Historic Sites in Thailand

The Ayutthaya Historical Park covers the island where the Chao Phraya, Lopburi and Pa Sak rivers meet, the site of the capital that the Burmese burned in 1767. The ruins are scattered through the living town of Ayutthaya, so you move between them on roads.

• Wat Phra Si Sanphet: three bell-shaped chedis in a row, the royal temple of the old palace and the image most people know. Next door, Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit holds a giant bronze Buddha.
• Wat Mahathat: the Buddha head held in the roots of a fig tree. Crouch or kneel for a photo so your head is not higher than the Buddha’s.
• Wat Ratchaburana: a tall Khmer-style prang you can climb into, with faded murals in the crypt where a gold hoard was found in 1957.
• Wat Chaiwatthanaram: the riverside temple built in the Khmer manner by King Prasat Thong, best at sunset from across the water.
• Off the island: Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon to the southeast, with a huge chedi and rows of saffron-draped Buddhas, and Wat Phanan Choeng on the river, with a 19 m seated Buddha older than the city’s foundation.

Trains run from Krung Thep Aphiwat in about 90 minutes for 15 to 20 baht in third class; minivans take a similar time. The major Fine Arts Department temples charge 50 baht each, or about 220 baht for a combined ticket covering six of them. Most open from 8am to 6pm, and several, including Wat Mahathat and Wat Chaiwatthanaram, are floodlit in the evening. One long day covers the highlights. Bang Pa-In, the royal summer palace 20 km south, pairs well with it; see our Bangkok day trips guide.

The Sukhothai Historical Park lies 12 km west of the modern town of Sukhothai, and it is the site people regret skipping. It is greener, quieter and better restored than Ayutthaya. The park is split into zones with separate tickets. The walled central zone holds the essentials: Wat Mahathat, with its seated Buddhas between rows of columns, and Wat Sa Si on an island in a lotus pond. The northern zone has Wat Si Chum, where a 15 m seated Buddha fills a roofless hall and peers through a narrow slit, and the western zone climbs a forested hill to Wat Saphan Hin’s standing Buddha.

Each zone costs about 100 baht, plus 10 to 30 baht if you bring a bicycle in. Bicycles hire for 30 to 50 baht a day at the shops outside the central gate, and the flat lanes make 20 to 30 km of cycling easy. Hours run roughly from 6.30am to 7.30pm. Songthaews from the new town take about 30 minutes. Sleep in the old city so you can ride at 6am, when the ponds reflect the chedis. In November the park stages its Loy Krathong light-and-sound festival.

Si Satchanalai, about 55 km north, was the kingdom’s second city. Its ruins sit in woodland by the Yom River, with Wat Chang Lom ringed by elephant sculptures and old kilns that fired glazed stoneware exported across Asia. Kamphaeng Phet Historical Park, further south in Kamphaeng Phet, guarded the southern frontier; its laterite forest temples, in the Aranyik zone outside the walls, are the most atmospheric. All three make up the Historic Town of Sukhothai and Associated Historic Towns World Heritage Site.

The Khmer Empire of Angkor built stone sanctuaries across the Khorat Plateau between the 10th and 13th centuries.

• Phimai Historical Park: a white sandstone sanctuary in the middle of the small town of Phimai, 60 km northeast of Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat), built around the turn of the 12th century at the end of a road from Angkor. Entry is about 100 baht and two hours is enough. The prehistoric burial pits at Ban Prasat are on the way from Korat.
• Phanom Rung: a Hindu sanctuary to Shiva on the rim of an extinct volcano in Buriram province. A processional avenue, naga bridges and staircases lead to the main tower, whose reclining Vishnu lintel was returned from the United States in 1988. About four times a year the sun shines through all fifteen doorways of the sanctuary in line: at sunrise in early April and early September, and at sunset in early March and early October. The park publishes exact dates each year; the April one brings a festival and crowds.
• Prasat Muang Tam: 8 km below Phanom Rung, a flat temple of brick towers surrounded by four L-shaped ponds edged with naga balustrades. A combined ticket with Phanom Rung costs about 150 baht. Allow half a day for both, by car or a hired motorbike from Buriram or Nang Rong.
• Prasat Sikhoraphum: five brick prangs on a platform in a moat east of Surin, with one of the finest Khmer lintels in Thailand: a dancing Shiva over the central doorway. It is near Sikhoraphum station and takes an hour.

In the central plains, Lopburi was a Khmer provincial centre before it became King Narai’s second capital in the 17th century. Phra Prang Sam Yot, three laterite towers joined by passages, is 50 baht and the domain of the town’s long-tailed macaques: keep food, sunglasses and loose bags out of reach. Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat by the station, Prang Khaek, King Narai’s Palace (now a museum) and the ruins of Wichayen House make a walking circuit. Lopburi is an hour by train beyond Ayutthaya, a half-day stop. West of Bangkok, Mueang Sing Historical Park is a Khmer outpost on the Khwae Noi River near Kanchanaburi.

