05The story

Ayutthaya

A city of brick

The island Ayutthaya stands on is small by the municipal measure: 14.84 square kilometres where the Chao Phraya meets the Pa Sak. What remains above ground is bare brick, bases of shrines, rows of prangs, and Wat Mahathat near the middle. Across the river, off the island, Wat Chaiwatthanaram rises on the west bank and is one of the shapes the park is known by from a distance. The World Heritage listing came in 1991. Visitors walk among these masses, not through finished palaces. Start on the bank so the towers show against the water, then cross to the island before the heat builds on the exposed brick. The present city registered 50,830 residents in 2020, so the ruin quarter is not the whole town. The road back to Bangkok is short enough for the same day, and shade is scarce on the brick between noon and late afternoon. Wat Chaiwatthanaram is visible from the bank before you cross, which settles where to begin.

0.84 km²

Municipal area