Explore Nakhon Si Thammarat through its distinct highlights: sample Khanom Chin Mueang Khon on a city visitor route, visit markets featuring local food and cultural performances, and discover museums and handicrafts. To plan your trip, start by deciding whether you are especially interested in food and markets, local culture, or exhibitions and working with materials.
Markets with different focuses
Visitors can buy local food and snacks at Tha Chi Market. The selection includes fried chicken, Khanom Kola, Thua Baep, dried Khao Mak, Miang Kham, sago desserts, Khao Kriap Pak Mor and sweets for the Bun Sart Duean Sip festival. Along with sampling Khanom Chin Mueang Khon, this offers a distinct culinary focus in two different formats: a single tasting on the visitor route and a broad selection of food at the market.
The market at the Old City Wall has a different focus. Its program is organized as a weekly rotation of local cultural performances from 23 districts, with a different district featured each week. This makes it thematically distinct from Tha Chi Market: the focus there is on local food for sale, while here it is on performances from the rotating districts. If you are planning your visit around the cultural program, check the dates in advance.
See and try handicrafts
At Thachang Road, visitors can view silverware, goldware and nielloware, and try working with a three-metal alloy of silver, gold and nak. This gives you a chance to see both finished pieces and the process of working with the material. The city visitor route also includes shopping for silverware and nielloware.
Museums, from harbor models to handicrafts
The Nakhon Si Thammarat National Museum is on Ratchadamnoen Road, opposite Wat Suan Luang, in the Nai Mueang subdistrict. The Nakhon Si Thammarat City Museum is located in Somdet Phra Srinagarindra 84 Park. It presents a depiction of an ancient harbor with a reconstructed pier, a rowing boat in an artificial waterway, a warehouse and a historic nautical chart. Together, these elements bring the harbor to life as an ensemble rather than focusing on just one object.
The City Museum’s exhibitions also include local handicrafts, Nora dance theater and local silver and gold niello work. Maritime themes sit alongside different forms of local handicraft. These exhibits give the museum a different focus from the hands-on handicraft stop on Thachang Road, where visitors can try working with an alloy.
Park highlights and trip planning
Somdet Phra Srinagarindra 84 Park features an open zoo, an aviary, a health park and a lake. Along with the City Museum, the park offers another set of themed attractions: in addition to the harbor model and handicrafts, these four distinct park features are highlights.
When looking for a hotel in Nakhon Si Thammarat, you can first decide what kind of trip you want: markets and local food, cultural performances, museum exhibitions, or handicrafts to see and try. The differences between a tasting, a changing market program, an exhibition and hands-on work with materials offer concrete points to consider. Choose a focus that matches what interests you most during your stay.
Discover more destinations: Chamai, Ban Nikhom, Thung Yai, Tha Sala, Khanom, Thong Nian, Na Mai Phai, Chalong
For the main travel overview: Nakhon Si Thammarat.
