Life in Kingdom of Thailand: Road Trip to the Ancient City of Sukhothai

UNESCO World Heritage Historic Park in Sukhothai, Thailand

Sukhothai is a town located about 440km (270mi) north of Bangkok in central Thailand and is home to a UNESCO World Heritage historic park that contains the partially-rebuilt remnants of the former Thai capital of Sukhothai. Established around 1238, Sukhothai - which roughly means "dawn of happiness" when translated from Sanskrit - served as the capital of the Thai Empire for approximately 200 years; a time that is often considered Thailand's golden era. The Kingdom of Sukhothai helped establish many aspects of Thai culture, including the creation of the Thai alphabet, the establishment of Theravada Buddhism as the national religion, and the introduction of ceramics production to Thailand. King Ramkhamhaeng, referred to as the Founding Father of Thailand, is personally considered responsible for many of the developments during that time. Beautifully preserved, the remnants of this old walled city is housed within the historic park.

Access from Bangkok: Sukhothai Airport, Car, Bus, Train (bus transfer at Phitsanulok)
Distance: 430km (270mi), about a 5hr 30min drive

The remoteness of Sukhothai makes access more difficult than popular Ayutthaya (another former capital located an hour's drive outside Bangkok), but local and international tourists can still be found exploring the town. Sukhothai Airport provides a convenient, if not quite as affordable, option, although bus travel and car rental options for the six-hour drive are also available. The city has many local hotels, with some very nice boutique options and others with more plain fare. This means that costs are very low, but as always this can come at the expense of quality. Tiger and Bird typically have no opinion on the matter, but for what it's worth, we had an excellent experience staying at the beautiful "Sukhothai Heritage Resort", which is located adjacent to the airport.

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Several years ago, Tiger and Bird were discussing our vacation options and we decided that - since Tiger had never really experienced the interior of Thailand, we would take a road trip up to Chiang Mai (northern Thailand) and drive around for several weeks before returning to Bangkok. As part of this adventure, we decided that stopping by Sukhothai was absolutely required.

Driving in Thailand. A side note is helpful here for people who may consider renting a car in Thailand. Bangkok is a very modern city, on par with what might more or less be expected in a developed country, replete with skytrain, train, and subway systems. Outside of Bangkok proper, all of this changes. The very well-maintained tollways extend about 55km outside of Central Bangkok, with the exception of Pattaya, which is directly connected to the capital. After this, the tollway will join with larger country roads at which point all manner of vehicular traffic is permitted (on the tollway, only cars and some trucks are allowed). Eventually, this gives way to smaller, two-lane country roads. Every several kilometers, a central turn-around may also be placed, meaning cars are permitted to make U-turns across opposing traffic. Care must always be exercised when approaching these U-turns.

We started off quite early on a bright, sunny weekend morning in an attempt to reach Sukhothai shortly after noon. Traffic in Bangkok tends to be very quiet at these times and leaving the city was a breeze, reaching the outskirts of Bangkok within thirty minutes. We must note that when traveling, we do tend to have a rather laissez faire attitude towards scheduling, allowing time for randomness and fun along the way, which can make our driving time a bit slower than what the GPS predicts.

On this day, we just kept driving (hey, coffee stops don't count!), reaching the province of Nakhon Sawan (Photo 1, top), the 236km (147mi) mark, in about three hours. Here we stopped for a quick - and delicious! - duck noodle breakfast (Photo 2) before continuing along our journey. About 70km later, we passed by friendly crocodiles welcoming us to Nong Hua Pluak (Photo 3 & 4). The pictures and blue sky look quite beautiful - which the locale and sky indeed was - but what is missing from the photo is the intense heat slowly increasing from the rising sun. A common sight, the local people who spend most of their day in the sun wear loose-fitting clothes with hats that cover most of their face (see in Photo 4). The terrain began to change as we drove along, with some trees now lining the road (Photo 5)

Shortly after the four hour mark, we entered Phitsanulok (Photo 1, above) and continued onwards, reaching the province Sukhothai (Photo 2) about an hour later. Soon after this, we passed through a more inhabited area and managed to spot something very unusual: two farangs (foreigners) riding in a songtaew (Photo 3). I couldn't resist taking a quick shot. Whenever we see foreigners grouped together in the Thai countryside, we know we're approaching a tourist spot. In this case we were still about a forty minute drive away. The landscape began to change as we approached Sukhothai town (Photo 4).

Fancy sign marking the entrance to Sukhothai town

A large, fancy sign marked the entrance to the town of Sukhothai. I really feel that Thailand gets this tourist thing down very well. Whenever entering a province, a few highlights/attractions from the province is listed on the signboards. Whenever approaching a more significant place, there is a sign like the one above indicating what can be found nearby. By now we'd been traveling - inclusive of breaks - for about seven hours. We decided to forgo check-in at the hotel and drive directly to the historic park to enjoy the afternoon. The park is easily accessible by car and allows vehicles inside.

