Things to do in Nakhon Si Thammarat
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Nakhon Si Thammarat
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Dry season proper, the best months, with the calmest seas and February the driest of all.
Moderate rain and high humidity, with the Kiriwong fruit season and full waterfalls as compensation.
Northeast monsoon, the worst months, peaking in November and December with flooding and cancelled boats.
What's on
- Hae Pha Khuen That Makha Bucha Day, lunar date in about February
Devotees process with a long sacred cloth and wrap it around the great chedi at Wat Phra Mahathat.
- Hae Pha Khuen That Visakha Bucha Day, lunar date in about May
The second yearly edition of the cloth procession to the great chedi.
- Hae Nang Kradan Mid April, in the Songkran period
A Brahmin rooted procession of carved boards held alongside the city New Year festivities.
- Sart Duean Sip About September into early October, tenth lunar month
The southern ancestor festival, with decorated food offerings processed to Wat Phra Mahathat.
- Chak Phra About October, end of Buddhist Lent
Buddha images are hauled on ornate festooned thrones in procession through the city.
Best things to do in Nakhon Si Thammarat
Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan
The great white chedi ringed by elephant sculptures is the most important temple in southern Thailand.
Ban Nang Talung Suchart Subsin
A family house museum for southern shadow puppetry, with puppet making and short live performances.
Nakhon Si Thammarat National Museum
Srivijaya era objects and rooms on everyday local life that make the temples and old city legible.
Baan Tan Khun
A restored official's house opposite the great temple, showing how a prosperous local household lived.
San Lak Mueang
The city pillar shrine anchors the old city walk, linking the wall, the park and the Brahmin shrines.
Old City Wall
Surviving stretches of the ancient wall give the old city walk its spine and its sense of scale.
Ho Phra Isuan
A small Shiva shrine with a swing replica, evidence of the Brahmin layer beneath the Buddhist city.
Wat Chedi (Ai Khai)
Thailand's vivid modern pilgrimage temple, where devotees thank the temple boy spirit with rooster statues.
Where to stay in Nakhon Si Thammarat
Old town, Ratchadamnoen Road
culture, food and first visit base
Walk to the great temple, the museum, the puppet house and the kopi shop breakfasts along one spine.
Khanom, Nadan and Nai Plao beaches
quiet beach stay and dolphin mornings
A long empty beach road with resorts spread thinly along it and the dolphin pier to the north.
Sichon, Hin Ngam Beach
pilgrimage plus local beach
The natural overnight for Wat Chedi, with a calmer beach, a fishing town market and bus connections.
Kiriwong and Lan Saka
walkers, fruit season and a mountain night
Homestays and small resorts in the valley at the foot of Khao Luang, with the river at dawn.
Think twice about
- Highway and mall sprawl north and east of the old town
Big business hotels on multi lane roads, bleak and car dependent, far from the temple and the food. Fine hotels, wrong base.
- Low lying riverside and Pak Phanang estuary lanes in monsoon season
Among the first areas to flood in the October to January northeast monsoon, with access roads cut for days.
- Isolated Khanom beach road resorts without transport
No cruising taxis and thin ride hailing, so every meal and trip depends on the resort. A trap without a car or scooter.
Best restaurants in Nakhon Si Thammarat
Kopi
The classic kopi shop breakfast of bak kut teh, roti, curry rice and strong southern coffee.
Khanom Jeen Sen Sod Mae Aed
Fresh rice noodles behind the great temple, with a choice of southern curries and herb plates.
Krua Nai Nang
The city's best full service southern dinner, cooked to order, with shadow puppet shows on many nights.
Wang Derm Restaurant
A beloved curry and rice lunch counter where the day's southern dishes are displayed to point at.
Day & Night of Nakhon Si Thammarat
The city's top rated modern bar restaurant, the place locals book when dinner should feel like a night out.
Khanom's Saturday Night Walking Street Night Market
Khanom's cheap tier at its best, grilled seafood, curries on rice and orchard fruit eaten with local families.
Khanom Hill Resort Restaurant
The coast's reliable seafood institution, whole fish and sour curry in a dining room above the beach road.
