Bangkok/Things to do/ culture
Wat Paknam and the glass stupa
A 69-metre seated Buddha and a green glass stupa under a painted ceiling, on the Thonburi side, away from the old-city temple trail.
What we checked
Checked on 21 September 2026. The temple's own site exists but publishes no price or hours, so both are recorded as unconfirmed rather than copied from travel sites. The dates of the stupa and the Buddha are widely documented. We have not been.
Verified via. The temple's own website, watpaknam.org, was reached on 21 September 2026 and confirms the temple, though it states no admission price or opening hours. OpenStreetMap carries the compound as way 376675947 at 13.7217, 100.4704. The 80-metre stupa was completed in 2012 and the seated Buddha in 2021.
Admission
No price is published on any page we could read, including the temple's own site, which we reached but which states no admission figure. Travel sites generally describe it as free to enter. Take cash for a donation and expect nothing to be demanded of you.
Two things bring people across the river. The first is the seated Buddha, 69 metres of it, finished in 2021 and visible from a long way off. The second is inside the stupa: a hall on the fifth floor with a green glass chedi under a ceiling painted in deep blue, which is the photograph everybody has seen.
It is a working meditation temple, not an attraction. Wat Paknam is the home of the Dhammakaya meditation tradition and the compound is busy with practitioners. The upper floors are quiet in a way that Bangkok’s famous temples are not, and the queue for the fifth floor is part of the experience at weekends.
Nobody we can cite says what it costs. The temple’s own site does not print a price, and neither does any government page we could read. Everything else that says “free” is a travel site repeating another travel site. Bring small notes for a donation box and you will not be caught out either way.
The wide shot is from the other bank. If you want the Buddha whole in a photograph, there is a riverside park across the water that gives you the whole figure without the queue.
Shoulders and knees covered, shoes off before the pagoda.
Best for
The most photographed temple ceiling in Bangkok, and a giant Buddha visible from across the river
Skip if
Stairs and queues are a problem for you, or your time in Bangkok is short
Where it actually is
Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen, Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya, Bangkok
Riverside, Bangkok
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.View larger map
More in Bangkok
- Damnoen Saduak floating market — culture
- A Chao Phraya dinner cruise — water
- A day trip to Ayutthaya — culture
- Muay Thai at Rajadamnern Stadium — culture