Things To Do In Sukhothai – Visit Sukhothai – Budget Travel In Thailand

Sukhothai, the ancient capital of Siam, is best known for its many historical sites and temple ruins.

From Lampang, we moved further south to the small, historical city of Sukhothai. Sukhothai holds significant importance to Thailand. It was its first capital and is regarded as being the origin of Thai civilization following its breakaway from the Khmer empire in the 13th century. Its importance eventually declined and it lost its significance to Ayutthaya sometime in the 15th century.

Sukhothai is visited by tourists mainly because of the Sukhothai Historical Park.

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How To Get To Sukhothai From Lampang

We took a risk staying in Lampang and moving on to Sukhothai as we couldn’t find any good information about buses that connect the two cities. However, in Lampang bus station, we found there were many buses every day that connected the two cities without having to transfer. We departed Lampang bang on midday for a four hour journey.

Click here to book a hostel in Sukhothai.

Things To Do In Sukhothai

Sukhothai City Walls

If you use a bicycle to explore Sukhothai Historical Park, you should also include a tour of the city walls.It is a beautiful bike ride with so much natural beauty. We also drove up to both the north and the west zones to see if we could cycle in without paying (apparently, sometimes it is possible) but we were out of luck. Not to worry, the bike ride alone was worth it.

Sukhothai Food And Drink

Chopper’s Bar (map) is located in the heart of the new town. We were surprised at the lack of nightlife in Sukhothai. It seemed that Choppers was the only bar so we spent a whole night there.

We were welcomed in by the friendly staff who took our orders, and our drinks arrived in no time. The bar has a rooftop area meaning you can enjoy a drink and watch the busy street below. The music they play is quite bizarre. For the most part, they were playing cheesy 70s Euro pop, before finally moving on to nothing but The Eagles. I had probably heard ‘Hotel California’ more times in 5 weeks in Thailand than in my whole life!

We were surprised when the waiter brought us a plate of fresh fruit “from the owner”. We looked over and he was waving. Very nice of him.  We ordered some more beers and some food. I had ‘beef with beansprouts’ and Joanna had ‘vegetable and egg tofu green curry’. Both were very good. As soon as we had finished our meal, the waiter brought us a plate of Chinese sausage, some other kind of sausage, spring rolls and salad.  Again, “from the owner.” We looked over and he was waving again. Very nice of him. Visit Choppers Bar for cheap beer, cheap music, good food and freebies!

Crossroad Cafe & Hangout (map) is located on a side street just off the main road into the new town. It is a nice, modern, airy cafe with good coffee and cake. It is the first time I have ever been served coffee with a small cup of tea as a side! Odd, but nice all the same. Free biscuits, too!

Khrạw sey̒ḥị (map) is a family-friendly restaurant on the outskirts of Sukhothai. We visited here as it was only 10 minutes from our hostel. I had a really good red curry with chicken which was a perfect supper!

Mae Boonmee Cafe (map) is a typical Thai restaurant located near the entrance to Sukhothai Historical Park. Its location means there are lots of tourists eating here. They do western food, as well as traditional Thai. We both decided to go with the local dish, ‘Sukhothai Noodles’. This dish is made up of rice noodles with long beans and peanuts served in a broth with vegetables and, in my case, crispy pork. It can be served dry or as a soup.  We weren’t asked for our choice and we decided to go with the chef’s preference. We weren’t expecting too much from a touristy restaurant but they were delicious and set us up nicely for the long day ahead.

Rush Lush Cafe (map) is attached to a very nice-looking hostel called ‘If You Want’. It is right on the river, so ideally located. The cafe served excellent coffee and had a decent looking menu which eventually tempted us to stay for breakfast. Joanna had a tofu and salad sandwich and I had muffin, bacon and scrambled egg. It was a nice change from Thai and was most enjoyable, for me at least. I’m not sure Joanna was as happy with her tofu.

Sukhothai Historical Park

Sukhothai Historical Park is the main reason why people visit Sukhothai so the most obvious question for travellers is how to get to Sukhothai Historical Park. Thankfully, it is very easy to take public transport.

