Central Thailand is an area of Thailand easily overlooked by visitors due to its distance from the capital city of Bangkok in the south and the popular tourist destination of Chiang Mai in the north. But it’s in these plains that so much Thai history occurred and once you have visited, you will come away with a greater understanding of this beautiful country. We took a week trip through five different provinces in central Thailand, and I will share some of what there is to be explored in each of those five provinces. Jump down to read about Sukhothai, Kamphaeng Phet, Phitsanulok, Phichit, Phetchabun, and the map.
Sukhothai
Out of the five provinces, Sukhothai is most popular amongst tourists. Located 6 hours north of Bangkok, it was the first capital city of a united Thailand, established in the 13th century. The city prospered for several hundreds of years before being replaced by Ayutthaya as the country’s capital city. Many ruins have been excavated from that time period, with the majority found inside the Sukhothai Historical Park.
It is really easy to arrive in Sukhothai via public transportation. Public buses will head west from Phitsanulok to Sukhothai, just keep in mind that you are arriving at the modern city of Sukhothai and not the old city center, which is 20 minutes west of the new city. So, in order to visit the historical park, you will need to find a way over to the old city. I recommend using the Grab app to get a Grab taxi to pick you up and take you. Once you are in the old city center, you can rent a bike from one of many shops or your accomodation and bike around the area. Even my 7 year old could bike on the streets of old Sukhothai to explore.
Our family really enjoyed our days at Sukhothai Historical Park. We were able to ride bicycles to explore the park, learn lots of ancient history about Thailand, and eat lots of yummy noodles and snacks. A definite highlight was being in the park on Saturday evening when the night market opens up and you can eat freshly made Thai food while watching the sun set over the ruins.
Due to Sukhothai’s importance in uniting Thailand as a country, I have created a separate post that goes into more detail about visiting Sukhothai Historical Park. Read more about our family’s visit here in this how to visit Sukhothai Historical Park.
Kamphaeng Phet
Kamphaeng Phet, the province to the south of Sukhothai, also boasts a UNESCO world heritage site at Kamphaeng Phet Historical Park. A lesser known park to that of Sukhothai’s historical park, Kamphaeng Phet Historical Park gives a greater understanding to the religious backdrop of the 13th-15th century Thailand.
The historical park entrance houses a state-of-the-art museum filled with history and stories of the past. Before entering the park, you already have a really good understanding of the era in which the ruins were in that you will be viewing.
The ruins are easy to drive through. We don’t recommend walking as the area is large and the road is large enough for a car to fit on. There are large signs in Thai and English at the different ruins to teach you about the significance of the ruin. It took us about an hour to go through the museum and an hour to drive through the ruins. Keep in mind that we had already visited Sukhothai so our kids had been through a lot of ruins in the past few days.
Some differences between the ruins at Sukhothai and the ruins at Kamphaeng Phet:
- The ruins in Sukhothai told a broader story of a kingdom being built and a capital city filled with people. Kamphaeng Phet told the story of religious prosperity.
- Sukhothai Historical Park housed almost all the ruins excavated in it’s one area with the new modern city completely separate. The city of Kamphaeng Phet is built on the ancient ruins with the remnants of the wall that surrounded the ancient city visible throughout the modern city proper. As you are driving through the town, you can view ruins on the side of road. In reality, you could see different types of ruins without ever paying the historical park fee, you would just miss out on the museum and explanation given inside the park.
In the end, we are happy that we visited both sites. They were very different experiences and between the two places, we felt we got a great perspective on life in the kingdom of Thailand in the 13th-15th centuries.
Phitsanulok
Phitsanulok province is the crossroads between highway 11, a north/south highway attaching Bangkok to the northern provinces and highway 12 which crosses the country from west to east. This makes Phitsanulok, or P’lok as the Thais call the city, a transportation hub. If you are crossing the country one way or another, you could easily find yourself with a night in this city.
P’lok sits on the Nan river, making a beautiful backdrop for dining at one of the many restaurants or coffee shops that overlook the water. The city is bustling but there are several different places of interest to visit while there.
