Temples in Cambodia: 15 Best, from Angkor Wat to Koh Ker

The Khmer people who built these temples are still Cambodia's majority today, and no one knows exactly how many temples their empire left behind. The Angkor park alone is spread over about 400 sq km, and the country has four UNESCO World Heritage temple sites: Angkor (1992), Preah Vihear (2008), Sambor Prei Kuk (2017) and Koh Ker (2023). Hindu and Buddhist temples stand side by side across all of them, often inside the same walls.

Below are the 15 temples in Cambodia we plan trips around: ten inside the Angkor park, five beyond it. After them come the city temples of Phnom Penh and Battambang, the Angkor Pass in rupees, day plans, sunrise spots, costs and dress rules.

The 15 best temples in Cambodia at a glance

Map: the best temples in Cambodia, around Siem Reap and beyond.

Angkor's 10 best temples

Eight of the ten temples below are inside Angkor Archaeological Park, a short tuk-tuk ride north of Siem Reap. Banteay Srei and the Roluos group sit outside it but use the same pass. Two loops cover the core. The Small Circuit (about 17 km) takes in Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm, and the Grand Circuit (about 26 km) adds Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon and Pre Rup.

1. Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat means "city temple". It is the temple the whole park is named after, and it is the building on Cambodia's national flag. Khmer ruler Suryavarman II built Angkor Wat between about 1122 and 1150 in honour of his god, Lord Vishnu, the preserver in Hinduism. Three rising galleries sit inside an outer wall and a moat 190 m wide, the moats symbolising a cosmic chain of mountains and oceans. The five towers stand for the peaks of Mount Meru, the centre of the universe in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology, and the central one rises 65 m.

It is the largest religious monument in the world, and it faces west, unlike most Khmer temples. Come for sunrise at 5:00 am, then walk the 800 m of carved galleries, where the east wall shows the Churning of the Ocean of Milk. The top level, the Bakan, opens at about 7:40 am and is closed to children under 12. Our Angkor Wat guide has the full route, and the Angkor Wat Vishnu temple story goes deeper into its Hindu origins.

2. The Bayon Temple, Angkor Thom

Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom stand close together, about 1.5 km apart. Angkor Thom is the grand walled city built by King Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century. The old capital of Yasodharapura had been sacked by the Chams in 1177. He drove them out and made Angkor Thom the capital of the Khmer state. There were a couple of older temples already standing inside, but he created his own royal state temple, the Bayon, at the centre of the city. Its towers carry more than 200 huge smiling stone faces, usually identified as the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and often said to share the king's own features. Later kings re-dedicated parts of it to Hindu gods, so Buddhist and Hindu images now share the same galleries.

Enter by the South Gate, where the causeway is lined with 54 gods on one side and 54 demons on the other, each row hauling a stone naga. It is the Churning of the Ocean of Milk again, this time life-size. Inside the city, walk on to the Baphuon and the 350 m Terrace of the Elephants. Read our Bayon temple guide and the Angkor Thom page for the layout.

3. Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm is smaller than Angkor Wat or the Bayon, and for many visitors it is the one they remember best. The tentacle-like roots of giant silk-cotton and strangler-fig trees grip the stone, and the leaves cast a greenish shadow all over the ramparts. Jayavarman VII founded it in 1186 as a Buddhist monastery dedicated to his mother, and the French left it to the jungle on purpose. Scenes from Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) were shot here, so most people know it as the Tomb Raider temple.

India has a direct stake in it. The Archaeological Survey of India has led its restoration since 2004 and rebuilt the Hall of Dancers near the east gate, opened in November 2022. Ta Prohm opens at 7:30 am, and the first hour is the quietest. See our Ta Prohm guide.

4. Preah Khan

Preah Khan is another construction of King Jayavarman VII, built in 1191 and, by tradition, on the spot where he defeated the last of the Cham invaders. It was dedicated to his father. What remains is a series of successive rectangular galleries surrounding a Buddhist sanctuary, with side shrines to Vishnu and Shiva, and an inscription records a community of more than 1,000 teachers, so it worked as a university as much as a temple. A small stupa, added centuries later, now stands at its heart.

Think of it as Ta Prohm with a fraction of the crowd. The corridors run straight for hundreds of metres, trees still sit on the walls, and on the north side there is a rare two-storey building on round columns. It is the first stop on the Grand Circuit. More on our Preah Khan page.

