A day visit to Ayutthaya is a must when in Bangkok. We took the BTS train from Phrom Pong (2-3 min walk from our hotel in Sukhumvit) to Mo Chit, a total of 12 stops and took around 20-25 min. After reaching Mo Chit, we headed towards the Chatuchak Park MRT station (underground) from there we headed towards Bang Sue (only 1 stop) which took about 5 minutes. The total cost of the BTS and MRT was 65 Baht.

From Bang Sue there is a train running almost every hour to Ayutthaya, mind you there is no air conditioning in the train. But even in the hottest period it feels pleasant as long as the train is moving. The ticket price was 20 Baht each. As we had gone during peak period we couldn't really find a seating space on the train. And had to stand for almost 2.5 hours till we reached Ayutthaya. Carry lots of water it is highly advisable.

Once we reached Ayutthaya, and left the train station, we were flocked by tons of tour guides. We ignored them and waled towards the small man-made lake. Where we boarded a ferry costing 10 Baht each to drop us to the other side. It took another 10 minutes.

Once we reached the other side of the lake, we decided to hire a Tuk Tuk to take us around all the landmarks. There were about 7-8. But we were a bit tired and decided to visit 4 only. The Tuk Tuk driver charged us 400 Baht for 4 hours (hired full-time, including drop back to train station at the end of the day)

I can't recall the names of the landmarks however I have posted a number of photos for reference.

In hindsight, I feel a tour guide would have helped us in knowing more about the history of all the landmarks and been a much more insightful experience than just roaming aimlessly.

Tour guide is a must, so will hire it on my next visit surely.

After a grueling 4 hours of visiting some amazing temples, statues, ruins. We were hungry and my guilty pleasure is available in Ayutthaya, not known to many, we found a KFC and had late lunch there before being dropped back to the station. We took the train from Ayutthaya to Bang Sue. It costed 20 Baht each and took less time to reach back, around 2 hours.

Overall it was a great experience, lesson learnt, one need to go early morning by 8am, hire a tour guide, carry lots of fluids even in winters (as winters are just namesake in Thailand with temperatures hovering around the 28C-30C mark).

But this is a must visit trip if you can spare a day, lots of other tourists stay for a night or two, if there is no rush and you want to thoroughly visit all the parks.

The travel in totality costed about a 100 baht each, which is economical, but of ofcourse there are other more costly alternatives like a hired cab which can set you back by 1500-2000 baht.