Temple stonework in Cambodia
Places, not packages

Attractions in Cambodia

Temples, museums, memorials, markets and national parks - what each one is, how long it takes and what it costs to get in.

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In short

Cambodia's main attractions divide into the Angkor temples around Siem Reap, the Khmer Rouge memorial sites in Phnom Penh, the pre-Angkorian and cliff-top temples of the north, and the national parks, islands and river landscapes of the south and east. This index covers each one with its location, how long to allow and what a ticket costs where we have verified it.

Checked

September 2026

By city

Things to do, by where you are

Category

Temples and ancient ruins in Cambodia

Angkor and the Khmer Empire sites beyond it - what each one is, how long it takes and when the light is right.

Siem Reap

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world by land area, built in the early 12th century under Suryavarman II as a Hindu temple…

Where
Angkor Archaeological Park, about 6 km north of Siem Reap
Ticket
Angkor Pass - 1 day US$37, 3 days US$62, 7 days US$72 (Angkor Enterprise, checked September 2026)
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Angkor Thom

Bayon Temple

The Bayon sits at the exact centre of Angkor Thom and is the temple everyone recognises from the enormous serene faces carved into its towers. Built…

Where
Centre of Angkor Thom, Angkor Archaeological Park
Ticket
Covered by the Angkor Pass
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The jungle temple

Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm is the Angkor temple deliberately left partly unrestored, so the silk-cotton and strangler fig roots that grew through its galleries are still holding the…

Where
Angkor Archaeological Park, east of Angkor Thom
Ticket
Covered by the Angkor Pass
Read more
Pink sandstone

Banteay Srei

Banteay Srei is a small 10th-century Hindu temple about 25 km north-east of the main Angkor group, dedicated to Shiva and built from pink sandstone that…

Where
About 25 km north-east of the main Angkor group
Ticket
Covered by the Angkor Pass
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The walled city

Angkor Thom and the South Gate

Angkor Thom is the last and largest capital of the Khmer Empire, a walled and moated city of nine square kilometres founded by Jayavarman VII in…

Where
Angkor Archaeological Park, north of Angkor Wat
Ticket
Covered by the Angkor Pass
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Quieter Angkor

Preah Khan

Preah Khan is a sprawling flat temple complex north-east of Angkor Thom, built by Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century and dedicated to his father.…

Where
North-east of Angkor Thom
Ticket
Covered by the Angkor Pass
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Unrestored ruin

Beng Mealea

Beng Mealea is a large 12th-century temple about 40 km east of the main Angkor group, left almost entirely unrestored - galleries have collapsed into heaps…

Where
About 40 km east of the main Angkor group
Ticket
A separate ticket applies, not covered by the Angkor Pass - confirm the current fee when you book
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Cliff-top UNESCO site

Preah Vihear temple

Preah Vihear is an 11th-century Shiva temple built along a north-south axis on the Dangrek escarpment, ending at a cliff that drops several hundred metres to…

Where
Preah Vihear province, on the Thai border, about 4 hours from Siem Reap
Status
UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed 2008
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The other capital

Koh Ker

Koh Ker was briefly the capital of the Khmer Empire in the 10th century, and its signature monument is Prasat Thom - a seven-tiered sandstone pyramid…

Where
Preah Vihear province, about 2.5 hours from Siem Reap
Status
UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed 2023
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Pre-Angkorian brick

Sambor Prei Kuk

Sambor Prei Kuk is a group of brick temple towers in Kampong Thom province, built in the early 7th century as the capital of the Chenla…

Where
Kampong Thom province, roughly midway between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap
Status
UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed 2017
Read more
Category

Khmer Rouge memorial sites and history museums

The sites that record the Khmer Rouge years. Difficult, essential, and best visited with someone who can explain what you are looking at.