We learned there was a bus that would take us from the main road in the new town. If you are staying near the bus station, you can also take the bus from there.

Research showed that songthauw drivers will ask for 30 Baht but you should pay 20. Sure enough, the woman asked for 30. We said 20. She repeated 30. I couldn’t be bothered haggling so we paid 30 Baht each.

The bus took around half an hour to arrive in the old town. As soon as we got off the bus, the local bike rental shop staff were shouting at us to rent their bikes.

Hiring A Bicycle To Explore Sukhothai Historical Park

We could not decide whether to hire a bicycle or not. We didn’t want to hire a bike and then do the whole park in half an hour but we also didn’t want to spend hours walking from one relic to the next. After much debating, we decided to rent a bicycle. It turned out to be the correct decision.

If you are visiting the park, take my advice and take a bike! It is so easy to cycle around and you have to leave your bike to get up close to the relics anyway so it’s only the distance between that you shorten. It is such a nice park to cycle around and we saw so much more than we would have done on foot. Bicycles cost only 30 baht for the day from either of the two rental shops opposite the main entrance.

Sukhothai Historical Park Admission Fee

Entrance to the central park is 100 baht plus 10 baht for a bike. This is for entrance for the main park only. There are other ‘zones’ surrounding the park that carry a 100 baht fee also. Most tourists only visit the central park.

Sukhothai Historical Park

The park itself is stunning. It is immaculate and very well organised. There are trams that constantly circle the grounds should you not wish to cycle. The trams give information about the many temples and ruins. Unlike Ayutthaya, none of the temples are still in use. There is a cafe at the halfway point and there are plenty of opportunities to sit, rest and take it all in. It was one of my highlights of Thailand at that point. The week previous to this, I’d not ridden a bike for over 30 years so to be cycling around one of the most stunning parks in Thailand was a massive buzz.

Sukhothai Historical Park Opening Times: 6.30 am – 7.30 pm, Sun – Fri. 6.30 am – 9 pm, Saturday.

Sukhothai New Town

Upon our arrival in Sukhothai, our first mission was to explore Sukhothai new town. We didn’t see many bars but there were quite a few restaurants and lots of street food. The main road was very busy and the city had a feel that was much more like some areas in Bangkok, as opposed to the more relaxed vibe of Chiang Mai. Not sure about some of those restaurants though.

There are some temples in the new town. We had a look around the ‘Wat Khuha Suwan’ temple (map), which was nothing extraordinary. More impressive was the ‘Wat Racha Thanee’ (map), mainly for its Buddha in the grounds of the temple.

The grounds of the temple blends with a small local market and the playground of a school. To a westerner, it seems crazy that anyone can just walk into a school playground, without even realising it, and take photos!

Continuing on the main road, we eventually came to the Sukhothai Town Clock (map) which was beautifully decorated in bunting.

Further along this road is the ‘Sukhothai Thani Market’ (map) which is a typical local market and of no real interest.

Sukhothai Night Market

Every town in Thailand seems to have a walking street market, and we decided to end our time in Sukhothai by visiting the Saturday Market Walking Street. The walking street is located on Nikorn Kasem, next to the Yom River (map).

The market was a typical Thai market but it seemed to lack the energy and spark of other markets we had visited. Most of the tempting food was served in plastic bags to take away and eat at home, which was not an option for us as we had no access to a microwave. This left me with the usual grilled meat. I bought 4 skewers of what I can only describe as ‘questionable’ meat. It was pretty grim. I also had a pork kebab that was not quite as bad. Joanna had some spring rolls, which may or may not have contained chicken, and a crab salad. The best thing about the market was the fresh jackfruit. They were chopping up the fruit and serving it. It doesn’t come any fresher than that!

Is Sukhothai Worth Visiting?

I would recommend coming here for 2 nights and building your trip around the Historical Park. There is nothing else of note I would recommend in Sukhothai, which came as a surprise. After Sukhothai, our next stop was Phitsanulok.