Wat Phra Borommathat

Wat Phra Borommathat sits where the Yom River meets the Nan River in Chum Saeng district, Nakhon Sawan — a community temple, not a royal one, founded in 1847 and granted royal land consecration a decade later. Entry is free, the grounds are open daily from 08:00 to 17:00, and free parking is available on site.

The temple’s oldest structure is the Wihan Phra Phuttha Si Sanphet, an old ordination hall on the riverbank with stucco decoration on its door arches and window frames — Thep Phanom figures and floral motifs worked into the boundary markers (bai sema) around the building. Inside sits the Phra Phuttha Si Sanphet Buddha image, known locally as Luang Pho Rungchai, alongside a statue of a former abbot revered by the community. The Phra Borommathat Chedi nearby is the temple’s namesake and its most sacred point: a bell-shaped structure on an octagonal base with no supporting pillars, thought to date to the Sukhothai period. During restoration work in 1970, workers found a small red, crystalline relic inside — the community believes it connects to Angulimala, a disciple of the Buddha, though the chedi’s exact age and the relic’s origin remain matters of local tradition rather than settled record.

The temple’s other draw is entirely secular: a two-storey museum built around the legend of “Ai Dang Koei Chai,” a giant crocodile said to have terrorised the Nan River here during the reign of Rama V, identified by a pale marking on its snout that gave it its name. The ground floor covers Thai nationhood, religion, and the monarchy; the upper floor holds a sculpted crocodile statue — 44 metres long, 7.6 metres wide, 6.3 metres high — built by local craftsman Prathuang Saengwiset and his team, and generally cited as the largest crocodile statue in Thailand. A room inside doubles as a small prayer and meditation space.

Insider Tip: Visit the chedi first, before the museum — the riverside grounds are quietest in the early morning, well before any day-trip buses from Nakhon Sawan town arrive.

Watch out: Don’t confuse this temple with the famous Wat Phra Borommathat in Chaiya (Surat Thani) or Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Wat Phra Mahathat — the name is shared by several unrelated temples across Thailand, and this Nakhon Sawan site is a distinct, smaller community temple.

Wat Phra Borommathat is a stop for Nakhon Sawan visitors interested in river-town history rather than a marquee pilgrimage site — pair it with Bueng Boraphet, the province’s wetland reserve, for a fuller day covering both the temple’s river confluence and the freshwater lake further south.