Bustling Bangkok | Part 10 | Ancient City Museum

During our vacation, we spent seven days in Bangkok. I’m going to split our time in Bangkok into multiple parts to cover a wide range of information about the places we visited, the modes of transportation we used, and the costs involved.

In this tenth chapter, I’ll share our visit to the Ancient City.

Bit of Background

Mueang Boran, also known as the Ancient City, is the world’s largest outdoor museum. It covers over 200 acres and features 116 structures representing Thailand’s most famous landmarks. Interestingly, the museum is shaped almost exactly like the map of Thailand.

This place is highly recommended to visit, and it’s best to allocate half a day for the tour ideally in the morning to avoid the intense heat. You can rent a golf cart starting from 350 Baht, or take the internal tram service, which stops at most major attractions and allows time to explore each spot.

Make sure to take your driving license or passport, as you’ll need to leave one as a deposit when renting a golf cart. Otherwise, you’ll need to pay a 1,000 Baht deposit (as I learned from videos).

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Opening Times and Tickets

The museum is open daily from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. The ticket price is 800 Baht for adults and 400 Baht for children.

It usually takes about 3.5 to 4 hours to explore all the major spots and take photos. In our case, they only charged us for 3 hours and kindly ignored the extra 30 minutes we spent.

Make sure to keep some extra cash in case you exceed your reserved time.

We booked our tickets through the Klook app, and it cost only $16.59 per person (around 542.52 Baht), which was comparatively cheaper. There’s also a combined ticket on Klook for both the Ancient City and Erawan Museum, which is another great option.

How We Reached the Place

The Ancient City is located a bit far from the Pratunam area, so we chose to go by Skytrain. Their official website provides directions, and we followed them exactly.

We took the Skytrain from Victory Monument Station on the Sukhumvit Line to its last stop, Kheha Station. We started our journey around 7 AM, and it took us about one hour to reach Kheha.

Following the guide, we exited via Exit 3, and right near the staircase, we saw minibus number 36 waiting.

We got into the minibus, followed our route on Google Maps, and rang the bell when the museum was close. The minibus ride took about 5–10 minutes as it moves slower than a typical car. The museum is on the left-hand side of the road. We used the same method to return later.

Entrance

You’ll need to walk a short distance to the ticket counter, or you can drive up to it if you have your own vehicle. There was a separate counter for online ticket holders, but there were still long queues since the place attracts many visitors. Restrooms and restaurants are conveniently located throughout the area.

At the entrance, you’ll receive a map with the most popular landmarks highlighted. Trust me — this map can get confusing! Just when you think you’ve passed number 2, you’ll suddenly find yourself at number 25!

We received the golf cart key along with a quick training session on how to use it.

Exploring the Place

The museum was truly fascinating, it felt like exploring the whole of Thailand in just four hours. It features everything from small statues to large architectural masterpieces. Even though we didn’t know the full background of every exhibit, it was absolutely beautiful and a wonderful way to appreciate Thai architecture and culture.

Here are some of the stops we loved most:

The Phra Kaew Pavilion

Sala of Ramayana

Botanical Garden of Thai Literature

Sumeru Mountain Palace

There were many more spots we stopped at but can’t recall specifically. I must also mention one unique place called the Ghost Museum, which had Sri Lankan Sigiriya-style drawings on one of its corridors!

I believe this is a must-visit destination, it’s absolutely worth your time and money.