Preah Vihear: A Temple on a Cliff, and a Border That Was Fought Over

Preah Vihear is not like the other Khmer temples and the difference is the ground it stands on.

Most of Angkor is laid out as a square mandala on a flat plain. Preah Vihear is built along a north-south axis nearly 800 metres long, climbing a spur of the Dangrek mountains through five successive gopuras - gateways - each on its own terrace, until the final sanctuary sits at the edge of a cliff that drops about 525 metres to the Cambodian plain below. You walk uphill through the whole temple and then the ground simply ends.

Construction spans roughly the 9th to the 12th centuries, mostly under Suryavarman I and Suryavarman II - the same king who built Angkor Wat. It was dedicated to Shiva as Sikharesvara, lord of the summit, which given the site is about as literal as a dedication gets.

The carving on the gopura pediments is good, and the Churning of the Ocean of Milk appears here too, but the temple is not really about detail. It is about the walk up and the view off the end, and it is the one Khmer site where the setting outranks the architecture.

UNESCO listed it in 2008, and that listing is directly tied to why it was closed for years.

The temple sits on the border, and the border here has been genuinely contested.

The International Court of Justice awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, and confirmed the surrounding promontory in 2013. Between those two dates, and especially after the 2008 UNESCO listing, there were armed clashes between Cambodian and Thai forces in 2008 and again in 2011, with casualties on both sides and damage to the temple itself. Parts of the site were closed for long periods.

What that means practically today:

Access is from the Cambodian side only, up the escarpment, which is why the journey is long. The Thai side is much closer to the temple but the access route is closed.

There is a military presence on site. Soldiers are around, some of the outbuildings are theirs, and photographing installations rather than the temple is not welcome.

The area was mined. Cleared paths are marked; stay on them. This is not a formality anywhere in this part of Cambodia and it particularly is not here.

Check the current situation before you plan around it. Border conditions here have changed more than once, and a tour operator in Siem Reap will know today's position better than anything written down.

From Siem Reap it is about 210 kilometres and three to three and a half hours each way on surfaced road, so a twelve-hour day door to door. Leave at six.

From Koh Ker it is closer, which is why the two are often combined - and if you are making this trip, combining them is the right call. See Beng Mealea and Koh Ker.

Your car does not go up. The last stretch to the top of the escarpment is a very steep road, and at the base station you transfer to a local 4x4 pickup or the back of a moto, paid separately, a few dollars. That transfer is not optional and not negotiable - it is a local arrangement and it is how everyone goes up.

Then you walk, uphill, through the temple. It is a real climb in the open, several hundred metres of ascent in stages with almost no shade.

Entry is separate from the Angkor Pass. So is Koh Ker's. Confirm with your operator what the price includes before you set off.

Take: water, a hat, proper shoes, cash in small dollars for the 4x4, and your passport - you are in a border zone and it can be asked for.

Honestly: for most visitors, no. For some, it is the best day of the trip.

Go if you have four or more temple days, you have already done the small circuit, Banteay Srei and Beng Mealea, and what you want now is scale and emptiness rather than more carving. The view from the end of the sanctuary is not available anywhere else in Cambodia and you may well have it to yourself.

Do not go if you have three days or fewer. Twelve hours is a third of a three-day trip, and you would be spending it on driving rather than on the grand circuit or the Tonle Sap, both of which give more per hour.

Do not go with young children. It is a long drive, a steep transfer and an exposed climb.

The cheaper substitute is Koh Ker on its own - two hours each way, a 36-metre stepped pyramid you can climb, and forest to the horizon from the top. It gives you the emptiness without the twelve hours.

If you do go, the seven-day Angkor Pass at USD 72 is almost certainly your ticket by now - see the pass guide - though remember Preah Vihear is not on it.