Preah Vihea + Koh Ker + Beng Mealea, Private Tour

The most dramatically situated of all Angkorian monuments, Prasat Preah Vihear sprawls along a clifftop near the Thai border, with breathtaking views of lowland Cambodia 550m below. An important place of pilgrimage for millennia, the temple was built by a succession of seven Khmer monarchs, beginning with Yasovarman I (r 889–910) and ending with Suryavarman II (r 1112–52). Like other temple-mountains from this period, it was designed to represent Mt Meru and dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva.

DescriptionKoh Ker is a 10th-century temple complex in the north Cambodian jungle. A former capital of the Khmer Empire, the site is now remote and heavily forested. The main structure, Koh Ker Temple, is a stepped 7-tiered pyramid. The large rectangular tank, Rahal Baray, supplied water to the complex.

Beng Mealea is a large, unrestored temple surrounded and partly overgrown by jungle near Phnom Kulen National Park at considerable distance from Siem Reap and the main Angkor temples. The temple built out of large sandstone blocks adorned with both Hindu and Buddhist depictions is oriented towards the East. A wooden partly elevated walkway leads to the inner sanctuary at the center of the temple. Judging from its style archaeologists believe that Beng Mealea was built by King Suryavarman II during the first half of the 12th century, just before or around the same time as Angkor Wat.