The Christa is our number one. Three floors and an open rooftop with the best river outlook in the centre, at prices that never caught up with the view. Arrive before 5:30 PM if you want a terrace seat at golden hour.
36
Rooftops ranked
3
Groups
$1–$15
Typical drink
Siem Reap is flat, low-rise and built around a river, which makes a third floor feel like a viewpoint. There is no skyline to look at, so the city's rooftops sell something else: the sunset over the palm line, the river below, and eight degrees less heat than street level. That is why the terrace has become the default first drink of the evening here, before anyone commits to Pub Street or decides to skip it entirely.
This ranking scores every rooftop on its Google rating weighted by review volume, then corrects the result by hand, because the raw score rewards volume and several of the best terraces are small. Fourteen made the list, grouped by what you actually want from the evening: the rooftops worth planning around, the river and garden outlooks, and the late-night, budget and hotel terraces.
Looking for the whole nightlife guide?
This page covers rooftops only. For Pub Street, cocktail bars, live music and everything at street level, see our full nightlife ranking.
See the best bars and nightlife in Siem ReapThe five terraces that justify choosing where you drink before choosing what you drink.
12 bars →
Terraces where the view is the reason you stay for the second round.
12 bars →
Where the evening goes after midnight, and where it costs the least.
12 bars →
Map of all 14 rooftops
The rooftops worth planning an evening around
The five terraces that justify choosing where you drink before choosing what you drink.
| # | Rooftop | Type | Price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | The Christa Restaurant & Bar | Rooftop terrace | $ | (1,000+) |
| 🥈 | The Twizt - Lifestyle Hostel & Hotel | Hostel rooftop | $$ | (1,000+) |
| 🥉 | Dialogue | Cocktail rooftop | $$ | (600+) |
| 4 | Amara Dining Pub Street | Rooftop dining | $$ | (400+) |
| 5 | Sokkhak River Lounge | River lounge | $$ | (500+) |
1The Christa Restaurant & BarEditor's pick
blog.bestRooftopBars.col_bestFor: Best river view, sunset seats before 5:30 PM
2The Twizt - Lifestyle Hostel & HotelBest atmosphere
blog.bestRooftopBars.col_bestFor: Pool, young crowd, rooftop bar
3Dialogue
blog.bestRooftopBars.col_bestFor: Crafted cocktails in a design-led room
4Amara Dining Pub Street
blog.bestRooftopBars.col_bestFor: Highest-rated rooftop above the strip
5Sokkhak River Lounge
blog.bestRooftopBars.col_bestFor: Riverfront terrace in a colonial building
River and garden outlooks
Terraces where the view is the reason you stay for the second round.
| # | Rooftop | Type | Price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Tavern Siem Reap | Rooftop bar | $$ | (500+) |
| 7 | X-Bar | Late-night rooftop | $$ | (700+) |
| 8 | Picasso Bar | Tapas bar | $$ | (200+) |
| 9 | Cheers Bistro | Rooftop bistro | $$ | (300+) |
| 10 | Marley Bar | Reggae rooftop | $ | (100+) |
6Tavern Siem ReapBest value
blog.bestRooftopBars.col_bestFor: Reliable all-rounder, generous pours
7X-Bar
blog.bestRooftopBars.col_bestFor: Open latest in town, skate ramp upstairs
8Picasso Bar
blog.bestRooftopBars.col_bestFor: Tiny, iconic, standing room only
9Cheers Bistro
blog.bestRooftopBars.col_bestFor: Food-first rooftop with long hours
10Marley Bar
blog.bestRooftopBars.col_bestFor: Reggae, relaxed, cheapest drinks here
Late night, budget and hotel terraces
Where the evening goes after midnight, and where it costs the least.
| # | Rooftop | Type | Price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | The Space Restaurant | Rooftop restaurant | $$ | (200+) |
| 12 | The Mansion | Boutique rooftop | $$ | (50+) |
| 13 | Silk Garden Bar and Restaurant | Garden rooftop | $$ | (50+) |
| 14 | Temple Sky Lounge Riverside | Sky lounge | $$ | (100+) |
11The Space Restaurant
blog.bestRooftopBars.col_bestFor: Dinner with a view rather than a bar
12The Mansion
blog.bestRooftopBars.col_bestFor: Quiet terrace in a hotel setting
13Silk Garden Bar and Restaurant
blog.bestRooftopBars.col_bestFor: Garden feel above street level
14Temple Sky Lounge Riverside
blog.bestRooftopBars.col_bestFor: Pub Street group, river outlook
Rooftops where the food is worth ordering
Most rooftop kitchens exist to keep you drinking. Four here do not. The Christa serves a full Khmer and Western menu across its three floors, with real vegetarian and vegan options, and reviewers consistently rate the food as highly as the view.
Amara Dining leads with dinner and treats the terrace as the setting rather than the product. The Space Restaurant is a restaurant first, with a view attached. Cheers Bistro keeps long hours and a food-first menu, which makes it the fallback when everything else has stopped serving.
At the other end, Picasso is not a rooftop at all in the strict sense but a tiny standing tapas bar in Alley West, kept on this list because no honest Siem Reap drinks guide leaves it out.
