Thonburi & Wat Arun

Things to know

• This side has almost no metro. MRT Sanam Chai and BTS Wongwian Yai / Talat Phlu are the only useful rail stops and none of them are near Wat Arun. Plan around the Chao Phraya Express Boat and the cross-river ferries: Tha Tien to Wat Arun, Tha Chang to Wat Rakhang, Atsadang to Kudi Chin, all a few baht and a couple of minutes.
• 'Near Wat Arun' is used very loosely by restaurants and hotels that are on the opposite bank. Almost every famous Wat Arun-view rooftop — including Sala Rattanakosin — is in Rattanakosin, looking across at Thonburi, not in it. Check which side of the river a booking is on before you commit to an evening.
• Wat Arun's admission figure is genuinely contested online: Lonely Planet still lists 50 THB, most current guides say 200 THB. Carry 200 THB in cash and buy at the gate; there is no online ticket for individuals.
• The Kudi Chin lanes are people's homes, not a heritage park. Voices down, no photographing into doorways, and don't wander into courtyards.
• Temple hours here run early. Wat Kalayanamit has been listed closing around 4pm and Wat Arun at 6pm, and the Baan Kudichin Museum is closed Mondays — the most common wasted trip in the neighbourhood.
• It is hot and shadeless. The Wat Prayoon–Kudi Chin–Wat Kalayanamit walk has essentially no cover; do it before 10.30am or after 4pm and carry water.
• Cash. Ferries, shrines, the bakeries, Somsak Pu Ob and Tek Heng are all safest treated as cash-only, and there are few ATMs once you are off the main roads.
• The Royal Barges National Museum on Khlong Bang Luang in Bangkok Noi has been reported shut while the barges are moved — check before making the trip; we have deliberately left it out of this guide until the position is clear.
• Damnoen Saduak and Amphawa are not here. Both are outside Bangkok province and are handled as day trips at city level, not as Thonburi sights.
• Almost nothing on this bank is interpreted in English. The Baan Kudichin Museum and Wat Arun's new app are the exceptions; everywhere else, read up before you go or you will be looking at things without knowing what they are.