09:00 - As check-ins go, The Rosewood Phnom Penh certainly raises the bar. Occupying 14 floors of the Cambodian capital’s original skyscraper – a glass-steel 39 storey stunner inspired by a Buddhist serpent deity called naga – it’s a destination unto itself. After making the short six-mile hop from the airport, guests are greeted by gigantic Hanuman Monkey King sculptures, before being whisked 35 floors up to the hotel’s double-height lobby. Dripping in no-expense-spared limestone, brass, Italian marble and wood, its floor-to-ceiling windows judiciously frame Phnom Penh’s cityscape and the fabled Mekong River. Besides the head-dizzying vistas, this sleek urban bolthole boasts an inhouse pastry chef, a dedicated art gallery, an 850 sqm spa and quintet of garlanded restaurants.

10:00 - Keeping things local but lux, tick off the city’s biggest hits from one of the hotel’s tricked-out electric remorks (a local type of tuk-tuk) that are upholstered in caramel leather. Entirely customisable, your tour could begin (as mine did) at the highest point of the low-rise capital: its legend-steeped, hilltop temple Wat Phnom, which gave the city her name. The country’s most famous temple is of course Angkor Wat – the crowning glory of the Khmer Empire – located 200 miles north. The next best thing to visiting it is marvelling at a few of its temple treasures in Phnom Penh’s tiered-roofed National Museum of Cambodia. Designed by French archaeologist and painter George Groslier in 1920, it holds a millennium’s worth of Khmer art spanning the 4th to the 14th centuries. Continue your Gallic gambol in the topiary-filled French-landscaped grounds of the Royal Palace. A place of national pride, this ornately gilded riverfront complex is studded with stupas and shrines. Highlights include its golden-spired Throne Hall where ruling King Norodom Sihamoni continues to welcome dignitaries, and its Silver Pagoda where you can admire a life-sized Buddha encrusted with 2,000-diamonds!

Wrap up the morning’s tour at the city’s ‘X’-shaped Central Market, which hovers like a flying saucer over the surrounding scooter-choked streets. At one time Asia’s largest market, navigating its vast hallways can be daunting. Start at its art deco domed centre, spiralling outwards along each of its four arms, that peddle everything from sarong fabric to steamed pork buns.

Despite a reboot of its à la carte menu last February, chef Pov Sopheak’s signature plates – think pan-fried foie gras with warm mangoes and balsamic passion fruit coulis – remain firm fixtures. Produce is flown in from Paris’ Marche Rungis aka the world’s largest wholesale market, their free-range foie gras hails from France’s famous Landes region, whilst chocolate from esteemed French chocolatier Valrhona is the star ingredient of the menu’s melt-in-the-mouth mousse au chocolat. In March last year, the fine dining stalwart made gastronomic history as Cambodia’s first restaurant to take a place in ‘Asia’s Best Restaurants’ list.

15:00 - Trade Topaz’s koi-filled courtyard garden for the frangipani-scented pools of one of the capital’s most storied addresses: Raffles Hotel le Royal. An exclusive hangout for writers and royalty and refuge for journalists before the Khmer Rouge evacuated the city in 1975, this vanilla-hued Indochine palace has old world luxury in spades. Languish poolside before strolling along its terracotta tiled porticos to its colonial-era spa. Its signature 90-minute Khmer massage pairs passive stretching and gentle pressure to open up your invisible energy lines. After being basted in fragrant lemongrass oil (a Raffles twist) a heated herbal compress kneads out any stubborn knots, literally turning tense limbs to butter!

17:00 - If time permits, clink to cocktail hour at the hotel’s wood-panelled Elephant Bar, that’s as iconic as the hotel itself. As well as claiming one of Asia’s largest gin selections (130 labels in case you’re wondering), it counts Jackie O amongst its esteemed former patrons. You can admire the former First Lady’s lipstick-stained glass, displayed in one of the many antique cabinets in the hotel’s art deco lobby. If you prefer your pre-prandials alfresco and with a side of sunset, retreat to the Rosewood’s cantilevered UFO-like sky bar: Sora, which hosts a mixologist-in-residence from ‘The World’s 50 Best Bars’ once a month.

18:00 - Leaving the big city lights behind, board a car ferry (with your driver) to the Mekong’s sleepier southern side, where Cambodia’s chef du jour Rotanak Ros hosts one-of-a-kind private dining. As much a cultural experience as it is a culinary, the evening unfolds in a century-old stilted building. Dismantled piece-by-piece from an abandoned residence in Cambodia’s Battambang province, it was re-erected in Chef Nak’s (Ros’ nickname) family home, that’s threaded with tinkling water features and glorious greenery. Inside, it’s festooned with antiques and heirlooms that Nak and her husband Sarin (who met whilst working for non-profit Cambodia Living Arts) have amassed over the years. The charismatic duo share stories about their Cambodian curios whilst a musician plays a xylophone-like roneat ek: the soundtrack to Nak’s five-course tasting menu. Rooted in ritual and learning, you might find yourself mixing a plated deconstructed fish curry, or seeing how a street-food-inspired dessert from the 80s is made using Nak’s grandmother’s vintage ice crusher. A wearer of many hats besides her chef’s, the motivation behind Nak’s endeavours is preserving the country’s oral recipes, before they vanish for good.