5. Banteay Srei

Banteay Srei, the "citadel of women", is called the art gallery of Angkor. It is unusual among the top temples of Cambodia because it was built by a royal adviser, the Brahmin Yajnavaraha, instead of the Khmer ruler himself, and it was consecrated to Shiva in 967 CE. The pink sandstone walls carry scenes from Hindu mythology and the epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, cut so finely they look like carved wood. Look for the pediment of Ravana shaking Mount Kailasa, Shiva's home, and for Shiva burning Kama with his third eye.

It is small, about 35 km north-east of Siem Reap, and you need only an hour. Get there at 8 am before the tour buses and pair it with Kbal Spean on the same morning. Our Banteay Srei guide covers every carving worth finding.

6. Phnom Bakheng

Phnom Bakheng is a temple on a 65 m hill, built around 900 by King Yasovarman I as the centre of the first city at Angkor, and dedicated to Shiva. It is the classic sunset spot, looking over the jungle to the towers of Angkor Wat. Numbers on the summit are capped, so climb the 15-minute path by 4:00 pm in peak season or you will wait at the bottom.

7. Pre Rup

Pre Rup was built by Rajendravarman II in 961 as a Shiva temple, and its brick and laterite towers turn deep orange in the late sun. Locals believe funerals were held here, and the name means "turning the body". It is the quieter sunset alternative to Phnom Bakheng and ends the Grand Circuit. Its twin, East Mebon, 1.5 km north, has stone elephants at the corners.

8. Neak Pean and Ta Som

Neak Pean is a small shrine on a round island in the middle of a square pool, with two stone serpents coiled around its base and the horse Balaha rescuing drowning sailors. Jayavarman VII built it as a place of healing. Ta Som, 2 km east, is small but has a face tower at its east gate swallowed by a fig tree, one of the best photographs in the park. Both are on the Grand Circuit and take an hour together.

9. Banteay Kdei and Srah Srang

Banteay Kdei is a crumbling late 12th-century monastery opposite Srah Srang, the royal bathing pool. Srah Srang is the quiet sunrise spot. The sun comes up over the water, the crowds are a fraction of Angkor Wat's, and the temple across the road is cool and empty at 7 am.

10. Bakong and the Roluos group

The Roluos group, 13 km east of Siem Reap, is where Angkor began. Bakong, built in 881 by Indravarman I and dedicated to Shiva, is the first great sandstone temple-mountain, a five-tier pyramid with stone elephants guarding the corners of its lower tiers. Preah Ko (879) and Lolei sit close by. All three are on the Angkor Pass and make an easy late afternoon on your last day.

Beyond Angkor: 5 temples most tours skip

Cambodia's other UNESCO temple sites, and its oldest temples, are two to four hours' drive from Siem Reap. They are bigger, wilder and far less crowded than Angkor. The table gives the distance, the drive and what each ticket costs.

11. Beng Mealea

Beng Mealea is what Angkor Wat would look like if nobody had cleared it. Built in the early 12th century, probably under Suryavarman II and in the same style, it has been left almost as found: collapsed galleries, carved lintels in heaps, trees growing through the roofs. A wooden walkway takes you over the rubble. It is about 70 km east of Siem Reap. Our Beng Mealea guide has the walk.

12. Kbal Spean and Phnom Kulen

Kbal Spean is the "river of a thousand lingas". In the 11th century, carvers cut lingas, Vishnu reclining on the serpent Ananta, and Brahma on a lotus into the bed and banks of a jungle stream, so the water running over them was blessed before it flowed down to Angkor. Reaching it means a 1.5 km uphill walk of about 40 minutes. Read more in our Kbal Spean guide.

Phnom Kulen, the plateau above it, is where Jayavarman II declared himself universal king in 802, the founding moment of the Khmer Empire. Today pilgrims come for the 16th-century reclining Buddha at Preah Ang Thom, the river lingas and a waterfall. It needs its own US$20 ticket, sold at the mountain or in Siem Reap. The narrow road up the plateau runs one way, uphill until about 11 am and downhill from about midday, so go to Kulen first and do Kbal Spean or Banteay Srei on the way back.

