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somtam

have u any idea how much the cost of the boat trip to ayutthaya is and how long this takes


cheers

Honestly, you can do it yourself for waaaaay cheaper! If you go to Victory Monument in Bangkok, hop on a minibus, it will take you to Ayutthaya for 70 bht/pp. Once in Ayutthaya, grab a tuk tuk driver to take you around for the whole day for around 400-500 bht ( if you are good at bargaining you can probably get cheaper, but we didn't really bargain as we thought it sounded reasonable to us anyway). Grab a meal pretty much anywhere for around 60-120 bht not including drinks. However we had decided to spend the night in Ayutthaya which we were sooo glad we did as you can then also see the sites lit up at night. However, if you are doing a day trip, the tour may be worth the cost just for ease. We like being able to check out the sites on our own schedule and go to the ones we wanted to see though. If you can afford an overnight in Ayutthaya , I would highly recommend it and it is worth it. Fortunately it's only about 1 hr from Bangkok so not too far to get there and back.

Hi Mary,

An even less expensive way to get to Ayutthaya from BKK is by train. A third class train should take about 90 minutes or so and cost in the 20 baht range. There are frequent departures to/from Ayutthaya. Once you arrive, just walk west towards the river and take the little ferry boats across the 100 meter-wide river (a few baht) and then walk to most accommodation options from there.

You can definitely see Ayutthaya as a day trip from BKK, but like Halilee says, an overnight gives you a chance to see the ruins all lit up at night and is definitely worth it.

Anyway, the last time I was there, the little fish head-style tuk tuks were charging a uniform 200 baht per vehicle per day, but I imagine you could bargain for a day rate. There are plenty of push bikes and scooters for hire too, if those fit your style and skill mix.

Admission to the ruins usually runs about 20 to 40 baht per person per place. I don't know if they have a ticket that is good for every place or not. Sukhothai and Lop Buri used to have that kind of ticket but stopped selling them a while back.

The advantage of not taking a tour, even if it doesn't save money, is the adventure and freedom of visiting where you want.

There is good info on Travelfish about the old city and such. Be sure to read it. I wrote a trip report on my last Ayutthaya visit too. It is a bit dated now, but may still have useful info for you. It is at:

http://www.travelfish.org/board/post/tripreports/695_ayutthaya---july--06-trip-report

Did that answer your questions? Regards.