If you’re on a short trip through Thailand and wanting to soak up as much cultural heritage of the country as possible in one day, the Ancient City (Mueang Boran) should be one of your top destination to visit. Spanning over 200 acres of land in the shape of Thailand, the Ancient City exhibits historic structures, art and cultures through temples, landmarks and lifestyles. Think of it like an outdoor museum (in fact it is often promoted as such).

Don’t forget to watch our short vlog from the visit at the end of this post.

Getting there

The funny thing is, I have lived in Bangkok for 14 years (20 in Thailand) and I had only heard about this place but I was under the impression that it was quite far from the city. I would see tour packages to Ancient City and crocodile farm in Samut Prakan and immediately think that it would be hours away from the city. So one day, Kanika and I decided to just drive there because we were bored of being in the city and wanted to explore. Once we set out with our Google map, we soon realized that it wasn’t far at all since it took us merely 45 minutes (with some traffic).

By car or taxi: take the expressway towards Bang Na and take the Samut Prakan exit and keep following following the signs towards Samut Prakan. Turn left at the intersection towards Bangpoo until you reach km. 33. Ancient city will be on the left.

By bus: Take air-conditioned bus No. 511 (Pinklao – Paknam) to the end of the line. From here, take the mini-bus No. 36. It passes the entrance to the Ancient City.

While driving we noticed that the BTS skytrain is being extended (from Bearing) almost all the way to Ancient City which would make getting there a breeze for tourists and locals alike. Hopefully the skytrain extension will be complete in a few short months.

So you’ve reached. Now what?

First head over to the ticketing office and buy your entry tickets. Now there’s a price difference for foreigners and locals, where foreigners pay double basically. I showed my Thai drivers license so I got the local price, which is 350 Thai Baht. It’s 700 Thai Baht for foreigners. Here’s the breakdown of their prices:

9.00 – 16.00

Adults 700 THB each

Children 350 THB each

Personal Vehicle/Van Entry + 400 THB each

16.00 – 19.00

Adults 350 THB each

Children 175 THB each

Personal Vehicle/Van Entry + 200 THB each

Getting around and seeing things

Depending on if you drove or took the public transport, you have a couple of options. You can either rent bicycles or a golf cart (150 THB / hour). Alternatively you can drive your own car but that gets very expensive. We opted for the golf cart, which was also bit costly since we spent over 3 hours here but it was a fun experience. With a car, it’s hard to find parking spots when you want to take pictures along the way. In addition to the cart, everyone gets a free pair of map and audio listening device that describes all the sites and temples in case you don’t want to read the boards. We took the audio devices but didn’t listen to them one bit since we were more interested in talking to each other and looking at the attractions.

There were some pretty fascinating sculptures of Buddha, shrines, replicas of temples and artistic structures. They have a lot of history in them and they were a marvel to look at.

According to Kanika, America’s Next Top Model finale runway show was shot here. Pretty cool, you learn something new everyday.

Now I’m not going to pretend to be a cultural or history whiz and to be honest, I barely read any of the scriptures that went along with the architecture and sculptures so don’t expect any in depth explanation of them here. If you’re really into arts, history and culture, then I suggest taking the time and listening carefully to the audio device or reading the boards.

Although the culture and history is important to learn here, if you’re an explorer or adventurer like me, then make sure you don’t miss out the view point, located towards the ASEAN cultural camp, next to the reclining Buddha. You’ll notice a long flight of stairs surrounded by tall grass.

This is a decent hike up but the view is worth it at the top, where you can witness the marvel of Samutprakan city. On one side are grasslands and other temples and on the other, tall buildings far off in the distance. The striking contrast is just amazing to witness. You can expect to spend a good 15-20 minutes here taking photos and soaking it all in. For me personally, this was the highlight of the visit.

Couple of things to consider

1. Bring or buy plenty of water (there are a few shops around to buy food and drinks).
2. It can be a long hot day, so wear sunscreen, sunglasses and/or wear a hat (I forgot to do two of these things).
3. Wear appropriate, comfortable shoes and where indicated (mostly indoors, in temples or wooden floors), make sure to take them off for respect. I’m not a fan of flip flops so I wore loafers for easy access and removal.
4. Pace your time and try to hit everything on the map to really make your visit worthwhile. There’s A LOT TO SEE here.
5. Come as early as possible so that you can also visit other attractions in the vicinity such as the crocodile farm, Erawan Museum or Bang Poo seaside (something that we regretted not doing that day).

So there you go. Ancient City is definitely an amazing place to go if you’re into arts, culture and history and have very little time in the city. Of course it’s not the same as visiting the actual sites but it comes in at a close second.