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ThailandDescription and is it worth a visit
Wat Rong Khun White Temple in Chiang Rai is not located in Chiang Rai, but about fifteen kilometers from the city. It is sometimes disparagingly called a "remodel", and some locals do not perceive it as a real temple. But with all this, this is one of the top tourist locations in Chiang Rai province, or even the entire north of Thailand, and without a doubt a must-visit place. Fully justifying its name, the temple is really all white and incredibly beautiful. You can visit it from Chiang Rai or Chiang Mai.
The temple is very modern, it began to be built in 1997, and the work continues to this day. The author is a young Thai architect Chalermchai Kositpipat. We can say that this is the temple avant-garde of Thailand, although it is made according to traditional canons. So, the main temple building, called ubosot in Thailand, is made in a classic style for the north of the country with a multi-level sloping roof decorated with snakes by Naga defenders. However, at first glance, the general architectural features of the classical interior and exterior and surroundings of the temple break all the canons. After all, instead of the usual images of Buddha and scenes from Buddhist stories, the walls here are decorated with bas-reliefs and frescoes of modern heroes of films, comics, scenes of real events from recent history. All this is a bit shocking, but in fact there is nothing to be surprised about, because the people of Thailand have advanced quite far in their free interpretations, and the White Temple is far from the only one in this matter. For example, here, in Chiang Rai, you can visit another so-called Black Temple or Baan Dam, and in the neighboring province of Chiang Mai there is a temple with scenes of torture from hell Wat Mae Ead. But best of all, come here and see for yourself.
In general, this is a whole complex consisting of a paid and free part. Its territory is impressive, and even on the free part you can see a lot of interesting and beautiful things: one toilet is worth something, be sure to go there. Also, a new Golden Temple appeared on the free part. At least while it is free, we don't know if they will introduce a fee for visiting it later. In general, there are not only temple buildings, but also unusual sculptures depicting creatures and mythical characters associated with religion, as well as modern ones, such as, for example, a sculpture of an alien hunter from the fantastic movie Predator, or Batman's heads suspended on a tree, cenobite from Hellraisers. Moreover, since the temple is still being completed, new objects have appeared here. For example, we visited it for the first time back in 2012, and when we visited it again in 2024, we didn't learn a lot here. So even if you have been here in the past and found yourself in Chiang Rai again, take the opportunity and be sure to come to the temple again.
If you go to the paid part of the complex, you will be able to take a closer look at some of the sculptures, walk along the paths around the main temple building (called ubosot) and go through the inner part of the temple. But you can't take pictures or make videos here. There is also an art gallery Cave of Art in the form of an artificial cave with a waterfall, the entrance to it is paid separately for 50 baht.
🕐 Working hours
The paid part of the temple is open from 8:00 to 17:00 seven days a week, but you can view and photograph it from the outside at any time. It is best to come here early in the morning, because from 10 o'clock there is just a huge influx of tourists who are brought by big buses from Chiang Mai, and therefore it will not be possible to take good photos and take a quiet walk around the territory.
💵Entrance fee / ticket price
The entrance to the paid part of the temple and to the ubosot is 100 baht (3 USD), children up to 120 cm. and with a local ID – free of charge. The entrance to the cave art-galareyu – 50 baht (1.5 USD).
🚶 How to get there
The White Temple is located 15 kilometers from the center of Chiang Rai on Highway No.1 towards Chiang Mai (White Temple on the map). It can also be visited during the day from Chingmai.
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From Chingray
You can get to the temple from the city by minibus from the old bus station of Chiang Rai, it is located in the city center (old station on the map). The fare to the temple is 25 baht. The first route from Chiang Rai goes at 08:10, the last at 16:20, every 30-45 minutes. Back to their temple the first from 07:50, the last at 16:20. The schedule may change, check it at the station.
If you get there by rented transport, it will be very easy to find it (the temple): it is clearly visible from highway No. 1, you will not "miss". There is a large free parking lot in front of the entrance, but if you arrive in the middle of the day, there may be a lot of transport and few places. But there is another very large parking lot on the back side of the temple and on the road from the side of the Golden Temple, there are always places there.
The White Temple of Wat Rong Khun -
From Chiang Mai
The easiest way to visit the White Temple from Chiang Mai with guided tours. In hotels and street travel agencies, these are some of the most popular excursions to Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle with a visit to the White Temple, depending on the program, cost from 1600 baht and up to several thousand.
If you prefer to do it yourself, it is most convenient to rent a car (from 1200 baht) or a motorbike (from 400 baht), and go to Chiang Rai and the White Temple during the day. But the road is quite long, it's 250 kilometers to go one way, so you can't get there and back on a motorbike in one day, you'll have to spend the night in Chiang Rai. And anyway, if you are already going in this direction, it is better to plan a couple of days in Chiang Rai, because there are a lot of interesting and beautiful things worth seeing. We have told you more about how to visit and how to get to Chiang Rai (including from Chiang Mai) here, and what to see in Chiang Rai here.