Bangkok/Things to do/ culture
Wat Benchamabophit, the Marble Temple
The white Carrara marble temple in Dusit, built from 1899 under Rama V, 50 baht for a foreign visitor and quiet by Bangkok standards.
What we checked
Checked on 21 September 2026. The price and hours come from a Thai government tourism portal rather than from the temple itself, which publishes no page we could read, and that is named in full above so you can judge the source. The building's date and its marble come from the same source. We have not been.
Verified via. The Thai government's official host site for the 2026 IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings (am2026thailand.go.th), page dated 29 July 2025, read on 21 September 2026: "Free for Thai nationals / 50 THB for foreign visitors", with the opening hours above. OpenStreetMap carries the temple as way 31987718 at 13.7662, 100.5138.
Admission
From ฿50. 50 baht for a foreign visitor, free for Thai nationals, as published by the Thai government's host site for the 2026 IMF and World Bank meetings.
It is the temple on the back of the old five baht coin, and the one most people have seen a photograph of without knowing its name. Rama V had it rebuilt from 1899 in white Carrara marble, with a European symmetry laid over a Thai roofline, and the result is the most photogenic building in Dusit.
The cloister is the part to walk slowly. Behind the ordination hall runs a gallery of 52 Buddha images, gathered from across Thailand and beyond as a study collection of styles. It is a quiet, shaded loop, and on a hot afternoon it is the coolest place in the compound.
It is away from the temple cluster. Dusit sits north of the old town, a long walk or a short taxi from the Grand Palace, which is exactly why it is calmer. The touts who work the Grand Palace and Wat Pho do not bother coming this far.
Sundays open late. The gate opens at ten rather than eight on Sundays and public holidays, which catches people who have planned an early start.
Shoulders and knees covered.
Best for
Thai and European architecture in one building, without the Grand Palace crowds
Skip if
Temple fatigue has set in, or you are short of time in the old city
Where it actually is
Si Ayutthaya Road, Dusit, Bangkok
Old Town, Bangkok
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.View larger map
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