Roavina

District guide · Bangkok

เขตพระนคร

A photograph of เขตพระนคร
Photograph · Lerdsuwa · CC BY-SA 3.0

Phra Nakhon is the central district of Bangkok, encompassing Rattanakosin Island and bordered by the Chao Phraya River. The Grand Palace, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, and the National Museum stand among its major landmarks. The district contains numerous historical temples, royal residences, and cultural institutions that form the heart of Thailand's capital.

Editorial responsibility: Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor

Practical information

Language spoken
Thai
National practical orientation; regional and minority languages may also be used
Dialling code
+66
International calling code; local area and mobile prefixes still apply
Currency
Thai baht (THB)
Use the official local currency; card acceptance varies by place
Emergency number
191 police · 1669 medical
Use only for an emergency; tourist assistance may use a separate number
Plug type
Type A, B, C and O · 220 V
Check that chargers support the recorded voltage before using an adapter
Tap water
Not recorded
No verified nationwide drinking-water statement was recorded

Turn this list into a plan

Set your days, your pace and the hours you actually want to be out. The planner works around closing days and travel time, and leaves room to eat.

Plan เขตพระนคร

Planning a visit

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  9. September: no seasonality data recorded — this month
  10. October: no seasonality data recorded
  11. November: no seasonality data recorded
  12. December: no seasonality data recorded

Top things to see

Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.

  1. Wat Pho Wat Pho
    02 1 hr 15 min

    Wat Pho

    วัดพระเชตุพนวิมลมังคลารามราชวรมหาวิหาร

    Wat Pho, in full Wat Phra Chetuphon, is the temple immediately south of the Grand Palace, and it is the only monument in Bangkok carrying an international documentary-heritage inscription.

    • Must see
    • Historic monument
  2. Bangkok National Museum Bangkok National Museum
    03 2 hr 30 min

    Bangkok National Museum

    พิพิธภัณฑสถานแห่งชาติ พระนคร

    Bangkok National Museum occupies the Wang Na, or Front Palace of the Second King, beside Sanam Luang on Na Phra That Road.

    • Must see
    • Museum
  3. The Museum of Siam The Museum of Siam
    04 1 hr 30 min

    The Museum of Siam

    มิวเซียมสยาม

    Museum Siam is a museum about being Thai, in a building that was designed by an Italian.

    • Must see
    • Museum
  4. Pak Khlong Talat Pak Khlong Talat
    05 1 hour

    Pak Khlong Talat

    ปากคลองตลาด

    Pak Khlong Talat is Bangkok's wholesale flower market, and it is the city's largest trading ground for cut flowers, garlands and ritual offerings — a district of lanes at the mouth of the Khlong Lot canal in Phra Nakhon where…

    • Must see
    • Market
  5. Wat Suthat Wat Suthat
    06 45 min

    Wat Suthat

    วัดสุทัศนเทพวรารามราชวรมหาวิหาร

    Wat Suthat Thepwararam is one of only ten first-class royal temples in Bangkok, and the one written into the city's original plan rather than added beside it.

    • Must see
    • Historic monument
  6. Khaosan Road Khaosan Road
    07 1 hour

    Khaosan Road

    ถนนข้าวสาร

    Khao San Road is a 410-metre street in Phra Nakhon, a few minutes' walk from the Chao Phraya, whose name means milled rice and whose reputation has nothing to do with rice.

    • Must see
    • Historic monument
  7. Wat Ratchanatdaram Wat Ratchanatdaram
    08 45 min

    Wat Ratchanatdaram

    วัดราชนัดดารามวรวิหาร

    Wat Ratchanatdaram Worawihan stands where Ratchadamnoen Klang meets Maha Chai Road in Phra Nakhon, and it is on itineraries for one building inside it: Loha Prasat, the metal-spired monastery.

    • Must see
    • Historic monument
  8. Wat Bowonniwet Vihara Wat Bowonniwet Vihara
    09 45 min

    Wat Bowonniwet Vihara

    วัดบวรนิเวศราชวรวิหาร

    Wat Bowonniwet Vihara is the headquarters temple of the Thammayut order, and that single fact governs everything a visitor sees in the compound.

    • Must see
    • Place of worship
  9. Wat Phra Kaew Wat Phra Kaew
    10 1 hour

    Wat Phra Kaew

    วัดพระศรีรัตนศาสดาราม

    Wat Phra Kaew is the royal chapel standing inside the Grand Palace wall, and it is the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand, by function rather than by consensus of guidebooks.

    • Must see
    • Historic monument
  10. Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles
    11 1 hr 15 min

    Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles

    พิพิธภัณฑ์ผ้าในสมเด็จพระนางเจ้าสิริกิติ์ พระบรมราชินีนาถ

    The Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles is a textile museum inside the Grand Palace, occupying the Ratsadakorn-bhibhathana Building just inside the palace's outer court, and it is the quietest, most air-conditioned room on the whole compound.

    • Must see
    • Museum
  11. National Art Gallery National Art Gallery
    12 1 hr 30 min

    National Art Gallery

    พิพิธภัณฑสถานแห่งชาติ หอศิลป

    The National Gallery on Chao Fa Road is Thailand's first state institution for collecting, conserving and exhibiting the nation's art, and it occupies the old royal mint building at the north end of the Rattanakosin island, a five-minute walk from…

    • Must see
    • Art and culture venue
  12. Silp Bhirasri National Museum Silp Bhirasri National Museum
    13 1 hr 30 min

    Silp Bhirasri National Museum

    พิพิธภัณฑสถานแห่งชาติศิลป์พีระศรี

    The Silp Bhirasri National Museum is a national museum in Bangkok dedicated to the life and work of Silpa Bhirasri, an Italian-born sculptor who became a pivotal figure in modern Thai art.

