Beng Mealea

The Entrance to Beng Mealea

The place is literally located in the middle of the jungle. Trees not only grow around the temple, but also on the temple walls themselves.

Angkor Beng Mealea - Entrance laneIn contrast to Angkor Wat where you'll notice how hot it is to walk outside the temple, in Beng Mealea, it is cool and shady.



Beng Mealea is my favourite of all the accessible outlying temples. It is a spectacular sight. To get the best out of it; agility and a head for heights will be needed for some sections. There is a lot of climbing on walls and over huge piles of rubble; from the many parts which have collapsed. Only a small part of this ruin can be seen without some degree of climbing. There are steps and ladders in a few places and to the south, access ramps built for the “Two Brothers” film gives easy access to the central sanctuary.

We usually enter by a little used path which few visitors know about. It is partially overgrown and mysterious. One can get a real sense of discovering a real jungle temple this way. Scraps of stone and partially hidden naga balustrade line the route. The huge ruin is concealed from view until the spectacular West tower and cruciform terrace appears. A giant buttressed sponge tree grows out of the upper level.


We breach a collapsed gallery and enter the western enclosures which are thick with vegetation. Our route into the central area passes under a stone causeway and up tumbled blocks to a narrow passage with impressive root formations lining the walls.

From the end of this passage a head for heights is needed. There is a lot of climbing and descending as we pass the two remaining concentric galleries to the central sanctuary and tower which forms a rocky hillock with a tree growing out of the summit.


Some parts of the temple are so overgrown to be hard to reach and potentially hazardous so take care!

There are a number of different routes from here; but the most entertaining involves climbing through a window and up a pile of large blocks to a viewing platform then dropping down a ladder; over yet another high wall to a dark passage once reputed to be the home of a tigress

I wondered whether the tiger story was a legend or fact until recently when a friend working at a hospital told me of a hunter in the jungle 30kms away was attacked by two tigers in July 2005. The man survived; but only after killing one of the attackers. Don’t worry there is no risk of seeing a tiger now as the last sighting of the tigress was over 10 years ago.


A few Kms east of Beng Mealea is the little known mysterious temple of Kon Phluk. it is on the new road linking Bang Mealea with Preah Khan Kompong Svay It is near the 3km long reservoir (long dried up) We will be adding this temple to some of the Beng Mealea tours; where time permits.