Top choice in Ayuthaya
With animatronic ghosts, supersized crows and glowing Buddhas, Wat Tha Ka Rong is eerie and playful in equal measure and feels more like a carnival than a Buddhist temple. There are dozens of things to do and buy to make merit and hundreds of Buddhist, Hindu, animist and just-for-fun statues to see; the skeletons doing the wâi (palms-together Thai greeting) catch passers-by with motion sensors. It's just northwest of the island.
There's a weekend floating market nearby.
9.08 MILES
Ornate buildings are sprinkled across Bang Pa In Palace's 19-hectare gardens. First established in the 17th century, the palace was revived in the 19th…
1.68 MILES
The prang (Khmer-style spire) in this large temple complex is one of the best extant versions in the city. There are giant stucco-sculpted Garuda on the…
1.02 MILES
Glorious in the early morning light and also at sunset, this temple is Ayuthaya's most impressive off-island site thanks to its 35m-high central prang …
3.43 MILES
Visitors to this photogenic ruin 2km southeast of the island can climb stairs up into the crypt of the stunning 60m-tall, bell-shaped chedi (stupa). There…
1.05 MILES
At this captivating ruined temple, three wonderfully intact stupas form one of Ayuthaya's most iconic views. Built beginning in 1448, this was a private…
1.12 MILES
Featuring a gorgeous 6m-high Buddha flanked by maroon columns, this active temple was one of the few to escape the wrath of Burma's invading army in 1767;…
1.68 MILES
Ayuthaya's most photographed attraction is in these temple grounds: a sandstone Buddha head tangled within a bodhi tree's entwined roots. Founded in 1374,…
2.58 MILES
This lively temple, believed to date to 1324 (26 years before the founding of Ayuthaya), revolves around the 19m-high Phra Phanan Choeng Buddha, aka …
0.66 MILES
This early-Ayuthaya temple ruin in the island's northwest features an impressive 42m-long reclining Buddha in front of a precariously leaning prang (Khmer…
0.69 MILES
Thousands of toys from across the decades are amassed in this jam-packed private museum. Rare porcelain elephants, wooden Japanese kokeshi dolls, wind-up…
0.69 MILES
A weathered Buddha, about all that remains intact from the wí·hăhn (assembly hall), sits picturesquely in front of a bell-shaped stupa at this small…
0.81 MILES
Originally built under Burmese occupation in the 16th century, the top section of this huge white stupa, whose name means 'Golden Mountain', was added…
0.99 MILES
Glaring from an enormous marble base is this gigantic statue of King Naresuan, the 16th-century monarch renowned for his efforts to free Ayuthaya from…
1.01 MILES
Next to Wat Phra Si Sanphet, this sanctuary hall houses one of Thailand's largest bronze Buddha images, dating to the 15th century, most likely. Coated in…
1.02 MILES
Glorious in the early morning light and also at sunset, this temple is Ayuthaya's most impressive off-island site thanks to its 35m-high central prang …
1.05 MILES
At this captivating ruined temple, three wonderfully intact stupas form one of Ayuthaya's most iconic views. Built beginning in 1448, this was a private…