Cambodia

Cambodia carries the weight of the Khmer Rouge, yet greets visitors with an openness that belies its past. Angkor's temple complex, the largest religious monument on earth, draws most people in, but there is so much more to the country. Phnom Penh confronts its history directly through the Tuol Sleng museum and Killing Fields, while the Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake, swells and shrinks with the seasons, supporting floating villages. Cambodia's coastline is dotted with white sand islands and old French resort towns. Inland lies Battambang's colonial streets and bamboo trains, the rainforest of the Cardamom Mountains, and Mondulkiri's red-earth highlands, home to ethical elephant sanctuaries, all well off the temple trail.

Highlights

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Wander Angkor Wat at sunrise, then explore the jungle-swallowed temples of Ta Prohm and Bayon's smiling stone faces
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Visit Phnom Penh's Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields, sobering but essential context for modern Cambodia
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Take a boat through Tonle Sap's floating villages, where stilted houses rise and fall with the lake's seasonal tide
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Relax on the white sand beaches and reefs of Koh Rong or Koh Rong Sanloem

Hidden gems

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Explore Battambang's colonial shopfronts, riverside temples and countryside dotted with rural workshops, best seen by bamboo train
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Trek the Cardamom Mountains, one of Southeast Asia's largest remaining rainforests, home to elephants and clouded leopards
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Spend time in Mondulkiri's highlands, where ethical elephant sanctuaries and waterfalls sit among pine forest and red earth
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Visit Kampot and Kep, fading French resort towns known for pepper plantations and fresh crab