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Hotels and Ancient History in Cambodia

Sala Lodges
Sala Lodges — Siem Reap, Cambodia

You should absolutely visit Angkor Wat when in Cambodia. Then, let the country’s best hotels be your guide for where else to explore in this underrated Southeast Asian nation.

Everyone will tell you that there’s a lot more to Cambodia than Angkor Wat, and they’re absolutely right. Angkor Wat is the largest religious structure in the world, and it’s only just one of the 300 temples within the 400-square-kilometer Angkor Archaeological Park. And the park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Siem Reap, has a lot more than just temples; it contains the remnants of multiple capital cities of the Khmer Empire, ranging from the 9th through the 15th centuries. In modern pop culture, it’s perhaps best known for being the dramatic backdrop of the Tomb Raider movie.

Angkor is an astounding example of ancient urban planning, with an advanced network of reservoirs, dikes, and canals. With estimates of nearly a million residents during its peak, it’s possible it was the most impressive city of medieval times. Some residents even remain. There are still more than 100 active villages in Angkor, where families have been living for generations. Exploring all of this is absolutely reason enough to justify a trip to Cambodia; it’s that spectacular. But it’s not the only reason.

Angkor Archaeological Park
Angkor Archaeological Park

Not that long ago Cambodia was effectively a closed country, struggling with the impact and legacy of the Khmer Rouge, the genocidal ruling party that came to power in the wake of America’s disastrous carpet bombing during the Vietnam War. The Khmer Rouge wasn’t completely dissolved until the 1990s; since then, the popularity of Cambodia as a tourist destination has been on a sharp rise — from fewer than 500,000 visitors in 2000 to approaching 7 million today.

Backpackers and adventurists made up much of the first wave. As the hospitality sector matures, however, travelers increasingly come looking for a less crowded, less expensive alternative to nearby Thailand and Vietnam, while still being able to enjoy the excellent beaches, jungles, wildlife, and cuisine the region is known for. What they find is a culture of kindness — Cambodians are notorious for their friendliness — and a burgeoning food scene that’s on its way to more global recognition. Everyone likes to be first. Why not be the first of your friends to rave about the underrated deliciousness of Khmer cooking?

We’ll leave it to you to research the rest of Cambodia’s appeal and attractions. For our part, it’s best we point you in the direction of the country’s most exciting hotels, each one an advertisement for engaging with this rapidly developing nation. Don’t just take our word for it; some of the world’s top luxury hotel brands have set up shop here, like Aman, Zannier, Rosewood, and Park Hyatt. Smaller, indie boutiques are sprouting up as well. Much of the action is in Siem Reap, Cambodia’s hip center of culture and creativity. There’s a lot to explore here outside of Angkor, from riverside cafes to the legendary Night Market and Phare circus to the traditional floating villages of Tonle Sap Lake.

It’s perfectly wonderful to plan your Cambodia trip around Angkor Wat. For the remainder of your visit, plan it around these hotels.
 

Sala Lodges

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Sala Lodges

There was a time when Asia’s luxury villa hotels were pretty uniformly modernist and minimalist. But lately the traveling public has developed a taste for something a little more rustic, a little more handmade, and Sala Lodges are precisely that. These houses are no reproductions — they’re authentic handmade houses, some fifty years old or more, transported from all across the Cambodian countryside and reassembled here on this site.

Six Senses Krabey Island

Koh Krabey Island, Cambodia

Six Senses Krabey Island

Six Senses Krabey Island, a private speck of a place, is a short boat ride from the mainland, in the spectacular Gulf of Thailand. And if you don’t know Six Senses, take it from us: you can trust them to do luxury villas right. Here there are 40 of them. Bedrooms, living rooms, and bathrooms all look out over native greenery, and come with, at minimum, private plunge pools — many have ocean views as well.

Treeline Urban Resort

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Treeline Urban Resort

First of all, don’t fret about the “urban.” While Siem Reap is indeed a busy city, the Siem Reap River isn’t exactly Fifth Avenue, and a low-slung, compound-style hotel like Treeline Urban Resort can easily achieve a tranquil seclusion. Indigenous stone and wood are the predominant materials, and while the aesthetic may be minimal, the experience is rich and organic. The furniture is handmade and the hotel is packed with local contemporary art.

The Balé Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The Balé

The idea of a minimalist, modernist luxury resort in some idyllic Asian coastal locale isn’t a new one. But the success of a hotel like The Balé Phnom Penh depends less on the element of surprise and more on pure execution. The design achieves the Zen simplicity it’s aiming for, and the physical comforts of the place ensure that you’re never shaken out of the blissful state that the architecture has induced.

Amansara

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Amansara

Amansara was once the guest house of Cambodia’a King Sihanouk. No neo-colonial palace, this villa was built in swinging New Khmer style, a sort of staging ground for the visiting statesman-about-town. Vestiges of this Sixties architecture remain in the calming Zen-inflected minimalist style for which the Aman resorts are known. The two dozen suites are long on luxury, with king beds, lounges, private courtyards, and deep soaking tubs; half come with a private pool.