Phnom Penh

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21)

Tuol Sleng was a secondary school in Phnom Penh that the Khmer Rouge converted into Security Prison 21, where thousands were detained and interrogated between 1975…

Where
Boeung Keng Kang, central Phnom Penh
Time needed
Two hours, and you will want the audio guide
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Memorial site

Choeung Ek Killing Fields

Choeung Ek, about 15 km south of Phnom Penh, is the best known of the sites where prisoners from S-21 were executed and buried in mass…

Where
About 15 km south of Phnom Penh, 30 to 40 minutes by road
Time needed
90 minutes to two hours
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Siem Reap

Wat Thmey memorial, Siem Reap

Wat Thmey is a working pagoda on the edge of Siem Reap with a memorial stupa holding the remains of victims of the Khmer Rouge period.…

Where
North of central Siem Reap, on the road towards the temples
Time needed
20 to 30 minutes
Read more
Category

Museums in Cambodia

Where the sculpture, the silk and the story of the country are actually kept.

Phnom Penh

National Museum of Cambodia

The National Museum of Cambodia holds the largest collection of Khmer sculpture in the world, housed in a terracotta-red pavilion built in the French period beside…

Where
Street 13, beside the Royal Palace, Phnom Penh
Time needed
90 minutes
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Siem Reap

Angkor National Museum

The Angkor National Museum in Siem Reap is a modern, air-conditioned museum that sets out the Khmer Empire thematically - galleries on the kings, on religion,…

Where
Charles de Gaulle road, Siem Reap
Time needed
90 minutes to two hours
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Landmine clearance

APOPO Visitor Centre

The APOPO Visitor Centre in Siem Reap explains how Cambodia is still being cleared of landmines and unexploded ordnance left by decades of conflict, and introduces…

Where
Siem Reap, near the Angkor ticket road
Time needed
About an hour
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Category

Palaces, pagodas and landmarks in Cambodia

The Royal Palace, the hilltop pagodas and the buildings that anchor a city walk.

Phnom Penh

Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda

The Royal Palace has been the residence of Cambodia’s monarch since the 1860s, and the public can visit its throne hall, gardens and the adjoining Silver…

Where
Sothearos Boulevard, on the riverfront, Phnom Penh
Time needed
90 minutes
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Phnom Penh

Wat Phnom

Wat Phnom is the temple on the small wooded hill that gives Phnom Penh its name - literally the hill of Penh, after the woman the…

Where
Northern end of central Phnom Penh
Time needed
30 to 45 minutes
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Category

National parks, waterfalls and mountains in Cambodia

Bokor, Kulen, the Cardamoms and the waterfalls that are worth the drive in the right season.

Sacred mountain

Phnom Kulen National Park

Phnom Kulen is the sandstone plateau north-east of Angkor where Jayavarman II declared himself universal monarch in 802 CE - the moment conventionally treated as the…

Where
About 50 km north-east of Siem Reap, 90 minutes by road
Ticket
A separate fee applies and is NOT covered by the Angkor Pass
Read more
Kampot

Bokor National Park

Bokor National Park covers the plateau above Kampot, reached by a long switchback climb to around 1,000 metres. At the top are the remains of a…

Where
Above Kampot, about an hour to the top
Time needed
Half a day
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Battambang

Phnom Sampeau bat caves and killing caves

Phnom Sampeau is a limestone hill outside Battambang with two very different things on it. At dusk, a colony of free-tailed bats pours out of a…

Where
About 12 km south-west of Battambang
Bat exodus
Around dusk, daily - arrive by late afternoon for a seat
Read more
Koh Kong

Tatai waterfall and the Cardamom Mountains

The Cardamom Mountains are the largest surviving rainforest in mainland South-East Asia, and the Tatai river on their southern edge is the easiest way into them.…

Where
Tatai, Koh Kong province, on the road between Sihanoukville and the Thai border
Time needed
Two nights to make the journey worthwhile
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Kampot

Kampot pepper farms

Kampot pepper is a protected-origin crop grown on the red soil between Kampot and Kep, and several farms are open to visitors. A visit walks you…

Where
Between Kampot and Kep
Time needed
60 to 90 minutes
Read more
Category

Wildlife sanctuaries and conservation projects in Cambodia

Which places are genuine rescue and research operations, and how to tell.

