Grand Palace & Wat Phra Kaew

พระบรมมหาราชวัง / วัดพระศรีรัตนศาสดาราม (วัดพระแก้ว)

Gilded spires and the Emerald Buddha: start your first Bangkok morning here

⚠ Tickets stop 3:30pm; strict dress code

Hours

Daily 8:30am–4:30pm, tickets until 3:30pm (closed or partly closed on royal ceremony days; check the official schedule)

Tickets

500 baht for foreigners, including Wat Phra Kaew and the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles. Buy at the official ticket office inside the walls or online on the official site (non-refundable). Never buy from people outside the walls.

Address

Na Phra Lan Road, Phra Nakhon. Visitors enter by the Mani Noppharat Gate

Step through the wall and it all hits at once: gilded chedis, green-and-orange roof tiles, half-bird guardian figures. The usual loop starts in the Wat Phra Kaew compound, where the small jade-green Emerald Buddha sits high on its altar, then heads out past the Chakri hall, a European body under a Thai roof. One 500-baht ticket also covers the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles. Tour buses pour in after 10am, so arrive for the 8:30 opening and get your photos while there's still shade.