Thailand Temple Top 5

My personal Top 5 of Temples in Thailand

1. Wat Rong Khun. Throw away your guidebook, you will not find this beauty inside. This temple (Wat) is a modern temple and not finished yet. For this reason you will not find it on an ordinary itinerary trough Thailand.


Located about 15 km from Chiang Rai, in Chiang Rai province (dough), on the main road going to Phayao, this temple is not finished yet. The creator is Chalermchai Kositpipat, an eccentric Thai artist. After his studies abroad he lived like a hermit and withdrew from normal life to paint. His painting became hugely popular and his success brought him a lo of money, which he spend on a lot of expensive things. He realised that his lifestyle wasn't right and decided to change his life. He went back to his native province, Chiang Rai, and began this huge project. More than 5 years he and his team are working on this temple and 18 million baht of his personal money has gone into this project. He doesn't accept any money and doesn't want any shops in his temple.

The temple is painted in white and is decorated with pieces of reflecting glass. Visitors will be encharmed by Wat Rong Khun because after the full load of temples they met in Thailand, this one is just totally different. It looks still very traditional, but incorporates very modern designs. Foreigners like to make the parallel between his art and the ones like Dali and especially Gaudi.

Chalermchai Kositpipat has a very personal vision, which can be seen only on the inside of the main chapel. Only recently painted, but no pictures allowed, so I can not show you. But he has painted a cosmology. On top the heaven and the Buddha, going down to the world of humans and finally the base is the hell. In hell you can clearly see the Twin towers connected with a pomp from a gas station, Keanu Reeves dressed as in the matrix is also depicted. And maybe you can recognise the heads of some famous living and dead people.

If you go to the north of Thailand and especially Chiang Rai, please don't only go visit the hill tribes but also go pay some respect in this wonderful temple.






2. Phra Pathom Chedi in Nakhon Pathom city and Nakhon Pathom province. This one is the highest chedi (pagoda or stupa) of Thailand. And with its 127m it's a difficult one to get on the camera, especially because it's always crowded around that temple.


The site where the pagoda is build would be the first place where Buddhism entered Thailand and flourished. Archeologicals think the old site dates from the 4Th century. There is an old pagoda inside the huge one. This old pagoda would be from the 4Th century. You can not enter the pagoda, only the pigeons can. There are some old pictures and some drawings in the temple that show how the old pagoda looked like.

The newer pagoda (127m) was built in the 19Th century by King Rama 4. Before he was king he entered the temple and was monk for a while. He heard about some very old ruins around the modern city of Nakhon Pathom and wrestled his way through the jungle the found the old chedi. He ordered to build up a big and huge chedi to keep and to cover the old one.

This temple is one of the most important in Thailand. It keeps a relic (some remains, like ashes, bones, hair, ...) of the lord Buddha and is a pilgrimage site for Thai Buddhists. Every day this temple is very busy with people praying, blessing amulets and some tourists walking around.

I love this temple because you see lots of people doing praying, making merits, offering, ... It's a very lively place (sometimes like a very busy shop) and still keeps its serenity.

You can also walk all around the pagoda and you will find all different statues. There are about 80 (a bit of a guess) statues showing Buddha in different positions. If you are interested in Buddhism this is another way to learn more about the life of the Buddha, because every statue shows a different step in his life.

Very religious one, but hey it's a temple.







3. Wat Si Chum. This temple is not a modern temple and you will see no monks around it, because it is not in use any more. It is situated in the historical park of Sukhothai, just outside the old city walls. Sukhothai was the first Thai capital in the 13Th and 14Th century. The whole of old Sukhothai are now beautiful ruins and Wat Si Chum is one of them.

Also called the temple of the speaking Buddha, this small temple contains a huge Buddha image, well hidden by the mondop (half open square building). The image itself is in Sukhothai style and is seen as one of the most refined statues in Thai history.

During the period of war there was on Thai king who reassembled his troops in front of the temple. His soldiers prayed to the Buddha for good fortune and success during their battle. The Buddha answered them that everything would be fine. The troops were surprised that the statue could speak and were full of passion to fight. In reality the king or one of his servants got behind the statue, there is a long climbing corridor in the building surrounding the Buddha. Because of the very good acoustic qualities of the place the voice from a normal man sounded more like a god voice.

Wat Si Chum is a small temple that doesn't attract hordes of tourists. So being there you will enjoy the peaceful atmosphere and if you are lucky some monks will perform some offerings here, which gives you excellent pictures.





4. Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep or just called Doi Suthep after the mountain it is situated on. On an altitude of 1056m high on the flank of the mountain the temple has a wonderful view of the city of Chiang Mai. It was build in 1382 by King Kuena of the Lanna kingdom to hold a relic of the lord Buddha.

In 1382 King Kuena organised a meeting for Buddhist monks. An important monk from the kingdom of Sukhothai brought a special present with him, a relic of Buddha. The king was very thankful for this gift and give it a home in the temple Wat Suan Dok in the center of Chiang Mai. He also ordered celebrations for this auspicious gift. One night the relic broke in two pieces (or multiplied) and the king was even more delighted. Only problem is that he didn't have any free Temple to put this new relic. He asked his monks what to do and they told him to put the relic on the back of a white elephant (white elephants are only reserved for the king) and to let it free, where it would stop, that would be the place of a new temple. The elephant cruised through Chiang Mai and started to climb Doi Suthep and 13 km further he stopped. He made 3 circles, trumped loudly and fell down and died over there. On that exact location a chedi in Northern style was built and inside would be the relic of the lord Buddha.

To get to the temple first 13km should be covered after that climb there are still 306 stairs waiting for you before you arrive at the temple. A cablecar is also available, hehe lazy people.


The chedi is the central place of the compound, but it is also possible to go fully around. This is recommended because you might see a spectacular view of the city of Chiang Mai. Also the nature surrounding Doi Suthep is splendid and a lot of nature lovers have been hanging around the mountain to see rare birds and plants.


When you enter the compound of the main chedi you will notice a lot of activities, because Doi Suthep is a very important temple and attracts a lot of believers and tourists. Worth noticing are the wall painting that tell the story of the last life of Buddha.

You need some time and to be in "good" shape(if you want to walk the stairs), but this temple is a beauty and offers nice scenery's.








5. Wat Arun. The landmark of Bangkok as last one. The Wat Arun measures 86m in height and is located in the city of Bangkok but on the other side of the Chao Phraya river, so you have to cross by boat to visit, but please don't fall in the water (a lot of crocodiles, no no joking).
It was constructed on the site of an older temple in 1767 by King Taksin the Great. Ayutthaya (1350-1767) was the second capital of Thailand but in 1767 it was totally destroyed by the Burmese enemies. King Taksin gathered his troops and defeated the Burmese, but could not live in his capital anymore, everything was burned and destroyed. So he moved with the Thai people and arrived at dawn at the location where the old Wat Arun was situated. King Taksin decided to build his new capital on the bank of the river near that temple. And so Thonburi (the name for the other side of the river) became the third Thai capital. But only for 15 years because after king Taksin was beheaded, he became crazy, the capital was moved to the other side of the river, to Bangkok side.
The Wat Arun has been restored and upgraded by later kings. It is a closed building but is very striking in architecture and as a landmark. You can see the temple when you are cruising the Chao Phraya river, especially in the night time this temple is well illuminated.
It is build in Cambodian style. Typical is the corn top which is called 'prang'. The whole is decorated with broken pieces of Chinese porcelain. The structure is formed after the Hindu cosmology. The middle pagoda symbolises the main world and around are 4 smaller ones that stands for other worlds. In the main pagoda you will find on the bottom daemons (hell), in the middle monkeys (world), above them angels (heaven) and on top we find the gods like Indra on his 4-headed elephant.

This one is in Bangkok so you will find a lot of tourists, more Japanese than on other places, and a lot of overpriced gift shops.



Wats that didn't got in the auspicous top 5 but are certainly worthwhile :

- Wat Phra Keow
Temple part of the Royal Palace that is home to the Emerald Buddha, the most important one of Thailand.

-Wat Phra Sri Rattana Mahathat
In Phitsanulok province is the temple with the most beautiful Buddha image of Thailand.

-Wat Mahathat (Sukhothai)
The royal temple in the historical park of Sukhothai is a real supermodel for your camera and a temple full of history.

- Wat Pra Sri Samphet
The royal temple in the historical park of Ayutthaya is a special a very relaxing place with 3 big chedi's.

-Wat Po
Is the temple with the big reclining Buddha in Bangkok and has a nice compound, but lots of tourists.

-Wat Phananchoen
In Ayutthaya province a temple with a lot of Chinese influence and right next to the river.

-Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua
The tiger temple of Kanchanaburi, where monks walk hand in hand with real tigers!