Walking Tour Pages

Walking Tour – Chit Lom to Golden Mount and Giant Swing

Fancy a small adventure and a walking tour on your doorstep? Try this for a nice half day trip out roaming some of the City’s landmarks. Start at the top of Chitlom Road (sometimes called Chitlom Alley), at the junction with Sukhumvit (just off Chit Lom BTS). Walk away from Sukhumvit on the left-hand side. Cross the bridge over the klong and come back on yourself to the klong and the station/deck. When the boat arrives get on and pay 11B for a ticket. Go only one stop and then change boats (this is the end of one line and everyone gets off anyway) and then get on the next boat that is usually waiting (follow the crowd!) – your 11B fare is valid for this part of the trip too. You may recognise some of the buildings en route. It goes past the back of the House of Jim Thompson (Stop 1 if you wanted to go there). Stay on the boat until the end of the line (when everyone gets off) and you will be in front of a white bridge. Come out of the ferry deck/station and turn left to walk over the white bridge and the klong, and Golden Mount will be 20m on your left.

Golden Mount

Wat Saket or Srakesa Temple open 7-30 to 19-00 – 50B entry fee (free for Thai’s). NB – no short skirts or exposed shoulders. Has lots of steps but not steep. Good for sunset photos too. This is an old burial mount with amazing bells, waterfalls, gongs and steeped in history. It has great views from the top over the city and many golden Buddha’s. There is a coffee shop half way up which is worth a look as on the wall there is a timeline in Thai and English (also good toilets at the coffee shop. NB If you use the toilets at the base of the mount, they ask you to take off your shoes. Although there is a maid there regularly cleaning, it may not be something you want to do but the toilet in the coffee shop is a regular toilet!). Make sure you get right to the top – it’s worth it for the views and to get your bearings. Exit Golden Mount by the main gate, cross the road and turn left. This will take you past wood turning, door carving and wooden coving shop area. The smell is divine of newly turned wood and you can pick up small pieces of carved/turned wood at bargain prices or huge doors for your mansion if you have one! (Top Tip – small round carved pieces that can be stained or painted and hung on ribbon for Christmas decorations – very cheap (25B?) and fun to do and uniquely Thai) Keep walking straight along this road until your reach a junction with a white bridge on the right to take you over the klong. However, before you turn right, on this corner is:‘Monk’s Alms Bowl Village’ (Soi Ban Baat)

Here alms bowls are manufactured by hand in the traditional way, for monks to use to gather offerings. Once an order is placed by a monk, using traditional tools and methods, a team will start an assembly line of nine different steps. Definitely worth a stop if they are at work.

After the alms bowls village turn right over the klong and walk straight, in the distance you will see the Royal Swing, painted red and keep walking straight as you head towards it.

Royal Swing

Dating back to 1784 this is a religious structure over 21m (69’) high which had a swing boat attached in the middle. It was used by the Brahmans to show daring and to swing as high as they could in hopes of reaching a bag of gold coins hung at around 15m (50’). If they succeeded they kept the treasure, but this was cancelled in 1935 after several accidents and deaths. Since then it has been remodelled a few times and this construction is from 2007.

The Royal Swing is at the entrance to Wat Suthat

Wat Suthat – open 8:30 to 9:00pm – Entry 100B (free for Thais) NB – no short skirts or exposed shoulders. Wat Suthat has the enshrined monument, ashes and bones of Rama 8. This Wat has many areas of interest although at the moment is still undergoing renovations. However, it still has a spectacular array of golden and black Buddha’s (including the biggest bronze Buddha in Thailand), amazing murals and paintings, stone carvings and wood panelled doors. It’s definitely worth a look despite the 2 tier pricing…. (I’m not sure if you have your passport/work permit/residency with you if this would give free entry or not?) If you’ve got this far it’s now worth looking for lunch or drinks. We exited Wat Suthat by a side gate (next to Thai Herbal Drinks, but didn’t stop there so can’t comment/recommend) and then turned right and walked straight on from there (past all the gun shops!), crossing the road and heading towards China Town. We ate at ‘Punjab Sweets’ (if you have maps on your phone) which was a little tricky to find down small alleyways but well worth it, a local basic eatery with delicious foods for sharing – we sat upstairs. However, there are loads of places to eat, in malls, on the streets, small local places selling lots of Indian and Thai goodies. After this we headed back with a short walk to Sampheng Road and China Town and on to the MRT/BTS system. Alternatively, from Wat Suthat area you could retrace your steps and get the klong boat back. However, from here it’s only a 10 min walk to The Temple of Emerald Buddha and 15 min walk to the Grand Palace if you wanted to extend your walking tour further. NB -‘Currently Klong ferries are not running on Sundays.They definitely run regularly Monday to Friday but not sure about Saturday.’