Are you dropping by Bangkok for a few days and looking for an easy day trip? Are you itching to know more about Thailand’s history? Or maybe you just want to get nice Instagram shots of unique places most people don’t go to… Either way, Ayutthaya fits the bill and more!

As one of the former Siamese capitals, the historic city of Ayutthaya bears witness to the splendor and grandeur of times gone by; and you’ll be interested to know that when Bangkok was built, there was a conscious attempt to recreate and emulate the perfection of the mythical city of Ayutthaya – both in its urban template and architectural form

Are you ready? Let’s go!

Table of Contents

• How to get to Ayutthaya from Bangkok?
• How to get around Ayutthaya?
• How much time should you allocate for Ayutthaya?
• What should you bring to Ayutthaya?
• Game plan to tour Ayutthaya
  • Lunch at Phae Krung Kao
  • Wat Mahathat
  • Wat Phra Si Sanphet
  • Wat Chaiwatthanaram
  • Wat Yai Chamongkol
  • Snack at Roti Samai Abeedeen

How to get to Ayutthaya from Bangkok?

As with all things in life, you have options:

Options	Cost (per pax, assuming there’s 3 of you)	Duration	Benefits	Disadvantages
Private Car	THB 1,200 (10 hours)	~1 hour one-way	■      Convenience, especially if you have limited time ■      Air-conditioned travel from Bangkok and within Ayutthaya	■      Expensive
Mini-van	THB 340: THB 140 round-trip + ~THB 200 (tuktuk for 3 hrs in Ayutthaya)	~1-1.5 hours one-way	■      Air-conditioned travel from Bangkok and within Ayutthaya	■      Need to BTS to MoChit station, which is far-ish from Bangkok city center
Train	THB 240: THB 40 + ~THB 200 (tuktuk for 3 hrs in Ayutthaya)	~1.5 hours one-way	■      Travel with the locals #experience ■      Most value for money	■      No air-condition ■      Need to follow train schedule

Depending on which option you decide on, here’s how you can go about it:

Private car

I honestly toyed with the idea of renting a private car because I didn’t relish the idea of going around Ayutthaya under the hot, sweltering sun. It brought back flashbacks of my Siem Reap temple hopping experience – where let me tell you, the air-conditioned van we rented (with the wet towels provided after each temple) was a HUGE Godsend. In the end though, the huge price difference was the deal-breaker – I couldn’t imagine shelling out 4x more just for this

If, for any reason, you’d prefer to take the private car though – the going price is ~THB 3,600 for 3pax (10 hours). If I had gone with this option, I would’ve used Klook (if you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know how much I love using this service!! LOL) – and my Thai friends said the price was pretty decent, so there you go!

Minivan

So the minivan option also appealed to me because hello air-condition! The only problem was, it required me to BTS to MoChit station (which was pretty far from where we were staying), then wait for the van to fill up before it could leave. Note: blogs I’ve read online indicate that the vans typically fill up pretty quickly though, so that shouldn’t be a factor

Anyway, in the end, my desire to save money AND travel like a local AND take nice train shots resulted in me not going for this option too! If you’re interested though, just take the BTS to MoChit and ask around there for the minivan to Ayutthaya. They’ll point you to the right place; you board the bus, and off you go! Just make sure you get off at the last spot near Wat Mahathat

Public train

Hello to the adventurous souls (which yay, includes me!) I was quite keen to experience local travel actually – and with quite a lot of trepidation (mostly from my friends), I decided to go with the local transport option. For only THB 20, I thought it was quite a steal

What I loved:

• Train was SUPER punctual. Ticket said we’d depart at 10:05 (we did!); and that we’d arrive in Ayutthaya at 11:24 (surprise, we did!)
• Beautiful countryside views as you zip by the Thai rice fields
• The chance to chat with Thai locals (although chatting with the Thai locals made me realize we paid too much for our tuktuk, which made me a bit sad haha!)
• SO CHEAP! THB 20 only one-way!!

What you’ll have to live with if you go with this option:

• No aircon, just fans plus natural wind
• Possibility of NOT having seats – so you’d need to rush onto the train when it arrives to ensure you snag a seat for yourself (In our case though, there were lots of seats available – maybe it wasn’t peak season / timing?)

Are you sold? Then just grab a BTS to Hua Lamphong station. From there, walk for ~2 minutes to the Hua Lamphong Railway station (don’t worry, you’ll see it when you exit the BTS station, they’re right beside each other). Buy a ticket from the counter (just tell them Ayutthaya), then head to the right platform – as indicated on your ticket. Note: The train leaves every ~60mins or so – we grabbed the 10:05am train

Also – don’t throw away your ticket! A conductor will pass by and check to see if you have a ticket 🙂

Worried you wouldn’t know when to get off? For Ayutthaya – just ask the train conductor/ the Thai locals who’ll inform you when it’s time (or use the train ticket time as a guide). For Bangkok, Hua Lamphong Railway is the last stop, so you’ll have no choice but to alight there

How to get around Ayutthaya?

