Ayutthaya Full Day Tour from Pattaya, Palace and Big Buddha

1. Bang Pa-in
   1h
   Our first stop is Bang Pa-In, the King of Thailand's summer palace on the bank of the Chao Phraya River. Thirty nine pavilions and halls sit across forty six landscaped acres, and this is not a museum piece, the Royal Family still uses it today. Walk past the golden Aisawan Thiphya-Art pavilion mirrored in a still lake, feed the resident fish and turtles, and take in a rare mix of Thai, Chinese and European architecture inside one boundary wall. Your guide points out the marble memorial to Queen Sunandha, whose tragic drowning here in 1880 is still one of Thailand's most retold royal stories
2. 45m · Admission ticket included
   Next is Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon, the temple King Naresuan built to mark his legendary victory over the Burmese on elephant back. Climb the steep steps of the towering bell shaped chedi for a sweeping view over the temple grounds and rice fields beyond, then walk the gallery ringing its base, lined with dozens of seated Buddha images draped in saffron cloth. A large reclining Buddha, thirty metres long, rests in the corner of the complex, and across a small footbridge stand rows of colourful rooster statues, offerings left in honour of the king's own fighting spirit
3. Wat Mahathat
   1h · Admission ticket included
   Wat Mahathat was once one of the most important monasteries in the Ayutthaya kingdom, and today its scattered towers and headless statues tell the story of the city's fall to Burmese invaders in 1767. Somewhere among the ruins, a stone Buddha head severed from its body centuries ago was slowly wrapped by the roots of a Bodhi tree, and it is now one of the most photographed images in the country. Your guide will remind you to crouch for the photo, no visitor's head may rise above the Buddha's
4. Wat Chaiwatthanaram
   3h · Admission ticket included
   A relaxed break for a Thai-style lunch at a local restaurant, a good chance to recharge before the afternoon's temples and the longer drive out to see the Big Buddha. Wat Chaiwatthanaram sits on the bank of the Chao Phraya and looks like something out of a film, because it is one: the temple doubled as a filming location in the original 1995 Mortal Kombat movie, and fans still come looking for the exact spots from the fight scenes. Built in 1630 in Khmer style around a central prang representing Mount Meru, the ruins are ringed by smaller towers and a covered gallery, and in the late afternoon light this is one of the most photographed temples in the whole province
5. 1h 30m
   The day closes with the tallest statue in Thailand, a seated golden Buddha ninety two metres high at Wat Muang in neighbouring Ang Thong province, the ninth tallest statue on Earth. Eighteen years in the making and finished in 2008, it rises straight out of the rice fields and dwarfs everything around it. Local tradition says touching the statue's right hand brings good luck, and the grounds also hold an unusual open-air gallery of statues depicting Buddhist heaven and hell, vivid enough that this stop tends to stay in memory long after the older ruins blur together

Pickup details

We'll pick you up from your hotel|condo lobby in Pattaya. Your guide will message you on WhatsApp or Telegram the day before to confirm the exact pickup time, depending on where your hotel is located. Please wait in the lobby a few minutes before the confirmed time so the driver doesn't have to look for you

• Suitable for all physical fitness levels