★★Worth it·Chinese temple
Wat Mangkon Kamalawat
วัดมังกรกมลาวาส
Chinatown's incense-clouded dragon temple — red lanterns, fortune sticks, and the MRT station named after it delivering you to the door.
Chinatown's spiritual engine room — the Dragon Lotus Temple, thick with incense, gold Buddhas and turtle-shell fortune sticks since 1871. During Chinese New Year and the Vegetarian Festival it's the beating heart of the whole district. The MRT station on its doorstep made the visit easy.
Alan Oscroft ( user:Boing! said Zebedee ) Public domain · Supanut Arunoprayote CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized · tap to enlarge
Visiting
- Open
- daily
- Entry
- FreeDonation boxes inside
- Dress
- Modest dress
- Allow
- 20–30 min
No official opening hours published — check on the day.
Checked 10 Oct 2026 against openstreetmap.org, commons.wikimedia.org, en.thairath.co.th, thailandmagazine.com. Things change: closures for royal ceremonies and holidays are common.
By train
- Wat Mangkon (MRT BL29) · Exit 3 — Exit 3, then about 100 m to the temple gate on Charoen Krung Rd (the pin is on the Yaowarat side).
Exits from thairath.co.th, en.thairath.co.th · checked Oct 2026
Visiting a temple
- Shoulders and knees covered, for everyone. Sarongs are usually available at the gate, sometimes for a small deposit.
- Shoes come off before you step into an ordination hall — watch what everyone else is doing at the threshold.
- Most compounds open early, around 08:00, and close by 17:00–18:00; the major ones charge foreign visitors a small entry fee.
- Early morning is cooler, quieter and far better light than midday.
Check current entry fee and today's closing time when you arrive — we have no verified official site for this one.
Getting there
- Wat Mangkon·MRT Blue Line~1 min walk
- Sawatdi pier·Cross-river ferries~11 min walk
- Rachawong·Chao Phraya Tourist Boat~12 min walk
- Rachawong·Chao Phraya Express Boat~12 min walk
Typical times, not a timetable · rail, boat and BRT routing runs right in the atlas.
While you're here
- Leng Buai Ia Shrine·Chinese shrine~1 min walk
- Yaowarat night street food·Street food~4 min walk
- Soi Nana (Chinatown)·Cocktail lane~7 min walk
- Bangkok Kunsthalle·Art center~8 min walk
The neighbourhood
Wat Mangkon Kamalawat sits in Yaowarat · Chinatown — The golden mile of street food.