Banteay Srei

Banteay Srei is the temple people remember longest, and it is nothing like the others. Consecrated in 967, it was built not by a king but by a court Brahmin, and it is tiny by Angkor standards, with doorways low enough that adults stoop. What makes it extraordinary is the carving. The hard pink sandstone took detail that softer stone would not hold, and the pediments and lintels are cut so deep and so finely, with dancing figures, monkey guardians, foliage and scenes from Hindu epics, that the surfaces read as sculpture rather than decoration. Because the stone is pink, the whole building changes colour through the day, at its warmest in the first and last hours. It sits away from the main circuit, which used to mean solitude and now means an extra drive.

What you actually see

• The pediment carvings - deeply cut mythological scenes above the doorways, the finest at Angkor.
• The guardian figures - monkey and garuda sentinels flanking the sanctuary steps.
• The pink sandstone - the colour shifting from rose to gold across the day.
• The moat and causeway - the small formal approach that frames the temple.

When to go

November to March for dry weather. Go at opening or in the last light for the colour; the middle of the day is both hot and crowded, and the temple is small enough that fifty people fill it.

Honest expectations

It is genuinely small, and visitors who expect an Angkor Wat in miniature are surprised by how quickly you walk through it. The inner sanctuary is roped off, so the closest carvings are viewed from a short distance. Combining it with the Landmine Museum and Kbal Spean on the same trip makes the drive worthwhile.

Nearby

Kbal Spean's carved riverbed and the Cambodia Landmine Museum are on the same road.