Gigantic face sculptures thought to represent the Buddhist deity Lokeshvara adorn the 37 surviving towers of The Bayon, the state temple of Jayavarman VII.

The Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor’s 60,000 square miles of landscaped gardens boast over 20,000 different species of tropical plants.

The roof garden of the Amansara hotel is an ideal spot for lunch or early evening drinks, with cushion seating and low tables shaded by trees.

Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor Rates, approximately $225 (breakfast), $460 (personality suites; breakfast/dinner), $1,900 (two-bedroom villas; breakfast/dinner) 800.637.9477; www.raffles.com Amansara Rates, approximately $650 (suite; breakfast, lunch or dinner; wine, spirits, beer and temple tours), $850 (pool suites) 800.477.9180; www.amanresorts.com

Imagine some 40 pearl-gray towering temples to Buddha and Hindu gods – the ruins of the once-powerful Khmer empire – poking out of a 160-square-mile jungle, and you can understand why Cambodia’s Angkor Wat (wat means temple) has nudged the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall out of first place as the world’s hottest destination for adventure travelers. You can see most of the ancient (980 to 1220 AD) metropolis of palaces, canals and banays (irrigation reservoirs) – discovered by French botanist Henri Mouhot in 1860 – by staying for two or three nights in Siem Reap, the village closest to Angkor (and about an hour’s flight northeast of Bangkok) that became a boomtown overnight after the end of Cambodia’s civil war.

The place where the carriage trade stays is the 131-room Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor, a French colonial resort opened in 1932 and restored to what might be called imperial decadence in 1997. Now swathed in tropical flowers, it plays from its strengths – Art Deco rooms and suites accented with Cambodian objets d’art, a venerable teak-and-brass elevator cage, charming room butlers, an immense pool, four formal gardens scintillating in the sunlight and two tennis courts (with a golf course scheduled for 2006). With a guide chauffeuring you around, it’s best to explore Angkor in the early morning and mid-afternoon, retreating to Raffles when the sun becomes a broiler during the lunch hour. Over tea and finger sandwiches or pre-dinner cocktails in The Elephant Bar you can compare notes with your fellow guests in a “Which temple bowled you over the most?” conversation. A typical dinner in the handsome Restaurant Le Grand might start with Cha Bong Korng (sautéed lobster with spices, basil and pineapple), move on to Amok (steamed, minced fish with Khmer spices) and end with a banana flambé (Grand Marnier and coconut ice cream). And what’s better than a trip to the hotel’s Amrita Spa for a relaxing treatment like the Angkor Escape that includes a facial ($120).

Glamour abounds across the street as well at the exclusive all-suite Amansara, a former guesthouse of King Sihanouk that the ultra-luxe Aman chain of 17 resorts took over in 2002. (Its name is derived from Sanskrit’s aman, meaning peace, and apsara, or heavenly nymph.) Hidden behind high white walls, Amansara has a tall, black entrance gate – the effect is pure chiaroscurro – that slowly swings open, revealing a free-form pool surrounded by chaise longues that looks like a still-life painting of exotica. The resort’s 12 original guest suites feature understated colors and all the accessories, cosmetic and digital, you would ever need – including a Cambodian blue silk sarong and a bath at dusk with floating lotus flowers, prepared by the housekeeper. And in a bow to the popularity of personal pampering, Amansara has just opened 12 additional larger suites, each with its own private pool, set in a courtyard. If the cool compound has the look of a Palm Springs resort, it’s what the then-Prince Sihanouk wanted when he built it in 1962.

Today, in high season (December through April, when temperatures range between 600 F and 850 F), Amansara can be très casual chic – call it Pucci hip with pool parties to while away evenings. If you’re feeling flush, Amansara recommends a helicopter tour of Angkor’s sprawling universe for $3,000. The surprise on departure is to ride to the airport in the resort’s big black 1962 Mercedes that once reputedly carried Jackie Kennedy.