RiderLogThonburi Riverside Temples: 9 Stops, 10 km
The west bank end to end: a porcelain prang, the bell temple, a mural hall older than the city's grid, a floating market in a canal, and the glass stupa at Wat Paknam.
Thonburi is the half of Bangkok that never got rebuilt, and its temples are strung along canals that a scooter can follow and a car cannot. This runs north up the river bank, cuts inland to the Khlong Bang Luang artists' community, and finishes under the emerald stupa at Wat Paknam. Budget half a day and take the small roads.
Open this loop on the Bangkok map. Distances are straight-line between stops, so a real ride through Bangkok traffic will read longer on the odometer.
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Wat Prayurawongsawas Worawihan
A miniature sacred mountain called Khao Mo, surrounded by water and turtles - an unexpectedly peaceful little ecosystem beneath the enormous white chedi.
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Wat Rakhang Khositaram Woramahawihan
Thonburi riverside history, old canals and one of the most interesting stories around the temple's name: a bell found here became associated with the famous bells of Wat Arun after being moved during the early Bangkok period.
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Wang Lang Market
Tourists sometimes discover it, but locals own it: food, clothes, strange little shops, hospital workers, students and the river.
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Wat Suwannaram Ratchaworawihan
Dark history + extraordinary murals. An Ayutthaya-era temple that was reportedly used as an execution site for Burmese prisoners during the Thonburi period.
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Wat Srisudaram Pier
The childhood school of Sunthorn Phu, Thailand's most famous classical poet.
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Khlong Bang Luang Floating Market
The Thonburi canal world: wooden houses, boats, monitor lizards, gardens, temples and people living beside the water. The Artist House area is the easiest entry point.
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The Artist House Bangkok
The canal neighbourhood makes you feel like you've slipped into an older Bangkok - what the city looked like before it was dominated by roads.
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Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen
Historically it's fascinating: founded around 1610, nearly abandoned, then transformed by meditation master Luang Pu Sodh into a huge educational/meditation centre.
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Big Buddha viewing platform
Viewing platform for the giant Buddha of Wat Paknam.
Where this loop rides
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Thonburi Riverside Temples is 9 stops and 10 km of Bangkok. The whole Bangkok layer is in RiderLog: every pin with its story and exact location, check-ins with photos, and the lists riders you follow are building. Record the ride there and back, and it turns into a card worth sending. Free on the App Store.
Mapped by riders who rode here, on check-ins rather than star averages. No sponsored pins, ever.