Things to do in Battambang

Battambang's compact old town along the Sangker River is lined with colonial-era shophouses and small galleries, easy to explore on foot or by bicycle, and in the evening the non-profit arts school Phare Ponleu Selpak stages circus shows blending acrobatics, live music and storytelling. Outside town, climb more than 300 steps to the hilltop temple of Wat Banan above the rice fields, and at dusk watch streams of bats pour out of a cave on Phnom Sampeau, the mountain that also holds the Killing Caves, now a memorial space.

Good to knowCrowds gather at Phnom Sampeau from around 5:30 p.m., and many visitors combine the bat cave and the Killing Caves in one late-afternoon trip. Bring water for the steep climb at Wat Banan. Phare Ponleu Selpak shows run only on set nights each week; book online or buy tickets at the door.