an hour in the air on the second leg, and usually where the cheap combinations show up. Watch the airport switch: if you land at Suvarnabhumi and fly out of Don Mueang, you need three hours minimum and a taxi between them.
Ho Chi Minh City (SGN). Often the shortest total travel time. Vietnam Airlines sells it as a single through ticket from Manila, worth paying a little extra for because your bags are checked through and a missed connection becomes their problem.
Singapore (SIN). The comfortable option, and usually the priciest. Changi is a pleasant place to spend five hours, and both Singapore Airlines and Scoot serve Siem Reap.
Kuala Lumpur (KUL). AirAsia territory. Cheapest on paper, most self-transfer risk in practice, because separate tickets mean collecting your bags and checking in again. Give yourself four hours, not two.
Compare current Manila to Siem Reap fares on Trip.com
The Phnom Penh workaround
There is one nonstop from Manila into Cambodia, and it is worth knowing about. Philippine Airlines flies Manila to Phnom Penh Techo International (KTI) twice a week on an A321, about three hours, departing late evening between 21:45 and 22:15.
That lands you 230 km from Siem Reap. From Phnom Penh you have real choices: a bus from USD 9.50 (PHP 594) taking 5 hours 30 minutes to 7 hours 30 minutes, a Giant Ibis VIP coach around USD 25 (PHP 1,563), a minivan from USD 10 (PHP 625), a private taxi from USD 86 (PHP 5,376) split between you, or a domestic hop from about USD 100 (PHP 6,251).
Worth it if the PAL schedule fits and you want two cities instead of one. Not worth it if you have four days and Angkor is the whole point. You can check the Manila to Phnom Penh schedule and fares here to price the two-city version, and our walkthrough of the land route from Ho Chi Minh to Siem Reap covers the overland border crossing in detail.
What Manila to Siem Reap flights actually cost
Fares on this route jumped hard over the past year, so treat old blog numbers with suspicion. Here is the current shape of it.
| What you are booking | USD | PHP (approx) |
|---|---|---|
| One-way, cheapest seen | 154 to 169 | 9,627 to 10,564 |
| Round trip, aggregator low | 190 | 11,900 |
| Round trip, typical booking | 356 | 22,254 |
| Phnom Penh nonstop (PAL), round trip from | 329 | 20,566 |
A realistic budget for a normal booking, made six to ten weeks out, is PHP 18,000 to 24,000 round trip. Under PHP 12,000 happens, but it means odd dates, long layovers and usually no checked bag.
Three things that actually move the number. Book six to ten weeks out, because inside three weeks the cheap buckets on the Manila legs are gone. Fly midweek, since Tuesday and Wednesday departures often beat Friday and Sunday by PHP 3,000. And price the bag before you celebrate: a PHP 9,000 round trip on two separate budget tickets, with a checked bag on each leg, lands close to PHP 15,000.
Visa and e-Arrival for Philippine passport holders
Good news first. You do not need a visa for Cambodia. Philippine passport holders enter visa-free for 30 days under the ASEAN exemption, which was raised from 21 days in 2019.
You do not pay the USD 30 visa on arrival. You do not apply for an e-visa. A lot of guides written for American and European readers tell you to do both, and Filipinos end up queuing in the wrong line at the airport for a visa they are exempt from. Walk to the immigration counter and hand over your passport.
What you do need:
- A passport valid at least six months beyond your entry date
- A confirmed return or onward ticket
- Proof of accommodation
- Enough funds for your stay, occasionally asked for at NAIA rather than in Cambodia
Do not skip the e-Arrival form. Since 2025 every air arrival into Siem Reap and Phnom Penh must submit the Cambodia e-Arrival card, which merges the old immigration, health and customs forms into one QR code. Submit it at arrival.gov.kh or in the official app within 7 days of landing. It is free. There are tablets at the airport if you forget, but that means queuing at 11pm after a layover.
For the wider picture on where else your passport takes you without paperwork, our guide to the visa-free ASEAN countries for Filipinos covers the whole region.
Landing at the new Siem Reap Angkor International Airport
Here is the thing every outdated guide gets wrong. The old Siem Reap airport was a 15 minute tuk tuk ride from Pub Street. It is closed to commercial flights.
Siem Reap Angkor International (SAI) opened on 16 October 2023 and sits 50 km east of the city, 40 km east of Angkor Wat. Budget 45 to 75 minutes from the terminal door to your hotel, and do not book a same-day 5am sunrise tour on the night you land.
Your options at arrivals:
| Option | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Official shuttle bus | USD 8 (PHP 500) per person | Drops at a central point, tuk tuk onward |
| Cambodia Post VIP van | USD 8 to 9 (PHP 500 to 563) per person | Same idea, slightly comfier |
| Grab | USD 25 to 35 (PHP 1,563 to 2,188) per vehicle | Needs data on landing |
| Pre-booked private transfer | USD 30 to 35 (PHP 1,876 to 2,188) per vehicle | Door to door, fixed price |
| Walk-up taxi | USD 35 to 45 (PHP 2,188 to 2,813) per vehicle | The most expensive way to do it |
For a family or a barkada of four, the private transfer works out around PHP 500 each and takes the negotiation out of a midnight arrival. You can book a fixed-price Siem Reap airport transfer in advance here and have a name board waiting instead of haggling in the carpark.