Zannier Phum Baitang

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Zannier Phum Baitang

Once upon a time, Siem Reap was a village, a far cry from the bustling resort destination it is today. So it makes sense that the 45-villa Phum Baitang would aim to recreate the simple charm of village life. Set just outside of town, slightly apart from Siem Reap’s many, many hotels, espresso bars, and fusion restaurants, the resort’s thatched-roof wooden villas rise up on stilts amid landscaped gardens and paddy fields.

Raffles Hotel Le Royal

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Raffles Hotel Le Royal

This vanilla-colored confection was, in another life, the hotel of choice for jet setters like Jackie O, Andre Malraux, and W. Somerset Maugham. Later, journalists Sydney Schanberg and Jon Swain (of Killing Fields fame) would stay here while they were covering the Khmer Rouge. Today, following a hyper-luxe renovation, the elegance and extravagance of Raffles Hotel Le Royal has largely returned.

Song Saa Private Island

Koh Ouen, Cambodia

Song Saa Private Island

It’s Cambodia, but it’s not the Cambodia you’re expecting. Song Saa Private Island is more the sort of thing the Maldives or Seychelles are known for. This wild speck of a place in the Gulf of Thailand is as close to a state of nature as you’re going to find anywhere, and Song Saa’s twenty-seven villas make the most of their secluded setting — if you’re going to live as a castaway, this is how you do it in style.

Knai Bang Chatt

Kep City, Cambodia

Knai Bang Chatt

Located in the seaside town of Kep, once known as the St. Tropez of Southeast Asia, Knai Bang Chatt is a throwback to the glory days. The hotel is centered around three renovated colonial villas designed by New Khmer architectural trailblazer Vann Molyvann, a student of Le Corbusier. Fully restored, each of the 18 photogenic rooms features a polished teak bed, ceramic lamps and vases, a spacious bathroom, and a private terrace.

FCC Angkor by Avani

Siem Reap, Cambodia

FCC Angkor by Avani

The FCC group is named for the Foreign Correspondents Club in Phnom Penh, and this chapter, in Siem Reap, is housed in the old French Governor’s residence. But the FCC Angkor is anything but fixated on the past. Behind the walls of this Indochina Art Deco mansion is a sophisticated high-design boutique hotel, made of simple modern materials and decorated in a sedate contemporary-Eastern style, far indeed from the conventional picture of the colonial luxury hotel.

Anantara Angkor Resort & Spa

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Anantara Angkor Resort & Spa

A 39-room villa resort in a contemporary Khmer style, Anantara Angkor Resort is less a monument in competition with nearby Angkor Wat and, more appropriately, an inward-looking compound. The rooms are all immersive privacy, laid out like studio apartments, and the suites, all with butler service, are self-contained — the Queen Suites feel sequestered, designed for romance, while the grander King Suites feel geared toward entertaining.

Anjali By Syphon

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Anjali By Syphon

Roughly equidistant from Siem Reap’s busy city center, Angkor Wat, and Siem Reap International Airport, Anjali by Syphon benefits both from convenience and from a more tranquil setting than the city’s more urban hotels and resorts. It’s the perfect place for a hotel whose mission is to offer a transformative experience: a small, stylish, contemporary boutique eco-resort whose meditative modernist architecture wraps around a green oasis of a central pool courtyard.

Hotel Vellita

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Hotel Vellita

Thrilling as it is exploring ancient temples in the jungle, it’s important to consider where to recharge after a day of sightseeing in a tropical climate — and it stands to reason that the area’s best hotels are more like resorts. Hotel Vellita Siem Reap, set just outside of town, is no exception. This boutique hotel’s central feature is a generously sized free-form swimming pool surrounded by banana and palm trees, as well as a few dozen cool, spacious rooms.

Pavilion

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Pavilion

Set ten minutes’ walk from the Royal Palace and a few more from the riverfront, the Pavilion can boast of a rather privileged location — fitting, given its history as a royal residence. It’s built from a compound of four villas, one of which belonged to Queen Kossamak, King Sihanouk’s mother. After a careful restoration, these villas now house a total of 36 rooms and suites in a style that’s more or less equal parts contemporary and classic.

Heritage Suites Hotel

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Heritage Suites Hotel

Siem Reap is bursting at the seams with accommodations that range from backpacker hostels to magnificent five-star resorts. Somewhere in the middle (though a bit closer to the latter) is Heritage Suites, whose twenty-six guest rooms abstain from the kind of over-the-top opulence that defines many of its neighbors in favor of a quiet, secluded take on Indochine luxury.

mark

Mark Fedeli is the hotel marketing and editorial director for Tablet and Michelin Guide. He’s been with Tablet since 2006, and he thinks you should subscribe to our newsletter.