Wat Kasattrathirat Worawihan

Wat Kasattrathirat Worawihan is a working royal temple on the Chao Phraya’s west bank, just outside the walled island that holds Ayutthaya’s main ruins. Unlike the ticketed ancient sites inside the Historical Park, this temple charges no admission and keeps daily hours of 07:00 to 18:00.

The temple’s original name was Wat Kasattra, or Kasattraram — no record survives of who founded it, though the name itself suggests royal or noble patronage during the Ayutthaya period. It suffered badly when the capital fell in 1767: accounts describe Burmese forces using the riverside grounds here to position cannon fire on the city across the water, and the temple was largely burned in the fighting that followed. It sat in ruin until restoration work during the Rattanakosin era brought it back into use and eventually earned it worawihan (royal temple) status under its current name.

Behind the main ordination hall stands a single prang — the corn-cob-shaped tower typical of Khmer-influenced Ayutthaya architecture — serving as the temple’s principal chedi. Several wiharns flank the complex, their carved wooden details and tiled roofs consistent with other surviving Ayutthaya-period temple work. Inside the ubosot sits the main Buddha image, Phra Phuttha Kasattrathirat, in the Maravijaya posture (subduing Mara), the temple’s central object of worship.

Insider Tip: Most visitors to Ayutthaya never cross the river to this side. If you want a working temple without an admission fee or a tour-bus crowd, this is a quieter alternative to spending an entire day inside the main Historical Park zone.

Watch out: This is an active monastery, not a museum site — cover your shoulders and knees, and expect ongoing religious use rather than roped-off ruins.

Two other Ayutthaya sites worth pairing with a visit here, both outside the main ruin cluster, are the King U Thong Monument and the Ayutthaya Historical Study Centre, which fills in the historical background behind what you’re seeing.