CC Beach Bar and Restaurant
Khanom's social beach dinner, grilled fish at sand side tables that turns into drinks after dark.
Outdoor things to do in Nakhon Si Thammarat
Krung Ching Waterfall
The province's great waterfall hike, a forest trail to a broad tier that falls like hanging rain.
Karom Waterfall
A short paved climb past tier after tier to swimming pools on the Kiriwong side of the mountain.
Phrom Lok Waterfall
A broad multi tier fall with boulder pools, plus ranger guided walks to the upper tiers twice daily.
Ai Khiao Waterfall
The swimmer's pick of the near city falls, lower and wider with broad shaded pools for a relaxed hour.
Khao Luang
The highest summit in southern Thailand, a guided three day rainforest trek up from Kiriwong village.
Laem Prathap
The dawn pier for longtail boats to Khanom's resident pink dolphins, pancake rock and Koh Nui islet.
Tham Khao Wang Thong
An unpolished limestone cave of chambers and formations, visited with a local guide and headlamps.
Wang Mai Pak Waterfall
A quiet cascade upstream from Kiriwong, reached on the village's river lanes by bike or on foot.
Best hotels in Nakhon Si Thammarat
Grand Fortune Hotel Nakhon Si Thammarat
The city's largest full service hotel with pool and spa, the honest ceiling of city luxury.
Twin Lotus Hotel
The long standing mid range default, a large established hotel with pool, spa and parking near the old town.
Navakitel Design Hotel
The city's design led boutique option, smaller and more styled than the big business hotels.
The Plug Hotel
A clean modern budget hotel chosen by a detailed solo guide over the rest of the city field.
Norm Space Hostel
The city's highest rated budget stay, a hostel and small museum space loved by long stay guests.
The Inka Hotel
A well reviewed budget to mid fallback in the city centre when the first choice cheap rooms are full.
The Ligor City Hotel
A solid mid range city fallback named for the old port name Ligor, useful when central rooms are tight.
Aava Resort & Spa
A Finnish designed beach resort with a noted spa and restaurant, Khanom's contained restorative splurge.
Is Nakhon Si Thammarat expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | THB 1,100 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | THB 2,850 a person |
| Splurge | THB 7,500 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Khao Luang: weeks ahead
- Laem Prathap: a few days ahead
- Krua Nai Nang: a few days ahead
- Day & Night of Nakhon Si Thammarat: a few days ahead
- Dusty Gecko Restaurant & Deli Shop: a few days ahead
- Le Petit Saint Tropez: a few days ahead
- Aalto Restaurant: a few days ahead
- Aava Resort & Spa: weeks ahead
- Book Khanom and Sichon resorts early for Thai weekends and public holidays, when they fill.
- Book city rooms one to two months ahead for Hae Pha Khuen That and Sart Duean Sip.
- Book the Khao Luang summit trek weeks ahead and small Khanom dinners days ahead in winter.
Is Nakhon Si Thammarat safe?
- Wear a helmet, hold the right licence and never leave your passport as a rental deposit.
- Do not swim in the Gulf in the northeast monsoon and obey every waterfall closure after rain.
- Use repellent at dawn and dusk, give dog packs space, and plan temple visits for the cool hours.
Nakhon Si Thammarat travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Sleeping in one base and day tripping to the other turns both halves into a windscreen tour.
- Any operator guaranteeing pink dolphins or swimming with them is overselling a wild population.
- Cheap November rooms are the market pricing the northeast monsoon, not a secret deal.
- Buy no amulet as an investment from anyone who approaches you around Wat Chedi.
Getting around Nakhon Si Thammarat: public transport and more
- Fly to Nakhon Si Thammarat Airport for the city, and price Surat Thani or Koh Samui routings for Khanom.
- Ride the blue songthaews along Ratchadamnoen Road for about 10 baht and walk the old town spine.
- Rent a car or hire a driver for waterfalls, Kiriwong and the Sichon to Khanom coast.
- Use Donsak pier north of Khanom for ferries to Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao.
Who Nakhon Si Thammarat suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Nakhon Si Thammarat your trip
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