Thailand · Changwat Nakhon Si Thammarat
Where to Stay in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Changwat Nakhon Si Thammarat
Nakhon Si Thammarat is a city of southern Thailand between the mountains and the Gulf, an ancient royal capital famed for its great temple and its towering golden-spired chedi.
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Where to stay in Nakhon Si Thammarat
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Nakhon Si Thammarat leaves two beds to pick from: the old temple town, or the Gulf shore. The streets around the great temple keep the chedi, the museums, and the markets within a walk, and staying downtown suits anyone here for the shrines. The chedi towers over the roofs.
Monks walk the old lanes. Out toward the hills and the shore, the town gives way to the mountain forests, the waterfalls of Khao Luang, and the Gulf beaches. A room by the sea trades the streets for the palm coast, the fishing boats, and the warm Gulf shore.
The mountains rise green to the west. Stay downtown for the temple, or out for the coast and hills. The chedi and its lanes stand a short way inland from the water.
About Nakhon Si Thammarat
Nakhon Si Thammarat is the old holy city of the Thai south.
What is Nakhon Si Thammarat known for?
On the coastal plain between the Khao Luang mountains and the Gulf in southern Thailand, it grew as the capital of an ancient kingdom, and it keeps the great temple of Wat Phra Mahathat with its towering white chedi, the old city walls and museums of the town, the shadow-puppet theatre of the south, and the fine niello silverwork of its craftsmen. Green plains run to the sea. The tall chedi shines gold.
What are the main landmarks in Nakhon Si Thammarat?
Wat Phra Mahathat is the pride of Nakhon Si Thammarat. The great temple with its towering white chedi tipped in gold, said to hold a relic of the Buddha, rises over the old town, the emblem of the city, downtown. A tall spire crowns the shrine.
The golden pinnacle of the chedi shines above the roofs, while the old city walls, the national museum, and the shadow-puppet house mark the country around Nakhon Si Thammarat.
What is the history of Nakhon Si Thammarat?
Nakhon Si Thammarat is a very old city. Long ago it was the seat of a kingdom the old records call Tambralinga, a rich port of the southern seas that traded with India and China. The great temple holds a relic.
In its heart rose Wat Phra Mahathat, a temple built to hold a relic of the Buddha, and its tall white chedi became one of the holiest shrines of the Thai world. The city gave the country its faith and its arts. From here the Sri Lankan form of Buddhism spread north into the Thai lands, and the town became famous for its shadow puppets and its niello silver.
The kingdom passed to the north. In time the southern city bowed to the kings of the north, but it kept its great temple and its crafts, and Nakhon Si Thammarat grew into the busy hub of the upper south, holding its chedi, its walls, and its old arts. The pilgrims still circle the shrine.
Nakhon Si Thammarat keeps its holy temple between the hills and the Gulf.
Where is Nakhon Si Thammarat?
Nakhon Si Thammarat lies in the south of Thailand, on a coastal plain between the Khao Luang range and the Gulf. The city sits on a long strip of paddy and orchard below the highest mountains of the Thai peninsula, with the great green range rising to the west and the Gulf shore and its beaches a short way east. Mountains wall the green west.
The sea lies warm to the east.
What is the climate of Nakhon Si Thammarat?
Heat and monsoon rain rule the year in Nakhon Si Thammarat. Warm humid weather holds all year on the coast, with a long heavy monsoon off the Gulf that floods the plain in the year's end. The air hangs hot and wet.
Rain sweeps in from the sea.
How do you get to Nakhon Si Thammarat?
Nakhon Si Thammarat lies on the east coast of southern Thailand, on the road and rail down the peninsula. Trains and the highway run to it from the north through Surat Thani, and roads climb west to the Khao Luang hills. Planes land by the town.
Bangkok lies far to the north.
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Updated August 2026