Ta Nei Temple

Exploring the Hidden Temples of Angkor – Ta Nei Temple

Having been lucky enough to visit Angkor Archeological Park several times, on a recent trip I decided to skip the well known temples of Angkor Wat, Bayon and Ta Phrom and I rented a motorbike to explore the park on my own looking for some of the more hidden temples of Angkor. One of the more interesting temples I found was Ta Nei temple, located towards the North East corner of Ta Phrom. Ta Nei is small, but because it is located down a dirt road, there was barely a handful of tourists and not a tout in sight! For long periods of time I had the temple to myself which was perfect.

Ta Nei temple is a late 12th Century temple built during the reign of King Jayavarman VII and dedicated to the Buddha. Some believe the complex was in fact a hospital. The site is just 55m x 47m in size and semi ruined with very little restoration work carried out, which adds to the charm of the temple. Whilst it is in a ruined state, some of the apsara and lintel carvings are still very beautiful. The temple consists of Eastern and Western gopuras with a small central shrine and surrounding gallery. Parts of the temple have collapsed and the for the most part the collapsed stone has not been cleared giving the sense that you are the first to stumble upon Ta Nei temple. Sections of the temple are in good condition and you can spend at least an hour wandering around and soaking in the atmosphere of what is quite a rare experience – an Angkor temple to yourself.

The jungle surroundings also make for a nice atmosphere and if you are lucky you may spot a family of gibbons which were recently re-introduced by Flight of the Gibbon which is 5 minutes away from Ta Nei temple. It also gives you the chance to experience a unique opportunity to zipline inside Angkor park with the leading zipline canopy tour company in Asia!

Getting to Ta Nei Temple
The dirt track starts near Ta Keo (follow the signs to Flight of the Gibbon) and after a few hundred meters take a right turn, from here it is another 200m to the temple. Although the trail is not paved it is easy enough to cycle or motorbike on. There is a sign for a botanical garden 600m past the temple, however I motorbiked at least 1km down the trail and couldn’t find anything so I would not recommend this. The GPS coordinates for the site are: 13.452556°103.885458°.