Options	Cost (per pax, assuming there’s 3 of you)	Benefits	Disadvantages
Tuktuk	THB 200 (3 hours) -> it costs THB 200/hr	■      Time-constrained ■      Need to map out the temples you want to see to ensure you follow the optimal route	■      Tuktuk can fit 6 – so good deal if you’re a big group ■      Semi-covered from the sun, although it’s still hot
Bike	THB 50	■      Cheap, not constrained by time ■      Option to pop into random temples	■      Very hot ■      No bike lanes, so not for beginners
Walk	Free	■      So cheap	■      Very hot ■      Temples are quite far from each other (~15-30 mins walk)

Personally, I’d recommend you go with the tuktuk unless you’re avid bikers and don’t mind the heat. Pro tip: To get a better deal, don’t hire a tuktuk when you exit the train station (they all price at THB 300/hr). Walk a bit from the train station and just flag a random tuktuk (do NOT agree unless the price is THB 200/hr or lower) Sigh, I was super pleased we got the price down to THB 200/hr, but another local we met only paid THB 120/hr – I have no idea how she did it… but have decided to just chalk it up to a “local” discount

How much time should you allocate for Ayutthaya?

Around ~6.5 hours in total (if you go by train). Breakdown of time as follows:

• Train to and from Bangkok: 3 hours total (1.5 hours one-way)
• Lunch at Ayutthaya: 1 hour
• Temple-hopping (we did 3): 2.5 hours (includes lots of picture taking and loitering around)

What should I bring to Ayutthaya?

Pack knowing you’ll be under the sun for hours. What that means? Bring a bottle of water, an umbrella, a cap, sunblock, and a sunny attitude! Of course, don’t forget to bring cash too – as the establishments (restaurants and temples), as well as tuktuk drivers only accept cash. Also, as a sign of respect, make sure your outfit covers your shoulders and your knees; and wear closed shoes if possible

So now you’re in Ayutthaya, what’s the game plan?

As soon as you arrive at Ayutthaya, immediately head to the information counter to check the train times back to Bangkok. That way, you can gauge how much time you want to spend temple hopping and determine at what time you should start heading back

But first – lunch time!

You didn’t think we would go temple hopping on an empty stomach did you? I really really wanted to eat at Ruay Goong Pao (restaurant famous for their river prawns – which Ayutthaya is really well-known for). Unfortunately, via tuktuk, it would take us ~1 hour just to get there from the train station. Sadness, this is the drawback of not having your own car. In the end, we decided to go to Phae Krung Kao instead – which had decent TripAdvisor ratings and seemed popular with the locals

Oh boy, I loved it!! We ordered 3 grilled prawns, green curry fish ball, and pork knuckle. My verdict: Would 100% come back!

Total bill: THB 2,715 (for 3 people)

• Grilled giant prawns: these were sooo expensive at THB 700 per prawn, but it’s Ayutthaya’s specialty so we figured we should try at least one. To be honest, it was good but NOT worth the amount I paid for it. It’s definitely yummier than normal prawns, but lobster is still better (and of course more expensive…). Verdict: Happy I ordered it so I at least got to try, but will never order again
• Green curry fish ball: This was really good! I super loved the green curry sauce, and ended up eating a lot more rice than I had initially planned. Yum yum! The fish balls were of an interesting texture too
• Pork knuckle: Oh man, the pork knuckle was HUGE. The pictures made it seem small, but when it finally arrived, we were all gobsmacked (actually we didn’t finish this as we were so full already in the end). But can I just say, this was sooo good. If you’re Filipino, it’s essentially crispy pata BUT CRISPIER. I don’t know how they cooked the skin, but it was just so crisp and so on-point. Just lovely, tis was the highlight of the meal for me

Time to go temple hopping!

Follow what I outline below for the optimal route (across the 4 most famous temples)

Wat Mahathat

• Entrance fee: THB 50
• What it’s famous for: The Buddha head entangled within the roots of the tree
• Interesting thing to note: There’s no fancy story behind this – the Buddha head fell off one day, and the tree kinda just grew around it. Amazing what you can make money off of haha!

As a sign of respect when taking photos, make sure your head is on the same level or below the Buddha head – if you disobey this rule, you’ll be met by shrill whistles from the temple guards

Wat Phra Si Sanphet

• Entrance fee: THB 50
• What it’s famous for: Considered to be the holiest temple and used only for royal ceremonies, it’s famous for the three Chedis – which have now been completely restored. When you enter, you’ll notice an umbrella rack filled with yellow umbrellas – grab one if you forgot yours, just don’t forget to return it!

They also have beautiful brick walls, which are the perfect backdrop for photos

Wat Chaiwatthanaram

• Entrance fee: THB 50
• What it’s famous for: Khmer style temple – which basically means it looks like Angkor Wat. Hence, we decided to skip this temple as we had already been to Angkor Wat, and were feeling really lazy at this point

Wat Yai Chamongkol

• Entrance fee: THB 20
• What it’s famous for: You can climb up the stupa and see a panoramic view of Ayutthaya!

If you’ve still got time, you MUST check out Roti Samai Abeedeen for their cotton candy with roti. This came super well-recommended by my Thai friend, but alas, we ran out of time

And, that concludes your Ayutthaya adventure! You should arrive back in Bangkok around ~5-6PM. If you’ve got the energy, would suggest you check out Rod Fai Night Market – my favorite night market in Bangkok with lots of yummy food and cheap stuff to buy. If you’re all tuckered out though, would suggest you treat yourself to a nice Thai massage (which is what me and my friends opted to do LOL)

For my other Bangkok blogs, check them out here:

Bangkok: a DIY logistics and travel guide for tourists

Eating my way through Bangkok – top picks!