Kambodja

Kampot Province (ខេត្តកំពត) has emerged as one of Cambodia’s most alluring destinations thanks to a hard-to-beat combination of easy-going seaside towns and lush countryside riddled with honeycombed limestone caves.

Welcome to heaven on earth. Angkor (ប្រាសាទអង្គរ) is the earthly representation of Mt Meru, the Mt Olympus of the Hindu faith and the abode of ancient gods. The temples are the perfect fusion of creative ambition and spiritual devotion. The Cambodian ‘god-kings’ of old each strove to better their ancestors in size, scale and symmetry, culminating in the world’s largest religious building, Angkor Wat.

Koh Rong (កោះរ៉ុង) was once little more than a jungle-clad wilderness rimmed by swaths of sugary-white sand, with a few beach-hut resorts speckling the shore around tiny Koh Tuch village. Today the Koh Tuch village street-strip that leads out from the pier is a bottleneck of back-to-back backpacker crash pads, restaurants and hole-in-the-wall bars blasting competing music. You'll either love it or hate it, but for young travellers who descend off the ferry in droves, Koh Rong (particularly Koh Tuch Beach) is a vital stop on any Southeast Asia party itinerary.

Sure, Sihanoukville (ក្រុងព្រះសីហនុ) would never win first prize in a pretty-town competition, and much of it is now dominated by casinos and tacky commercial centres. But despite the rapid and mostly unwanted development, it has remained the jumping-off point for the best of Cambodia's white-sand beaches and castaway-cool southern islands. The Serendipity Beach area is a decompression chamber for backpackers, who flock here to rest up between travels and party through the night.

The glimmering spires of the Royal Palace, the fluttering saffron of the monks’ robes and the luscious location on the banks of the mighty Mekong – Phnom Penh (ភ្នំពេញ) is the Asia many daydream about from afar.

Looking for temples without the tourist hordes? The remote temples of Northwestern Cambodia are a world apart. While hilltop Prasat Preah Vihear is the big hitter, the other temple complexes – wrapped in vines and half-swallowed by jungle – are all fabulous to wander.

Founded as a seaside retreat by French colonizers in 1908 and a favoured haunt of Cambodian high-rollers during the 1960s, sleepy Kep (កែប, Krong Kep, also spelled Kaeb) is drawing tourists back with seafood, sunsets and hikes in butterfly-filled Kep National Park. Its impressive range of boutique hotels squarely targets a more cultured beach crowd than the party-happy guesthouses of Sihanoukville and the islands.

Home to diverse landscapes and peoples, eastern Cambodia shatters the illusion that the country is all paddy fields and sugar palms. There are plenty of those in the lowland provinces, but here they yield to the mountains of Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri Provinces, where ecotourism is playing a major role in the effort to save dwindling forests from the twin ravages of illegal logging and land concessions.

There's something about Battambang (បាត់ដំបង) that visitors just love. With its riverside setting and laid-back cafes, it's the perfect blend of relatively urban modernity and small-town friendliness.

Sleepy Koh Kong (ក្រុងកោះកុង) was once Cambodia's Wild West with its isolated frontier economy dominated by smuggling and gambling. Although remnants of its less-salubrious past still cling on, today this low-slung town is striding towards respectability as ecotourists, aiming to explore the Cardamom Mountains and coastline, bring in alternative sources of revenue.