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ThailandDescription and Whether It's Worth Visiting
The National Science Museum (NSM) is a huge science and education complex. Even from the outside it impresses with its modern building made of three cubes. Inside there are six floors housing a rich collection of scientific achievements from the past two centuries.
The complex includes several museums. The three main themed museums – the Science Museum, the IT Museum and the Nature Museum (the latter is temporarily closed for restoration) – are visited with a single ticket. The ticket is bought at the ticket offices in any of the museums. There's also the Futurium – a career-guidance museum dedicated to cutting-edge professions – and the Rama IX Museum. Despite the name, it's not a museum about the king, but a museum of history, local studies and scientific achievements, created in his honor.
The exhibits in each museum are divided thematically into many exhibition halls. Here you'll find robotics, technologies used in everyday life, space exploration, ecology, and the structure of the human body. Separate exhibitions are dedicated to the history and culture of Thailand. Most exhibits have labels and instructions in English. But even without labels, almost everything is self-explanatory and intuitive.
The main feature of the museum is interactivity. Many exhibits can be touched and tried out for yourself. Physical and chemical processes, electronics – all of this isn't just shown, but explained through action. It's interesting for both adults and kids. From time to time the museum hosts exhibitions of modern scientific developments, including works by King Rama IX of Thailand.
We think it's definitely worth a trip with kids. But be prepared that exploring all the museums will take a whole day, and it's not guaranteed you'll manage everything. Fortunately, there are cafes and rest areas here. If you happen to visit during school field trips – and kids are brought here in big groups every day – it'll be very noisy and everything will be taken. And the main downside – it's far and expensive to get here.
🌐 Official website: https://www.nsm.or.th/
🕐 Opening Hours
- Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday – 9:30 AM–3:00 PM
- Saturday, Sunday – 9:30 AM–5:00 PM
- Monday – closed
It's best to arrive right at opening at 9:30 or after 1:00 PM, when the noisy school groups have already left.
💵 Entrance Fee / Ticket Prices
A single ticket to all three main museums (Science Museum, IT Museum and Nature Museum) costs 100 baht (3.03 USD). Children under 18 get in free, including foreigners. The ticket is bought at the ticket offices in any of the museums, cards are accepted.
Paid separately: Futurium (career-guidance museum) – 150 baht (4.55 USD), Rama IX Museum – 200 baht (6.06 USD).
🚶 How to Get There
The National Science Museum is located 50 kilometers from central Bangkok, address: Technopolis, Klong 5, Klong Luang, Pathumthani (museum on the Bangkok map). Public transport doesn't go here. You can visit the museum in a day from Bangkok, Ayutthaya or Pattaya.
From Bangkok
The easiest way is to drive in a rental car – parking is free. The entrance to the parking lot is a bit confusing, you'll have to circle around the grounds a bit, just follow the signs and you'll get where you need to go.
A taxi from the center will cost about 600 baht (18.19 USD) when booked through apps like Grab, Bolt, Maxim, etc. If you need to save money, you can take the Bangkok metro to BTS Khu Khot station and then switch to a taxi to the museum, which will be almost half the price of a full taxi ride from the center. But if you're traveling as a group or family of 2–3 people, there's not much point in taking the metro – it'll come out to almost the same as the whole route by taxi.
Important! The route here may go via toll roads, depending on your choice and starting point. The toll will cost roughly 40 to 100 baht, again depending on how you go. And if you choose to take toll roads in a taxi, you'll have to pay for them on top. Agree on this with the driver before the trip.
From Pattaya
In theory you can also visit here in a day from Pattaya. Again, you'll need to use a taxi, rental car or a tour. Honestly, we haven't come across ready-made package tours to the museum from Pattaya, so most likely you'll have to organize everything yourself: find a car or minivan, and arrange a round trip with waiting.
It'll be cheaper if you rent a car and drive yourself. A car for a day in Pattaya can be rented from 800 baht in low season, and from 1000 baht in high season. We have a practical guide about renting a car in Thailand, it covers everything in detail.
The drive to the museum from Pattaya is about 160 kilometers, which will take at least 2 hours. It's better to take toll road No. 7 (about 130 baht one way), which will save you at least an hour, and it's also safer, especially if you don't have much experience.
We don't recommend trying to get to the museum from Pattaya on a rented motorbike. Motorbike traffic is actually very slow, the trip will take 4-5 hours, so at best you'll get there and almost immediately turn back. Plus riding 320 kilometers both ways in one day is extremely tiring and dangerous – we know what we're talking about from our own experience.
Friends, a reminder that it's much more interesting to explore Bangkok's attractions with guided tours, so we suggest checking out options with online booking and reviews on these Russian-language tour aggregators: