Guest Mode: Sara and Cindy Test Templation and the Jungloo, in Siem Reap
- Voyageuse Passion
- 9 hours ago
- 4 min read
For one weekend, Sara and Cindy swapped the bustle of Phnom Penh for the calm of Templation, about ten minutes from downtown Siem Reap. On the agenda: one night in a pool villa, another in the famous Jungloo, surrounded by beautiful exotic greenery. Here's what they thought.
A few hours earlier though, the duo had barely set down their bags at the entrance to Templation.
First Impressions: The Lobby
“The lobby entrance is gorgeous, with a big, lush pathway that instantly gives a sense of calm and elegance,” Cindy recalls. Staff welcomed them warmly, no fuss, and the path to the rooms winds through dense gardens where the greenery clearly takes precedence over the architecture. An effective warm-up before seeing the rooms — and a setting that turns out to be just as polished once night falls.
The Pool Villa: Quiet Luxury
Sara spent her first night in a Pool Villa. Her verdict: “From the warm welcome to room service, which you can easily order through an app with quick, efficient service, everything is perfectly organized. You feel like you've been dropped right into the jungle.” The room is large and well thought out, with an outdoor bathroom that adds a touch of exoticism, and a private pool fitted with massage jets. Cindy, who stayed in the same type of villa, agrees: “The room is spacious and high quality, and so is the bathroom, which is well equipped.” Her one gripe: no hot water the first night. Nothing that ruined the stay, but a detail worth fixing.
The Jungloo, or How to Sleep Surrounded by Greenery
A change of scenery for the second night: the Jungloo, the hotel's most distinctive addition. Sara, who discovered it before Cindy, describes “an unusual experience that combines originality and comfort,” a real “little cocoon” with its own private pool. The arrival is a bit of a surprise — “slightly less polished, the first entrance looks more like an empty bar before you reach the path leading to the tents,” Cindy notes. The barrel-shaped bungalows hide almost completely in the vegetation, among banana trees and bamboo, and finding your room number can take a moment.
But the interior makes up for it: a real wooden retreat, with a four-poster bed draped in mosquito netting and soft lighting that instantly makes you want to slow down.
Right outside the French doors, a small private pool completes the picture — perfect for two people looking for privacy, even if the water was, according to Cindy, on the cool side.
The highlight of the experience is breakfast served on a floating tray, set right on the water. Lovely to look at, less practical to eat: Cindy readily admits it's easier to finish your plate at a table.
Breakfast, Quite Possibly the Best Part of the Day
On this point, neither has a single complaint. The choice is wide and covers every craving: eggs, noodle soup, salmon, congee, or eggs Benedict on the savory side; granola, yogurt, pancakes, waffles, and pastries on the sweet side, with as many Western options as Asian ones.
Fresh juice, tea, coffee: it's all there. “Service is efficient and pretty quick,” Cindy notes, though she wishes it weren't quite so warm under the veranda despite the ceiling fans — a minor detail next to the view over the gardens and pool.
A setting that alone would make you want to stretch breakfast all the way into lunch — smoked salmon, cold cuts, sausages, and crispy bacon included.
The Main Pool, and the Rest of the Stay
“Big, peaceful, and very relaxing: it's clearly one of the hotel's strong points,” Cindy says of the main pool — Sara goes so far as to call it “quite possibly one of the most beautiful in Cambodia.” On the food side, lunch on-site left a good impression, with a well-cooked fish simply served with asparagus. What the two remember most, though, is the staff — “always smiling and professional,” says Sara; “genuinely outstanding, so warm,” adds Cindy.
So, Would They Go Back?
“I highly recommend Templation and the Jungloo. It's a beautiful hotel, with excellent hospitality, high-quality rooms, and good food,” Cindy sums up. Just outside the city, the place lets you step away from the world without cutting yourself off from it entirely — Angkor's temples and the rest of Siem Reap are still just a tuk-tuk ride away. Sara closes on a broader note: Siem Reap keeps reinventing itself, and beyond the temples, the city is now packed with things to do with family or friends. All the more reason to come back — for the hotel, and for the city.