Destination · Central Thailand
Ayutthaya
- Getting there
- 90 min from BangkokBy train, road, or downriver by boat
- Best months
- Nov–FebCool season. There is almost no shade
- Temperature
- 26–36°CBrutal in April
- Nights to allow
- 2Or a long day trip out of Bangkok
- Money
- CashSmall town rates; cards only at hotels
For four hundred years this was the capital of Siam and one of the largest cities on earth, until the Burmese destroyed it in 1767. What is left is a UNESCO site of brick prang and headless Buddhas spread across an island between three rivers — and it is ninety minutes from Bangkok.
Decide second
When to come, month by month.
Thailand does not have one season. Bar height is that month’s typical rainfall here, the symbol above it is the weather to expect, and the figures below it how busy it gets.
Pick a month to read it in full.
Peak season
January
The cool season, which here means pleasant rather than cold. The best month of the year to be walking a city.
- Typical rain
- 10 mm
- Conditions
- Cool, dry
- Crowds
- Busy
Peak season
February
Dry, clear and comfortable. Book ahead; this is when everyone comes.
- Typical rain
- 15 mm
- Conditions
- Cool, dry
- Crowds
- Busy
Warming
March
The heat begins in earnest and the air gets hazier. Still dry, still very doable if you plan around the middle of the day.
- Typical rain
- 35 mm
- Conditions
- Hot, dry
- Crowds
- Moderate
Hottest
April
The hottest month of the year, regularly touching 40°C. Songkran falls mid-month and much of the country stops for it.
- Typical rain
- 75 mm
- Conditions
- Very hot
- Crowds
- Moderate
Rain begins
May
The monsoon arrives. Rain tends to come as a heavy late-afternoon burst that clears, rather than an all-day grey.
- Typical rain
- 175 mm
- Conditions
- Hot, humid
- Crowds
- Quiet
Wet season
June
Warm, humid and green, with rain most days but rarely all day. Rates drop and the crowds thin.
- Typical rain
- 140 mm
- Conditions
- Humid
- Crowds
- Quiet
Wet season
July
Similar to June and slightly wetter. Good value, and the temples are far more comfortable than in April.
- Typical rain
- 150 mm
- Conditions
- Humid
- Crowds
- Moderate
Wet season
August
Wetter again, with longer spells of rain. Perfectly workable for a city trip; less so for anything outdoors all day.
- Typical rain
- 180 mm
- Conditions
- Humid
- Crowds
- Moderate
Wettest
September
The wettest month. Street flooding after heavy rain is normal and clears quickly, but it will interrupt a day.
- Typical rain
- 300 mm
- Conditions
- Wet
- Crowds
- Quiet
Wet
October
Still wet through the first half, then easing markedly. The last week can already feel like the cool season.
- Typical rain
- 240 mm
- Conditions
- Easing
- Crowds
- Moderate
Peak season
November
The rain stops, the humidity drops and the country is at its most comfortable. The best month to come, and priced accordingly.
- Typical rain
- 45 mm
- Conditions
- Cool, dry
- Crowds
- Busy
Peak season
December
Cool, dry and busy, with rates at their highest over Christmas and new year.
- Typical rain
- 8 mm
- Conditions
- Cool, dry
- Crowds
- Busy
Decide third
How long, and what shape.
Three shapes we actually sell. The nights are real and so is the pace — each one is a starting point we rebuild around who is travelling, not a fixed menu.
1 night · 2 days
Touch & Go
Ninety minutes from Bangkok, and one night is enough to see the old capital in the two hours of the day when it looks best.
Day 1
Up from Bangkok, and Chaiwatthanaram at sunset
The last hour of light turns the western prang orange, and the day-trippers have gone back to the city by then. This is the whole reason to stay a night.
Day 2
The great temples, then back
Wat Mahathat and the Buddha head held in fig roots, Wat Ratchaburana, Wat Phra Si Sanphet. South again by evening.
Ayutthaya is flat, spread across an island, and brutal in April. We put a bicycle or a car under you depending on the month rather than assuming either.
