10 Bangkok day trips, from a 20-baht train seat to a weekend-only market

Out by breakfast, back for dinner: ten Bangkok escapes ranked by how sure a bet they are, not how far you go.

1. 1

   Ayutthaya

   Hua Lamphong / Bang Sue · former royal capital, temple ruins · ordinary 3rd class train from 15-20 THB, 90 min each way

   This is the trip that ruins you for the rest of the list, because it is this easy and this cheap. You get off at a provincial station, rent a bicycle or flag a tuk-tuk, and spend the afternoon among brick chedis that Burmese armies never quite finished flattening. Wat Mahathat's tree-wrapped Buddha head is the photo everyone takes; Wat Chaiwatthanaram at sunset is the one you'll actually remember.

   Source: Train36
2. 2

   Maeklong Railway Market

   Samut Songkhram, via Wongwian Yai or Ban Laem · working market on active train tracks · no entrance fee, open daily

   Vendors sell prawns and dragonfruit from stalls that fold their awnings back eight times a day, every time a train edges through at walking pace. It sounds like a stunt built for tour buses and it partly is, but the market itself is a real one, not a set piece. Go for the first or second train of the day, before the crowd three-deep on both sides of the track turns the whole thing into a shuffle.

   Source: KKday
3. 3

   Muang Boran

   Samut Prakan, south of Bangkok · open-air museum of relocated Thai architecture · ฿800 foreign adult, daily 9am–7pm, last ticket 6pm

   Everything you'd otherwise drive the length of the country to see, someone has already moved here and set among gardens the size of a small province. Hire the bicycle at the gate rather than the golf cart; the grounds are large enough that pedalling between a scaled Wat Phra Kaew and a teak floating pavilion feels like the point, not a chore.

   Source: Muang Boran, The Ancient City (official site)
4. 4

   Bang Pa-In Palace

   Bang Pa-in district, Ayutthaya province · royal summer palace, Thai-Chinese-European architecture · ฿100 foreign adult, daily 8am–4pm

   Pair it with Ayutthaya proper and you have the fullest possible history day without a second train ticket. The palace grounds mix a Chinese-style residence with a lake pavilion and a cable car over to a temple that costs nothing extra to visit. Go first thing if you're combining it with the ruins down the road; the gardens close before the ruins do.

   Source: Sala Hospitality
5. 5

   Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

   Ratchaburi province · classic floating market on longtail boats · public minivan/bus from around ฿70–90, market runs roughly 7am–noon

   This is the postcard version, the one with the conical hats and the boats stacked with mangosteen, and it earns the reputation before nine in the morning and loses most of it after. Arrive with the first boats and you get the canal to yourself for twenty minutes; arrive at ten and you get a floating traffic jam. Either way, this is a market that closes by early afternoon, so build your day around a dawn start, not a leisurely one.

   Source: IDC Travel
6. 6

   Phra Pathom Chedi

   Nakhon Pathom, west of Bangkok · the world's tallest Buddhist stupa · bus from Southern Bus Terminal from about ฿70, roughly 1 hour

   The chedi itself is enormous, orange-gold and visible from most of the town before you're anywhere near it, which is more or less the whole draw. There's a small museum underneath and a market ringing the base that sells food, not souvenirs, which tells you who this place is actually for. Fewer tour groups than anything else on this list, and that's most of the appeal.

   Source: Omio
7. 7

   Bridge on the River Kwai

   Kanchanaburi · WWII Death Railway bridge and museums · train from Thonburi station, 100 THB, two departures daily at 07:45 and 13:45

   Walk the bridge itself, which is shorter and more crowded than the film led you to expect, then find the quieter stretch of track that continues along the cliff face south of town. The JEATH museum next to it is blunt and worth the half hour. Because the Thonburi line only runs twice a day, this is one trip where you plan around the timetable, not the other way round.

   Source: Seat61
8. 8

   Erawan Falls

   Erawan National Park, Kanchanaburi province · seven-tiered waterfall with swimming pools · local bus from Kanchanaburi bus terminal, 50–60 THB, hourly from 8am

   Seven tiers stacked up a hillside, each with its own pool the colour of weak jade, and the higher you climb the fewer people you share it with. This one needs an early start out of Bangkok to reach Kanchanaburi in time to catch the park bus, and the last bus back to town leaves at 5pm, which is the real deadline of the day, not the falls themselves.

   Source: Tripadvisor
9. 9

   Amphawa Floating Market

   Samut Songkhram province · evening floating market, grilled seafood and riverside cafes · minivan from Victory Monument around ฿70, open Friday–Sunday only

   The one entry here with a real catch: this market runs on weekends only, so a Tuesday visit gets you a quiet canal and shuttered stalls. Turn up on the right day in the late afternoon instead, when the boats selling grilled squid and the riverside restaurants both switch on at once, and the whole town smells like charcoal. Come for dusk, not midday; this is an evening market pretending to be a daytime one.

   Source: Renown Travel
10. 10

    Hua Hin

    Prachuap Khiri Khan province, Gulf coast · beach town, night market, royal history · train from Krung Thep Aphiwat, Special Express #43 departs 07:30, arrives 10:31

    The furthest thing on this list, and the one where the maths gets tight: three to four hours each way by train means an early departure and a late dinner if you stay past the night market. Go for the beach walk, the old teak railway station, and the seafood grills, but treat the 07:30 express as non-negotiable if you want any real time on the sand.

    Source: Travelfish