Things To Do In Khon Kaen – Visit Khon Kaen – Budget Travel In Thailand

Khon Kaen is located at the eastern end of Highway 12. It is a lively city filled with night markets, temples and impressive street art.

We had finally reached the end of Highway 12, on which we had been travelling and stopping at various points on our way to the Laos border. From Khon Kaen, we would be travelling North towards Nong Khai, where we would be finishing our first Thai adventure.

Click here to book accommodation in Khon Kaen.

Things To Do In Khon Kaen

City Gate & Central Plaza

As we needed to buy some essentials from a chemist, we headed to the ‘Central Plaza’ (map). On our way, we discovered the ‘Thewasathan Phra Mae Thoranee’ (map) which is a central monument, surrounded by busy traffic. It was a place of calm in the middle of the congestion of the city, made even more serene by the relaxing music and incense.

Moving on to the Central Plaza, we also discovered the ‘City Gate’ which towers over the Sri Chant Road. There was also a street food market outside the plaza, selling typical Thai food at reasonable prices.

The plaza itself is typical of plazas across Thailand (though it did have a ‘Moomins’ shop, which excited Joanna). We were also able to sit and have a wonderful massage by a machine!

When we left, we noticed the plaza was surrounded by police and the military; even a brass band. We waited by the roadside with the locals for about 10 minutes. Suddenly, there was an entourage leave the plaza and everything returned to normal. It was all very strange!

Food And Drink In Khon Kaen

The walk from the centre of Khon Kaen to our acccommodation was long and dull. Thankfully, there were a couple of good coffee shops to break up the journey. On our first day in Khon Kaen, we visited Aprilsweetiebakery (map) where we had a delicious coffee. We were tempted by the cake but we managed to resist. They offer a keto-friendly menu.

Coffee 34 (map) is a real hipster place. They take their coffee seriously here. The walls are adorned with coffee paraphernalia and quotes. The coffee was more expensive than we were used to paying in Thailand but it was strong and delicious.

DD/MM/YY Cafe (map) came to our rescue one evening as we struggling to find any street food market that had English menus (important for the veggie). We came across DD/MM/YY by chance and originally was just going to have a beer. A fellow tourist told us the food was fantastic so we decided to pay a little more and eat there. We enjoyed a couple of beers and a prawn rice dish before heading back towards the Silk Festival.

Khon Kaen Nakhon Night Market

Nakhon Night Market (map) is located on the north-west side of the Kaen Nakhon lake. It is a small market and nothing too exciting but it did allow us our first look at the park. It was an enjoyable experience watching the sun set over the lake from an outdoor theatre, before the outdoor gym classes started.

Nakhon Night Market Opening Times: 4 pm – 9 pm, every day.

Khon Kaen Night Market

We had seen a night market setting up as we made our way back home earlier in the day so we decided to check it out. It was only a small market but they had some good food choices (map). Joanna managed to find some vegetarian food and google translate helped me out with a menu. I ordered pork in noodle soup which was spicy and delicious. I seemed to be building a tolerance to the spicy food. Not as much as Joanna (who, by now, was eating raw chillies) but certainly more than I was used to back home.

I followed this up with some mini skewers of bacon and chicken which were delicious. Joanna had grilled veg (okra, broccoli, mushrooms) and went for the super spicy version! You can also buy alcohol at this market.

Khon Kaen Silk Festival

During our time in Khon Kaen, the city was hosting a silk festival. There was a huge market, live entertainment and all kinds of interesting things occuring. There was plenty of food stalls and some very cheap clothes. We even found fairground attractions, including a ghost train, though a lot of the entertainment was closed and wouldn’t open until the evening. We decided we would return in the evening to see the festival in all its glory.

Once the sun had disappeared, all the food vendors began to appear on the streets of Khon Kaen. Suddenly, there were street food markets everywhere.

The place had really come alive now and was even more impressive in the dark, with lasers and disco lights everywhere. It was an explosion of colour in the fairground and now the ghost train was now open (it turned out it wasn’t a train but one of those walk-around attractions with live actors). It was about the size of our hotel room and it was dark and had a guy grab our leg and… that was it. Delightfully naff!

