White Temple, Chiang Rai (Wat Rong Khun)

วัดร่องขุ่น เชียงราย

A modern temple covered in white plaster and mirror glass

⚠ Closes 5pm; dress code

Hours

Daily 8am–5pm (per the Tourism Authority of Thailand, 2026; some sources say 6pm)

Tickets

Foreign adults 200 baht (raised January 2026); free for Thais, over-70s and children under 120cm. Pay at the ticket office.

Address

Pa O Don Chai, Mueang Chiang Rai, beside Highway 1

From a distance it looks like sugar work; up close, thousands of tiny mirror fragments flash in the sun. Thai artist Chalermchai Kositpipat has been building it with his own money since the 1990s, and to reach the main hall you cross a bridge representing hell, over a pit of hundreds of upraised sculpted hands. It's genuinely unsettling at first. Inside, the murals mix traditional Buddhist scenes with superheroes and film characters you have to hunt for (no photos inside). Most day tours pair it with the Blue Temple and the dark Baan Dam museum nearby.