Phra Pathom Chedi

Nakhon Pathom claims to be the oldest town in Thailand and Phra Pathom Chedi is the reason to stop. The stupa stands roughly 120 metres high, its plain bell sheathed in dull orange tiles that read almost brown in flat light and glow at the ends of the day. What you see is nineteenth-century work, ordered by King Mongkut, built as a shell around a far older Dvaravati-era stupa that had collapsed. A circular cloister runs around the base with Buddha images set into it, a standing Buddha in bronze faces north at the top of the stairs, and a reclining figure lies in one of the wihans. Locals circle the base in the evening.

What you actually see

• The stupa itself - the tiled bell rising above the town from every approach.
• The circular cloister - a ring of chapels and Buddha images around the base.
• Phra Ruang Rojanarit - the tall standing bronze Buddha on the northern side.
• The evening circuit - residents walking and offering around the terrace after dark.

When to go

Any time of year works since the town is an easy hour from Bangkok, but November to February is coolest. Late afternoon suits the tiles, and the terrace fills with local visitors as the heat drops. A large temple fair is held around the November full moon, when the surrounding streets turn into a market and the town gets crowded.

Honest expectations

The tiles are a flat orange-brown rather than gold, and photographs oversell them. It is a single monument in a workaday provincial town with little else laid on for visitors, so an hour or two is enough. The terrace stone is scalding barefoot in the afternoon, and the market streets around the base are cluttered.

Nearby

The Sanam Chandra Palace grounds in the same town and the canal markets west of Bangkok.