DAY 2

09:30 - After breakfasting on Brasserie Louis’ flavourful French-Khmer fare, make a sobering stop at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, which chronicles the country’s darkest chapter under the reign of dictator Pol Pot. Spread across five buildings, the grey-shuttered former secondary school is the memorial site of the Khmer Rouge’s notorious S-21 high security prison. The moving museum is dedicated to preserving the memory of its 12,000 victims, who were incarcerated here in classrooms-turned-torture-cells until the brutal regime was toppled in 1979.

MIDDAY

Dust off those chopstick skills for a lightning-fast lunch in the hotel’s Japanese izakaya-style restaurant, before being delivered first class on a Rosewood remork (which shuttle guests anywhere within one mile of the property) to Post Office Square. Ringed by canary yellow buildings – including the city’s still operating neoclassical Post Office – this iconic address is the start of a three-hour heritage tour that turns the clock back to 1863 when Cambodia became a French protectorate. “Public spaces were inspired by Haussmann [of Paris’ modern-day cityscape fame]” driver and guide Olivier Darlay tells me as we step inside a crumbling colonial edifice opposite the Post Office. Reimagined as a chic vintage-tiled wine bar called Le Manolis, Darlay explains how France’s first Minister of Culture, Andre Malraux, was holed up here whilst challenging charges of temple theft in 1923. The tour is conducted from an open-sided electric minibus equipped with digital tablets to dig deeper into the history of some 22 city sites; many architectural landmarks like Phnom Penh’s art deco National Library. Back on the road, you’ll pass the Governor’s House: a 150-year-old mansion-turned-hotel where the highest ranking French civil servants once mingled. The tour wraps up close to the Royal Palace on Road 240 which translates as “Street of the Elephant” in Khmer after the 1,000 or so pachyderms once housed here in wooden stables. Far from being mistreated, these royally revered eles enjoyed private concerts and received a monthly pension to splurge on their favourite banana and sugarcane snacks!

17:00 - The Royal Palace takes on a whole different kind of magic from the water aka the city’s most defining feature. It commands a coveted spot on Sisowath Quay: a two-mile-long riverfront strip where orange-robed monks, street performers and dog walkers throng its promenade from dawn to dusk. Sisowath is also the starting point for sunset cruises, a chance to see Phnom Penh’s past and present collide along one of the world’s mightiest waterways: The Mekong. Its teak deck prettified with potted plants and twinkling lights, French owned and operated Kanika – a chic catamaran that claims to be the city’s only fully insured tourist vessel – lays on 90-minute cruises. Departing from the Himawari Hotel at 5pm every day, Kanika navigates not one but two iconic converging rivers, where fishermen haul in their catch as they have for centuries. Premium cold cuts and French cheeses along with free-flowing chilled rosé (part of the VIP package) keep cruisers fabulously fed and watered. Local Khmer life comes into even closer view as the boat edges towards Cambodia’s lifeblood: the Tonle Sap River. Its stilted waterfront communities are a stark contrast to the city’s urban silhouetted skyline which unfurls on the return voyage.

19:00 - Also situated on Sisowath Quay – one block from the Royal Palace and a whisper from where Kanika docks – is The Rosewood’s lifestyle sister hotel: KVL, which opened its water-fronting doors last summer. For a night on the Spanish tiles, head down to its lively basement eatery: El Tapas, that’s clad in colourful mosaic-motifs recalling Barcelona’s Park Güell. In-house Cuban DJ Lily spins beats as Spanish chef Mario Yufera turns out tapas inspired by his homeland of Alicante… with an Asian twist. Think octopus carpaccio served with yuzu vinaigrette, fennel and mango, washed down with white sangria blended with pomelo and guava. Everything is made from scratch down to the patatas bravas (spicy Spanish fried potatoes) sauce that Yufera labours over for four hours. Acorn-fed aged black Iberico pork is also on the menu, along with in-house cured duck breast and swordfish, displayed in a dry-ageing cabinet in El Tapas’ show kitchen. For dessert we recommend diving spoon-first into another reimagined classic: Manchego cheesecake, served with a blueberry and basil sorbet.

21:00 - The night is still young by Phnom Penh standards, so hail a tuk-tuk to squeeze down the snaking alley where speakeasy-style Samai is located. Not in the thick of all the action, but still centrally located, this artisanal-distillery-slash-bar has been credited with putting the Kingdom’s rum on the world map. Sugarcane plantations carpet Cambodia: a little-known fact discovered by two Venezuelan expats, who began tinkering with the high-quality by-products of this unsung raw material a decade ago. From organic honey to Kampot pepper (the country’s celebrated spice), their rum’s terrior is 100% homegrown. Every Thursday Samai opens its micro-distillery doors for bar takeovers. Internal glass walls reveal apothecary-like bottles, towering stainless-steel tanks and two-century-year-old copper stills where the magic aka fermentation, distillation and ageing, all happens! After a brief tour, snag an oak barrel table for a tasting flight. The standout is Samai’s award-winning golden rum, that’s matured in five different barrels for three thirsty years.

22:30 - With your head firmly back in the clouds, retreat to your corner Mekong Suite at The Rosewood Phnom Penh to drink in those dazzling city views one last time, before bedding down like a Cambodian princess in 600-thread-count Frette linens. Sliding lacquer doors separate this glassy eyrie and gold-flecked bathroom from a luxurious living space, decorated with an Ikat carpet here and Khmer arthouse book there – yet another reminder of the country’s rich storytelling heritage.