Days for Angkor
Here is the minimum you should know before traveling to Angkor. We run another introductory page that has many more pictures and also provides some basic background information about the temples. But be aware, it will take some more seconds for loading, hust due to the large amount of images. So if you are looking for a still concise but not only minimal Angkor guide, just click here and wait a few seconds, please.
What you should know about Angkor in advance, is this:
Hotels near Angkor
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Routes in Angkor
Both classical round tours in Angkor Small Tour and Grand Tour run along Angkor Wat and cross Angkor Thom. Below, we tell you what to see along the said two routes, which make almost all major temples of Angkor accessible. The temples are sorted in the order you will see them when driving along the circuit roads in a clockwise direction.
We recommend to include Angkor Wat on the Small Tour and explore Angkor Thom during the Grand Tour. But you could do it the other way around. Anyway, we list them separately here: Let's start with Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom and afterwards list the other temples of the Small Tour and Grand Tour respectively: Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom
Angkor Wat is the first place you will see after entereing the Angkor Archaeological Park from Siem Reap. The best time to take pictures of Angkor Wat is the late afternoon, because the temple is oriented westwards, which is otherwise uncommon in Khmer sacred architecture. However, the early morning hours are also recommendable for a visit, as the otherise crowded major attraction of Angkor is indeed less crowded between 7.00 and 8.00 am. Strolling around in the large temple compound, you will find all courtyards easily. However, the best way is to start at the northeastern corner tower and go to the back of the temple clockwise. This way, you will see the 5 largest ancient carvings of Asia in the outer galleries of the temple proper, depicting scenes of the Ramayana and Mahabharata in the west, a parade and heaven and hell in the southern galleries and the mytholigical Churning of the Ocean of Milk in the southern wing of the eastern gallery.
When driving from Angkor Wat northwards, you will see a natural hill and a small temple pyramid to the left, only a few hundred meters in front of the Angkor Thom South Gate. The hill is Bakheng and it carries the first state temple of the city of Angkor at its top. The city and temple were founded by Yashovarman around 900 BC. he Bakheng temple famous for its more than a hundred Prasat towers. By the way, Bakheng hill is a good vantage point to see Angkor Wat in the jungles to the southeast and the large reservoire called West Baray to the west. At the northeastern foot of Bakheng hill is Baksey Chamkrong from the 10th century, the charming steep step pyramid has only one single Prasat tower and thereby resembles a Maya pyramid.
Concerning the covered area, Angkor Thom is even larger than Angkor Wat. Like Angkor Wat, the younger Angkor Thom, constructed in the late 12th century, was an entire fortified city. However, the central temple of Angkor Thom is not as large as Angkor Wat. But it's the second most significant temple of Angkor due to its numerous towers with Buddhist faces looking into the four directions. The temple known as Bayon is the major temple building of King Jayavarman VII, who besides Angkor Wat founder Suryavarman II, is the most important king of Khmer history.
Though Angkor Thom and its Bayon temple are from the late 12th century, the new city covered an area that had already been the very centre of the plains of Angkor in previous centuries. Most kings resided in a wooden palace a few hundred meters to the northwest of the later Bayon temple. There are several temples in the area of Angkor Thom that predate the founding of Angkor Thom, for example the Phimeanakas within the Royal Palace compound and, just south to it, the immense Baphuon state temple from the mid 11th century. It was the largest temple of Southeast Asia at the time of its construction. But it collapsed later on and was restored only in the early 21st century, sometimes nicknamed the largest jugsaw puzzle of the world. It's richly decorated with carvings, many of them depicting animals. Further temples from roughly the same period are the Khleangs and the twelve isolated towers Prasat Suor Prat and the five small mountain temples of Preah Pithu, all of them at the opposite side of a large square just in front of the former Royal palace. The elevated platform in between palace compound and the square is known as Elephant Terrace due to its life-size elephant carvings. Just north is the smaller but even more richly decorated Terrace of the Leper King.
