Bangkok to Ayutthaya and Chiang Mai
Today I’m writing a bit about traveling by train in Thailand and I will focus on two trips from Bangkok. One to Ayutthaya, short trip that can be done to see the beautiful UNESCO’s heritage site of the historical centre, and the other to Chiang Mai, a long ass trip to one of the most known cities of northern Thailand, and the second largest city of the Kingdom.
If you follow the channel there’s going to be a short video about this, showing the Hua Lamphong station and part of the trip.
Websites with information
To find train information about trains in Thailand thailandtrains.com is the place. You can find information about any route, see schedules and also some tips. It connects to 12go.com for buying tickets, which seems to be the most common online ticket platform in Thailand.
Introduction to Ayutthaya
Ayutthaya - pronounced Ai-you-tá - Yá - was during centuries the capital of the Kingdom of Siam until its destruction by the Burmese. It was an extremely important city where many different countries established presence such as Portugal, Japan, Indonesia, Netherlands and China, as well as many different religions - the traditional and local one being buddhism, but with presence of Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant (through the Portuguese and the Dutch, and surprisingly also through the Japanese which were in their majority here Christians), as well as Islam, in its different traditions brought with traders from the middle east through the commercial routes that crossed here.
Wat Mahathat
The interesting bit about the japanese that established themselves in Ayutthaya being majorly Christian is probably related to the persecution they faced in Japan and probably also connected to the portuguese presence in Japan, since the Jesuits had missions there and since they were also initially present here what I imagine is that somehow they “suggested” those japanese to settle in Ayutthaya since it was a tolerant city - the portuguese managed to secure the right to proselytize Catholicism - while still being culturally of asian inclination.
The importance of the city and the reason it was so cosmopolitan is due to the confluence of three rivers - as usual, rivers make the surrounding lands fertile, offer an additional form of sustenance in the form of seafood and they help tremendously the movement of people and commerce - in this case this last one was of uttermost importance for the city, since goods, people and commerce would flow through these rivers coming from the northern (not only, but majorly) part of the Kingdom. It was also on the riversides that many of these “foreigner” quarters and areas were established.
The historical centre is home to several ruins of Wats, meaning, temple complexes, with the major and more well kept ones having an entrance fee of 50 bahts (a bit less than $2). These are all inside the central “island”, the historical centre, old city of Ayutthaya. The most important ones are in an extensive nice open park area that is full of small waterways, bridges and green areas. You can wander the park freely without paying and it’s worth a stroll, but the most interesting bit are the ruins obviously which have a small fee attached.
Outside the historical part you have some normal functioning temples, some quite nice - I will write an article about Ayutthaya itself, but just to give you two pointers - you can check out Wat Phanan Choeng Worawihan and Wat PhraNon, but there’s definitively other nice ones around.
Besides that you also have other interesting sights, such as the "Portuguese Village", the "Japanese Village" and the "Dutch Village". These are places with museums, history and information relative to the presence of these countries in Ayutthaya - of how they came to be and kept a relation to the Kingdom of Siam and they help explain a bit the cosmopolitan side of Thailand, since you can see here it was cosmopolitan for almost as long as it was established.
In the Dominican Church and museum that signals the "Portuguese Village" you can see remnants, skeletons, bones, and read the history of how Portugal became the first western country to mark its presence in Thailand. In the "Japanese Village" you’ll find a nice area and a museum with many artefacts, documents and several videos detailing the establishment of the village - it was in one of these videos that I learned that most Japanese that came to Ayutthaya were Christians. The "Portuguese Village" is sort of abandoned and in need of repair, what doesn’t look likely to happen anytime soon.
Portuguese Quarter - Museum and Dominican Church, a bit in disrepair - free entry, you can find bones and skeletons and panels detailing the history of the Portuguese presence in Siam - the floor where the panels are needs some repair and I went around but in some places the floor is broken
As you can see there’s a whole bunch of interesting places to see in case you like history and studying other cultures. There’s also a small nightlife quarter with massage parlours, around Balloon Ayutthaya Night Plaza (more local, and in the new city) and some bars in the historical centre.
Regarding how much time you want to devote to Ayutthaya it really depends and I’ll give you my thoughts next when we go through the train schedules and how to plan that part.
Trains to Ayutthaya
To check specific info about the trains that go to Ayutthaya from Bangkok this website is the best source: https://www.thailandtrains.com/train-times-tickets-bangkok-to-ayutthaya/
Here you’ll find the different types of trains, departure times, duration and costs. From Hua Lamphong (that also has an MRT station) it costs 15BHT ($0,50) in 3rd Class (no ar-con) and takes a little bit less than 2 hours. Hua Lamphong was until 2023 the main train station of Bangkok but then it changed to Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal and you can take the train from there too.
For a trip like this 3rd class is more than ok and you have several throughout all day, it was the one I took and I would take it again. There’s also some trains with 2nd class - you can find the information on that link - but in my opinion unless it matches exactly the hours you’re going or is the next train departing when you get to the station it’s not worth it to plan around specifically to go in one of those.
The departure time to choose depends significantly on your plans to see Ayutthaya. If your intention is to go and come back to Bangkok on the same day, either because you have accommodation already booked or simply because you need to, then going early is the best option - you have trains back to Bangkok throughout all day with the last one departing at 21:40. A full day is enough to see the main historical centre and maybe something else if you really want to and use tuk-tuks, taxi or motorbike to go around. There’s also several tours that depart from Bangkok, starting at around $40 and these usually provide a guide, a meal and the entrance fee for the temples is included - it’s a good option if you want to go on auto-pilot without worrying and learn a bit of history from a guide. There’s also a touristic boat trip through the river that takes 6h and starts at $60 - it’s probably interesting since it’s also how many people would have traveled in days long gone, but for me personally was a bit too much time on a boat.
