Can you visit Sukhothai Historical Park in one day

When I was planning our 14 days trip to Thailand covering most of the iconic historical places in Thailand, Sukhothai had to be a part of it. Because of the simple reason that Sukhothai Historical Park is one of the most beautiful and well maintained historical park that I have ever visited anywhere. While planning my trip, I was wondering if it is possible to cover Sukhothai Historical Park in one day just like it is possible to visit Vegas on a family trip (Ok, that has become our favorite quote ever since we found out the possibility of visiting Vegas with family!). And I know many of us go through this dilemma. So, here’s my answer – yes, it is possible to visit Sukhothai Historical Park in one day. With the right planning which I am going to lay out in this post. But, at the same time, I will highly recommend staying in Sukhothai overnight to have the kind of experience that we had. Read on to know more about it.

Table of Contents

A summary of our 14 days Thailand Trip

On our 14 days trip to Thailand, we traveled with our parents and even our infant. So, we made a slow itinerary for ourselves. And we wanted to base ourselves out of a few places and cover the rest over day trips instead of hopping from place to place. As a result, we finally spent 5 days in Bangkok, 2 days in Sukhothai & 5 days in Chiang Mai. While in Bangkok, we did one day sight seeing of Bangkok. Followed by a day trip to Ayutthaya and then another day trip from Bangkok to Pattaya. Then we moved to Sukhothai, visiting the Sukhothai Historical Park. And from there we next went to Chiang Mai. In Chiang Mai, we did a self planned free walking tour of the city of Chiang Mai, followed by day trip to Doi Inthanon and another day trip to Doi Suthep & Umbrella making artist village. We also spent the new year in Chiang Mai. That pretty much summarises our Thailand trip itinerary. The details are present with a well defined itinerary in this post:

our 2 weeks Thailand trip itinerary with kids

An introduction to Sukhothai & Sukhothai Historical Park

Sukhothai Historical Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Thailand, actually one of many in Thailand. The ruins here are considered to be from Thailand’s first true capital – the kingdom of Sukhothai. The whole area in which the region is spread is more than 70 sq km. And it is spread across 5 zones – the central zone, east zone, west zone, north zone and south zone. The central zone being the most important and housing the major temples and monasteries.

How we covered Sukhothai Historical Park in one day

On the 6th day of our Thailand trip, we arrived in Sukhothai by evening 4:00pm from Bangkok. We booked this private transfer from Bangkok to Sukhothai for our group of 8 people + 2 kids. While we started from our hotel at around 10:00am in the morning and then stopped for lunch mid way. Most of the highway is in excellent condition. And as a result, we reached our hotel in Sukhothai – Sabai Sabai Sukhothai by 4:00pm. Thereafter, we planned to visit the Sukhothai Historical Park the next day. In fact, I highly recommend exploring Thailand by car as it is one of the most convenient ways to hop between places here.

Conquer the area zone wise

We booked a transport from our resort to the Sukhothai Historical Park through the resort itself which cost us 2400THB up and down for our group of 9 people. Although, if you are staying near the Historical Park or in the main city, you will easily get a songthaew (tuk tuk) for reaching the park. We started leisurely from our resort, around 11:30am and reached the park by 12:30pm. Although the Sukhothai Historical Park hours are from 6:30am to 7:30pm.

Since, we targeted visiting the Sukhothai Historical Park in one day. So, I had done some pre-research on the Sukhothai Historical Park zones. And I knew there are 3 main zones in the park – Central Zone, Northern Zone and Western Zone. While most the major temples and sites are located in the Central Zone. So, we decided to visit the central zone first and then target the other zones if we wanted to. Sukhothai historical park entrance fee is 100 THB for each zone. However, the entrance was free on the day we visited the park owing to new year and Christmas celebrations!

Commuting inside the Sukhothai Historical Park

Our resort van dropped us at the central zone. From here, there are two options to visit the park – rent a bike. Which is the most cost efficient and very nice way of visiting the park – at only 10 THB for a day per bike. Also, bikes are available in all types and sizes – single seat, double seat as well as triple seat ones. And smaller ones for kids. Also, some have baskets and toddler seats in the front of the bike to seat your toddler if you want. Apart from the bikes, there are electric tuk tuks which are obviously more comfortable and more luxurious. But also more costly, at THB 300 for an hour. We opted for bikes for the younger ones and the electric car for the elders to visit the central zone. Or, best, you can take this biking tour around the Sukhothai Historical Park that comes in both half day and full day flavour.

The beauty of Sukhothai Historical Park

The ruins of Sukhothai Historical Park are definitely one of the most beautiful in Thailand. And each of the zones is very well managed. The area surrounding the ruins is marked with lush green fields, flower beds, lots of ponds thriving with lotus flowers & rustic bridges across these ponds that transport you into a charming wonderland. The inside of the zones is vehicle free except for people exploring the surroundings on bikes and some electric tuk tuk. As a result, in spite of the place being hot most of the year round, it feels really cool and calm roaming around here.

We visited all the major spots in Sukhothai Historical Park within next 2 hours. Thus establishing that you can definitely visit Sukhothai Historical Park in one day. And we were pretty satisfied, so, we decided to skip rest of the zones. And instead, go ahead to the Sukhothai Town on our way back to our resort. The reason being a spontaneously planned visit to the Sukhothai Night Market which is setup every Saturday in the Sukhothai Town. And today happened to be a Saturday!! Since, we had missed visiting the Chatuchak market in Bangkok, we were very excited to explore this market.