Mekong dolphins

Irrawaddy dolphins at Kampi, Kratie

A small population of Irrawaddy dolphins survives in a deep stretch of the Mekong at Kampi, north of Kratie. They are river dolphins - blunt-headed, undemonstrative,…

Where
Kampi, about 15 km north of Kratie town
Best time
Early morning or late afternoon, when the water is calm
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Ethical wildlife

Elephant projects in Mondulkiri

Mondulkiri, in Cambodia’s eastern highlands, is where several projects have retired elephants out of the logging and tourist-riding trades into forest they can range in. At…

Where
Sen Monorom and the surrounding forest, Mondulkiri province
Time needed
A full day, or overnight
Read more
Category

Markets in Cambodia

Central, Russian, Old and the night markets - what each is actually good for.

Art Deco, 1937

Central Market (Phsar Thmei)

Central Market, or Phsar Thmei, is the domed Art Deco hall completed in 1937 at the heart of Phnom Penh, with four arms radiating from a…

Where
Central Phnom Penh
Built
1937
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Phnom Penh

Russian Market (Phsar Toul Tom Poung)

The Russian Market earned its name in the 1980s, when Soviet expatriates were among its main foreign customers. It is a dense, low-ceilinged warren south of…

Where
Toul Tom Poung, south of central Phnom Penh
Time needed
An hour or two
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After dark

Siem Reap night markets and Pub Street

The blocks around Pub Street in Siem Reap hold the Old Market, several night markets and the bar strip that gives the area its name. The…

Where
Old French Quarter, central Siem Reap
When
Markets from late afternoon; the street runs late
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Category

Rivers, lakes and beaches in Cambodia

The Mekong, the Tonle Sap and the southern coast, by season.

The great lake

Tonle Sap floating villages

The Tonle Sap is South-East Asia’s largest freshwater lake, and it reverses direction twice a year when the Mekong backs up into it during the monsoon.…

Where
South of Siem Reap; Kampong Phluk is about an hour away
Best season
Wet season, roughly August to November, when the water is high
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The islands

Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanloem

Koh Rong and its quieter neighbour Koh Rong Sanloem sit about two hours by fast boat off Sihanoukville, and they are where Cambodia’s beaches are genuinely…

Where
Off Sihanoukville, 45 minutes to 2 hours by boat depending on service
Best season
November to April for calm water and clear days
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Kampot and Kep

Kep crab market and the coast

Kep is a small seaside town an hour from Kampot, and its crab market is a row of waterfront shacks where the crab is lifted out…

Where
Kep waterfront, about 25 km from Kampot
Time needed
A long lunch, or a day with Rabbit Island
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Sihanoukville

Otres Beach

Otres is the long, shallow-shelving beach south of Sihanoukville town, and the part of the mainland coast that still resembles what people came for. It is…

Where
South of Sihanoukville town
Best season
November to April
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Phnom Penh

Silk Island (Koh Dach)

Koh Dach is a Mekong island a short ferry ride from Phnom Penh, known for household silk weaving still done on wooden looms under the houses.…

Where
Mekong island north-east of Phnom Penh, reached by ferry
Time needed
Half a day
Read more
Category

Shows, circus and craft workshops in Cambodia

Circus, Apsara dance and the artisan workshops you can walk through.

Siem Reap

Phare, The Cambodian Circus

Phare is a contemporary Cambodian circus in Siem Reap - acrobatics, live music and theatre used to tell Cambodian stories rather than a traditional variety show.…

Where
Siem Reap, near the ring road
Time needed
About 90 minutes
Read more
Siem Reap

Artisans Angkor silk farm and workshops

Artisans Angkor trains Cambodian craftspeople in stone and wood carving, lacquer, gilding and silk, and its Siem Reap workshops and silk farm are open to visitors.…

Where
Workshops in Siem Reap town; silk farm about 16 km west
Time needed
An hour in town, half a day including the farm
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