The three other cultural World Heritage Sites are older, quieter and worth a detour when you are nearby.

Ban Chiang, about 50 km east of Udon Thani, is a Bronze Age village and cemetery discovered in 1966. The museum explains its red-swirl painted pottery and early bronze, and at Wat Pho Si Nai an excavation pit shows skeletons and pots where they were found. Entry is about 150 baht; the museum closes on Mondays.

Si Thep Historical Park in Phetchabun province was listed in 2023. It preserves a moated Dvaravati town with Khmer-period towers, and outside it the vast laterite stupa of Khao Khlang Nok, one of the largest Dvaravati monuments anywhere. You need your own transport: it is a long day trip from Lopburi or a stop on the drive north to Phetchabun, Loei or Khon Kaen.

Phu Phrabat, listed in 2024, lies in forested sandstone hills about an hour’s drive northwest of Udon Thani. Boundary stones (sima) of the Dvaravati period ring rock shelters that were used as shrines, among wind-carved formations such as Hor Nang Usa, a rock tower like a giant mushroom. Allow two to three hours on the trails.

Most Lanna heritage is in the living temples of Chiang Mai, covered in our Chiang Mai temples guide. Two ruined sites stand out.

Wiang Kum Kam, 5 km south of Chiang Mai’s old city, was King Mengrai’s first capital in the valley, buried by Ping River floods and excavated from the 1980s. The site is free to walk, and horse carts and small electric trams leave from the information centre for a loop of the main ruins. Half a day is plenty.

Chiang Saen, on the Mekong 60 km north of Chiang Rai, is a walled town whose ramparts and moat still frame the streets, with ruined chedis in gardens and fields. Wat Pa Sak, just outside the west gate, has one of the finest early Lanna chedis; Wat Phra That Chom Kitti on the hill gives a view over the river into Laos; and the Chiang Saen National Museum has bronze Buddhas found in the town. Combine it with the Golden Triangle viewpoint, 9 km upstream.

In 1942 and 1943 the Japanese army forced Allied prisoners of war and many more conscripted Asian labourers to build a 415 km railway from Thailand to Burma. More than 12,000 prisoners and tens of thousands of labourers died. Kanchanaburi, two to three hours west of Bangkok, is where you visit what remains.

• Kanchanaburi War Cemetery: about 7,000 prisoners of war lie in neat rows of bronze plaques in the middle of town. Entry is free, and the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre next door explains the building of the line.
• Chungkai War Cemetery: a quieter cemetery on the site of a prison camp and hospital on the Khwae Noi River, a short bicycle or tuk-tuk ride from town.
• The bridge over the River Kwai: the steel bridge over the Khwae Yai at the north end of town, rebuilt after Allied bombing; you can walk across between trains.
• Hellfire Pass: about 80 km northwest of town, a cutting hacked through rock by prisoners working through the night by firelight. The Australian-run interpretive centre is free and excellent, and a walking trail follows the old trackbed. Allow half a day. Each 25 April an Anzac Day dawn service is held in the cutting.

The surviving line still runs from Kanchanaburi to Nam Tok, crossing the timber Wang Pho viaduct along a cliff above the river; foreigners pay 100 baht. Combine Hellfire Pass with Sai Yok National Park, or continue to Sangkhla Buri near the Three Pagodas Pass.

Beyond the temples and the Grand Palace, Bangkok’s monuments are quick stops in the Old Town. The Democracy Monument (1939) commemorates the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, and the nearby 14 October 1973 Memorial remembers the student uprising. The red teak Giant Swing stands outside Wat Suthat, a relic of a Brahmin rite last performed in 1935; see both together. The Victory Monument, a traffic circle on the BTS, marks a 1941 border war with French Indochina.

Fees change, so treat these as guides and carry cash; few ticket booths take cards. Most parks open from about 8am to 6pm.

Ayutthaya and Sukhothai are made for bicycles, but Ayutthaya’s ruins are further apart and the roads busier, so many visitors hire a tuk-tuk by the hour (200 to 300 baht) or rent a scooter instead. In Sukhothai, cycle; inside the central zone the lanes are almost car-free. For the Khmer sites, Si Thep and Phu Phrabat, a car with driver or a rental car is far easier than local buses.

Brick ruins have little shade, and from March to May afternoons pass 36°C (97°F). Start at opening time, rest from noon to 3pm and return for the late light. November to February is the most comfortable season; see our best time to visit guide.