Historical Park of

SUKOTHAI

Sukhothai

After a great journey between the ruins of Lopburi, here i am on the way to Sukhothai, the first capital city of Thailand back to 1300 A.D.

Sukothau UNESCO heritage site,

filled by ruined temples.

Sukhothai wasn't on my schedule honestly, my plan was to go straight up to Chiang Mai

after Lopburi but few backpackers, that i met in Bangkok, strongly recommended me

to visit Sukhothai.

And here i am, Sukhothai was incredible!

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I left the backpack in my room, a quick shower and i walked on the way to the city centre looking for something to eat.

After 15 min walk i couldn't see anything yet, just farms all over, until two guys on a scooter stopped me asking me where i was going.

"The city" i replied. They laugh at me saying: "No no the city is on the opposite side". Damn! All right let's walk back.

They offer me a lift, we were in three on a scooter.

After few minutes they stopped near the bush where it was a shack....ok, i started feel uncomfortable.

My only thought was " You ain't gonna have my organs *°à##A"$!"

End of the story: They offer me a portion of rice with chicken, i was about to cry.

I tried to give them money but no way to let them get it, but instead they accepted a fresh cold beer.

How to get to Sukothai

hw to get

Let's start saying that

Sukothai doesn't have a train station.

I couldn't find any direct bus from Lopburi, as i was there, to Sukothai so i had no choice: I took a train form Lopburi station to

Phitsanulok station which is the closer one.

After that there's a bus that connect the station and the the city with a 1 hour journey.

BY TRAIN:

From Bangkok: If your journey doesn't plan to stop to Ayutthaya or Lopburi, which i strongly recommend, the train is connected from Bangkok Hua Hin train station to Phitsanulok directly and it will take between 3 hours and a half and 4 hours, with ordinary train.

Train ticket price: 150 THB (4 €)

From Chiang Mai: From Chiang Mai train station to Phitsanulok it will take around 6 hour with ordinary train.

Train ticket price: 175 THB (4,70 €)

Once you get at Phitsanulok station, get a bus to Sukothai, which it will take one hour to reach the city.

Bus ticket price: 39 THB (1 €)

The bus station is just at the exit of the train station.

You can choose also taxi but would be quiet expensive and you might save just 10 or 15 min of drive, not really worth it.

BY BUS:

If you’d like to go straight to Sukhothai, your best option would be to hop on a bus that will take you there directly.

It’s a fast and convenient way to reach your destination without any change of transportation.

From Ayutthaya, the bus trip lasted around 6 hours and cost 400 BHT (11 € ).

If you’re taking a bus from Bangkok or Chiang Mai, the trip to Sukhothai will last an hour and a half longer and cost 490 BHT (13 €).

Personally, i moved all around Thailand by train and i found it comfortable and a better choice as cheaper and faster even if involved change of transportation.

Of course where train doesn't go

Bus is the option.

The Old City

and The Historical Park of Sukhothai

Entry fee: each zone will cost 100 THB

Opening time: 6.30 to 21.00

The city of Sukhothai is actually located 12 kilometers away from the old city of Sukhothai where most of the historic sites are.

The Old City is colored in pink as you can see from the map down here, continuing towards the North, West, East and South sites.

The Historical Park of Sukhothai is divided in five zone

I met three Spanish guys in Ayutthaya that we stayed in touch and we met again in Sukhothai where we started wander around the Old City

to see all the ruins and visit the Park.

Sukhothai is an incredible site and the ruins are spectacular but personally after Ayutthaya and Lopburi i had enough of ruins and temples, it’s not that the other area weren’t worth it but i was trying avoid overdosing on temples.

We visited the Central Area and the North Area which has Buddha statue on the top of a hill with the view on Sukhothai. Breathless!

After our visit around the ruins we decided to wander around the country side taking some relax and discovering amazing peace of lands between rice paddies and jungles, meting some local farmers exchanging smiles and few Thai and English words.

A local farmer suggested us to go and see the lake,

and of course we followed the tip.

Following the road that the local farmer indicated for us, we were on our way to the lake.

Once we got there the view was amazing and the peace that surrounded the area was something i can't describe.

We spent a hour over there chilling, relax and breath.

I can't forget the scene:

Four of us facing the lake without talking at all

for at least half an hour enjoying the stunning view.

Driving around the Old City and the country side of Sukothai was something incredible.

Everything was perfect, one of the best memories i do have of it.

Here is where is located the lake

How to move around Sukhothai

Arriving in Sukhothai i noticed that weren't many public transport around, i mean, we are not in Bangkok where

transportation is much more efficient.

I asked to the receptionist of my hotel some info about it and she gave me all the info i were in need.

She was super kind that called a scooter rent to ask info for me, and after a while a lady form a scooter rent shop came to pick me up

bringing me at the rent shop.

Scooter price is 250 BHT (6,50 €) per day.

As mentioned before, tired of ruins, we got easily off road to discover the countryside and other area around by scooter.

If you not fancy scooters, there's few Buses that are running frequently connecting the New City to the Old City where you can get at The Historical Park easily where then i suggest to rent a bike to wander around the park as it huge. But have to say, as i mentioned before,

the park is huge and is divided in five zones and unless you are a pro, biking will be hard going around all the Park's area.

Yeah, personally i do love drive scooters and is the best way to visit all the places you would like to in Sukhothai and all Thailand.

The park is accessible by scooter, bike or by walk.