Siem Reap
Gateway to Angkor — the old capital of the Khmer Empire, where Angkor Wat stands as the largest religious monument on earth. The town is dusty and easygoing; the draw is what surrounds it — temples swallowed by jungle, the stone faces of the Bayon, stilted villages on the Tonlé Sap, and cold beer on Pub Street after a dawn start. Sunrise temples, then a cold one.
Top recommendations
3 picks
Angkor Wat
The great temple at the heart of the Khmer Empire, raised in the early 1100s and ringed by a vast moat — its five lotus-bud towers built to echo the peaks of Mount Meru. Come at sunrise, before the heat and the umbrellas.
Angkor Thom & the Bayon
The last great walled capital of the empire, its Bayon temple carved with some 200 giant, half-smiling stone faces. Quietest just after opening, before the tour buses.
Chong Khneas floating village
The nearest floating village on the Tonlé Sap — a whole community afloat, with houses, a crocodile farm and even a Catholic church riding on the water. Best in the late-afternoon light.
What to do
3 entriesThe pink-sandstone temple famous for its fine carving, out past the main group
Zip-lining through the Angkor forest — now Angkor Zipline
Grassroots school in the slums — always after volunteers
The gallery
10 postcards