We roughly followed this map on our tour through Sukhothai Historical park in one day:

King Ramkhamhaeng Monument

Regarded as the greatest ruler of Sukhothai, King Ramkamhaeng ruled Sukhothai between 1279 and 1298. He invented the Thai Alphabet. Although relatively new, his monument was established in 1971. But, it is worth a 5 minutes visit. As it is very near to the main entrance gate of the central zone of Sukhothai Historical Park. So, if you are visiting Sukhothai Historical Park in one day, do stop here for a quick visit. And then move on to the next stop.

Wat Chana Songkhrama

Characterized by a massive chedi, this temple lies to the northern side. So, next you can visit it. The architectural designs of this temple show signs of influence from the Sri Lankan architecture. Like the massive chedi, the ringed spire and the overall bell shaped profile of the temple. In fact, it has the largest chedi amongst the temples in the central zone.

Wat Srasri or Wat Sa si

This is yet another temple located in the middle of water body flourishing with lotus flowers. Which makes it really charming to visit this temple. It is located to the west of Wat Mahathat. With Singhalese style chedis, it is one of the most attractive monuments to visit when doing a trip to the Sukhothai Historical Park in one day.

Wat Traphang Ngoen

The name “Wat Traphang Ngoen” means “silver lake monastery”. What is unique about this temple is it’s orientation. So that it gets light from both the rising and the setting sun. This is another big temple with a huge stupa in the center, a large buddha image in the west and an orientation hall in the middle of an artificial lake called the “silver lake”.

Wat Si Sawai

This is one of the oldest temples in the Sukhothai Historical Park. It was built in 12th century as a temple of the Hindu god Vishnu. In fact, this temple has 3 prangs representing the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu & Mahesh – the Gods of creation, execution and destruction respectively.

Wat Mahathat

This is the most important temple of Sukhothai containing the relics of lord Buddha. It is located in the central zone. Like most of the other Buddha temples from this era, it has a big buddha statue in the middle, surrounded by around 200 smaller stupas from all around. The central location of the temple again throws light on its significance. So, if you are visiting the Sukhothai Historical Park in one day, definitely don’t miss out visiting this temple.

Wat Traphang Thong

This temple is located on an island in the middle of the Traphang Thong reservoir. The beauty lies in reaching this temple itself by crossing the wooden bridge from the main road. This is located in the easter side of Sukhothai. And is also the only operational temple here. The main attraction of this temple is the Buddha footprint preserved inside glass. And then it is pleasure to visit here in the early morning or towards the evening. So, you can visit this temple at the end of your trip before returning back. However, this temple is located outside the central zone.

How many days in Sukhothai to stay?

Although it is possible to visit Sukhothai in one day. Wherein you take a bus from Sukhothai bus stand to Sukhothai Historical Park and visit all important places. Returning back in the evening. But, I am glad we stayed overnight in Sukhothai. And followed a Sukhothai itinerary of 2 days. Since, the experience we got here was very different from rest of the places throughout our Thailand trips. Because of the mere fact that we stayed rest of the days either in Bangkok or Chiang Mai – both being much bigger cities. And, visiting Sukhothai with kids was much easier with 2 days at hand.

In Sukhothai, we stayed in a resort – Sabai Sabai Sukhothai which has a huge complex, with lots of paddy fields, some ponds and lush green lawns around. This added a rural flavor to our overall stay in Thailand and I am really glad for it. The area where this resort is located is far from the main city of Sukhothai. And the resort provides shuttle transport to the historical park at an additional cost. But we didn’t mind that given the peaceful surroundings and the beautiful settings of the resort. I am soon to write about it in a separate post.

This makes me recommend that you must stay in Sukhothai overnight, even when you plan to visit Sukhothai Historical Park in one day. And should you stay more than a day in Sukhothai? Well, if this is the only historical park that you are visiting while in Thailand, then it might make sense to stay for 2 nights and cover all the zones extensively. Since we also covered Ayutthaya and visited the old city of Chiang Mai during this trip, so, we were content with exploring just the main area – the central zone of the historical park. But, unless you plan to visit the whole park, you can comfortably visit all the major attractions of Sukhothai Historical Park in one day.

Other things to do in Sukhothai

There are few other things to do in Sukhothai. Which you can include in your list if you are staying for 2 days or longer here. Some of these include:-

Visit the Saturday Night Market in Sukhothai
Also visit the bat cave Sukhothai
Visit Si Satchanalai located 60 kilometers from Sukhothai

Summary & Tips on visiting Sukhothai Historical Park

Pre book your hotel or accommodation.
Stay in old city of Sukhothai in case you want to avoid major transportation charges to the Sukhothai Historical Park
Otherwise, stay near the Sukhothai airport. This area is developing and has come up with luxury resorts that are available at affordable prices as of now. And provide for a great experience. (Soon we will write the details of Our experience staying at Sabai Sabai Sukhothai)
But if you stay far from the historical park, you might have to pay additional charges for transportation to and from the Sukhothai Historical Park as there is no other connectivity from this area to the main city.
Wear comfortable cotton cloths.
Carry your hat, sunglasses, sunscreen lotion & water bottle.
Wear comfortable walking shoes.
Dress modestly as you will be visiting many temple ruins. There are no strict dressing rules here. But it’s good to show respect.
Best time to visit is in winters (Nov – Feb) for best weather.
You can visit Sukhothai either from Chiang Mai or Bangkok. by bus. But for the best comfort book a private transfer like this one.

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