4 Best Sights in Cambodia

This modern, interactive museum, which opened in 2008, gracefully guides you through the rise and fall of the Angkorian empires, covering the religions, kings, and geopolitics that drove the Khmer to create the monumental cities whose ruins are highly visible in modern-day Cambodia. With more than 1,300 artifacts on glossy display, complemented by multimedia installations, this museum experience helps demystify much of the material culture that visitors encounter at the archaeological parks and sites. The atmosphere is set in the impressive gallery of a thousand Buddhas, which plunges you into the serene spirituality that still dominates the region. Seven consequent galleries, set up chronologically, highlight the Funan and Chenia pre-Angkorian epochs, followed by the golden age of the Angkorian period led by the likes of King Soryavarman II, who built Angkor Wat. The final two galleries showcase stone inscriptions documenting some of the workings of the empires, and statues of Apsara, shedding light on the cult and fashions of these celestial dancers. The audio tour is excellent and well worth the extra cost.

Be sure to visit this museum, established by Aki Ra, a former child soldier who first fought for the Khmer Rouge, then the Vietnamese, and finally the Cambodian Army. Now he dedicates his life to removing the land mines he and thousands of others laid across Cambodia. His museum is a must-see, a sociopolitical eye-opener that portrays a different picture of Cambodia from the glorious temples and five-star hotels. Any tuk-tuk or taxi driver can find the museum, your entry ticket helps land-mine victims go to college.

As it is a decent distance from Siem Reap, it's best to combine this with a visit to the Banteay Srey Temple complex.

This is one of Cambodia's two main museums and, although threadbare, it houses impressive relics that have survived war, genocide, and widespread plundering. More than 5,000 artifacts and works of art chronicle the various stages of Khmer cultural development, from the pre-Angkor periods of Fu Nan and Zhen La (5th to 8th century) to the Indravarman period (9th century), the classical Angkor period (10th to 13th century), and post-Angkor period. A palm-shaded central courtyard with lotus ponds houses the museum's showpiece: a sandstone statue of the Hindu god Yama, the Leper King, housed in a pavilion.

Guides, who are usually waiting just inside the entrance, can add depth to a visit here.

This museum is a horrific reminder of the cruelty of which humans are capable. Once a neighborhood school, the building was seized by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge and turned into a prison and interrogation center, the dreaded S-21. During the prison's four years of operation, some 14,000 Cambodians were tortured here; most were then taken to the infamous Killing Fields for execution. The four school buildings that made up S-21 have been left largely as they were when the Khmer Rouge left in January 1979. The prison kept extensive records and photos of the victims, and many of the documents are on display; particularly chilling are the representations of torture scenes painted by S-21 survivor Vann Nath.