Visit Phnom Kulen
Just two hours away from the Angkor temples, Phnom Kulen is a popular tourism destination in Cambodia. It is an important pilgrimage site for Cambodian people and, along with the jungles surrounding Angkor, one of the few remaining tropical forests in northwest Cambodia.
Recognising its environmental and historical value and trying to protect the area, the government of Cambodia classified the whole range of hills as a protected area in 1993, under the name Phnom Kulen National Park. In December 2012, recognising its exceptional historical value, UNESCO recommended that Phnom Kulen be classified as World Heritage Site.
Every day, hundreds of Cambodian visitors, even thousands during annual celebrations, converge from all over the country to Phnom Kulen, an important pilgrimage site for them. The most famous tourism spots of Kulen are the waterfall, the River of the One Thousand Lingas, the reclining Buddha of Preah Ang Thom, as well as the sandstone elephant of Srah Damrei.
Dozens more temples and rock shelters, some of them dating back as far as the Eighth and Ninth Century, are hard to access, as of today. Day trips from Siem Reap are run by local travel agents but they will only bring you to the waterfall and the River of 1,000 Lingas. To access other sites, you will need the services of specialised tour agencies.
Recognising its environmental and historical value and trying to protect the area, the government of Cambodia classified the whole range of hills as a protected area in 1993, under the name Phnom Kulen National Park. In December 2012, recognising its exceptional historical value, UNESCO recommended that Phnom Kulen be classified as World Heritage Site.
Every day, hundreds of Cambodian visitors, even thousands during annual celebrations, converge from all over the country to Phnom Kulen, an important pilgrimage site for them. The most famous tourism spots of Kulen are the waterfall, the River of the One Thousand Lingas, the reclining Buddha of Preah Ang Thom, as well as the sandstone elephant of Srah Damrei.
Dozens more temples and rock shelters, some of them dating back as far as the Eighth and Ninth Century, are hard to access, as of today. Day trips from Siem Reap are run by local travel agents but they will only bring you to the waterfall and the River of 1,000 Lingas. To access other sites, you will need the services of specialised tour agencies.
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Our long-term partner, Terre Cambodge, is an experienced travel agency based in Siem Reap which offers a wide range of original circuits and tailor-made tours to rural villages. Their team has been operating since 1998 and can arrange your trip to Phnom Kulen off the beaten tracks, including the rural villages of Phnom Kulen where we implement our development activities.
Terre Cambodge has been supporting ADF since 2010, and part of their proceeds are used to fund our development activities, and particularly the Income Generation component. They are aware of the problems and challenges caused by the globalisation of tourism and are committed to promoting responsible and environmental-friendly ecotours. Since 2018, ADF has been working hard with Terre Cambodge to set up two Community-based Tourism Centres in the Phnom Kulen villages of Anlong Thom and Popel. These centres, whose objective is to provide additional incomes to the villagers of the forest community (CPA), provide a tourism offer with general information, daily tours with local guides, lunches, and handicraft products. C-19 pandemic has of course affected their functioning but they are now fully operational ! Please contact Popel and Anlong Thom CBTC's to get further information on the half day and full day tours. You can also check the videos below presenting the Popel and Anlong Thom CBTCs'. We are looking forward to see you up upthere! |
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