Wat Pho

Wat Pho is the older of the two great temples at this end of the old town, and the quieter one. Its own site puts admission at 300 baht for foreign visitors, and the temple is about 420 metres south of the Grand Palace’s gate in a straight line, which is why almost everybody does the two together and arrives here already tired.

Three opening times, and no way to settle them. The temple’s English plan page says 08:00 to 19:30. Its contact page says 08:30 to 19:30. OpenStreetMap says 08:00 to 18:30. The Chinese version of the temple’s own site attributes 08:30 to the temple and 08:00 to the massage school, which would explain the English pages conflating the two, but that is our reading rather than a statement anybody has made. Arrive after half past eight and before six and none of the three catches you out.

The dress code, in the temple’s own words. “Tourists are appreciated to dress politely, no shorts, although trousers are permitted.” The Chinese page is more specific about shorts above the knee for women. This is looser than the Grand Palace, but it is the same morning and the same walk, so dress for the stricter of the two.

The massage school is a real institution, not a souvenir. Wat Pho runs a traditional medicine and massage school on the site, with its own operating hours. We have not verified what a massage there costs today, so we are not printing a figure. If you want one, ask at the school itself rather than at a shop on the street outside trading on the temple’s name.

What we did not confirm. Whether the temple ever closes, because the site never says it is open every day in English and never says it shuts either. And anything about the queue, the crowds or the light in the afternoon, because we have not been.