Wat Ratchaburana (Phitsanulok)

Wat Ratchaburana sits on the west bank of the Nan River in central Phitsanulok, a short walk south of the city’s principal temple, Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat (Wat Yai). Its chedi dates to around 1463, when King Boromma Trailokanat moved Ayutthaya’s royal capital here and ordered a wave of new temple construction and restoration across the city — making this structure close to 600 years old.

The chedi is the main survivor of that original building programme and remains the temple’s centrepiece. Later restoration, carried out during the reign of King Mongkut (Rama IV), added a shrine hall decorated with Ramayana murals and installed a Buddha image in the Sukhothai style, so what stands today layers 15th-century construction with 19th-century additions rather than presenting a single-period ruin. A small showroom on site displays local historical artefacts — old coins, banknotes, and glassware — giving the temple a modest museum function alongside its religious one.

Insider Tip: Wat Ratchaburana adjoins Wat Nang Phaya directly and sits within easy walking distance of Wat Yai — all three line up along the same stretch of riverbank, so it’s easy to see all three temples in a single loop rather than treating them as separate trips across the city.

Watch out: don’t confuse this with the far more famous Wat Ratchaburana in Ayutthaya, which has its own crypt and a completely different Khmer-style prang — same name, unrelated temples in different provinces.

Because it sits directly beside Wat Yai, most visitors combine the two in one stop — bicycle, tuk-tuk, or a short walk from central Phitsanulok gets you to both, plus Wat Nang Phaya next door and the Phitsanulok City Pillar a few minutes further on.