Which rooftop has the best view
The honest answer is that Siem Reap has no skyline, so the competition is about what sits below the terrace rather than how high it is. The Christa wins on the river, with an open fourth-floor terrace looking down the water. Sokkhak River Lounge gives you the same river from a colonial building and a lower, more intimate angle.
Amara Dining trades the river for the Pub Street rooftops and the movement of the strip, which is its own kind of spectacle after dark. Silk Garden and The Mansion offer quiet over drama, garden and hotel terraces where you can hold a conversation. If your priority is a photograph, go to The Christa before six.
If it is an evening, the others age better.
When to arrive for sunset
Sunset in Siem Reap falls between 5:45 PM and 6:15 PM across the year, and the good seats go a full half hour before that. The Christa is the clearest case: reviewers repeat the same advice, arrive before 5:30 PM or accept an inside table. Sokkhak River Lounge fills at a similar hour because its terrace faces the water directly.
Amara Dining, above Pub Street, has a slightly later rush since its crowd tends to eat first. If you are travelling between November and February, add fifteen minutes to all of that. The compensation for arriving early is that happy hour at most of these rooftops runs from around 4 PM to 7 PM, so the cheapest drinks and the best light happen at the same time.
Rooftop bars by area
Almost everything on this list sits within a ten-minute walk of the Old Market. The riverside cluster holds The Christa, Sokkhak River Lounge and Temple Sky Lounge Riverside, all facing the water within a few hundred metres of each other, which makes a three-stop evening easy on foot. Around Pub Street you have Amara Dining directly above the strip and Picasso a few steps away in Alley West.
Sivatha Boulevard carries X-Bar, the late-night anchor. The remaining terraces, Dialogue, Tavern, The Mansion, Silk Garden, Marley and The Space, spread through the central blocks between the river and Sivatha, none of them more than a short tuk-tuk ride from the others. Nothing on this page requires planning transport.
Where residents drink, and where they do not
Residents use rooftops differently from visitors. The Christa and Sokkhak get used for the view when someone is in town. Tavern and Dialogue are the weeknight addresses, chosen for the drink rather than the outlook.
X-Bar is where the night ends rather than starts, because it stays open long after the rest of the strip has shut, and its upstairs skate ramp is a genuine Siem Reap oddity rather than a marketing line. Marley Bar draws the crowd that wants reggae and a small bill. The Twizt sits slightly apart, a hostel rooftop with a pool that suits a younger, louder evening.
None of this shows in the ratings, which is precisely why a ranking needs a second pass.
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How we ranked these 14 rooftops
Directory data
Ratings, addresses, opening hours and coordinates come from our own directory of more than 600 restaurants and bars in Siem Reap, refreshed from Google Places.
Weighted scoring
Each rooftop was scored on its Google rating weighted by the logarithm of its review count, so a small terrace with a perfect score does not outrank an institution with a thousand reviews.
Local correction
The score was then corrected by hand. Several venues are filed as rooftop bars without being one, and one genuine institution is a ground-floor tapas bar we kept anyway.
Browse every bar in Siem Reap
Our directory lists verified bars and rooftops with real opening hours, addresses and reviews, filtered by neighbourhood.
Open the directoryFrequently asked questions
Which rooftop bar has the best view in Siem Reap?
The Christa, for the river. Its open terrace looks straight down the water and holds a 4.8 rating over 1,000+ reviews. Arrive before 5:30 PM for a sunset seat.
What time is sunset in Siem Reap?
Between 5:45 PM and 6:15 PM across the year. Terrace seats go about thirty minutes earlier, and happy hour at most rooftops runs from around 4 PM to 7 PM.
How much does a cocktail cost on a Siem Reap rooftop?
Most rooftops here sit in the $$ range, which in Siem Reap means roughly $4 to $7 for a cocktail and $1.50 to $3 for a beer. Marley Bar is the cheapest on this list.
Which rooftop stays open the latest?
X-Bar, which keeps going long after the rest of the strip has closed and has a skate ramp on its upper level.
Are Siem Reap rooftops good for dinner?
Four of them are: The Christa, Amara Dining, The Space and Cheers Bistro all lead with a real kitchen rather than treating food as an afterthought.
Is there a dress code?
No. Siem Reap rooftops are relaxed, and shorts and sandals are normal everywhere on this list, including the hotel terraces.
Which rooftop is best for a quiet drink?
The Mansion and Silk Garden, both of which trade spectacle for a terrace where you can hold a conversation. Sokkhak River Lounge is the calmer of the riverside options.
Do I need to book a rooftop table?
Rarely, but between November and February arriving before 5:30 PM matters more than booking, since the sunset seats are the ones that run out.
Which rooftops are near Pub Street?
Amara Dining sits directly above the strip and Picasso is a few steps away in Alley West. The riverside cluster is a five-minute walk further.
Is Picasso really a rooftop bar?
No. It is a tiny standing tapas bar in Alley West, filed as a rooftop in the data. We kept it because no honest guide to drinking in Siem Reap leaves it out.