page_title: Tourism in Bangkok
section_title: Palaces and wats
hierarchical_section_title: Tourism in Bangkok / Palaces and wats
caption_attribution_description: Chakri Maha Prasat Hall　in Bangkok Thailand 日本語: チャクリーマハープラーサート宮殿
context_page_description: Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, is one of the world's top tourist destination cities. Each year approximately 22.7 million international visitors arrive in Bangkok. MasterCard ranked Bangkok as the global top destination city by international visitor arrivals in its Global Destination Cities Index, with 15.98 million projected visitors in 2013. It has topped the MasterCard Global Destinations Cities Index as the most visited city in the world in 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2018. The city is ranked fourth in cross-border spending, with 14.3 billion dollars projected for 2013, after New York, London and Paris. Euromonitor International ranked Bangkok sixth in its Top City Destinations Ranking for 2011. Bangkok has also been named "World's Best City" by Travel + Leisure magazine's survey of its readers for four consecutive years since 2010.
  As the principal gateway for arriving visitors, Bangkok is visited by the majority of international tourists to the country. Domestic tourism is also prominent. The Department of Tourism recorded 26,861,095 Thai and 11,361,808 foreign visitors to Bangkok in 2010.
context_section_description: Bangkok, the centre of the Bangkok Metropolitan Area, has been the capital of Thailand since 1782, when the seat of government was moved across the Chao Phraya River from the Thonburi (west bank) side of the river. There are many palaces in the city, some still used by the Thai royal family, while others are now open to the public. A number have become government or academic buildings as well as museums.
  The king's official residence is the Grand Palace, which has housed Thailand's monarchs for over 200 years. Before the 1932 Revolution ended absolute monarchy, the complex was the home of Thai government: it included royal courts and administrative branches, similar to the earlier capital at Ayutthaya. It houses Chakri Mahaprasat Hall and Wat Phra Kaew, which contains the Emerald Buddha, considered the most important temple in Thailand. However, the more modern Chitralada Palace is the actual Bangkok residence of the reigning monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), and his Queen Sirikit.
  Of the hundreds of Buddhist temples (or wats) in Bangkok, only a few are of much interest to tourists. When King Taksin led his troops out of Ayutthaya and into Thonburi in 1767 CE, they took refuge in Wat Arun. The most prominent feature is a tall chedi built in the 1820s that stands 85 meters (279 ft). It was tallest structure in Bangkok until modern skyscrapers were built a few decades ago.
  Wat Pho, also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha or Wat Phra Chetuphon, is south of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and the Grand Palace. It is Bangkok's largest temple and contains a huge reclining Buddha figure that is 46 metres (151 ft) long and is covered with gold leaf. The feet alone are 3 metres (10 ft) in size.
  Wat Suthat is one of the oldest temples and the site of the Giant Swing, formerly used in an annual Brahman ceremony. A huge teak arch from which the swing was hung still stands in front of the temple.
  Wat Saket, or the Golden Mount (Phu Khao Thong in Thai), houses relics of the Buddha in a 58-metre-high chedi surmounted by a golden cupola. Built by King Rama I just outside the new city's walls, the temple served as the main crematorium. In the century after its construction, some 60,000 plague victims were either cremated there or placed outside for vultures to devour.
caption: Chakri Maha Prasat Throne Hall, a 19th-century European-style building with a traditional Thai roof, is in the Grand Palace compound.
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