Historic Park
Hours: 6:00am - 6:00pm
Fees: 100bt International, 50bt Thai for access to Central, North, and West zones. Each of these three zones have separate charges, for a total of 300bt for International travelers to access the entire park. Another, single fee of 20bt is charged for vehicles driving through the park (which is totally worth it).
Layout: About 50 square km (20s.mi) divided into five zones- Central, North, South, East, West. Vehicles permitted to enter. Bike rentals available nearby at very low rates (as low as 100bt, $3, per day), which can be preferable to walking.
Maps: Maps are available for free at the park. A great detailed map of the park, available online from sawadee.com, can be accessed here

Historic Park is pristine and beautifully maintained. After paying the entrance fees, we drove along the park road, lined with trees, grassy fields, canals, or ponds (Photo 1, above) passing by various remnants of the old city (Photo 2, Photo 3). Near larger monuments are areas for cars to pull off the road and stop, allowing visitors to progress through the park at their leisure. Signs are not visible at all monuments (Photo 3), but just remember that we are guests here. Do not climb on the monuments! This is especially important since many of these structures hold religious significance for the Thai people. In Photo 5, I couldn't resist this shot. The flowers in the tropics are absolutely stunning.

Wat Mahathat

Wat Mahathat, above, is the largest Wat in Historic Park and located in the Central Zone. After entering the park, we stopped by this area to walk around and take some pictures.

Driving to Wat Mahathat (Photo 1). We pulled off the road into the shade of some large trees beside a small canal. Early afternoon had ended, and the shade provided a nice rest from the hot sun. Views of the Wat Mahathat complex from our parking spot are seen in Photo 2 & 3. The red brick walking paths here were well maintained and provided a nice pathway through the area (just follow the red brick road). The architecture was fun to look at too, with some of the buildings beginning to lean over time (Photo 5).

Another area around Wat Mahathat

Wat Mahathat as viewed from across the pond

Eventually, we moved back to the car and continued our drive. We passed many areas with spots for pulling over and walking around; several large ponds and small "islands" that can be accessed by footbridges this way. We walked around several of these and took some more photos. Here, for tourists, please note that although there are crocodiles and many other reptiles that can enjoy foliage near water in Southeast Asia (water monitors and snakes too, of course), these almost never venture near populated areas. It is quite safe to walk around!

View of Wat Sa Si from across the pond

Wat Sa Si can be seen above. It's an impressive monument also located in the Central zone of the Historic Park, to the north of Wat Mahathat. Here we spent the late afternoon strolling about, admiring the architecture, and taking photographs.

Statue in the Wat Sa Si area

Wat Sa Si in the late afternoon sun

Wat Sa Si as the afternoon begins to wane

Wat Traphang Thong

Having spent the afternoon in the Historic Park, we decided to leave as the sun was dropping very low in the sky. We drove back out of the park's main entrance into the old town and parked opposite to Wat Traphang Thong to look for food. Around this area were some twenty small restaurants selling mostly what we considered "tourist fare", offering the odd assortment of not-that-great Thai food mixed with not-that-great Western food (spaghetti, pizza, hamburgers, and so-called "American fried rice"), so we resolved to eat at a more local Thai market later. We must note that we didn't know where this Thai market was located, but we knew there must be a Thai market somewhere.

NOTE: In Thailand, whenever there is a fairly large town, there is always a Thai market!

As we walked around looking for food, we passed by Wat Traphang Thong (Photos 1 kids feeding massive catfish, Photo 2 entrance to the Wat) and noticed the police closing down the street for what looked like a parade. We stopped in a small shop to snack on some ice cream, resolving to find "real" food later. Soon a small marching band (Photo 3) passed us by followed by a large number of Thai people wearing their "Bike for Dad" shirts (Photo 4; remember, this was several years back, when the Thai people showed solidarity in giving their best wishes for the health of the king). The sun had begun to set as the parade participants dispersed (see Photo 5), and we decided to look for dinner.

Dusk had now settled as we drove off. After several disappointments, we eventually we did find our local Thai market - 20 minutes drive away in "new" Sukhothai! Since this was a Saturday, there was a "walking street" located behind a Wat and adjacent to the river (in Thailand, during the winter - ie dry - seasons, some streets may be closed off for a market to open on the weekends). Photo 6 shows the main entrance to the walking street. Crowded sois (Photo 7), street vendors selling many hand-crafted items (Photos 8 & 9), and small food and drink stalls (Photo 10) make for a very satisfactory end to a long day of driving and exploring. We grabbed some delicious local Sukhothai noodle dishes. Hey, when in Thailand do as the Thais do. Local, authentic food is very tasty in comparison with some restaurants near tourist hotspots. Weary after a long day, we packed up our purchases and headed back to the hotel for night.

And there, ladies and gentlemen, we will leave you. Perhaps next time you will enjoy your own day trip to Sukhothai!