Wat Chulabhorn Wanaram

Wat Chulabhorn Wanaram’s main approach runs through a bamboo tunnel several hundred metres long, where the stalks arch naturally overhead to form a shaded green corridor — the comparison most visitors reach for is Kyoto’s Arashiyama bamboo grove, on a smaller Thai scale. The temple in Nakhon Nayok’s Ban Na district was named in 2007 to mark the 50th birthday of Princess Chulabhorn, though it wasn’t formally registered as a temple with the Sangha authorities until 2019.

Past the bamboo corridor, the grounds were landscaped around the site’s existing trees rather than cleared for construction, giving the temple a planted, still-maturing feel rather than old-growth density. The complex is affiliated with the Dhammayuttika order and houses a stupa built to enshrine Buddhist relics. Most visitors come for the bamboo tunnel itself — it photographs well in the soft light either side of midday shade, and the walk through it is the temple’s main draw rather than any single hall or Buddha image.

Ban Na district sits mostly on Nakhon Nayok’s flat agricultural plain rather than the mountainous zone near Sarika and Nang Rong waterfalls further north in the province, so don’t expect hill views or cool upland air here — the appeal is the bamboo corridor and the quiet, still-developing temple grounds around it. Weekday mornings are calmest, before any weekend visitor groups arrive for merit-making.

Entry is free, with the grounds generally open during daylight hours and no fixed published schedule beyond that. It’s reachable by car or motorbike from Nakhon Nayok town, and worth combining with a wider loop of Ban Na district rather than treating as a stand-alone trip, since it’s a modest stop on its own.

Insider Tip: Time your visit for filtered midday light through the bamboo canopy — it’s the detail that makes photos of the corridor work, more than the temple buildings themselves.