The Old City Park

Phichit’s Old City Park sits 7km from town on the site of the original walled city, founded around 1058 CE under Phraya Khotrabong. Entry is free, open 08:00-18:00 daily, and what remains is fragmentary: eroded brick ramparts, a moat, gate towers, and the ruins of Wat Mahathat, set inside a shaded forest park rather than a reconstructed city.

The old fortifications once ran roughly 400 rai in a double-walled circuit, with brick bastions, a moat, and watchtowers — a defensive scale that reflects Phichit’s position on the Nan River guarding the approach between Sukhothai and Ayutthaya. Most of that circuit is now low mounds and broken brickwork rather than standing wall; treat this as a site for reading the shape of an old city, not for photographing intact ramparts. Wat Mahathat, the ruined temple near the old city’s centre, shows two distinct building phases — one Sukhothai-era, one Ayutthaya-era — and its stucco chedi and vihara foundations are the park’s most substantial remaining structure. Chalawan Cave, a small hollow roughly a metre wide, gets its name from the crocodile Chalawan in the Thai folk epic Krai Thong (a literary work by King Rama II) — it is a local landmark tied to a story, not a cave you climb into.

The Royal Forest Department planted the surrounding Kanchana Kumarn arboretum in 1977, which is why the ruins now sit inside genuine tree cover rather than open ground — a practical bonus in Phichit’s hot season. The City Pillar Shrine, a two-storey hall added at the same time, houses the city pillar upstairs and a statue of Phraya Khotrabong — known locally as “Pho Pu” — on the ground floor; it draws local visitors making merit as much as sightseers.

Insider Tip: Combine this with Bueng Si Fai back in town — the park is a 20-30 minute stop, not a half-day outing, so pair it with something closer to central Phichit.

Watch out: Site signage is faded in places, so the ruins are easier to appreciate with some background on the old city read beforehand rather than on-site interpretation.

This is a modest, low-key ruin rather than a restored monument — worth a stop if you’re already in Phichit for Chao Mae Thap Thim Shrine or the town’s other sights, not a destination to build a Phichit trip around on its own.