A trip to Cambodia has two poles. One is the coast, warm and slow and horizontal. The other is Angkor, vertical and ancient and astonishing, up in the northwest near the town of Siem Reap. Many travellers do both, and the contrast is the whole point.
The temples
Angkor was the capital of an empire that once ran much of Southeast Asia, and what it left behind is simply one of the great sights of the world. Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument on earth, is at its finest at dawn, its five towers turning gold above the reflecting pool. Nearby, the Bayon bristles with giant carved faces, and Ta Prohm sits half-swallowed by the roots of enormous strangler figs, the jungle and the stone locked together. You could spend days and not exhaust it.
The town
Siem Reap, the base for the temples, has grown into one of the most likeable towns in the country, with good food, a lively night market and a surprising art and cafe scene. It makes an easy, comfortable counterpoint to the early mornings among the ruins.
Why pair it with the coast
The temples ask something of you, early starts, long walks, the weight of history. The coast gives it back, with hammocks and warm water and nothing to achieve. Do Angkor first and the islands feel like the reward; do the coast first and the temples feel like the grand finale. Either way, the two halves make a whole that neither manages alone.
How to be here
Give Angkor at least two days and a sunrise, fly or take the road up from Phnom Penh or the coast, and buy the multi-day pass so you can go slowly. Then come back down to the sea to let it all settle.