Beng Mealea Temple and Kompong Pluk Village Experience in Siem Reap

A 1-hour experience in Siem Reap. The operator sums it up as visit the hidden jungle temple of beng mealea. The price covers Private air-conditioned vehicle, English-speaking driver and Hotel pickup and drop-off. It does not cover beng mealea temple entrance ticket, kompong pluk entrance and boat ticket and meals and drinks, so budget for those separately. Everything included is listed in full on this page; if something is not on that list, assume it is not in the price. Ta Prohm is the temple the French conservators deliberately left half-swallowed, so the silk-cotton and strangler fig roots still pour over its galleries, and it is the one every visitor recognises from Tomb Raider. It was built by Jayavarman VII in 1186 as a Buddhist monastery and university; an inscription records that it once supported more than 12,500 people, with another 80,000 in the villages that fed it. Wooden walkways now route visitors past the famous roots, which means the queue for the best-known tree can be long by mid-morning. Preah Khan, its larger companion to the north, gets a fraction of the crowds and is the better walk for anyone who wants the same atmosphere without the line. This one is priced for the group rather than per head: 1 traveller costs $129 and 8 costs $168, so the more of you there are the less each of you pays. Golden Escape Cambodia runs it. We book with them directly, so the guide who meets you works for the operator rather than for a reseller.