Three days is the sweet spot — enough time to step beyond the famous temples into floating villages, jungle ruins and a quieter, deeper Cambodia.

Phnom Kulen is the birthplace of the Khmer Empire - a sacred mountain of carved riverbeds, a giant reclining Buddha, and a waterfall you can swim under.

Two hundred years older than Angkor, Sambor Prei Kuk is a forest of brick towers, octagonal sanctuaries and grazing buffaloes — and almost no other visitors.

Ten days is enough to feel a country. This itinerary moves from temples and floating villages to colonial Phnom Penh, French Kep and the white-sand islands of the Gulf of Thailand.

A single day in Siem Reap can move from Angkor Wat sunrise to village life, monks’ blessings and the warm hum of a Khmer evening — here is how to do it well.