Private Guided Tour Khmer Temples Beng Mealea and Koh Ker

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. Today, meet your personal guide and driver and travel to the lost temple of Beng Mealea, the titanic of temples, a slumbering giant lost for centuries in the forests of Cambodia. It is the most accessible of Angkor’s lost temples, a mirror image of Angkor Wat, but utterly consumed by the voracious appetite of nature. Constructed by Suryavarman II (1113-1150), the builder of Angkor Wat, the forest has run riot here and it is hard to get a sense of the monument’s shape amid the daunting ruins. Here it is possible to enjoy an Indiana Jones experience clambering about the vast ruin. For those who want a more gentle adventure, there is also a sturdy wooden walkway running right into the heart of the temple. It is also possible to visit a nearby Angkor-era quarry from where stone was cut to build these massive monuments.

   3 hAdmission included

2. We then head into the bush to the remote Angkor capital of Koh Ker is an Angkorian site in northern Cambodia 70 miles northeast of Siem Reap; it was briefly the capital of the Khmer empire between 928 and 944 under king Jayavarman IV and his son Hasavarman II. After the Khmer empire had been established in the Angkor area (Roluos), Jayavarman IV moved the capital in 928 to Koh Ker. Here a vast number of temples were built under his reign, until his successor returned to the Angkor area about twenty years later. The Koh Ker site is dominated by Prasat Thom, a seven-storey step pyramid, a 30-meter-tall temple-mountain raising high above the plain and the surrounding forest. Great views await the visitor at the end of an adventurous climb. The area was only recently de-mined and the road improved. This makes Koh Ker very attractive for anyone who would like to experience what Angkor must has been like half a century ago. After exploring Koh Ker, begin the drive back to Siem Reap.

   4 hAdmission included

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Know before you go

How it compares in Siem Reap

• Its from-price is 76% above the median of the 353 day trips we list in Siem Reap.
• Its length is typical for the group.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Siem Reap

Siem Reap is the riverside town beside Angkor, Cambodia's vast complex of Khmer temples, with night markets, river walks and a relaxed centre.

Angkor Wat, often called the largest religious monument in the world, rises above its moat in a silhouette of lotus-bud towers that is breathtaking at sunrise. Nearby, the walled city of Angkor Thom holds the Bayon, with its more than two hundred serene stone faces, the Terrace of the Elephants and the Baphuon, while Ta Prohm is gripped by the roots of giant silk-cotton and strangler fig trees.

Top-ranked sights in Siem Reap: Angkor Thom, Tonlé Sap, Kampong Phluk.

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