Unusual temple
Wat Niwet Thammaprawat
Bang Pa-In, Ayutthaya, Ayutthaya, Thailand
A Buddhist temple that looks like a European Gothic church. Built by King Rama V (Chulalongkorn), its ordination hall has pointed arches, stained glass windows and an altar-like setting instead of the usual Thai temple design. It sits on Ban Len island in the Chao Phraya River directly opposite Bang Pa-In Royal Palace, and the usual way across is a small hand-operated cable car trolley run by a monk, which is free to ride. That church-in-disguise look plus the little river cable car makes it a genuine off-the-beaten-path stop most Bangkok day-trippers never see.
Wat Niwet Thammaprawat, the Gothic style Buddhist temple built by Rama V in Bang Pa-In Photo by Manoonp, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Hours
Official source, currentOpen daily 8:00am to 6:00pm.
“เปิดทุกวัน เวลา 08.00 – 18.00 น. (Open every day, 08.00-18.00)”
watniwet.com · Checked 7 Aug 2026
Price
Official source, currentFree. No entrance fee to the temple and no charge for the cable car across the river. Donations welcome to cover the cable car running costs.
“Admission prices: No charge”
thailandtourismdirectory.go.th · Checked 7 Aug 2026
Age suitability
Not verifiedNot verified. No source we checked states this, so it stays blank instead of guessed.
Checked 24 Jul 2026
Caveats
VERIFY run 2026-07-25. Price: re-fetched thaizer fresh, the snippet appears word for word and states free entry plus free cable car with donations. Independently corroborated by thailandee ("No admission fee but donations to pay the cable car operating costs are welcome"), also re-fetched fresh. Neither is the venue…
7 sources checked for this venue.