    • Must see
    • Museum
  13. Rattanakosin Exhibition Hall Rattanakosin Exhibition Hall
    14 1 hr 30 min

    Rattanakosin Exhibition Hall

    นิทรรศน์รัตนโกสินทร์

    Rattanakosin Exhibition Hall is a permanent exhibition space in Bangkok's historic Rattanakosin Island district. The facility presents displays related to Thai heritage, culture, and the history of the Rattanakosin period beginning in 1782.

    • Must see
    • Museum
  14. Sao Chingcha Sao Chingcha
    15 15 min

    Sao Chingcha

    เสาชิงช้า

    The Giant Swing, Sao Chingcha in Thai, is a 21.15-metre red teak frame standing on an open island in front of Wat Suthat in Phra Nakhon, and it is the last physical trace of a Brahmin ceremony that Bangkok stopped…

    • Must see
    • Historic monument
  15. Wat Ratchabophit Wat Ratchabophit
    16 45 min

    Wat Ratchabophit

    วัดราชบพิธสถิตมหาสีมารามราชวรวิหาร

    Wat Ratchabophit Sathit Maha Simaram is Rama V's own foundation of 1869 and the most formally peculiar of Bangkok's royal temples, which is exactly why it is worth seeing after the canonical ones rather than before them.

    • Must see
    • Historic monument
  16. Wat Mahathat Yuwaratrangsarit Wat Mahathat Yuwaratrangsarit
    17 40 min

    Wat Mahathat Yuwaratrangsarit

    วัดมหาธาตุยุวราชรังสฤษฎิ์ราชวรมหาวิหาร

    Wat Mahathat Yuwaratrangsarit is a first-class royal temple of the highest grade — one of only six ratchaworamahawihan temples in Thailand — with an Ayutthaya-period foundation and a position that is itself a statement: it stands on Maha Rat Road…

    • Must see
    • Historic monument
  17. Santichaiprakarn Park Santichaiprakarn Park
    18 40 min

    Santichaiprakarn Park

    สวนสันติชัยปราการ

    Santichaiprakarn Park is a small riverside park at the northern end of Phra Athit Road in Phra Nakhon, laid out in 1999 around Phra Sumen Fort on the bank of the Chao Phraya.

    • High
    • Nature site
  18. Rommaninat Park Rommaninat Park
    19 1 hour

    Rommaninat Park

    สวนรมณีนาถ

    Rommaninat Park, also known locally as สวนรมณีนาถ, is a public green space in Bangkok. It gives residents and travellers a place to pause, walk, and spend time outdoors within the dense urban environment.

    • High
    • Nature site
  19. Saranrom Park Saranrom Park
    20 1 hour

    Saranrom Park

    สวนสราญรมย์

    Saranrom Park, or Saranrom Royal Park, is a 23-rai public park directly east of the Grand Palace, run by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, and one of the few green spaces in Rattanakosin that a visitor can simply walk into and…

    • High
    • Historic monument
  20. Bank of Thailand Museum Bank of Thailand Museum
    21 1 hr 30 min

    Bank of Thailand Museum

    พิพิธภัณฑ์ธนาคารแห่งประเทศไทย

    The Bank of Thailand Museum occupies the vault of Thailand's first banknote printing works, on Samsen Road in Phra Nakhon, and is the museum arm of the Bank of Thailand Learning Center.

    • High
    • Museum
  21. Corrections Museum Corrections Museum
    22 1 hr 30 min

    Corrections Museum

    พิพิธภัณฑ์ราชทัณฑ์

    The Corrections Museum occupies a former prison compound in Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon district. It preserves the history of Thailand’s penal system within structures connected to incarceration.

    • High
    • Museum
  22. National Theatre National Theatre
    23 1 hour

    National Theatre

    โรงละครแห่งชาติ

    The National Theatre is a major performing arts venue in Bangkok, Thailand. It serves as a principal stage for traditional Thai performing arts, including khon masked dance drama, lakhon classical dance, and other national heritage performances.

    • Notable
    • Art and culture venue
  23. Sala Chalermkrung Royal Theatre Sala Chalermkrung Royal Theatre
    24 30 min

    Sala Chalermkrung Royal Theatre

    ศาลาเฉลิมกรุง

    Sala Chalermkrung Royal Theatre is the modernist cinema at the corner of Charoen Krung and Tripet roads in Wang Burapha, opened on 2 July 1933 and built with 9,000,000 baht of King Prajadhipok's personal money to mark the 150th anniversary…

    • Notable
    • Art and culture venue
  24. Bangkok City Pillar Shrine Bangkok City Pillar Shrine
    25 30 min

    Bangkok City Pillar Shrine

    ศาลหลักเมืองกรุงเทพมหานคร

    The Bangkok City Pillar Shrine is the oldest thing in Bangkok, and it is older than the city in the strict sense: the acacia pillar at its centre was raised on 21 April 1782, before the walls, before the ministries…

    • Notable
    • Place of worship
  25. Democracy Monument Democracy Monument
    26 20 min

    Democracy Monument

    อนุสาวรีย์ประชาธิปไตย

    The Democracy Monument stands on a traffic circle where Ratchadamnoen Avenue crosses Dinso Road, in Phra Nakhon district, roughly halfway between Sanam Luang and the Golden Mount.

    • Notable
    • Historic monument

Source: OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata ·