Sanjivchat

Travelling alone to Bangkok late June en route to Siem Reap & Luang Prabang. Have little over 2 days of which one day i want to explore Bangkok mainly through the boat rides visiting the Royal Palace and the key Wats. The next day, want to go to Ayutthaya. Want some guidance on the best way to visit it.

Any suggestions about using half a day in Bangkok.

Kathie

With such limited time in Bangkok, I wouldn't go to Ayutthaya. You'll be visiting Angkor which is so much more spectacular than Ayutthaya, use your Bangkok time to see Bangkok.

I'd recommend The Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Wat Po, Wat Arun as the basics. There are many dozens of wonderful wats, I'd recommend Wat Tramit in Chinatown, Wat Saket and Wat Suthat as well. Also, consider a visit to the Jim Thompson House (the skytrain will get you clsoe to it). If you are intersted in SE Asian arts, consider a visit to The Prasart Museum, a private museum outside of Bangkok. You'll need a reservation - they only allow one party at a time there. A docent will show you around.

All of that will take most of two days. Add in sampling wonderful Thai food and a bit of shopping, and you'll leave knowing that you need much more time in Bangkok next visit.

valtor

We were there 6 years ago. We booked a private day tour, as the standard tour (with a bus with many turists starts at 6 o'clock). The private tour we took was with a limousine, at 8 o'clock they took us, we stop at Summer Palace to visit it (I recommend you to visit it, it is very interesting and nice). Then in Ayutthaya we visited some palaces which we selected from the long list of the sites to be visited there. The return was a cruise (we had lunch on the board), and when we arrived in Bangkok, our guide and driver waited for us to take to the hotel. We were very pleased with this tour.

Sorry, I do not remember exactly the name of company, it was something like SmilingBangkok.

MichaelBKK

I'd have to agree with Kathie. With your limited time plus planned trips to Angkor and Laos, I don't think a day trip to Ayutthaya would be the best use of your time. Also, IMO (and I'm possibly in the minority on this) Ayutthaya is worth a lot more than the few hours on a day trip it typically gets. I spent three full days there last year and kept myself busy seeing different things every day.

If you do decide to go, the organized day trips are the most efficient. Almost all of them take in the old summer palace at Bang Pa In as well as the old capital at Sri Ayutthaya. To do it yourself, you can take a train from Hualampong station in Bangkok, then rent a bicycle or tuk-tuk with driver to get around to the sights. There are trains there and back about hourly.

Sanjivchat

Thanks a lot for the quick responses. Shall leave exploration of the old capital for another visit.