Ayutthaya Historical Park · Information for Visitors

The Historical City of Ayutthaya was a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991. The ruins you see today are more than four hundred years old and are fragile. Please help us protect them for future generations.

Visitors must not climb on ruins, walls or statues, in areas where steps are clearly marked as open. Touching Buddha images or posing in ways that disrespect them is not permitted.

Please dress modestly when visiting temples. Shoulders and knees should be covered. Sarongs are available to borrow at the main ticket office a small deposit.

Drones may only be flown with written permission from the Fine Arts Department. Litter should be placed in the bins provided, can be found at every main site.

Bicycles can be rented near the entrance and are a good way to explore the park. , cyclists should take care on roads shared with cars and tour buses.

Thank you for respecting the history of Ayutthaya, belongs to all of humanity.

The City That Welcomed the World · a field trip report by Tar Wongsakul

Before our trip, I thought of Ayutthaya as a place of ruins. After a day there, I think of it as a place of meetings.

At its height in the seventeenth century, Ayutthaya was one of the busiest trading cities in Asia. Ships arrived from China, Japan, Persia and Europe, silk, spices, porcelain and deerskins. Foreign merchants were allowed to build their own communities outside the city walls. Our guide showed us where the Japanese and Portuguese settlements once .

What surprised me most was how international the city was. Some foreigners even held important positions at the royal court. I had always imagined the past as a time when people stayed in their own countries. Ayutthaya proved me wrong.

Of course, the city’s story did not end happily. In 1767 it was attacked and burned, and its treasures were lost. Today, the ruins face a quieter threat: floods. In 2011, water covered many sites for weeks, the old brick foundations.

Our guide said that protecting Ayutthaya is not only the job of the Fine Arts Department. It depends how we manage rivers and land far upstream. I left the park thinking that history is not something that stays in the past. It is something we must care of today.

Ayutthaya taught me that openness made the city great. Perhaps it can teach us the same lesson again, we are willing to learn it.

Old City Bike Rental · Opposite the Main Entrance

Standard bicycle: 50 baht per day
Electric bicycle: 250 baht per day
Child seat: 20 baht extra

All bicycles must be returned by 18:00. Late returns are charged 50 baht per hour.

A passport or Thai ID card must be left as a deposit and will be returned when the bicycle is brought back in good condition. Helmets and locks are provided free of charge.

Suggested route (12 km): Wat Mahathat (famous for the Buddha head in tree roots) · Wat Ratchaburana · Wat Phra Si Sanphet · Viharn Phra Mongkhon Bophit · Wat Chaiwatthanaram (best at sunset)

Please do not ride inside temple grounds. Lock your bicycle at the racks provided outside each site.

Ayutthaya: A Global City Before Globalisation

When we picture the past, we often imagine societies that were closed and isolated. Ayutthaya challenges that picture. For much of its four-hundred-year history, the Siamese capital was one of the most international cities in Asia.

Its success was largely a matter of geography. Built on an island where three rivers meet, Ayutthaya was close enough to the sea for large ships to reach it, yet far enough inland to be protected from storms and pirates. Goods from the interior, such as rice, deerskins and forest products, could be gathered there and exchanged for Chinese silk and porcelain, Indian textiles and European weapons.

Foreign traders were not only welcomed; they were organised. Each major community, including the Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Dutch and Persians, had its own settlement and its own leader who was responsible for the community’s behaviour. Some foreigners rose to high positions. A Japanese adventurer led royal guards, and a Persian family produced several senior officials whose descendants remained influential for centuries.

This openness had limits. Kings controlled much of the most profitable trade themselves, and foreign influence sometimes created conflict. In 1688, worries about growing European power inside the court contributed to a political crisis that led the kingdom to reduce its contact with some Western powers.

Historians still debate how much these international connections shaped Siamese culture. What is clear is that Ayutthaya’s wealth and influence depended on its ability to connect many worlds.

Should the Ruins Be Rebuilt?

View 1 · Somsak, a tour company owner. Visitors come to Ayutthaya to imagine the great city it once was, but many leave disappointed by piles of broken brick. If we carefully rebuilt one or two temples to their original appearance, using historical records, visitors would understand the city’s former glory. Other countries have rebuilt famous monuments, and tourism has grown as a result. More visitors would mean more money for conservation.

View 2 · Dr. Kanya, an archaeologist. A ruin is not a failure; it is evidence. Every crack and fallen wall tells us something about how the city was built, used and destroyed. When we rebuild, we replace real history with our own guesses, because no records describe every detail. International heritage guidelines generally discourage rebuilding for this reason. Instead, we can use museums, models and digital reconstructions to help visitors imagine the past, while keeping the ruins themselves honest.