Khon Kaen
This old temple has a soaring bóht and chedi. The latter, dating to 1789 but completely rebuilt in modern times, is surrounded by a cloister featuring…
Must-see attractions in Northeastern Thailand
Chiang Khan
Wat Tha Khok was founded in 1852 and contains an elaborate but slightly gaudy bóht from the 1960s. Check out the ceiling inside and the angels emerging…
Udon Thani
The centrepiece of this historic temple, founded during the reign of King Rama V, is a modern gold-and-grey chedi built to honour several revered monks…
Nakhon Phanom Province
In a pond in front of the temple is a replica of how the original Phra That Phanom could have looked. It was built of bricks from the stupa that fell over…
Khao Yai National Park
Up over 1100m, this is the most impressive of Khao Yai National Park's viewpoints. And it's rarely crowded. It's part of an easy 500m boardwalk nature…
Nakhon Ratchasima Province
Meru Bhramathat is a toppled brick stupa dating back to the late Ayuthaya period (18th century). Its name is derived from a folk tale that refers to it as…
Khon Kaen
Inside the amphitheatre at Bueng Kaen Nakhon lake, this well-executed museum about Khon Kaen provides a good introduction to Isan, with dioramas and…
Nong Khai
You can easily pick out this temple on the skyline because an immense Buddha image sits atop the bóht. You're welcome to climb up (shoes off) and gaze…
Nakhon Ratchasima Province
This small but good museum houses some of the artefacts found around Ban Prasat. It also explains what village life was like in those days and in the…
Khon Kaen
This modern Khmer-style prang is dedicated to the god Indra, who is very important in Theravada Buddhism. It's almost spooky at night.
Khon Kaen
This gallery is in the big stilted building at Ton Tann Green Market. Because of its location, it's the most popular art gallery in the city.
Udon Thani Province
This small shady temple 700m southeast of the village features some curious Buddhist art, including many Buddhas covered with coins.
Khon Kaen
This replica of Hanoi's iconic shrine was built by Khon Kaen's sizeable Vietnamese community. It's a good sunset-watching spot.
Khao Yai National Park
Little Nam Tok Kong Kaew sits just 150m from the Khao Yai National Park visitors centre.
Nakhon Ratchasima Province
Phimai city's northern gate, built by King Jayavarman VII in the 13th century.
Nakhon Ratchasima Province
Phimai city's western gate, built by King Jayavarman VII in the 13th century.
Northeastern Thailand
A rather sinister myth surrounds this ‘Small Sticky-Rice Basket Stupa’, a brick-and-stucco chedi dating from the late Ayuthaya period, 5km outside town…
Northeastern Thailand
Residents of Ban Si Than can’t leave their work behind when they sleep: this is a pillow-making village. All around the village (and most others…
Nong Khai Province
Boasting a beautiful chedi that locals believe holds 29 Buddha relics, Wat Phra That Bang Phuan is one of the region's most sacred temples. Nobody knows…
Northeastern Thailand
That Khang Khao Noi, the ‘Small Sticky-Rice Basket Stupa’, is one of the best-known icons of Yasothon. The famous stupa southeast of town on the Ubon…
Udon Thani
During 1928 and 1929, Ho Chi Minh used the jungle around Nong Hang village as one of his bases to train soldiers and rally Isan's sizeable Vietnamese…
Nakhon Phanom
Though this place is much smaller than the Nong Khai aquarium and lacking any Mekong catfish (þlah bèuk) on our last visit, it's still mildly enjoyable to…
Nakhon Ratchasima Province
Right in the centre of the main moat, this is the most significant of Muang Sema's ruins, after Wat Dhammachakra Semaram. Labelled as Monument 1 on the…
Ubon Ratchathani
Also known as Wat Pa Yai, the 'Large Forest Temple' (from long ago when Ubon was just a small town and this area lay beyond the city limits), this is one…
Nong Khai
Although it's looking a little shabby these days, this large aquarium offers a fairly interesting collection of freshwater and ocean-dwelling fish from…
Northeastern Thailand
Drive into Yasothon from the south and you can't miss the 19m-tall toad sitting on the shore of Mae Nam Tuan. It honours the Toad King, a central…
Loei Province
If you have realistic expectations of the wine, you might find Chateau de Loei worth a visit. It released the first commercially produced Thai wine in…
Nakhon Ratchasima (Khorat)
The wooden pillar at the centre of this small shrine was once used for tying up sacred 'white' elephants that passed though Khorat on their way to be…
Ubon Ratchathani
This old riverside temple, founded in 1793 around the same time as the establishment of the city, has a pair of noteworthy buildings. Most eye-catching is…
Northeastern Thailand
This little aquarium with a walk-through tunnel houses fish found around Isan. Most of the tanks are rather plain and sad, but the walk-through tank has…
Chiang Khan
Wat Mahathat, in the centre of town, is Chiang Khan's oldest temple. The bóht, constructed in 1654, has a new roof over old walls, with a faded old mural…
Nong Khai
Nong Khai and the surrounding area came under several attacks by jeen hor (Yunnanese) marauders in the late 19th century. The small Prap Haw Monument …
Nong Khai
The city's newest Chinese temple is dedicated to Ji Gong, an eccentric and heavy-drinking Chinese monk (he's usually depicted with a bottle of wine) now…
Loei Province
This museum sits on the 2nd floor of the restored 1933 city hall, above the tourist office. It contains mostly pictures and written commentary. Its minor…
Ubon Ratchathani
This humble brick obelisk in the northeast corner of Thung Si Meuang park was erected by former WWII allied-forces POWs in gratitude for the secret…
Northeastern Thailand
This shrine commemorates two princesses, daughters of the King of Vientiane, who died when their boat sank in a storm. There's a similar one in Nong Khai…
Udon Thani Province
About 300m southwest of the burial site (follow the signs for 'Phuan House which the King and Queen visited in 1972'), this traditional Isan house is…
Nong Khai
Wat Hai Sok is right in the thick of the action, across from Mut Mee Garden Guesthouse. It contains the 'Two Princesses Shrine' and is a popular place to…
Udon Thani Province
This temple is 500m north of the burial site, across the little bridge. The awesome childlike murals in the white two-storey storage building at the back…
Khon Kaen Province
One of the first things you see after crossing the pass into the mountain, Si Wiang Dinosaur Park is full of giant photogenic concrete dinosaur statues…
