The Temples Worth the Train, and the Ones That Are Just a Car Park
There are roughly ten thousand temples in Thailand. You are going to see four of them. Getting those four right matters more than seeing twenty badly.
Thailand has something like ten thousand Buddhist temples. You are going to see four, maybe five, and you will spend a full day doing it. Which four is the difference between a trip you remember and a day you spent queueing for a photo.
I have been to most of the famous ones more than once. This is the shortlist, with the boring logistics that decide whether you enjoy them.
Last verified 29 September 2026.
Wat Pho, Bangkok — go at opening, leave by nine
The reclining Buddha is 46 metres long and the single most impressive object in Bangkok. That is not hyperbole and it does not get less impressive. The rest of the complex holds 300 chedis and the birthplace of Thai massage, which was a hospital for four centuries and the origin myth for every massage course in the country.
The problem is that everyone knows this, and by 10am the courtyard is shoulder to shoulder. I have gone at opening, on foot from the river, twice now, and had the courtyard almost to myself while the tour groups were still assembling at the gate.
Go at 8:30. Wear trousers. The Chinese tourists in mandarin-collar shirts are not the ones to worry about; the heat is.
Wat Arun, Bangkok — take the ferry, not the bus
You have seen this one in every photograph of Bangkok, the riverside prang. What the photographs do not show is how much better it is from the water than from the road.
The answer is the Chao Phraya express boat. It costs 16 baht, it runs every fifteen minutes, and it puts you at the pier next to the temple having looked at the whole skyline on the way in. The bus does not do that.
Arrive late afternoon. The light does something to the porcelain that photographs cannot quite capture, and the heat is off. Climb the prang if your knees are good; the stairs are steep and narrow and people get heatstroke on them every year.
Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai — the one I actually rate highest
At 306 steps up the naga staircase, with the whole city laid out below and the air ten degrees cooler than the valley floor, this is the temple I bring people to. It is also the one most Chiang Mai residents have not actually visited, which tells you something about how the city works.
Go early. The songthaew from the bottom of the hill is 40 baht each way if you catch the red one, 60 if the driver decides you are a tourist. From the top you can walk to Wat Pha Lat, a forest temple twenty minutes further up, which is quiet, mossy, and has a monk who will show you things if you sit down for twenty minutes.
Do not eat the chicken and rice at the base. Everyone knows about that chicken and rice. It is fine and it is a letdown.
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep's neighbour: Wat Umong
Forest temple, forest setting, tunnels dug into a hillside by a monk who wanted to escape his own fame. No crowds, no ticket pressure, monkeys with no boundaries. An hour from the city, and almost empty.
Go on a weekday. Go at opening. This is the one that makes the case for going slowly.
The ones that are fine
Wat Saket, Bangkok is on the Golden Mount and the climb is worthwhile, but you are climbing through a market and the temple itself is a bit thin. Go if you are already at the old town.
Wat Ratchabophit is the most beautiful building in Bangkok and almost nobody visits it, because it is across the river from the main tourist strip. Take the boat. The teak interior justifies itself.
Wat Chedi Luang is enormous and in Chiang Mai, and the restoration scaffolding has been there for a decade. Coming.
Three that are not worth your morning
The Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew is the most visited site in the country. It is beautiful and it is a crush, and the dress code is enforced by people who enjoy enforcing it. Go early, or skip it and go to Wat Pho next door, which is better and emptier.
Wat Traimit — the Golden Buddha. It is a nice object in a building that charges an entrance fee into a fairly ordinary temple. The taxi ride from central Bangkok costs more than the ticket.
Any "temple tour" sold from a Bangkok hotel desk that includes six temples and a snake farm. Six temples in a day means thirty minutes each, which means a car park and a sales pitch.
The rules that will make any temple better
Dress code is real: shoulders and knees covered. Long trousers and a scarf over the shoulders is enough, and the temples that matter will not have a dress-code attendant at the gate on a weekday morning.
Take shoes off at the door every time, and be careful where you step — there are almost always dogs, and they are asleep in the interesting spots.
Do not photograph people praying. This is not advice, it is the expectation.
And go early. The difference between a temple at 8am and a temple at 2pm is not just the crowds, it is that at 8am the courtyard is a place, and at 2pm it is a queue.
All of this assumes you are here legally. Since 15 September 2026 most nationalities get 30 days visa-free. Check yours in the country-by-country guide before you book the train.
Last verified 29 September 2026.
