Ancient City Bangkok: Weird, Sweaty and Completely Worth It

The place is enormous. Over 200 acres huge.

You can rent bikes, but after doing this twice we’d say the golf buggy is absolutely the right move for families.

The first time I went, the buggy queue was chaos. Easily 30 or 40 minutes. Nobody really seemed sure what system was happening. People just vaguely hovering near carts hoping for the best.

After speaking to a few people in the queue I eventually ended up sharing a buggy with two lads on holiday because there were no small carts left. Three sweaty strangers silently nodding at temples together for three hours. And if you believe is stayed silent for three hours you’ll believe anything. It was great though for getting in and getting photos.

One important thing to note is that flying drones at the ancient city is banned and the fine is around 40,000THB almost £1000. Although it is pretty quiet in places I’m sure if you hide yourself up well you could probably get some footage. Not that we would ever do this.

The second time all of us went with friends visiting Bangkok, so we rented one of the larger six-seater buggies. Weirdly there was no queue at all for the bigger ones.

More expensive, obviously. Still worth it.

You walk far more than you think even with a buggy anyway. Every few minutes you’re parking up, wandering through another temple complex, climbing staircases, crossing bridges, then piling back in again already sweating.

Some parts are incredible, some parts feel slightly fake

That’s probably the most honest way to describe Ancient City.

A few sections definitely lean towards “historical theme park”. You can tell they’re replicas.

But then suddenly you turn a corner and find somewhere genuinely stunning.

The huge Sanphet Prasat Palace recreation was probably our favourite overall. The floating market areas were brilliant too, especially later in the afternoon once things quietened down slightly.

The red bridge walkways over the lakes looked ridiculous against the blue sky.

And that’s another thing worth mentioning properly. Weather matters here more than most places.

Cloudy days are fine. Still enjoyable. But if Bangkok gives you one of those bright blue sky days, Ancient City suddenly looks completely different. The gold rooftops almost glow against it and every reflection in the water suddenly looks edited.

There are also places renting traditional Thai outfits for photos. Depending on your viewpoint this either adds atmosphere or makes it feel like tourists have accidentally wandered into a historical TV drama.

Either way, people seemed to love it.

It worked surprisingly well with Jax

By the second visit Jax was fully recovered and absolutely launching himself into the day.

At one point he jumped out of the buggy mid-corner, clipped his heel and managed to cut his foot open near one of the floating market sections. Which led to a local medic patching him up beside a fake canal while tourists drifted past taking photos of temples.

Very Ancient City experience, really.

What actually makes the place good for families is the space.

Bangkok can be intense after a while. Noise. Traffic. Heat bouncing off concrete. Ancient City still has quieter corners where all you can hear is birds, water and the occasional reversing alarm from a buggy somewhere in the distance.

There are snack stalls and drinks around the park, although we wouldn’t exactly plan lunch around it. This is more “grab another iced drink before melting” than destination food.

Time-wise, you need longer than you think.

You could rush through in 90 minutes if you treated it like a checklist. But that completely misses the point.

We’d say minimum three hours with a buggy. Longer if you actually enjoy photography or wandering slowly.

Combine it with Erawan Museum if you’ve still got energy

One of the nicest surprises was how good Erawan Museum actually was afterwards.

Our ticket included entry, so on the way back into Bangkok we jumped off at Chang Erawan station and walked over.

Inside it’s calm, cool and far quieter than Ancient City. The stained glass ceiling alone is worth seeing.

The walk from the station isn’t exactly scenic.

Mostly traffic and piles of rubbish, but still easier than sitting in Bangkok traffic wondering why your Grab hasn’t moved in eleven minutes.

So, is Ancient City actually worth visiting?

If you want authentic ancient temples filled with centuries of history and spirituality, go to Bangkok’s real temples instead.

But if you want a genuinely fun, slightly surreal family day out where you can see architectural styles from all over Thailand without travelling the entire country, it’s excellent.

Especially if you like photography.

Especially if you’ve got kids who enjoy exploring.

And especially if you appreciate attractions that are both really impressive and just a tiny bit strange at the same time.

A few practical bits

• Go early if you want a buggy without a massive queue
• Bring far more water than you think you need
• Blue sky days make a huge difference for photos
• Wear decent shoes, you still walk loads even with a buggy
• Three hours minimum, realistically longer
• Combining it with Erawan Museum makes for a really good full day