Bangkok’s historic riverfront made it surprisingly easy to experience three of the city’s most spectacular sights in a single day: Wat Pho, the Grand Palace and Wat Arun. We started with the enormous Reclining Buddha and traditional Songkran celebrations at Wat Pho, got completely overwhelmed by gold at the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, then crossed the Chao Phraya River to climb the spectacular Wat Arun. Visiting during Songkran made the day even more memorable, especially at Wat Pho, where we got to see a much more traditional side of Thailand’s New Year alongside Bangkok’s famous temples.
💡 Tips: Temple Your Expectations
- 👗 Dress for the Temples: The Grand Palace has a particularly strict dress code, so wear clothing that covers your shoulders and knees. We saw elephant pants available for purchase near the palace if you need a last-minute fix.
- 🌅 Start Early: We started at Wat Pho shortly after it opened, which gave us plenty of time to visit all three major temple sites without rushing.
- 🚶 Group the Riverfront Temples: Wat Pho and the Grand Palace are within walking distance of each other, while Wat Arun is just across the Chao Phraya River, making these three incredibly easy to combine.
- 🚤 Use the River Ferry: We took the ferry from the pier by Riva Arun to Wat Arun for about 12 THB cash, making the river crossing part of the experience.
- 👑 Dress Up at Wat Arun: Traditional Thai clothing rentals are extremely popular around Wat Arun, with numerous nearby shops offering elaborate outfits, jewelry, parasols and even photography packages. If I’d known about it beforehand, I absolutely would have considered joining in.
- 💵 Bring Some Cash: Small expenses like the local ferry are easiest to pay in Thai baht, even if you use cards elsewhere.
- ☀️ Prepare for the Heat: Bangkok in April was extremely hot, and much of the Grand Palace and Wat Arun involves walking outside with limited shade. Bring water and sunscreen.
- 🧦 Wear Easy-Off Shoes: You’ll need to remove your shoes before entering some temple buildings, so footwear you can easily slip on and off makes the day much easier.
- 💦 Songkran Adds Something Special: Visiting Wat Pho during Songkran gave us the chance to see traditional New Year customs that were completely different from the giant water fights happening elsewhere in Bangkok.
🛕 Wat Pho: More Than the Reclining Buddha
Wat Pho ended up being one of the most interesting temple stops in Bangkok because there was so much more to see than its famous Reclining Buddha. We wandered through colorful chedis and halls filled with golden Buddhas, discovered traditional healing statues and several resident temple cats, and because we visited during Songkran, got to experience the spiritual side of Thailand’s New Year through blessings, merit-making and other temple traditions.
🎥 Wat Pho at Warp Speed: Buddhas, Temples & a Surprise Cat
🛕 Reclining Buddha: Wat Pho’s Famous Giant
The enormous Reclining Buddha may be Wat Pho’s most famous attraction, but seeing it in person really puts its scale into perspective. The gold-covered Buddha stretches nearly the length of the temple hall, with intricate details extending all the way to its enormous feet. After seeing it, we continued exploring the surrounding temple complex, where seemingly every courtyard and doorway revealed another ornate chedi, Buddha or beautifully decorated building.
🔄 360 Photo: Click and drag to look around
💦 Songkran at Wat Pho: Thailand’s Traditional New Year
Visiting Wat Pho during Songkran gave us a fascinating look at the more traditional and spiritual side of Thailand’s New Year, which was completely different from the massive water fights we experienced later that day. I received a water blessing for purification and good fortune, while worshippers ceremonially bathed Buddha images with scented water, including images representing different days of the week. We also watched monks chanting during a Buddhist observance, saw a money tree covered in merit-making donations and walked among sand pagodas decorated with colorful flags. Worshippers traditionally bring sand back to the temple during Songkran to symbolically replace what has been carried away on visitors’ feet throughout the year, then shape it into small chedis as an act of merit-making. Experiencing these traditions before joining Bangkok’s much crazier Songkran celebrations gave us two completely different perspectives on the same holiday.
