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Few places prepare you for the first sight of Angkor Wat. The main tower rises above the jungle canopy in the early morning light, its reflection caught in the long sandstone causeway pools, and the scale of it takes a moment to absorb. Siem Reap exists in large part because of this temple complex, the largest religious monument on earth, built by the Khmer Empire in the twelfth century and still drawing visitors from across the world to the flat, forested plains of northwestern Cambodia. Yet the town itself has grown into something worth understanding on its own terms, not merely as a staging post for the ruins.

The old French Quarter along the Siem Reap River gives the town centre its low-rise colonial character, with shophouses and open-fronted restaurants lining streets that become lively after dark. Pub Street and the lanes around it are the obvious first port of call for newcomers, though the more considered pleasures tend to be found a little further out, in the quieter guesthouses and family-run kitchens of the surrounding neighbourhoods. The night markets near the Old Market, known locally as Psar Chas, are good places to get a sense of the town's own rhythm rather than its tourist-facing surface.