Nakorn Si Thammarat is perhaps the most overlooked tourist destination in Thailand. Although short on tourist facilities, there is an amazing amount of history and culture on display in this pleasant and welcoming city. It may well be the oldest continuously occupied city in Thailand, and is where many of the classical fine arts of Thailand originated.
History
Although its exact founding date is unknown, references to the city as a major trading center date back as far as the first century. Originally known as Ligor, the city was the capital of Lankasuka and was well placed for trade between southern India and China.
The town came to dominate trade in the area around the sixth century. A century or so later the kingdom came under the rule of the Srivijaya kingdom based on Sumatra. The Khmers ruled here briefly just before the emergence of the first Thai kingdom at Sukhothai. In the thirteenth century, King Si Thammasokarat enlisted the help of Indian traders to build the original city walls. The kingdom remain semi-independent until finally aligning itself to the Thai kingdom in the eighteenth century under King Taksin.
Orientation & Highlights
Nakorn Si Thammarat is a very long narrow city. The main road, Thanon Ratchadamnoen, runs north - south through its center, and almost all the sights of the city are on this street or within a block or two of it. See our map of the city for a complete overview of the city's layout and all the sights covered in this guide. There are no taxis per se in Nakorn Si Thammarat, except for motorcycle taxis that can be useful for short trips. The best way to get around is by songthaew, a small pickup with benches along either side of the bed. They travel up and down the main roads and charge 5 or 10 Baht (about US$0.15 to 0.30) per trip.
Wat Phra Mahathat - one of the most important temples in Thailand
The best way to explore the main sights is to start at one end of Thanon Ratchadamnoen and work your way to the other. A trip to Nakorn Si Thammarat absolutely must include a visit to Wat Phra Mahathat. Missing it would be like going to Paris for the first time and not visiting the Eifel Tower. Since the temple is near the southern end of the city, we recommend starting there. The only significant sight further south is the National Museum, but we wouldn't put it on our list of 'must see' places.
The home and theater of a famous shadow puppet master
On a side street near Wat Phra Mahathat is the home of the south's master of shadow puppetry, Suchart Subsin. Suchart has turned his home into a museum of shadow puppetry where you can see puppets collected from all over the world as well as craftsmen at work making new puppets.
From the puppet museum, you'll want to make your way back to Ratchadamnoen Road and head back towards town. A short distance from Wat Phra Mahathat you'll come to a clock tower at a fork in the road. A little bit further on from here is the provincial administration center, which contains the chapel of the Singh Buddha image.
Further down Ratchadamnoen Road towards town are two tiny Hindu shrines on either side of the road. The Ho Phra Isuan is a Brahmin shrine to Shiva while across the street the Ho Phra Narai is a shrine to Narai, an incarnation of Vishnu.
The old monks quarters at Wat Sao Tong
Just a short walk up Ratchadamnoen Road will bring you to the remains of the old city walls. From here, you may want to cross the old moat and then head west to the shops along Tha Chang Road, or you can continue into town and Wat Sao Thong.
Within the compound of the Nakorn Si Thammarat provincial administration is a small chapel containing one of the most revered Buddha images in Thailand, or at least a copy of it.
The original Phra Phutthasihing, or Singh Buddha image, was commissioned by the King of (Sri) Lanka in 157 AD. More than a thousand years later, King Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai heard of the image's beauty and asked King of Nakorn Si Thammarat - then a vassal state of Sukhothai - to obtain the image from the King of Lanka.
Nakorn Si Thammarat is a very long narrow city. The main road, Thanon Ratchadamnoen, runs north - south through its center, and almost all the sights of the city are on this street or within a block or two of it. See the map below of the city for a complete overview of the city's layout and all the sights covered in this guide. There are no taxis per se in Nakorn Si Thammarat, except for motorcycle taxis that can be useful for short trips.
Beside Ratchadamnoen Road, roughly dividing the modern city center from the now mostly residential old city is a reconstructed piece of the old city walls. The brick walls were built in the thirteenth century to replace old earthen ramparts and enclosed a rectangle 400 meters wide and 2,230 meters long.
The city walls and north gate The story goes that bricks from the old wall were used to build the town prison, which used to stand across the street from the reconstructed gate.
Nakorn Si Thammarat is well know for its food, and the fact that its off the tourist trail means it's also one of the cheapest places to eat you'll find. As with everywhere else in Thailand, there's no end of options for street food where-ever you go. The night market near the train station is the best place to go for a street food dinner.
For more traditional restaurants, the Bovorn Bazaar has the most choices in one place.
Nakorn Si Thammarat city is rather short of international standard hotels and accommodation. Of course, as there aren't that many tourists, there isn't a lot of demand for what rooms there are. Use the search box below to see what's available using Hotels Combined, which checks rates from dozens to online booking sites to help you find the best deals.
Nakorn Si Thammarat's branch of the National Museum is full of artifacts of the South's long history. Of particular interest are some seventh century Mon inscriptions taken from Wat Phra Mahathat, ceramics from the Chinese Tang (518 - 907 AD) and Song (960 - 1274 AD) dynasties found in the waters around Nakorn Si Thammarat, and golden niello fittings from King Rama V's royal barge.
The courtyard garden of the National Museum Off the courtyard on the ground floor, you'll also find a model of the city as it probably was in the sixth century, just after the walls and main temples were built.
Across the street from the TAT information office and near the city pillar is a small hill on top of which is the tiny Phra Sung Chapel. It houses a highly revered plaster Buddha image called Phra Sung, believed to have been crafted in the late Ayutthaya era.
The Phra Sung chapel The hill itself was part of the cities fortifications built to defend it against the Burmese. The chapel appears to have been built on the hill after a successful defense of the city.
On a side street near Wat Phra Mahathat is the home of the south's master of shadow puppetry, Suchart Subsin. Suchart has turned his home into a museum of shadow puppetry where you can see puppets collected from all over the world as well as craftsmen at work making new puppets.
The Shadow Puppet Museum of Suchart Subsin The museum is housed in a collection of traditional southern style wooden homes.
A pair of gold and silver niello pens Nakorn Si Thammarat has several unique handicrafts that are found almost nowhere else in Thailand. Chief among them is niello, which may well be the most highly prized of all Thai handicrafts. Niello is produced by etching or engraving a design into silver or gold. An amalgam of metals which quickly oxidize to black are applied to the etched portions, creating a high relief appearance.
The old chedi of Suan Phra Ngern Next to the city hall is a narrow strip of grass on which sits an open sided chapel covering an Ayutthaya era Buddha image called Phra Ngern. Behind the chapel is a large pagoda called the Chedi Yak. Although once part of a temple, the chedi and Buddha image are all that remain.
There are two sources for additional tourism information in Nakorn Si Thammarat:
The Tourism Authority of Thailand has an information center housed in a charming 1920s officers' club on the edge of Sanam Na Muang. You can obtain a map of the main sights of Nakorn Si Thammarat as well as information on neighboring provinces.
At City Hall, you'll find another tourism information office, open every day from 9:00 a.
Across the from the National Museum is a large tree filled temple called Wat Suan Luang. Although there are signs the temple is quite old, it does not appear to be significant in the city's history. It is quite nice with its palm trees and tiny chapel set far from the main gate.
Wat Suan Luang compound
