Cambodia
Epic Travel → Asia & the South Pacific → Cambodia
Cambodia is legendary for mysterious vine encrusted temples – and of course the Angkor Wat complex. Siem Reap is an easy destination, with a nice airport, and lots of tourist facilities – it’s a place where tourists feel comfortable, even if they wouldn’t feel comfortable anywhere else in Cambodia. What they don’t know is that the best temples in Cambodia – the ones that make you feel like Indiana Jones and Lara Croft – are outside of Siem Reap. I’m not saying you shouldn’t visit the Angkor Wat complex – you should, because it’s amazing. But if you want to be an intrepid traveller, then you also need to get out of Siem Reap and have some real adventures.
50 km (31 miles) east of Siem Reap is Phnom Kulen National Park. Archaeologists had long suspected that an ancient city lay underneath Mount Kulen, due to the large number of artifacts and archaeological sites found there, and the results of a Lidar scan conducted in 2015 proved them right. And it was apparently not just any city, but an enormous one (if you’re interested, read the article here – there were other sites discovered as well). At the southern end of this unseen massive city complex, at the base of the mountain, is Beng Mealea, a fabulous root encrusted wonderland perfect for exploring. Someday we may be able to explore the ruins of the older city complex on the mountain, but for now Beng Mealea alone offers enough inducement to visit the area.
Further east is Koh Ker – it’s located 120 km (75 miles) from the Siem Reap/Angkor Wat area, making it much (and I mean much!) less frequented by tourists. We were, in fact, the only people there when we visited. It sits in a protected area of 81 square kilometers, but you can’t explore much of the area since it hasn’t been fully de-mined (did I mention this area is remote and rarely visited?) – only about 40 of the 180 (!!) structures built can be visited. It was briefly the capital of the empire (from 928 to 944 AD), and features some fascinating structures, including a Mayan-esque step pyramid and the finest example of a tree/temple fusion we’ve ever seen.
Siem Reap Area
Preah Khan ♦ Intrepid Top Pick!
Phnom Kulen National Park Area
Beng Mealea ♦ Intrepid Top Pick!
Koh Ker
Where to stay
There are lots of accommodation options in the Siem Reap area and you can visit Phnom Kulen National Park and Koh Ker as day trips from Siem Reap (you just have to get up early, and let’s be honest, the jet lag will be doing weird things to your sleeping anyway so you may as well). If you’re super fancy, you can stay at a place like the Belmond La Residence d’Angkor or the Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor (I actually love places like the Raffles hotels because of the beautiful historic buildings they’re in), but honestly you’ll get wonderful service and very nice accommodations at lots of places for a quarter the price (or better). We stayed at The Angkor Miracle Resort and Spa for something like $60 a night and were very happy.
Suggested Itineraries
You can visit all of the places listed here in only three days, making Cambodia a great option for a multi-stop tour of Southeast Asia.
Day 1: Arrive in Siem Reap in time to check in to your hotel and visit the Rolous Temple Complex in the afternoon.
Day 2: Get up in time to catch sunrise at Angkor Wat, then visit the Angkor Thom gates and Prasat Bayon before heading back to your hotel for breakfast. After breakfast, head off on a jungle mountain biking tour and visit Preah Khan, Ta Som, and Ta Prohm along the way. Return to Angkor Wat in the afternoon.
Day 3: Leave early in the morning and drive to the Koh Ker area, where you’ll visit Prasat Thom and Krahom, Neang Khmao, Prasat Pram, and Prasat Krachap, then head back west to the Phnom Kulen area and visit Being Mealea before returning to Siem Reap.
Day 4: Depart in the morning.
Epic Travel → Asia & the South Pacific → Cambodia