🛕 Ta Som
តាសោម
Province
Siem Reap
Era
Late Angkorian
Difficulty
🟢 Easy
Crowds
😌 Low Crowds
Key Facts
Built: Late 12th century
Built by: King Jayavarman VII
Religion: Buddhist
Entry Fee: Angkor Pass
Time Needed: 15–30 minutes
UNESCO: ✅ World Heritage Site
A small, charming temple with a spectacular strangler fig tree dramatically engulfing the eastern gopura.
Ta Som is a small but enchanting Buddhist temple that often gets overlooked in favor of more famous sites, yet it offers one of the most photogenic single images in all of Angkor — its eastern gopura (entrance gate) completely engulfed by a massive strangler fig tree. The temple follows the standard Jayavarman VII layout with face towers at the entrances and a modest central sanctuary. Originally dedicated to Jayavarman VII's father, the temple has a peaceful, overgrown atmosphere. Its small scale and low visitor numbers make it an ideal respite from the larger, more crowded temples.
Background
Ta Som is a Buddhist temple at Angkor, built at the end of the 12th century for King Jayavarman VII. The king dedicated the temple to his father, Dharanindravarman II, who was king of the Khmer Empire from 1150 to 1160. The temple consists of a single shrine on one level, surrounded by a moat and by three enclosing laterite walls broken by two sets of gopuras. The gopuras are cross-shaped, and their main structures are carved with four faces in the Bayon style. Like the nearby Preah Khan and Ta Prohm, it was left largely unrestored, with trees growing among the ruins; a sacred fig has grown down through the blocks of the eastern outer gopura and into the ground. The World Monuments Fund added the temple to its restoration programme in 1998.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article “Ta Som” (revision 1367131887, retrieved 19 October 2026), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; text condensed and edited.
Highlights
- ✦ Iconic tree-engulfed eastern gate
- ✦ Face towers at entrance
- ✦ Peaceful atmosphere
- ✦ Excellent photography spot
- ✦ Few tourists
Best Time to Visit
Any time — rarely crowded
Visitor Tips
- 💡 Don't miss the eastern gopura — walk through the temple to the back
- 💡 Part of the Grand Circuit — combine with Neak Pean and Preah Khan
Nearby Temples
13.4700°N, 103.9050°E
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