After having been to Ayutthaya a few years back, everyone told me that I need to go see the Sukhothai Historical Park in Sukhothai province. I was told it’s a lot better and more majestic. It definitely made it on my bucket list, which apparently gets longer the more I tick off destinations.

Although it was en route during our road trip to Chiang Mai, we didn’t have time to visit. Lucky for me, SiamRise Travel recently reached out to see if I wanted to join and visit Sukhothai on a FAM Trip. Obviously, I was immediately interested.

Now I’m not a history buff and while I do know a little bit about its history and significance, I’m not going to give you a history lesson here. You have Google and books for that.

What I will do, however, is share all my photos from the trip with interesting experiential tidbits, which will hopefully inspire you to visit as well. It’s really an absolutely lovely place!

Disclaimer: sorry for the quality of the photos. It wasn’t the best weather and lighting when we went.

Best way to get around – A bike

Although you can rent some small motorized vehicles, the best way to get around Sukhothai Historical Park is by bicycle. You can rent them in front of the ticketing office across the road.

It’s time to go explore the ruins of Sukhothai.

Walking to our bikes

Wat Si Chum

Since we arrived Sukhothai so late, we were running out of time. One of the temples in the northern zone of the complex was closing in 10 minutes so we had to quickly ride our bikes there.

Wat Si Chum is one of many iconic landmarks at Sukhothai Historical Park. You can see a beautiful giant Buddha that peaks through a vertical opening in the hall ruin.

A closer look
Even closer
Wat Si Chum from the outside
Another Buddha image on the right side of the main hall

Biking around and taking more pictures

We biked around the entire complex of the historical park. All I could think of was how peaceful, clean and beautiful it was here.

We took pictures of some more temples such as Wat Sa Si and Wat Chana Songkhram that were situated around lakes and ponds.

Wat Mahathat

One of the most impressive temple ruin in size and aesthetics at Sukhothai Historical Park is Wat Mahathat. Here alone, you can spend an hour admiring the restoration work and taking pictures of its grandeur.

Interesting fact. Many cities have their own Wat Mahathat in which relics of Buddha are kept.

Wat Si Sawai

Wat Si Sawai is the only Hindu-style temple (during the Khmer period) at Sukhothai Historical Park. Later it became a Theravada Buddhist temple.

It is definitely worth seeing this temple due to its unique design compared to the other temples at the complex.

It soon became too dark to take any more photos so we continued back to our hotel for dinner and a nightcap before day 2 of hiking and interacting with a local community.

Related articles