Ayutthaya Historical Park

How to reach Ayutthaya from Bangkok by Train.

If you are staying near MRT or BTS station in Bangkok , it will be easy to reach railway station or airport at any given Time. I was staying near Phra Ram 9 subway station. It took hardly 10 to 15 minutes to reach Hua Lamphong MRT station which costs 31 THB per person and it is just opposite to the Bangkok Railway Station. so we reached Bangkok Railway station via MRT by 7:00 AM in the morning.

Bangkok Railway Station

we got the tickets to Ayuttaya but the train leaves only by 8:20 AM so we had an hour to kill. The tickets are not the reserved one ,so they mentioned as STANDEE and class 3 in the ticket. Make sure you get into the correct class. we had a confusion that do we need to stand the entire time of travel? It doesn't work like that. The seats are occupied on the basis of first come first serve. 

Train ticket to Ayutthaya - 20 THB per person


In the Train

Around 10:00 AM we reached Ayutthaya. 

Once you come out of the station, there will be number of people near the Tourist Information Service waiting outside with pamphlets having the pictures of the ruins that you want to visit. 

The base price they'll start with is 1200 THB (for 3 of us). Its all about your bargaining skills. We spoke with them and reduced it to 800 THB for 3 of us. He was ok with it (the moment he said ok, i thought we should have asked for 500 THB) and we got into the TUK TUK. There are bicycles available for rent as well. 

TUK TUK

Ayutthaya Historical Park:

There are two things which attracted me towards Ayutthaya.

1.Its a UNESCO World Heritage Site (My 1st visit outside India)

2."Buddha head embedded in the Banyan tree" which is one of the world's most photographed Buddha.

There are totally 3 Cultural places in Thailand which was recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage Site.

1.Ban Chiang Archaeological site

2.Historical City of Ayutthaya

3.Historic Town of Sukhothai

I have visited all the sites in Tamilnadu, Humayun's Tomb in Delhi, Churches and convents in Goa. This is my first visit of an UNESCO site outside India.

Below are some of the temple ruins that the Tuk Tuk drivers will take you.

Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon
Wat Phanan Choeng
Ayutthaya Floating Market
Wat Maha That
Wat Phra Ram
Wat Phra Si Sanphet
Ayutthaya Elephant Palace
Vihara Phra Mongkhon Bophit

Once you got into the Tuk Tuk, the 1st place they will take you is "Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon". There is entry fee of 20 THB per person.

Entry Fee


Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon

Once we complete this temple, the tuk tuk driver took us to the next temple "Wat Phanan Choeng"







The driver then asked us showing the pamphlet whether we want to go to Ayutthaya floating market or Wat Maha That. As I was very eager to see the Buddha head I chose Wat Maha That.

Refreshment before entering Wat Maha That

Wat Maha That:

The head was once a part of a sandstone Buddha image which fell of the main body onto the ground.
It was gradually trapped into the roots of a constantly growing bodhi tree. The stone head was rather
flat and wide facial structure with thick eyebrows and big eye lids,straight wide lips reflecting
the art of middle Ayutthaya period around 1600s.

people taking pics with the Buddha head

Vihara Phra Mongkhon Bophit:

Ayutthaya Elephant Palace:

An Elephant ride from the Ayutthaya Elephant palace

 Wat Phra Ram:

Wat Phra Si Sanphet:

Unesco

Heading back to the railway Station

Note:

1.If you don't have interest in history and in ancient monuments, then better avoid this place.
2.Take enough water bottles with you.
3.Try to visit from the morning so that you can avoid the heat in the afternoon.
4.Most of the ruins looks similar to each other which might not interest a person who barely loves history.

Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon
Wat Maha That
Ayutthaya Floating Market
Wat Phra Si Sanphet

I would recommend the above places as must visit at least once in your lifetime.