The Silk Festival was so busy in the evening. Vendors had microphones trying to encourage buyers. Food vendors that were empty earlier were struggling to keep up with orders and it seemed everyone was doing a roaring trade! There was a huge area in the middle with a big stage with live music, some bizarre Chinese theatre, moving dinosaurs, actual cobras and even children performing amazing acts of balancing beer bottles. It was a magnificent end to what had been a fantastic night in Khon Kaen.

Google maps shows a Saturday market in the same location (map).

Khon Kaen Street Art

We had no idea that Khon Kaen has so much street art. There are examples all over the city, from older interactive pieces like those found in George Town, Malaysia, to more contemporary urban styles.

Temples Of Khon Kaen

After deciding to check out some of the temples of Khon Kaen, we took a local bus to take us down Glang Muang Road. The bus was a songthaew and was a bumpy ride. We followed our location on Google Maps and pressed the bell when we were ready to depart. The ‘bell’ turned out to be the driver’s horn, which made us both jump out of our skins!

First up was ‘Wat Klang’ (map). There was little to no information about this temple on the internet and it just serves to show how many amazing, beautiful temples there are in Thailand when a temple as beautiful as this one is overlooked.

Next up was the ‘Phra Mahathat Kaen Nakhon’ temple (map). This temple is much more well-known and is one of the top tourist spots of Khon Kaen. It is, according to Google Maps, a “Pagoda-style Buddhist temple featuring 9 receding levels topped with a soaring golden spire”. It certainly looks impressive as you enter the temple grounds. The usual temple rules apply which meant that Joanna, who for some reason had decided to wear shorts and sleeveless shirt, would not be able to go inside. Thankfully, a fellow visitor informed us that the temple had sarongs that could be borrowed meaning Joanna could join me inside. After a brief English lesson to the visitor’s 3 children, we headed the climb to the top of the temple.

The views were incredible. You can look out in all directions. From the East, you can look across the park, and from the North you can look over the city itself. If you visit one temple in Khon Kaen, then make sure it is this one.

Wat That Temple

The final temple of the day was Wat That (map). You can imagine the conversation between two Englishman:

“What’s that?”
“What, that? That’s ‘Wat That’, that’s What!”

By this point, it was clear that I’d had too much sun and was all templed out!

Unloved Children’s Playground

After leaving Phra Mahathat Kaen Nakhon temple, we entered the small park next to Kaen Nakhon lake. As we’d already done plenty of walking and it was getting quite late in the afternoon, we decided not to walk around the whole park but just to enter at the temple and walk north to the main entrance. This lead us through a children’s playground which had certainly seen better days!

I’ve always fancied visiting an abandoned theme park. I find there’s something eerie and forlorn about them. We were hoping to explore one later in our adventure. For now, we had to make do with the dinosaur themed playground in this park.

I reckon that adults will appreciate this park more than children. It has a spooky atmosphere to it that a child just won’t understand. Let’s be honest, as a fun park, it’s a bit rubbish! Joanna, of course, loved it!

How To Get To Udon Thani From Khon Kaen By Bus

A lot of our time in Khon Kaen was spent trying to find out how to get to Udon Thani. We had been told that small buses still left from the air-conditioned bus stop in the centre of Khon Kaen, despite the bus station itself not being in use. We had also heard the same was true of Bus Terminal 2, but on investigation we found no evidence of this. Minibuses apparently do leave every half hour from Central Plaza. These buses also leave from the new Bus Terminal 3, along with the public buses. We took a Grab to Bus Terminal 3 and found a bus to Udon Thani in no time.

Is Khon Kaen Worth Visiting?

Khon Kaen is a great city with enough to offer for a 2-3 night stay, even longer if you want to take it slow. We had no idea what to expect and we had a fantastic time. The silk festival was a real bonus though I’m not sure how much of the market is there when the silk festival is not on. Perhaps you could let me know in the comments section below.

Next stop… Udon Thani!