13. Koh Ker

Koh Ker was the Khmer capital from 928 to 944, under Jayavarman IV (who died in 941) and then his son Harshavarman II, and it became Cambodia's newest UNESCO World Heritage Site in September 2023. Its centrepiece, Prasat Prang, is a seven-tier stepped pyramid that looks more Mayan than Khmer. There are more than 10 temples in the ticketed zone, linked by a single loop road, and Prasat Pram has towers held together by tree roots. Few tour groups make it this far.

Our Koh Ker guide has the full temple list.

14. Sambor Prei Kuk

Sambor Prei Kuk is older than Angkor. It was Isanapura, capital of the Chenla kingdom under Isanavarman I in the 7th century, and its octagonal brick towers, some wrapped in tree roots, are some of the oldest standing temples in Cambodia. It was listed by UNESCO in 2017. It sits about 30 km north of Kampong Thom, so it fits best as a stop on the road between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.

15. Preah Vihear

Preah Vihear is a Shiva temple built mostly in the 11th century on the edge of a cliff in the Dangrek mountains, with a 500 m drop and a view across the Cambodian plain. It was the country's second UNESCO site, in 2008. It has been closed to visitors since the Cambodia-Thailand border fighting of July 2025. Reports from March 2026 described shell damage and unexploded ordnance, and in September 2026 the authorities said the site was still not secure. On 19 October 2026 a second phase of emergency stabilisation began on 29 critical points of the complex, so expect it to stay shut for a while. Check the latest before you plan. Our Preah Vihear temple guide covers its history.

Temples in Phnom Penh and Battambang

If your trip starts or ends in Phnom Penh, the capital has its own temples, and they show the Buddhist Cambodia of today rather than the Hindu empire of the past.

• Silver Pagoda, inside the Royal Palace compound, has a floor of more than 5,000 silver tiles and an emerald-green crystal Buddha.
• Wat Phnom is the hill temple that gave Phnom Penh its name. A wat has stood there since 1372.
• Phnom Chisor, about 60 km south, is an 11th-century hilltop temple reached by more than 400 steps.

Battambang, three hours west of Siem Reap, has two hilltops worth the trip. Wat Banan is an 11th-century five-tower temple at the top of 358 steps, and Phnom Sampeau has cave shrines and, at dusk, millions of bats pouring out of a cliff cave. Our guides to places to visit in Phnom Penh and Battambang cover both cities.

Is Cambodia Hindu or Buddhist? Temples for Indian travellers

Cambodia today is a Buddhist country. Theravada Buddhism is the state religion and nearly the whole population follows it. Its great temples, though, were built by Hindu kings. From the 9th century the Khmer rulers worshipped Shiva and Vishnu, wrote in Sanskrit and named their capitals after Indian ideas. Jayavarman VII turned to Mahayana Buddhism in the late 12th century, and from the 14th century Theravada Buddhism took over. Many temples changed faith along the way, and monks now worship at Angkor Wat.

For Indian visitors there is a second connection. Between 1986 and 1992 the ASI restored Angkor Wat, and it has led the work at Ta Prohm since 2004. A licensed guide makes the reliefs readable. Without one, the Kurukshetra panel is a wall of soldiers. With one, you will spot Bhishma on his bed of arrows. Ask our Cambodia desk for a Hindi-speaking guide, as there are few and they need booking ahead.

Angkor Pass 2026: prices in Rs, validity and hours

The Angkor Pass costs US$37 (about Rs 3,500) for one day, US$62 (Rs 5,900) for three days and US$72 (Rs 6,850) for seven days. It covers every temple in Angkor Archaeological Park plus Banteay Srei, the Roluos group, Beng Mealea and Kbal Spean. Koh Ker and Phnom Kulen need their own tickets.

The 3-day pass is valid for any three days within seven, not ten as some guides and search summaries still say. The official Angkor Enterprise listing gives seven. Buy only from Angkor Enterprise, at the ticket office on Road 60, about 4 km from central Siem Reap, through its website and app, or at its official kiosks. A pass bought anywhere else can be refused at the gate. The 3-day and 7-day passes carry your photo, taken at the counter. Buy a 1-day pass for tomorrow after 4:45 pm and you can use it for sunset the same evening. Individual temples keep their own hours inside the park: Angkor Wat 5:00 am to 5:30 pm, and most others, such as Ta Prohm, 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. For more on the ticket, see the Angkor Wat entry fees page.