The first is the Sgt. Maj. Dr. Thawee-Phim Buranakhate Folk Museum. This museum was small but fun for our children to explore! Dr. Thawee collected many items in his lifetime and they are all showcased throughout different rooms in this museum. Some rooms have antiques, some have buddhas, and some have cultural and ethnic artifacts. We specifically liked the rooms that included items found in homes in central Thailand which taught us about what life was like in that area now and in the past. Some signage is shown to help understand what the items are for. Our favorite area was where the traps were kept. We saw various fishing traps as well as other animal traps. In that same area, the kids could try the I Ko, which are coconut shells held together by rope. The kids could try walking with the coconut shells under their feet and see how far they could get!
The Folk Museum costs 100 baht for a foreign adult and 50 for a foreign child. The sign out front says it is open everyday from 8:30am-4:30pm. There are bathrooms located inside the complex, as well as a coffee shop that had drinks and few snacks the children could buy.
Across the road was a buddha foundry also started by Sgt. Maj. Dr. Thawee, called Baan Ja Thawee. You can walk through the whole process of how buddhas are made in Thailand by watching the employees as they work on their step in the creation of the statue. There are also signs and pictures in Thai and English showing what steps are taken to go through the process of producing one buddha. Several steps that were shown and laid out included: Casting wax figures, wire wrapping and making plaster molds, putty polishing, and covering with gold leaf. The foundry is free to enter and peruse through. There is a small shop on the premises.
Phichit
Phichit is the province directly south of Phitsanulok. And due to its lack of main roads traversing it, the province is quite off the beaten path. However, it has a story to tell and the capital city of Phichit does a wonderful job of telling that story. It all started with a legend from long ago about a crocodile king who lived in an underwater cave in the area of Phichit. When the crocodiles were in the cave, they turned into humans. The crocodile king came out of the underwater cave and fell in love with two young women who were bathing in the water. He kidnapped them and brought them down into the cave. A crocodile hunter took up the quest to find the women and attacked the crocodile king in the water before following him into the underwater cave and fighting him as a human and finally defeating him.
Due to the legend’s popularity, Phichit is filled with crocodiles! From the statues on roundabouts in the town, to the ginormous crocodile displayed on the water’s edge on lake Bueng Si Fai, the city shares its famous legend. Bueng Si Fai also has several playgrounds along the lake shore for the kids to play at with snack shops and bathrooms, making it a nice relaxing spot to spend several hours.
Along with all the statues of crocodiles, Phichit also has it’s own crocodile pit. This is a man-made structure that houses real live crocodiles! The crocodiles are in a fenced in area with a pool and a shoreline. There is a bridge that goes over the crocodile pit, so that people can view the crocodiles from over the pool. You can also see the taxidermied crocodile inside the bridge!
Phichit was such a fun place to spend an afternoon as a family. The kids loved playing on the playgrounds, then learning the legend, finding crocodile statues all over town, and visiting the crocodile pit to observe the live crocodiles.
Phetchabun
Phetchabun province is the farthest east of the five provinces mentioned in this post. The Phetchabun mountains of central Thailand cut through Phetchabun province making it a wonderful spot for enjoying cooler weather. Our family hit two different spots in Phetchabun province along highway 12.
The first spot we stopped at was Phukaew Adventure Park. When leaving highway 12, you drive up, up, up into the hills to reach the adventure park. There are places to stay at the adventure park, but we just visited to do some of the outdoor activities they have for children. We paid for each activity individually – we tried out a climbing wall, swings, and a long slide. The kids had a great time.
After the adventure park, we made our way over to the mountaintop of Wat Phra That Pha Som Kaew, a buddhist temple with 5 large buddhas sitting on each other overlooking the valley below. There were many restaurants and accommodations on the mountaintops with beautiful scenic views.
We ate at a pizza restaurant called Uncle Tom’s Pizzeria. The balcony with the view was an amazing place to eat. We also found a 7-eleven with one of the most beautiful views! They had glass windows so you could shop in the minimart while looking out over the mountains!
We easily could have stayed in Phetchabun for several more days enjoying the cooler weather and the fresh mountain air if we had the time.
