Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor

The Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor on Pokambor Avenue is the grande dame of Siem Reap's hotel scene — a colonial-era building that opened in 1929 and has operated almost continuously since. Even if you are not staying here, the open lobby, garden, and pool area are worth a look: the building retains its original sweeping staircase, teak furniture, and period fittings, and the manicured garden is a genuinely calm space amid the bustle of the town centre.

The hotel's cocktail bar and cafe are pleasant places to recover from a day at the temples — pricey by Cambodian standards but not unreasonably so for a historic setting. High tea in the afternoon is popular. The hotel sits directly on the main road from town to Angkor and makes a convenient landmark for orientation: everything in Siem Reap is "towards the Grand Hotel" or "away from the Grand Hotel."

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A story
The Grand Hotel d'Angkor opened in 1929 as the base for European visitors making the then-arduous journey to the temples. Somerset Maugham and Charlie Chaplin both stayed here. During the Khmer Rouge years the hotel was closed and looted; when Raffles took over the restoration in the 1990s they found the original fixtures largely intact behind walls, including a working 1930s telephone exchange that still stands in the lobby.