Pass validity and opening hours checked against the official Angkor Enterprise ticket listing on 2 November 2026. US$ prices match Angkor Enterprise's published rates, unchanged since 2017. Rupee figures use US$1 = Rs 95.

How many days? Temple plans for 1, 2 and 3 days

Two full days covers the Small and Grand Circuits comfortably. Three days lets you add Banteay Srei and one temple beyond Angkor without rushing. One day is enough to see the big three, but it is a long day.

Indian travellers on a 3-night Siem Reap trip are best served by the 3-day pass. It costs US$25 more than a single day and spreads the walking across three mornings. Our 3N/4D Angkor Wat Cambodia tour follows the 2-day plan with a guide, and Cambodia tour packages can add Koh Ker or Phnom Penh.

Sunrise, sunset and beating the crowds

Angkor Wat sunrise is worth the 4:30 am alarm, but it is also when the park is at its busiest. Sunrise falls between about 5:30 and 6:25 am depending on the month, and the sky colours up half an hour before.

Most tours run the Small Circuit clockwise from Angkor Wat, so going the other way works. Start at Ta Prohm at 7:30 am, do the Bayon mid-morning and Angkor Wat after 2:30 pm, when the sunrise crowds have gone. Take the hottest hours, 11 am to 2 pm, back at the hotel, and carry two litres of water per person.

Getting around and what it costs

Most visitors hire a tuk-tuk for the day, and the driver waits at each temple. Settle the route and price the evening before.

A full Angkor day for two people sharing a tuk-tuk and a guide comes to about Rs 5,900 to Rs 6,800 each on a 1-day pass, and the pass is more than half of that.

Dress code and temple etiquette

Cover your shoulders and knees at every temple. The official Angkor code bars bare shoulders and shorts or skirts above the knee, and guards check strictly at the Bakan, the top level of Angkor Wat. A T-shirt with sleeves and light full trousers work best, and a scarf over a sleeveless top is often refused.

• Do not touch, sit or climb on carvings, and keep off roped-off areas.
• Ask before photographing monks. Women should not touch a monk or hand him something directly.
• Drones need permission from the APSARA authority, so leave yours at the hotel.
• The Bakan stairs close on Buddhist holy days.
• Wear shoes with grip, because temple steps are steep and worn smooth.

Best time to visit Cambodia's temples

November to February is the best time to visit the temples in Cambodia. The weather is dry and cooler, which makes it the easiest season for walking, and also the busiest. March to May is hot, with April and May the hottest months at around 35°C by early afternoon, so start at dawn and rest at midday. June to October is the wet season: the jungle temples are green, crowds thin out and Kbal Spean has water flowing over its carvings, but Beng Mealea's paths get muddy. Our best time to visit Cambodia guide has month-by-month weather, and the Siem Reap best time guide covers festivals at Angkor.

Reaching Cambodia's temples from India

IndiGo flies nonstop from Kolkata to Siem Reap on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, a flight of about three hours, and it is the only direct route from India to the temples. From Delhi, Air Cambodia flies nonstop to Phnom Penh, and Siem Reap is a short domestic hop or a 5 to 6 hour drive from there (the road passes Kampong Thom, the turn-off for Sambor Prei Kuk). From other Indian cities you fly one-stop via Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore or Ho Chi Minh City. All flights land at Siem Reap Angkor International Airport (SAI), about an hour by road from town. See our Kolkata to Cambodia and Delhi to Cambodia guides.

Indian passport holders need a visa, either an e-visa (US$30) online before you fly or a visa on arrival. Also fill in the free Cambodia e-Arrival card online within seven days before you land. The Cambodia visa guide for Indians has the steps. For everything else to see in the country, read our places to visit in Cambodia.

Cambodia's temples reward time more than speed. Give Angkor two or three days, add Koh Ker or Beng Mealea if you can, and let a guide read the carvings for you. When you are ready to plan, our Angkor Wat Cambodia tour and Cambodia tour packages can be built around the temples you most want to see.

Sources: Angkor Enterprise (official Angkor Pass and ticket listing), UNESCO World Heritage Centre, APSARA National Authority, Archaeological Survey of India.

Edited by TravelTriangle