The central square of Angkor Thom, from where all major temples in this area can be reached by foot, has a large car park and plenty of stalls with restaurant. From here, the "Small Circuit Road" turns to the east and the "Grand Circuit Road" goes to the north. Temples at Small Circuit Road
Starting in Angkor Thom, you will see seven major places of interest along the "Small Tour" before reaching the tank of Srah Srang, where the both circuit roads again:
1. The Victory Gate is a place where you should climb the city walls of Angkor Thom, just to take a picture of a giant Buddhist face flanked by trees. 2. Thommanon is a small temple in the style of Angkor Wat. It has some remarkable carvings. 3. Chau Say Tevoda is the sister temple of Thommanon just at the opposite side of the Small Circuit Road. The courtyard is well-preserved 4. Not far from the bridge crossing the Siem Reap River, you can see the ruins of an ancient Khmer bridge Spean Thma. It's from the later Angor period and younger than the temples. 5. The five-towered step-pyramid Ta Keo was the state temple of Angkor in the late 10th century. It seems to have been unfinished, as the carvings are begun but mostly uncompleted. 6. The jungle temple Ta Prohm, see below, is the major attraction of the "Small Tour". 7. Ta Prohm's slightly younger sister temple Banteay Kdey is an equally labyrinthic complex. The inner temple is crowned by nine Prasat towers. Ta Prohm is known as the "jungle temple", because archaeologists wisely decided not to remove all the trees from the temple but to leave an impression of the state in which the temples were rediscoverd. There are four major strangler figs wrapping the walls of different section of this temple, see the picture below. A fifth immense tree grows atp the rarely visited north tower. Be aware, the inner temple is not a lonesome place any more. Due to the large numbers of visitors, the famous jungle temple has to be crossed along a one-way path.
Temples at Grand Circuit Road
The first temple you will see after leaving Angkor Thom on the Grand Circuit Road is Preah Khan, an even larger sister temple of Ta Prohm. The highlights of a visit are the large tree wrapping the main gate in the east, the hall of dancers with excellent carvings, an enigmatic building on circular stone pillars, the labyrinthic and richly decorated inner courtyard, the causeway flanked by giant railings, and the wonderfull carving of the creation myth of Vishnu known as "Birth of Brahma" in the northern satellite temple.
After visiting Preah Khan, you will see four more highlights of Angkor on the so-called Grand Tour, before reaching Srah Srang, the junction of the Small Tour:
1. Neak Pean is very special in that it is a temple on an islet within a pond surrounded by 4 ponds, that are altogether situated on an island within a large reservoir. Neak Pean can be reached via a long wooden footbridge. 2. Ta Som is a medium-sized temple from the same period as Preah Khan. Two things are special: There are several very fine Bodhisattva sculptures found at pediments and there is an imposing tree groing atop the eastern gate (other end of the temple, which is entered from the west). 3. East Mebon was once an island temple, but the ancient reservoir dried out. It's a not to steep step pyramid with 5 towers from the 10th century. This temple has many excellent and well-preserved lintel carvings. 4. Pre Rup is the much higher state temple from the same period as East Mebon. It's one of the most imposing temple pyramids with five towers in Khmer architecture. The upper terrace is a popular sunset point. Long Tour to Banteay Srei
The most charming of all Khmer temples, Banteay Srei, is half a driving hour to the north of Angkor. This is why the excursion to Banteay Srei is sometimes called the "Long Tour".
Banteay Srei is special in many respects. It was not built by a king. It has an uncommon linear layout combined with a temple proper in of a common concentric groundplan. The temple peoper is situated on a small island, surrounded by a small moat. The temple rooms are almost too small in height for human beings to stand upright in them. The group of animal statues flanking the terrace of the main temple is unique. It's the only Khmer temple built of an extraordinarily hard red sandstone, which contributed significantly to the good state of preservation. Most significantly, no part of the walls of the towers and halls within the temple proper is undecorated and the sculptural design is considered to be the most beautiful of Khmer art. A visit of Banteay Srei is usually combined with a hike to the river od Kbal Spean, which is also known as "1000 Lingas". The name refers to the stylized Linga Carvings that can be seen in groups of large numbers at the riverbed, below the water surface. There is another river of "1000 Lingas" on the plateau of Phnim Kulen. But what makes Kbal Spean unique is that there are several carvings depicting mythological themes at the rocks alongside the streambed, only partly covered by water. A small waterfall contributes to the beauty of this remote place at the northern end of the plains of Angkor.
Half a day is enough for an excursion to Banteay Srei and Kbal Spean. A landmine museum can be visited on the way back. However, it makes sense to combine a detour to Banteay Srei with a visit of Banteay Samré, which is half-way between Siem Reap and Banteay Srei. Banteay Samré is the largest flat temple from the Angkor Wat period. It has an exterior courtyard of red laterite and an interior courtyard of sandstone. Banteay Samré has plenty of remarkable pediment carvings, which are among the best from the Angkor Wat period.
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