Rattanakosin, Bangkok’s Historic Island: Palaces, Temples and How to Get Around

Art historians trace the Emerald Buddha, revered as the symbol of the Thai state, from northern Thailand to Laos and back, and it now sits in Rattanakosin, Bangkok's historic center. Rattanakosin (also called Rattanakosin Island) holds most of Bangkok's "must see" sights, including the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. This Wikivoyage guide covers its history, its main attractions and how to visit.

Reclining Buddha statue at Wat Pho (photo: Joe Stump from Boulder, Colorado, United States of America, CC BY 2.0).

How it began

Rattanakosin was founded in 1782, when King Rama I moved the Siamese capital across the river from Thonburi, which began the Rattanakosin Period of Thai history. After Burmese armies burned the powerful Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1767, General Taksin led the resistance, beat the Burmese within a year and set up a new capital at Thonburi. Despite military successes, problems built up: in 1779 Taksin had declared himself a sotapanna (a divine figure), setting him against powerful Buddhist monks, and the state faced economic turmoil, corruption and famine. A rebellion forced him to step down while General Phraya Chakri was in Cambodia, and he was secretly executed. Offered the throne, Chakri became King Rama I, first king of the Chakri dynasty.

One of his first acts was to move the capital to what he thought a more strategic site, which he turned into an artificial island with the Chao Phraya River on the west and man-made canals on the east. Chinese merchants were relocated outside the new city walls to the area now called Yaowarat. Rama I restored Ayutthaya's social and political system and copied its layout and architecture, including the plan of the Grand Palace, and even brought bricks from the ruins of Ayutthaya downstream.

Finding your way

The district was carefully planned in the 18th century. Its focus is Sanam Luang, a wide-open royal field used for ceremonies and festivals, and the main sights surround it. The most important is the Grand Palace, whose compound includes Wat Phra Kaeo, home of the Emerald Buddha. Wat Pho, with its giant reclining Buddha, lies to the south. On the western edge Banglamphu, including Khao San Road, is known for budget lodging and nightlife and feels quite different from the ceremonial core. The Chao Phraya River flows along the west side, and most foreign visitors use the express boat to hop from place to place.

The Skytrain and the MRT did not reach the area until 2019, when the MRT's Sanam Chai Station opened. Boats are the best way in: the Chao Phraya Express Boat is quick and cooler than traffic, and the guide recommends the orange-flag boats, because the yellow-flag ones miss many important stops. Key stops are Tha Chang (Grand Palace), Tha Tien (Wat Pho), Phra Arthit (Khao San Road) and Thewet (Dusit). From Tha Tien a short ferry crosses to Wat Arun. Canal boats on the Saen Saep Canal are a cheap, scenic alternative.

The great temples and palaces

• Grand Palace. Bangkok's most popular attraction, built when Bangkok was founded and expanded many times, it mixes pure Ayutthayan temple styles with a blend of Thai and Western styles for later buildings. It is the official residence of the King, although he no longer lives there, and much of it is closed to visitors. A strict dress code applies. Plan at least a full morning, go early to beat the heat and the tour buses, and beware people who say the palace is closed; the guide calls that a common scam to push visitors into tuk-tuk rides and gem shops. Several throne halls open only on weekdays.
• Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha), the most sacred temple in Thailand, finished in 1784. A legend says the small jade statue was made in India in 43 BC, but art historians place it in the Chiang Saen style of the 15th century, which points to Lanna in northern Thailand. It went to Luang Prabang in 1552, to Vientiane twelve years later, and came back to Siam in 1779 when General Chao Phraya Chakri captured Vientiane. Its clothing is changed three times a year with the seasons. Visitors must remove their shoes, and photos inside are forbidden.
• Chakri Maha Prasat Hall, built in 1876, has a European neoclassical body topped with a Thai roof, the result of a dispute in which King Rama V wanted a fully European look and other royals wanted Siamese spires.

Chakri Maha Prasat Hall, Grand Palace (photo: Rangan Datta Wiki, CC BY-SA 4.0).

• Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, is the largest temple in Bangkok and probably the oldest, since it pre-dates the founding of the capital by about 200 years. It has more than a thousand Buddha images, more than any other temple in Thailand. The gold-plated Reclining Buddha is 46 m long and 15 m high, with soles inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and shows the Buddha passing into nirvana. Wat Pho is often called Thailand's first university, because the site was a center of traditional medicine teaching before the temple, and it still offers massage and a massage school. The guide advises using the south entrance, the real main entrance, to miss the crowds that arrive by the north gate.
• Wat Arun, across the river in Thonburi, is a large prang decorated with blue and white ceramics.

Wat Arun (photo: Preecha.MJ, CC BY-SA 4.0).

• Farther out, Wat Suthat houses a huge Buddha image brought from Sukhothai by boat, and its plaza has the Giant Swing, from a ceremony in which teams of young men tried to swing high enough to snatch a bag of gold from a pole about 25 metres up, banned since 1932 after many were hurt or died. Wat Saket's Golden Mount is an artificial hill with a 318-step spiral staircase, and Wat Ratchanaddaram's Loh Prasat has black iron spires, 37 in number, for the 37 virtues toward Enlightenment.

Temple etiquette applies everywhere: no shorts, flip-flops or sleeveless shirts. Monks collect alms between 05:00 and 07:00, and the guide's best place to watch is Wat Benchamabophit in Dusit.

Palaces and a power struggle

The Front Palace, now the main building of the National Museum, housed the heir to the throne, called the "Second King," who at one point had a private army and navy. In the Front Palace crisis of 1884 the Second King, Prince Vichaichan, got into a power struggle with King Rama V, who was modernizing Siam fast. After a threatening letter, the prince massed up to 600 troops; a mysterious fire in the Grand Palace after an explosion led to a standoff with the Royal Guards. Vichaichan fled to the British embassy, the powerful Western countries backed Rama V, who abolished the title and brought in the Western-style "Crown Prince of Siam" for the heir, and the prince died a year later.

Sources

• Wikivoyage, "Bangkok/Rattanakosin" (https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Bangkok%2FRattanakosin), by its contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Photos credited in their captions under their own licences. Changed here: rewritten in hubnx's own words and heavily shortened; phone numbers, opening hours, prices, listings and most photos left out.