Exploring Bangkok’s incredible Ancient City (Muang Boran) historical park

Located 33 km southeast of the city, Ancient City is a park of architectural wonders, and a feast for the eyes for lovers of landscape architecture as well. The challenge is in getting there, but we’ve found a relatively painless way to do it. But more on that later.

Why take the trip? This exceptional park is large enough (320 acres) that you’ll want to spend the day here, with enough food and drink venues that you’ll never be far from a break. It’s extremely well-planned, so that beautiful vistas are virtually everywhere, and cohesive enough that a bicycle, rather than a car, is the best way to see it.

Breaking ground in 1963, the park took nine years to complete, and features 116 buildings, statues, and mini-villages that offer a microcosm of Thailand’s history through architecture. Most buildings are scaled-down versions of larger edifices, but you can still walk through them, and in doing so, get a unique perspective on their overall ground plan (difficult to do at the actual site).

Of particular interest are recreations of historical buildings of importance that are no longer in existence, such as the magnificently reconstructed Sanphet Pasat Palace of Ayutthaya. The park itself is shaped like Thailand, with historical areas situated in the park relative to their actual geographical location in the country.

Each feature is well-marked in English and Thai, and documentation, both in terms of the map you’re given, and the 300-baht guidebook, is terrific. We especially like the explanation of the objectives of the park, found on the map, which is a meandering philosophical essay which you’d never see in the West, containing gems such as “great harm is caused by ignorance, but more harm is still caused by not knowing truly and yet pretending to know.” You know?

In addition to the larger historical buildings, there is a well-done recreation of a northern village (with people actually living in the houses), and an old market with a very pretty tearoom recreated from the mid-20th century.

We tried to do the whole park in three hours, couldn’t, and wish we’d started earlier. Plan on making a day out of it, and we predict it will be one of your best experiences in Thailand.

Getting there

Here’s the rub: getting through Bangkok traffic. To begin, we were quoted 1700 baht for a full day’s hire of private car & driver. Too much. We finally bargained a metered-taxi to 1000 baht, and left from Sukhumvit Soi 2. We had heard (erroneously, as it turned out) that one needed a car to tour the park, hence hiring the taxi for the entire afternoon. Since Thai taxi drivers typically don’t speak much English, we asked our hotel doorman to explain to the driver what we wanted to do. He did, gave us a card with the driver’s cab number and agreed fare, well worth a 20 baht tip. It took two hours, however, to make the one-hour trip to the park. The reason? A car breakdown in one lane of the three lane highway.

In the park, we met two fellow travelers who’d gotten there faster and cheaper. We could have taken the Skytrain to On Nut station (25 baht from our hotel), then a taxi for 150 baht, right to the park. It took them half an hour from On Nut. Remember, you don’t need a car in the park, but take a broad-brimmed hat for sunny days. Refreshing food and drink stands are everywhere and beautifully landscaped.

Ancient City, Samut Prakan (Muang Boran) Km 33, (old) Sukhumvit Road, Bangpoo township (BTS Skytrain to On Nut station, then meter taxi at approximately 150 baht Tel: (02) 709-1644 Open every day, 8 am to 5 pm Admission: 300 baht includes bicycle and map