2 nights · 3 days
Quick Getaways
Two nights lets you cycle the island rather than drive between four car parks, and adds the river the city was built on.
Day 1
Up from Bangkok
Wat Chaiwatthanaram in the last light, and dinner at the night market by the river.
Day 2
The island by bicycle
Wat Mahathat, Wat Ratchaburana, Wat Phra Si Sanphet and the elephant kraal, with a long lunch in the middle of the day when nobody should be outside.
Day 3
The river, and Bang Pa-In
A longtail right around the island, past the temples with no road to them, then the summer palace at Bang Pa-In on the way back to Bangkok.
This is a working town of fifty thousand people, not a site with a fence around it. The ruins sit between petrol stations and schools, and that is what makes it good.
4 nights · 5 days
Destination Deep Dive
Four nights only makes sense if you leave the island. This shape uses Ayutthaya as a base for the whole central plain.
Day 1
Up from Bangkok
Wat Chaiwatthanaram at sunset and the night market after it.
Day 2
The island by bicycle
The four great temples and the museum, slowly, with the middle of the day given to lunch.
Day 3
The river and Bang Pa-In
The island by longtail in the morning, the summer palace in the afternoon — Thai, Chinese and Italianate buildings in one garden.
Day 4
Lopburi
An hour north: Khmer prang, a seventeenth-century palace, and several hundred macaques who genuinely own the town centre.
Day 5
Ang Thong, then Bangkok
The great reclining Buddha at Wat Muang, or the crafts centre at Bang Sai, and south in the afternoon.
Two nights covers Ayutthaya itself. If the ruins are all you want, take the shorter shape and give the days back to Bangkok — we would rather say that than fill five days here.
What you came for
Three things worth the day.
Wat Mahathat
The Buddha head held in the roots of a banyan tree is the image everyone knows. The rest of the temple is worth more time than the photograph gets.
- Time
- 1 hr
- Best at
- Opening
- Entry
- ฿50
Wat Chaiwatthanaram
The most complete of the ruins, riverside and Khmer in style, and the one to see at the end of the day when the brick goes orange.
- Time
- 1 hr
- Best at
- Sunset
- Entry
- ฿50
The island by bicycle
The ruins are spread over several kilometres of flat ground and a bicycle is the right speed for them. Start early; by eleven the heat wins.
- Time
- Half day
- Hire
- From ฿50/day
- Pass
- ฿220 for six sites
For Indians
Entry requirements
- Route
- Visa exemption
- Maximum stay
- 30 days
- Fee
- None
When this starts India was moved to this 30-day exemption by the Thai Cabinet on 16 July 2026. It commences 15 days after the Ministry of Interior announcements are published in Thailand’s Royal Gazette. We confirm in writing which rule applies to your travel dates before you fly, and we will not let you travel on the wrong one.
Every traveller must also file the Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) online within 72 hours of arrival. It is free, and airlines check it at the gate — without it you will not be allowed to board.
Applies to Indian passport holders. Last reviewed 12 August 2026. Entry rules change; we confirm the current position at the time of booking.
Packages through Ayutthaya
Nothing published through here yet, which usually means the trips we run to this part of Thailand are built to order. Tell us your dates and who is travelling, and we will price one.
Plan my ThailandWorth knowing
What we would tell you on the phone.
Go early or go late
There is no shade among the ruins and the middle of the day in April is genuinely dangerous. First light is also when you get them to yourself.
It is a temple site, not a ruin park
Cover shoulders and knees, and do not climb on the brickwork or pose in front of a Buddha image with your back to it.
The boat back is worth it
Returning to Bangkok down the Chao Phraya takes far longer than the train and is a better afternoon.
The elephant rides
We do not book them and would ask you not to. There are ethical sanctuaries in the north if seeing elephants matters to you.
Pairs well with
Where most people go next.
Bangkok
Ninety minutes, and the obvious base if you would rather not move hotels.
Lopburi
An hour north, with a ruined palace and a monkey problem that has to be seen.
Chiang Mai
The sleeper train north stops here, which makes a night in Ayutthaya almost free of travel time.
Ayutthaya, built around you.
Tell us who is travelling and when. We will build the rest around the season.