Day Trip to Ayutthaya

*UPDATED*
While researching and collecting recommendations for our time in Bangkok, a visit to Ayutthaya was mentioned by many. It is a small town about 1 hour north, and was the capital of Siam for a few hundred years. We decided it was worth the trip to check out.

Getting there:

Our hostel front desk hero told us the best way was to get a metered taxi to the Hua Lamphong train station, and catch the train up to Ayutthaya. The taxi cost about 60 baht, and our 3rd class wooden seat 20 baht each. The train takes 2 hours, regardless of delays or a late start. 

Getting around:

While most of what we wanted to see was technically "walkable", we decided to rent bicycles for 50 baht each. The whole city is flat with the exception of the bridges crossing the canal, so even someone who's not big on biking should have an okay time. We just walked out of the train station and to the first "Bicycle for Rent" sign. This way, we did not have to pay a tuk tuk but could get around more efficiently.

Planning our route:

Since we were biking, we did a lot of reading about the main sites to see. I found the Ayuthaya in a bicycle by article on travelfish.org to be an invaluable resource. Although we designed our own route, it was great to have a starting point. Plus I used the recommendations on the site to choose our lunch spot. An accurate map of our journey will have to wait until you have access to a good computer, but this is the one that Kerry neatly wrote out the night beforehand. It is not the order we actually saw things and we took many wrong turns, but you can get an idea. 

 

The sites we successfully visited (in the order we visited them):

Wat Chai Watthana Ram

 

Wat Wora Pho

Wat Wora Chet Tha Ram

 

Wat Lokaya Suttha

 

Tourist Administration of Thailand building - mediocre bathrooms, but a great informative air-conditioned exhibit that gives details on many of the temples, including some we were unable to visit. 

Wat Phra Ram

 

Wat Phra Si Sanpeth

 

Wat Ratchaburana

 

Wat Maha That

 

The sites we were not able to visit:

Chedi Sri Suriyothai - closed for construction

Ancient Palace - we were able to bike around it, but found no way to enter it and decided we did not need to investigate further

Wat Thammikarat - on the same plot of land, we think ...

Chao Sam Phraya National Musem - one of two museums in the city, both with a 150 baht entrance fee, which we were not worth seeing at the free exhibit at the TAT building

The food:

Arguable the most important in my opinion. Breakfast was a small place across from Wat Chai, since that's where we started and we were hungry. There were many options along the road, all probably serving similar food. We had vegetable fried rice.

Lunch was pre-planned to be boat noodles, and specialty of Ayutthaya. The location recommendation from travelfish worked out perfect since we ended our day at Wat Maha That our fried rice was filling enough to last until mid afternoon. 

 

Snacks were mostly in the form of hydration, since we stopped at 7-11 for water and juice / tea. We had planned to get roti sai mai outside the Ayuthaya hospital, but did not have a hankering for sweets so we passed. 

Our Recommended Route:
This is, of course, not the route we started out on and not the route we actually took. However, I think that it's what we would have done, if we had to repeat the day knowing what we already know.

(1) Wat Chai Watthanaram

(2) Wat Wara Pho, Wat Wora Chet Tha Ram, Wat Lokaya Suttha

(3) Tourist Administration of Thailand building

(4) Wat Phra Ram, Wat Phra Si Sanpeth

(5) Wat Ratchaburana

(6) Wat Maha That

Lessons learned:

-Reapply sunscreen often

-Stock up on water early, we found ourselves in an area with no 7-11 or minimart for a while while 

-All the bathrooms cost 5 or 10 baht, except at the tourist center

-Be flexible with your route, and stop whenever and wherever you want

- The train back is going to be packed, so be prepared to sit with a stranger or stand the whole way home (2nd class was sold out or we would've upgraded)