The Traveller's Magazine
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has declared that Preach Vihear temple is now safe to visit. This place has been the subject of a long-standing dispute between Cambodia and Thailand but it’s no longer dangerous to visit for foreign travellers.
This 9th century temple is a stunner. It’s right on the border between Thailand and Cambodia, each country trying to claim it as its own. The two countries have been in conflict over it since 2008 but finally the FCO has declared the region around the temple safe for visitors.
Cambodian soldiers have been guarding the temple and the surrounding jungle for the past few years and the few tourists that ever make it so far north previously needed to check in at an army base. The temple lies just 100 metres from the Thai border, a border that was created at the end of WWII.
In 2013, the International Court of Justice decided the temple and the surrounding land was in fact Cambodia’s and Thailand should withdraw its troops.
