Wat Phra Borommathat Chediyaram

Wat Phra Borommathat Chediyaram is a working temple in Nakhon Chum, on the west bank of the Ping River — across the water from Kamphaeng Phet’s walled old city and its ticketed historical park. That distinction matters: this is a free, active place of worship, not a monument inside the ruins. Its central chedi, rebuilt in a distinctive Burmese style in the early 20th century, is said to hold Buddha relics originally brought from Sri Lanka.

The chedi traces back to 1357, during the Sukhothai period, when Kamphaeng Phet was a frontier town on the kingdom’s western edge. What stands today is largely a later reconstruction: in the early 1900s, Burmese teak merchants and loggers working the Ping River trade funded a rebuild in their own architectural idiom, giving the chedi its bell-shaped body and tiered, umbrella-like spire rather than the more angular Sukhothai-style towers found across the river in the historical park. The ordination hall beside it holds mural paintings depicting scenes from the Buddha’s life, added during the same period of renovation.

Insider Tip: Pair this temple with the Nakhon Chum old town market and the amulet learning centre — both a short walk away on the same side of the river — for a half-day loop that doesn’t require a historical park ticket at all.

Watch out: Because this temple shares part of its name with the Kamphaeng Phet Historical Park and with a similarly named, unrelated temple in Nakhon Sawan province, double-check you’re looking at Nakhon Chum listings specifically when researching online.

Modest dress is expected as at any working temple — covered shoulders and knees — though shoe removal generally applies only when entering the ordination hall itself, not the open chedi grounds. Shade is limited around the chedi, so a morning or late-afternoon visit is more comfortable than midday. As part of Kamphaeng Phet’s Nakhon Chum side, it makes a low-key add-on to a historical park day rather than a stop worth crossing the river for on its own.