Photo: Dmitry A. Mottl, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) Follow the evolution of Khmer temple building in the order it happened: from brick sanctuaries in the forest of Sambor Prei Kuk, through the first temple-mountains of Roluos, to the classical perfection of Angkor Wat and the dramatic clifftop setting of Preah Vihear.
Stone Kingdoms is an 8 day, 7 night private architecture tour from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap covering Khmer temple building from the 7th to the 13th century. It visits four UNESCO World Heritage Sites - Sambor Prei Kuk, Angkor, Koh Ker and Preah Vihear - plus the Roluos group, Banteay Srei and Kbal Spean, with a guide who reads the buildings as well as the history. It suits architects, students and anyone who has seen Angkor once and wants to understand it.
A slow architectural reading of Angkor Wat at first light: axial plan, concentric galleries, the quincunx of towers and the bas-reliefs.
The seven-tiered pyramid of a lost 10th-century capital, and the forest-bound complex of Beng Mealea on the way back.
Watch the tower change across the week. At Sambor Prei Kuk it is a single brick shrine; at Bakong it sits on a stepped pyramid; at Angkor Wat five towers form a mountain of the gods. The same idea, refined over five hundred years.
Photo: Jakub Hałun, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) Sunrise over the western causeway, then an unhurried study of the early 12th-century masterpiece.
Photo: Arian Zwegers, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0) Prasat Thom, the seven-tiered pyramid of the 10th-century capital, briefly the centre of the Khmer world.
Photo: PsamatheM, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) Gopuras and courtyards rising along a ridge of the Dangrek escarpment to a sanctuary on the cliff edge.
Every timing below is a starting point, not a rule. Tell us your flights and we rebuild the shape of the trip around them.
Kampong Thom - overnight Siem Reap
Sambor Prei Kuk, the 7th-century capital of Isanapura: octagonal brick towers, carved "flying palaces" and a forest setting that show the very origins of Khmer design. On to Siem Reap in the afternoon.
Roluos group - Angkor National Museum
Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei at Hariharalaya, the first Angkorian capital (late 9th century). Bakong, a stepped pyramid, is the prototype for every temple-mountain that followed. In the afternoon the Angkor National Museum supplies the visual vocabulary for the days ahead.
Angkor Archaeological Park
Sunrise over the western causeway, then an unhurried study of the early 12th-century masterpiece: its axial plan, concentric galleries, quincunx of towers and the celebrated bas-reliefs. Late afternoon at Phnom Bakheng.
Angkor Archaeological Park
Into the walled city through its South Gate to the Bayon and its serene stone faces, the Baphuon and the Terraces of the Elephants and Leper King. Afternoon at Ta Prohm, a living lesson in how conservation choices shape what we see.
North of Angkor
Banteay Srei, consecrated in 967, holds the finest carving in the Khmer world in rose-pink sandstone. A short jungle walk leads to Kbal Spean, where lingas and deities are carved into the riverbed.
Preah Vihear province
A full day to Koh Ker, briefly the royal capital in the 10th century, dominated by the seven-tiered pyramid of Prasat Thom. Back via Beng Mealea, a vast 12th-century complex left largely to the forest.
Dangrek Mountains
An early start for Preah Vihear, a sequence of gopuras and courtyards rising along a ridge to a sanctuary on the cliff edge, with views across the northern plains. Back to Siem Reap for a farewell dinner.
Siem Reap
A free morning, or an optional visit to a stone-carving workshop, before the transfer to Siem Reap airport.
7 days / 6 nights
French planning, Art Deco and Khmer tradition - Phnom Penh's boulevards, Battambang's shophouses, Kampot and the Bokor hill station.
5 days / 4 nights
Vann Molyvann's Phnom Penh, the ruined modernist villas of Kep and the 1960s port city of Sihanoukville.
Send your dates and group size. We come back with a costed version of this trip, reshaped around you.
Plan Stone Kingdoms