🎥 Songkran’s Spiritual Side at Bangkok’s Reclining Buddha
🔄 360 Photo: Click and drag to look around
🐈⬛ Beyond the Buddha: Cats, Chedis & Hidden Corners
Some of our favorite Wat Pho moments came from simply wandering beyond the major sights. We found rows and rows of golden Buddhas, colorful chedis and statues connected to Wat Pho’s long history as a center for traditional Thai medicine and healing. And because apparently Wat Pho knew exactly how to win us over, temple cats kept appearing throughout the complex, including a black cat that perfectly popped out between rows of Buddhas and another hiding near the Songkran sand pagodas. 😹
🎥 The REAL Guardians of Bangkok’s Reclining Buddha
🏛️ Grand Palace: Gold Overload
The Grand Palace was one of the sights we were most curious to see, but the experience was a little different from what we expected. Despite the name, it isn’t a single palace building you tour room by room. It’s a huge walled royal complex containing throne halls, royal buildings, courtyards and Wat Phra Kaew, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Most of our visit was spent exploring the spectacular temple complex and admiring the palace architecture from outside, which initially surprised us but made much more sense once we understood how the site was laid out.
🎥 Bangkok’s Grand Palace – Gold, Guardians & Wat Phra Kaew, TikTok, Reel
🛕 Wat Phra Kaew: Temple of the Emerald Buddha
Wat Phra Kaew was really the centerpiece of our Grand Palace visit, but one thing that can be confusing is that it isn’t a single temple building. The royal temple complex contains numerous ornate structures, including the enormous golden Phra Si Rattana Chedi, the beautifully detailed Phra Mondop, which houses sacred Buddhist scriptures, and the colorful Royal Pantheon, built to honor Thailand’s Chakri kings. The building we actually entered was the Ubosot, or ordination hall, which houses Wat Phra Kaew’s namesake Emerald Buddha. The Buddha is surprisingly small compared with many of the enormous golden Buddhas we saw throughout Thailand, but it is one of the country’s most sacred Buddhist images. Photography isn’t allowed inside the Ubosot, so that was one part of the complex we couldn’t capture. While the Emerald Buddha itself was interesting to see, we were honestly even more impressed by the spectacular architecture, glittering mosaics and seemingly endless decorative details throughout the surrounding complex.
🔄 360 Photo: Click and drag to look around
👹 Yaksha Guardians, Ramakien Murals & Incredible Details
Some of the most memorable parts of Wat Phra Kaew were the details we discovered while wandering between the major buildings. Massive yaksha guardians tower over entrances, columns and walls are covered in tiny mirrored mosaics, and ornate statues, shrines and decorative structures fill nearly every corner. We also spent time along the galleries containing the elaborate Ramakien murals, which depict Thailand’s national epic in long, richly detailed painted scenes. This was one of those places where even the areas between the headline sights were worth slowing down to look at.
👑 Grand Palace Grounds: Where’s the Palace?
After spending so much time surrounded by temples, gold chedis and Buddhist imagery, we kept wondering when we were actually going to see the “palace” part of the Grand Palace. 😂 The royal buildings and throne halls eventually appear beyond Wat Phra Kaew, with architecture that feels noticeably different from the temple complex, including grand façades that blend traditional Thai design with European influences. We didn’t tour lavish palace interiors like we had imagined before visiting, but the exterior architecture and contrast between the royal buildings and Wat Phra Kaew made the overall complex much more interesting once we understood what we were actually seeing.
⛩️ Wat Arun: Climbing the Temple of Dawn
After exploring the east side of the river, we walked to the pier by Riva Arun and caught the local ferry across the Chao Phraya River to Wat Arun. Up close, the Temple of Dawn looked completely different from the glowing temple we had been admiring from our hotel balcony and rooftop bars. Its towering central prang is covered in intricate floral mosaics and colorful porcelain details, and climbing Wat Arun’s famously steep steps gave us a much closer look at the architecture along with elevated views across Bangkok. We passed visitor after visitor dressed in beautiful traditional Thai outfits, complete with ornate accessories and colorful parasols for elaborate temple photo shoots. There are numerous shops around Wat Arun where visitors can rent traditional Thai clothing, jewelry and props, with some also offering photography packages. If I’d known about this before our visit, I absolutely would have considered trading my dorky sun hat for something considerably more glamorous. 😂 We finished at ground level with some of our favorite views of Wat Arun, where its scale and detail were easiest to appreciate all at once. See our Bangkok’s Best Wat Arun Views blog for our favorite places to admire the temple from across the river.
🎥 Wat Arun’s Most Beautiful Tradition: Dressing Up at the Temple of Dawn… and Then There’s Us
🎥 Climbing Wat Arun: Up Close at Bangkok’s Temple of Dawn
🔄 360 Photo: Click and drag to look around
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