Top 10 Ancient Ruins in Cambodia
The Khmer Empire, which dominated mainland Southeast Asia from roughly the 9th to the 15th century AD, produced an architectural legacy of extraordinary scale and sophistication. Centred on the Angkor region in northwestern Cambodia, the empire built a series of state temples and royal cities that are among the largest pre-industrial urban complexes ever constructed. But Cambodia's archaeological heritage extends beyond Angkor: the pre-Angkorian cultures that preceded the empire left their own remarkable temples and religious complexes, and the empire itself built monuments across a territory that stretched from Vietnam to southern Thailand. Open the map to navigate the full spread of Cambodian sites.
1. Angkor Wat, Siem Reap Province
Angkor Wat was built by the Khmer king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century AD as a state temple and, most scholars now believe, a funerary monument aligned with his deified image. The temple covers roughly 162 hectares — making it the largest religious monument ever constructed — and is surrounded by a moat nearly 200 metres wide. Its five towers represent Mount Meru, the cosmic mountain at the centre of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology. The outer gallery walls carry nearly 800 metres of bas-relief narrative — the longest continuous stone narrative in the world — depicting the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, the Battle of Kurukshetra, and the armies of Suryavarman II. UNESCO World Heritage Site; Cambodia's national symbol.
2. Bayon, Angkor Thom
The Bayon, at the centre of the walled royal city of Angkor Thom built by Jayavarman VII around 1200 AD, is immediately recognizable for its 54 towers each bearing four serene stone faces gazing in the four cardinal directions. The faces are generally identified as bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, though they may also carry a portrait element of Jayavarman VII himself. The temple's outer gallery carries exceptional bas-reliefs depicting historical scenes of battles against the Cham and everyday life in the Khmer empire — market scenes, fishing, cooking, and gaming — that have no parallel for their specificity elsewhere in Angkor. The Bayon is one of the most architecturally complex temples of the entire complex.
3. Ta Prohm, Siem Reap Province
Ta Prohm was built by Jayavarman VII in the late 12th and early 13th centuries AD as a Buddhist monastery and university. According to a foundation stele, the complex housed around 12,000 people and was served by nearly 80,000 persons in surrounding villages. The temple was left largely uncleared of the forest that had grown through it, by deliberate decision of the early 20th-century École française d'Extrême-Orient, and the resulting spectacle — massive fig and silk-cotton trees whose roots engulf towers and galleries — is among the most famous archaeological images in the world. The interplay between stone and living root gives the site a quality shared by no other Angkor monument.
4. Banteay Srei, Siem Reap Province
Banteay Srei ('Citadel of Women') was built in the late 10th century AD, around 967 AD, not by a Khmer king but by a counsellor and minister of the royal court. It is built at a smaller scale than the great state temples, but its sandstone carving is widely regarded as the finest in all of Khmer art. The pink sandstone from which it is carved allows an extraordinary precision: the pediments, pilasters, and wall surfaces are covered with narrative scenes from Hindu mythology — episodes from the Mahabharata and Ramayana — executed in such high relief that they appear almost three-dimensional. The site sits about 25 kilometres north of Angkor Wat.
5. Preah Vihear, Cambodian-Thai Border
Preah Vihear is a Khmer temple built principally during the reigns of Suryavarman I and Suryavarman II in the 11th and 12th centuries and positioned at the very edge of the Dangrek escarpment with a drop of some 500 metres on its northern face. The temple is arranged along a single axial promenade running for roughly 800 metres from the top of the escarpment northward, with four processional gateways (gopura) leading to the main sanctuary. The views from the sanctuary over the Cambodian plain are extraordinary. Preah Vihear has been the subject of a long-running territorial dispute between Cambodia and Thailand; since a 2013 International Court of Justice ruling, the temple is under Cambodian administration and open to visitors from the Cambodian side. UNESCO World Heritage Site.
6. Koh Ker, Preah Vihear Province
Koh Ker was the royal capital of the Khmer empire under Jayavarman IV, who moved the court here from Angkor between roughly 921 and 944 AD. The site, in the remote forest north of the Angkor region, contains an extraordinary concentration of temples and monuments built within the brief decades of its status as capital. The dominant structure is Prasat Thom, a stepped pyramid temple rising to about 36 metres — unusual in Khmer architecture, which favoured mountain-temple forms rather than true pyramids. Many of the site's remarkable stone sculptures, including fighting animals and mythological figures, were looted during the years of instability but are now the subject of repatriation efforts. The site is about 120 kilometres east of Siem Reap.
7. Sambor Prei Kuk, Kampong Thom Province
Sambor Prei Kuk was the capital of the Chenla kingdom (the pre-Angkorian Khmer state) under King Isanavarman I in the early 7th century AD, making it one of the earliest large-scale temple complexes in Southeast Asia. The site contains over a hundred brick temple towers arranged in three main groups amid dense forest. The temples are among the finest examples of pre-Angkorian Khmer brick construction, with elegant octagonal towers, carved sandstone decorative elements, and a distinctive style that shows the transition from Indian architectural models to the uniquely Khmer vocabulary that would reach its culmination at Angkor. UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2017.
8. Banteay Chhmar, Banteay Meanchey Province
Banteay Chhmar is one of the largest temple complexes of the Angkor period, built by Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century at a remote location near the Thai border. The temple was dedicated to four generals and Jayavarman's son Srindrakumara, and it preserves exceptional bas-reliefs of which the most distinctive are the multi-armed Avalokitesvara figures on the outer enclosure wall — some of the largest and most elaborate images of this deity in Khmer art. The site has suffered severe looting, including a major incident in 1998, but ongoing restoration work by a community-based tourism program has made it more accessible and better protected.
9. Prasat Linga, Siem Reap Province
Among the hundreds of smaller Angkor-period temples distributed across the Cambodian countryside, Prasat Linga preserves well-maintained brick and sandstone structures typical of the 10th–11th century period of Khmer construction. Dedicated to Shiva in his linga form, the site offers a contrast to the great tourist circuits: quieter, less restored, and set in agricultural landscape rather than managed archaeological park. Sites of this type represent the majority of Cambodia's archaeological heritage — individual tower shrines or small groups that served local communities within the broader network of the Khmer state.
10. Historic Water Basin of Angkor (Baray)
The hydraulic infrastructure of the Angkor urban complex is as remarkable as its temples. The West Baray, a reservoir measuring roughly 8 kilometres by 2 kilometres, holds 50 million cubic metres of water and was built in the early 11th century AD. At the centre of the East Baray stands the East Mebon temple (built 953 AD), originally on an island. The Angkor hydraulic system — comprising multiple barays, canals, moats, and distribution channels — supported the intensive rice agriculture that fed the empire's large population and has been identified by recent lidar survey as part of a much larger managed water landscape extending across hundreds of square kilometres.
The Angkor Archaeological Park is open daily and entry requires a one-day, three-day, or seven-day pass available at the main gate. Dawn at Angkor Wat is one of the great experiences of archaeological tourism, but it is extremely crowded; arriving at midday or late afternoon often allows for quieter exploration. Outlying sites like Preah Vihear, Koh Ker, and Sambor Prei Kuk require additional travel and at least one night away from Siem Reap. The cool dry season from November to February is the most comfortable time to visit. Use Open the map to plan routes combining major and minor sites.