Wat Phra Mahathat, Nakhon Si Thammarat

Nakhon Si Thammarat was a power on the peninsula long before Bangkok existed, trading with Sri Lanka and India, and its great temple shows it. The main chedi is a white bell of Sri Lankan type carrying a tall spire sheathed in gold, over fifty metres high, and it is surrounded by more than a hundred and fifty smaller stupas packed close around the terrace. A covered staircase flanked by stone figures climbs to the upper walkway. In the adjoining wihan, generations of donated objects are displayed in cases, from gold and silver models to ivory and everyday oddities. The compound is used constantly and receives very few foreign visitors.

What you actually see

• The main chedi - the white bell with its gold-clad spire above the terrace.
• The ring of small stupas - over a hundred and fifty crowded around the base.
• The covered staircase - the guarded stair climbing to the upper walkway.
• The wihan of donations - cases of gold, silver and ivory objects given over centuries.

When to go

The southern peninsula runs on a different calendar from the rest of Thailand, with the heaviest rain from October to December on this coast; January to April is the drier stretch. Mornings are best for both light and heat. A major merit-making festival built around a long cloth wrapped up the chedi is held around the third lunar month.

Honest expectations

Nakhon Si Thammarat is not on the standard route and the city is a hot, traffic-heavy sprawl with little charm outside the old quarter. The upper walkway closes to women, which surprises visitors. The donation hall is cluttered and poorly labelled in English. Rain here is genuinely heavy in the last months of the year.

Nearby

The city's shadow-puppet workshops and the beaches of Khanom to the north.