SIEM REAP, 12 June 2026: Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor promotes a new ‘Path of History’ tour featuring rare photographs, video footage, architectural drawings, and other vintage artefacts that highlight a golden age of travel in Southeast Asia.
A new history book by authors Andreas and Carola Augustin complements the permanent exhibition at Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor in Siem Reap. A Tale of Two Hotels – Raffles in Cambodia showcases the property alongside Raffles Hotel Le Royal, its sister property in Phnom Penh, while chronicling an era of globe-trotting explorers and thrilling discoveries.
The ‘Grand Path of History’ tour and book both trace the early boom years (1900-1940) of international travel, when passengers boarded steamships bound for the East and the first aircraft took to the skies. It is a story of true pioneers, like the Sarkies brothers in Singapore, whose Raffles brand has epitomised luxury travel for nearly 140 years.
The 160-page book, full of colourful photographs and available in hardcover and paperback, brings readers into Cambodia’s two grandest hotels, Hotel Le Royal and Grand Hotel d’Angkor, and recounts the country’s determined efforts to promote its rich cultural heritage abroad, from the Royal Ballet of Cambodia’s striking debut in Paris at the start of the 20th century to Hollywood actor Charlie Chaplin’s visits to Le Royal and Angkor Wat.
The ‘Grand Path of History’ tour is available to in-house guests only, with guided visits led by a Raffles historian. Andreas and Carola Augustin curated the exhibit.
Raffles Hotel Le Royal, which originally opened in 1929, today features 175 rooms and suites that underwent a full refurbishment as part of a meticulous one-year restoration project in 2019. The hotel’s elegant past has been reinterpreted in a bold, contemporary style that is inspired by French colonial, Khmer, and Art Deco influences.
Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor opened in 1932 as a rest stop for archaeologists and adventurers exploring the ancient kingdom of Angkor Wat. The hotel features an authentic expression of 1930s French Art Deco style, with beautifully refined rooms, suites, and villas that blend old-world charm with Cambodian influences and contemporary details.
(Source: Raffles Hotels & Resorts)
