If you spend more than a couple of days in Bangkok make sure you get on a train/bus/taxi and go to Ayutthaya. The journey is not that long, and trust me it is one of the most impressive places in Thailand. As a future archaeologist is was mind blown by the ruins of the Siames capital city.
Let’s start with a short history of this amazing archaeological site. The city was founded in the 14th century and it became the second capital of the Siames Kingdom after Sukhothai. It was built on an island formed by 3 rivers, which also connected the city to the sea and helped it become one of the most important and cosmopolitan cities at that time. Sadly it was destroyed in the 18th century by the Burmese army, after which it was abandoned and the capital was moved downstream to Bangkok. Now the archaeological park is part of the UNESCO World Heritage and you can visit the monumental remains of the temples to really understand how spectacular the city used to be.
How do I get there ?
There are many ways to get to Ayutthaya. Because I love traveling cheap I chose to take a train, for which I payed just 17 baht (0.48 euro). That was for a 2 hours journey in second class, without aircon (but most windows were open). If you prefer traveling more comfortably and wanna skip the hassle you can easily book a tour .
Also if you want to check out other means of trasportatations click here . 12Go was a life saver while planning my trip to South East Asia, as I booked all my transportation from home months before and got the best buses/boats I could ask for with no stress.
What do I do after I get there?
When you arrive at the train station you will get a free map of the archaeological park, so it should be pretty easy to follow that or just go with the crowd. Anyways in the end you will have to cross the river by boat (10 baht=0.28 euro) and after that you can either walk, rent a bike or a motor bike. I would recommend a bike, as it is so affordable, starting from 50 baht up to 100 baht ( 1,42 euro to 2,85 euro) and it is so much fun riding on all the alleys and streets on the island. Also all the temples have a bike parking so no need to worry about that.
What should I visit and should I spend the night ?
If you have the time and want to see all the temples I would say yes. The place is HUGE! You can just walk around for half a day and not even realise. ( That happened to me, just riding my bike around and staring at the temples). I wish I could have gone to all the temples, as they all are amazing and unique, but I only got time for Wat Mahathat (famous for the stone Buddha that emerges from he roots of a tree) and Wat Chaiwatthanaram.
Here is a list of some other temples you should also check out: WAT PHUTTHAI SAWAN, WAT YAI CHAI MONGKHON, WAT SUAN LUANG SOPSAWAN, WAT PHRA SI SANPHET and WAT LOKKAYA SUTHARAM
If you liked this make sure to check out day 1 and day 2 of the itinerary.
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Nomad Blood 