If you’re spending at least two nights in Ayutthaya (I ended up staying 8, but also because I wanted to go slowly, film, see the city itself to know if it would maybe be a place to settle 1 or 2 months) what I did was to enjoy my breakfast since it was included in my reservation, at a relaxed pace, then checked-out at around 11am, took a GRAB to the station and departed at 12:55. This was perfect because I got to Ayutthaya at around 14:30, my hotel was right around the corner and I just checked-in, took a shower and was ready with the afternoon free to go out.
Buddha image in Wat Ko Kaeo
In my case, since I travel with two back-packs (one quite big) I wasn’t interested in arriving before check-in times and possibly waiting for check-in. Of course, if I was travelling light I would probably have gone earlier to also use the morning. As I said, it depends heavily on what you plan to do and what you’re carrying yourself.
Introduction to Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai (Xi-ang - Mái) is the second largest city of Thailand, after Bangkok, and is located in the northern part of the Kingdom. It’s around 700km from Bangkok. Its location is in the middle of a mountainous valley on a river basin and was (is) an important city, having been the capital of the Kingdom of Lan Na and later absorbed by Siam. Given it’s the biggest city in northern Thailand, having been established since the 1200s, being part of important commercial and trade routes, in a fertile area, it has a lot of history and became as well an important cultural centre. It has many temples and natural attractions for those who like mountains, forest and more moderate climate (still hot but a bit fresher).
I have visited it around 10 years ago but to be honest I only vaguely remember walking through temples, meeting some people and taking a scooter to Doi Suthep to see the panoramic view and temple at the top.
Nowadays there’s several cheap flights from Bangkok, but at the time I took the train so I will talk about that.
Train to Chiang Mai
Panoramic View of Chiang Mai from Doi Suthep
I’ll preface this by saying that nowadays there’s regular flights from Bangkok going at around $40 so it makes much less sense to go by train - when I went that wasn’t the case, they would have been around $100 and the train was less than it is today, so the difference was enough to cover 3 or 4 days in Chiang Mai in a decent guesthouse near the centre.
As is the case with Ayutthaya, that website I’ve linked also has a table for Chiang Mai - and it’s also possible to go to Chiang Mai from Ayutthaya even though it doesn’t shorten the trip that significantly. You can see the five daily trains that do the route here https://www.thailandtrains.com/buy-train-tickets-from-bangkok-to-chiang-mai/
In this case since the trip is quite long, between 10 to 13h depending on which train you embark you need to look at it differently. First you have the available classes. When I went I went on 2nd class with air-con, but there’s also 2nd class with fans (which can also be ok, I remember feeling a bit cold on the air-con ones during the night). There’s also sleepers in 2nd class air-con. Which to choose depends again on how you plan your first day there.
The fastest one is the one going out at 9 am. It takes 10h and something and arrives at 19:30. This allows you to check-in and go out to eat at some night market and then have a nice nights rest for next morning. The second one departs at around 2pm and arrives at 4am. I don’t see any reason to go on this one sincerely. The remaining 3 depend, they’re all nocturnal and the next one is 18:40, then 20:05 and lastly 22:30 and arrive at 7am, 8:40am and midday respectively. If I’m not mistaken I took the 18:40 one when I went.
The 2nd class chairs were pretty comfortable, they’re not like those in normal buses or planes (or at least they weren’t when I went), they’re cushy and they have enough leg room, so I managed to catch some sleep during the trip, but probably sleepers is the most comfortable. Sleepers are a bit more expensive, around $38 and these ones in air-con carriage around $25 when bought online.
The reasons why you might still want to do it by train is if you want to still go out to see something in Bangkok during the day and then take one of these overnight ones - that allows you to save on one night stay while maximising the day. If you go on the morning one you will also get to see some of the landscape as you enter the mountain range area of the Thai Highlands - which is only crossed during daylight on this one. If any of that is worth the 10h trip I’m not sure, it really depends on you. But before jumping to buy the flight ticket remember that even though the flight is 1:20h only, you still need to get to the airport earlier, if you’re not staying close to the airport it can also be an hassle and then when arriving you need to get out of the airport too, so I would say it takes no less than 5h in total.
In train you can also take the time to rest, read, write, sleep, or plan your Chiang Mai stay in more detail in case you haven’t had time to do it yet, so all in all there’s still valid reasons to go by train.
Buying tickets online or in the station
You can buy the tickets online through some websites and you can see the schedules on that website I shared (it links to 12go.com for buying the tickets you want). To Ayutthaya the difference in price is negligible and if you take the 3rd class (Regular) like I did there’s no numbered seats and usually you’ll find a place.
To Chiang Mai in 2nd class you have numbered seats and depending on the type of seat you want the difference between buying in person at the station or online can go up to 300BHT ($9), being the station always cheaper. The problem with buying at the station is that during high-season, holidays or festivities the full train might be booked, so you should take that into consideration and buy a few days at least earlier. This means going to a station at least twice, one to buy and then on departure. On the other hand Hua Lamphong is quite central and connected by MRT, so if you’re nearby or close to a MRT station in the Blue Line it won’t be much of a problem, but maybe the price difference when you account for time spent going there, MRT ticket and the hassle might not be worth the $9.
So, if you really want to go by train, buying online is in most of the cases the better option. Nonetheless even when buying online you should do it a few days earlier, because you’ll know immediately if there’s ticket for the day you plan to go, and in case there isn’t you can buy for another day and plan accordingly, or change your plans.