The Kampaeng Phet City Walls

The walls which give Kampaeng Phet its name are still strong and solid. Unlike many of the fortifications of other cities of the time, like Sukhothai or Ayutthaya, most of Kampaeng Phet's walls remain intact, so you can see just how strong the defenses of these cities really were.

The walls enclose a slightly bent triangular shape (see map). The longest wall, along the northern side, is a little more than two and a half kilometers long. The 'base' at the southeastern end is just over half a kilometer wide, while the western 'tip' is just 200 meters across.

The wall is surrounded by a moat filled with water. Gates, bastions and redoubts are placed all along the perimeter. The square redoubts stood on small islands in the moat, and would have provided good vantage points to help repel any attackers who attempted to scale the walls. There are also a couple of V-shaped bastions extending out from the main walls.

Roads line most of the inside of the wall. While the road along the southern side is rather busy, the one just inside the northern wall is a rather quiet lane. Cycling down this road can be a great way to see the wall and explore one of the redoubts. Across the busy highway, the western tip of the old city is a large open field with the ruins of a few small temples. You can visit the bastions here as well as enjoy the scenery without any traffic to speak of.