Once you are in town, a tuk tuk day hire for the temples runs USD 15 to 25 (PHP 938 to 1,563), which is the standard way to do Angkor. Renting a car and driving yourself is not really a thing for tourists in Cambodia, and we would not recommend it.
When to fly, against the Philippine calendar
Cambodia’s calendar and ours do not line up neatly, and that costs Filipino travelers money and comfort every year.
November to February is the dry season. Days at 28 to 32C, mornings as cool as 20C in December and January, and the best temple weather of the year. It is also peak season, and Christmas week plus Chinese New Year are the most expensive dates on the calendar.
March to May is hot and dry. April crosses 37C, and April is exactly when Philippine summer break and Holy Week send everyone abroad. Climbing temple stairs at 37C with no shade is a different holiday than the one in the photos. If April is your only window, start at 5am and be back at the pool by 11.
June to October is the wet season, and it is underrated. Rain usually means a 30 to 60 minute afternoon downpour, not a lost day. September is the wettest month, and May, June and September are the quietest of the year, with hotel rates 30 to 50 percent below peak.
Late October to early November is the sweet spot: warm days, cool mornings, everything still green from the rains, crowds not yet arrived.
Where to stay, and what to sort before you fly
Siem Reap accommodation is one of the best value propositions in Southeast Asia. A clean guesthouse with a pool runs USD 15 to 25 (PHP 938 to 1,563) a night, mid-range boutique hotels sit at USD 40 to 70 (PHP 2,500 to 4,376), and the colonial-era luxury properties cost a fraction of their Bangkok equivalents.
Three areas worth knowing: Old Town and Pub Street, loud until 1am but walkable to everything and cheapest for food. Wat Bo and the river’s east bank, quiet and leafy, ten minutes by tuk tuk from the noise, the best balance for families. Charles de Gaulle road, closest to the temple gate, resort-heavy, thin on street food. If you are counting every peso, our list of the best hostels in Cambodia has beds from USD 4.
Prices swing hard between the December peak and the June low, so compare current rates across Siem Reap Old Town before you commit to dates. The map below shows live nightly prices across the town so you can see what each area actually costs.
Three things to handle before you leave Manila.
Data. Get an eSIM installed and ready to activate on landing, because you will want Grab and Google Maps the second you clear immigration. A Cambodia eSIM starts at around USD 4, which beats hunting for a counter at 11pm.
Money. Cambodia runs on US dollars. ATMs dispense them, prices are quoted in them, and riel is small change. Bring clean, untorn small bills from Manila, because torn notes get refused and USD 100 bills are hard to break.
Insurance. Temple stairs are steep, uneven and slippery in the wet season, and Cambodian hospitals want payment up front. SafetyWing covers a short Siem Reap trip for less than one night of your hotel.
For the temples themselves, the Angkor pass is bought from Angkor Enterprise, the government operator, at USD 37 for one day, USD 62 for three days and USD 72 for seven. Guided tours are separate, and a good guide changes the experience completely, so it is worth booking a Siem Reap guide or day tour ahead if you only have one temple day.
Once you are there, our list of things to do in Siem Reap beyond the temples and our guide to Cambodian food worth trying will fill the gaps between sunrise and sunset.
FAQ
Is there a direct flight from Manila to Siem Reap? No. Cebu Pacific suspended the route in December 2019 and no airline has replaced it. Every itinerary connects, most commonly through Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. The only nonstop from Manila into Cambodia is Philippine Airlines to Phnom Penh, twice a week.
Do Filipinos need a visa for Cambodia? No. Philippine passport holders get 30 days visa-free. You do not pay the USD 30 visa on arrival that other nationalities do. You do need a passport valid six months beyond entry and a submitted e-Arrival form.
How much is a Manila to Siem Reap flight? Round trips run about PHP 12,000 at the low end and PHP 18,000 to 24,000 for a normal booking made six to ten weeks ahead, as of September 2026.
How far is Siem Reap airport from the city? Siem Reap Angkor International is 50 km east of the city and 40 km east of Angkor Wat. The old airport that older guides describe is closed to commercial flights.
Is Siem Reap safe for a solo Filipina traveler? Broadly yes. It is a tourism town with a visible police presence and English is widely spoken. Standard care applies at night around Pub Street, and agree tuk tuk fares before you get in.
Wrapping up
Losing the nonstop stung, but Siem Reap is still one of the best value trips a Philippine passport can make. Thirty days visa-free, no visa fee, and one of the genuinely great sights on earth an hour from your hotel.
Book six to ten weeks out, fly midweek through Bangkok or Saigon, file the e-Arrival form the day you book so you cannot forget it, and pre-book the airport transfer so the 50 km drive is somebody else’s problem. Do those four things and the rest is easy. Now go watch the sun come up behind those towers. It is worth the connection.
About the Author
Bianca Rei is a Filipino traveler, entrepreneur, and problem-solver who has called Serbia home for many years. She has been following Two Monkeys Travel Group since 2014, back when she was simply a reader dreaming, traveling, and collecting stories of her own, so being able to contribute to the blog now feels a little like coming full circle.
Bianca runs Rodi Solutions, where she helps people and businesses navigate life and business in Serbia, alongside website design, development, and management. When she is not working, she is usually traveling, boxing, chasing another adventure, or spending time with her family.
Find her work at rodi.consulting, or get to know her beyond work at biancarei.net.
