Bangkok/Things to do/ culture
Wat Arun
The porcelain-studded prang on the Thonburi bank, floodlit after dark, and the one listing here where nobody would tell us the price.
What we checked, 18 September 2026
Checked on 18 September 2026. The temple's official website no longer exists, the tourism authority and city pages block automated reading, and the prices in circulation disagree by a factor of four. Rather than pick the most repeated number, we have published none. We have not been.
Verified via. OpenStreetMap records Wat Arun as a tourism attraction at 13.7438, 100.4885 with hours of 08:30-18:00. Hours of 08:00-18:00 and a dress code appear on am2026thailand.go.th, a Thai government site, checked 18 September 2026. Neither source is the temple itself, and the temple's own site is dead.
Admission
We could not confirm the admission charge from any primary source, and we are not repeating one we cannot stand behind. The temple's own domain, watarun1.com, no longer resolves at all, and its last archived capture was July 2023. The Tourism Authority of Thailand and Bangkok city pages both refuse automated requests. Three figures circulate: 100 baht on a Thai government site that is not the temple's administrator, 200 baht on most travel sites and tour sellers, and 50 baht in older Thai-language sources. All of them agree Thai nationals enter free. Carry small notes and expect to pay something at the gate.
Wat Arun stands on the Thonburi bank opposite Tha Tien, and it is the one Bangkok temple most people see from the outside first, across the water, usually lit. The central prang is faced in broken Chinese porcelain, and you can climb part of the way up the steep flights on its terraces.
Why there is no price on this page. This site publishes an admission figure when a primary source states one. Here, nothing does. The temple’s own web address, watarun1.com, has not resolved since some point after July 2023, though Wikipedia still points at it. The national tourism authority’s page and the Bangkok city page both refuse to be read by anything automated. What is left is a Thai government site that is not the temple’s administrator saying 100 baht, a great many travel blogs saying 200 baht, and older Thai sources saying 50 baht. One of those is probably right. We do not know which, and guessing is exactly the behaviour this site exists to argue against.
The ferry is one thing we can put a number on. The cross-river ferry between the Wat Pho side and Wat Arun is tagged on OpenStreetMap with a fee of 10 baht, running roughly 09:00 to 18:00. It is a two-minute crossing and the most enjoyable ten baht in the old town.
Dress code. The Thai government page asks for polite dress and rules out shorts, sleeveless tops, bare shoulders and flip-flops, and its English version asks for shoulders and knees covered. Sarongs are widely said to be available at the gate, which we have not verified either.
One rumour we could not settle. A Thai secondary source claims the temple closes on public holidays. Nothing official says so, and the government page says daily. We are recording the disagreement rather than resolving it on your behalf.
Best for
The ferry crossing, the climb, and a temple that looks better from the water than in any photograph
Skip if
You want a confirmed admission figure before you leave the hotel. There is not one we would stand behind
Where it actually is
Wat Arun, Bangkok Yai, Bangkok 10600
Riverside, Bangkok
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.View larger map
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