Railroad Tours | From Bangkok to Ayutthaya

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Railroad Trips from Bangkok to Ayutthaya
By train it takes around 80 to 120 minutes to complete the 71.08 km journey from Bangkok’s main train station to Ayutthaya, however, bear in mind that the train often gets delayed in the busy stretch of railway coming out of Bangkok and journey times can take 30 minutes or more than scheduled. A total of 32 trains are available per day. For some reason many travellers choose to take a bus or minivan from Bangkok to Ayutthaya instead of the train.

• Fastest Trains:
  The fastest train from Bangkok to Ayutthaya is Train #7 departing at 08:30, which is scheduled to complete the journey in 1 hour 17 minutes.
• Slowest Trains:
  The slowest trains from Bangkok to Ayutthaya are Train #201 departing at 09:25 and Train #301 departing at 16:30 for a journe of 2 hours 2 minutes.
• Rates:
  Are available from appr. 50 - 900 THB depending on the seat type.
• Advance Reservation:
  There is usually no need to make an advance booking for tickets for most of these services, so just turn up at the station and buy a ticket for the next train to Ayutthaya.If however, you want to use one of the faster Express or Special Express trains, you may want to book in advance to make sure you can get a seat.

Ayutthaya Historical Park is located 4 km from the train station, which is on the other side of the Pa Sak River. A tuk-tuk from the station to the historical park will cost around 100 THB. Alternatively walk straight ahead as you come out of the station and after a few minutes walk there is a small boat that will take you across the Klong (canal) to the old city area for just 5 THB. Most of the park is open from 08:00 to 18:00 every day and it costs 50 THB per person to visit each temple. There are quite a few temples to see so you may save money by buying a ticket will allows entry to up to 6 temples for 230 THB. You can buy these multiple entry tickets at the ticket office outside any of the temples in the park.

The historical park itself cover a large and there are parts of it you do not need to pay to go into. You can easily walk between the major sights in the park but many people choose to rent a bike or even a tuk-tuk for the day to take them between the temples. If you have limited time or limited energy then the three most interesting temples to visit are:

• Wat Phra Mahathat:
  This is the temple with the Buddha head growing inside the roots of a bodhi tree. A lot of the Buddha statues had the heads smashed off the bodies by invading Burmese soldiers and they lay scattered around the temple grounds. The Burmese invaded in 1767 and this temple along, with many others in Ayutthaya, has been left in a state of disrepair ever since.
• Wat Phra Si Sanphet:
  Probably the most impressive of the temples in the historic park with three large central prang (pointed towers) forming the centre piece of the temple. Around these three central prang are hundreds of smaller prang which have all been carefully geometrically aligned. Its a ruin but it an impressive ruin.
• Wat Phra Ram:
  This temple has one very large prang in the centre with four smaller prangs around the outside. What is particularly special about this temple is that the large prang is still intact unlike at other temples in Thailand of a similar age where prangs have this size has collapsed or have been wilfully destroyed.

Once on the island, you will find plenty of places to stay, with the main backpacking area just 5 - 10 minutes walk away (Turn right, then left down the main road). Here, you will also find plenty of places that rent bicycles out and this is a great way to travel around all the old city ruins. Alternatively, if you are not staying long, hire a Tuk Tuk to take you around. You will have to negotiate hard to get a good price, but they are a good way of seeing most of the sights in a short space of time.