---
node: spot_ayutthaya_wat_chaiwatthanaram
type: spot
slug: wat_chaiwatthanaram
destination: dest_ayutthaya
title: "Wat Chaiwatthanaram"
lead: "Wat Chaiwatthanaram stands on the west bank of the Chao Phraya, built in 1630 in the Khmer style with a 35-metre central prang surrounded by eight smaller ones. It is the most complete temple silhouette left in Ayutthaya."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-12
image_file: spot_ayutthaya_wat_chaiwatthanaram.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Chaiwatthanaram_from_the_north.jpg"
image_author: "Christophe95"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

## Overview

King Prasat Thong built it on his mother's residence, and its plan is a model of the Buddhist universe: the central prang is Mount Meru with the lesser prangs as the surrounding continents. Its position outside the island made it the temple foreign envoys saw first coming upriver. The 2011 floods submerged it for weeks and the restoration since has been careful and visible — the seated Buddhas along the cloister are mostly headless, and were before the flood.

## Highlights

Come at sunset from the river side; the prangs face west and the whole complex lights up afterwards. Renting Ayutthaya-period dress to be photographed here is common among Thai visitors and is welcomed rather than resented. It is four kilometres from the station, so take a tuk-tuk or a bicycle rather than walking.