Kampong Thom

Kampong Thom is Cambodia’s most undervisited UNESCO province. While hundreds of thousands of tourists photograph Angkor every week, a fraction make the detour to Sambor Prei Kuk — yet the experience here is arguably more intimate and just as historically significant.

Sambor Prei Kuk (UNESCO)

Sambor Prei Kuk is one of Southeast Asia’s most important archaeological sites — the former capital of the pre-Angkorian Chenla Empire (6th–8th century AD), predating Angkor by 300 years. More than 100 brick towers are scattered through the forest, many draped in roots and partially reclaimed by jungle. In 2017 it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visit on a weekday for a genuinely solitary experience among some of Cambodia’s oldest standing structures.

Silk Villages

The villages around Kampong Thom produce traditional Khmer silk using centuries-old techniques. Weavers work on traditional wooden looms, producing the distinctive hol and sampot fabrics worn at festivals and ceremonies. Village tours can be arranged through guesthouses in the provincial capital.