This hotel where Brad and Angelina stayed is less than $200 a night

The hotel

Maisons Wat Kor, Battambang, Cambodia

Check-in

The saltwater pool behind the property.

Hidden down a laneway, 10 minutes by tuk-tuk from Battambang, Maisons Wat Kor features traditional Khmer architecture, a lotus pond, and serene bamboo surroundings. Actor Angelina Jolie and then-husband Brad Pitt stayed here in 2016 when Jolie directed the war drama First They Killed My Father, and there are photos of her and Pitt in the foyer and on the website. A phallic-shaped fountain you apparently rub for good luck sits in the relaxed check-in area, where I’m greeted with a cold drink and face cloth.

The look

Massage tables at Maisons Wat Kor, Battabang, Cambodia.

With its hanging lanterns and big, comfortable couches, Maisons Wat Kor resembles an upmarket Cambodian village, with four traditional timber buildings on stilts perched around a large central lotus pond. A wooden platform with sheer curtains and two massage tables sits invitingly on the other side of the pond. At the back of the property there’s a saltwater swimming pool with lounge chairs. A gift shop sells local Cambodian products.

The room

Rooms at Maisons Wat Kor start from $187 a night.

I’m in a 55-square-metre Lotus Plus room on the upper level of the stilted building, which has another room beside it on a shared verandah and two rooms underneath. There’s a large, firm bed and another single day bed in the slightly dark room, which has a television, refrigerator and basic chair and table. The bedroom walls are vibrant yellow and blue and the bathroom light and bright. I take a peek at the 75-square-metre Grand Lotus room in which Angelina slept, and it’s similar, except larger with chairs and a table in the centre, a double day bed and a private balcony off the bedroom.

Food + drink

Waterlily Lounge serves traditional Khmer food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Ingredients at the restaurant are sourced from Maison Wat Kor’s garden and the local Battambang market. There are also cold local Angkor beer and a selection of cocktails.

Out + about

With its flat terrain and straddling the Sangkae River, Battambang is an ideal and picturesque spot for a bicycle ride in the cool mornings and evenings, or a tuk-tuk ride in the heat of the day. Renowned as Cambodia’s “rice bowl”, travel the short distance into the city centre and wander through the central markets, brimming with tropical exotic fruits, fresh seafood and plump vegetables. The riverbanks spring to life at dusk with locals exercising, and here you can see the remnants of French Colonial era buildings. Pause and have an early evening drink at some of the charming bars in old alleyways before dinner. If time permits, venture further afield on a ride through the jungle on the Old Bamboo Train.

THE VERDICT
This is a hotel that successfully bridges taste and tradition. If it’s good enough for Angelina, it’s good enough for me.

THE ESSENTIALS
Rooms cost from $US125 ($187) a night including breakfast. The Lotus Plus Room starts from $US145 ($215). The Grand Lotus Room from $US250 ($375) a night. #221, St 800, Wat Kor Village, Battambang, Cambodia. See maisonswatkor.com

OUR RATING OUT OF FIVE
★★★★½

Highlight
Succumbing to a 90-minute relaxing massage beside the pond as a cool Cambodian breeze flowed over me.

Lowlight
My squeaky bedroom floorboards which were probably more annoying for the person in the room beneath me.

The writer stayed as a guest of Intrepid Travel as part of its Cambodian Real Food Adventure.