Wat Samphran AKA Dragon Temple

Wat Samphran AKA dragon temple is in Amphoe Samphran in Nakhon Pathom Province.

It’s also about 26 miles (~41km) from Bangkok.

The 17 story dragon temple is located north of Samut Sakhon so it was only a few hundred Baht and an hour-ish Grab ride away from us. It is 80 meters high because Buddha died at the age of 80.

You walk by an elephant and some peacock statues, along with handprints and footprints impressed in the cement.

On a hot Sunday in November, we made our way there. Not even sure why I put the word “hot” because Thailand was ALWAYS hot, at least to me.

We got dropped off at the wrong location so we had to get another Grab. Are you surprised?? It was okay though cause we got to get some fruit from a vendor and Christina and I loved eating the bags of fresh fruit. Ahhh, I miss the juicy watermelon and mango that they’d have.

The parking lot was empty. Which was surprising but worked in our favor.

We walked around the base of the dragon temple and viewed the shrines, then found our way inside.

And of course, I wasn’t thinking and I wore shorts so my knees were showing ahhhh. Luckily, that didn’t happen to me too often. I would have to wear shorts everywhere we went because of the heat.

I was grateful that they had thin sarongs that you could borrow for ฿20.

Since you don’t have to pay to get into the temple, we all donated some money and were on our hike up to the top. That’s how some of the temples worked in Thailand; you have the option to donate money.

The stairs led us to the tunnel. Inside the tunnel was tough to walk and a bit narrow. It was a spiral way up and there were some fans along the way so that was helpful.

The first staircase after the tunnel led to the windows with a beautiful view (picture below).

There was another steep staircase and the views were even more stunning.

There weren’t that many people inside the dragon temple either. I was shocked because we went on a Sunday so I figured more people would be there. Butttt, it was nice to not have to push our way through.

At the very top of the temple, there are two bowls that you throw coins in. A guy was throwing the coins into the bowl and told us one was for good luck and the other was for happiness. It took us a few times to get the coins into the bucket but they eventually went in. Still hoping that it worked. LOL.

They also had little red strips of paper-like material where you could write your name or whatever you want on it and then tie it to the railing.

There is also a shrine (pictured below). You can purchase/donate flowers for the shrine.

After going to Wat Samphran AKA Dragon Temple, we took a Grab to a nearby restaurant called Riva Floating Cafe. It was only about a ten-minute ride from Wat Samphran. They have a nice seating area where you can sit right on top of the water. Very relaxing.

They had one of my favs: crab rangoons. They weren’t like the ones back home, but they were still delish.

We got some chocolate cake for dessert and Grabbed it back to Mahachai.

The famous temple seems to not be on the radar when it comes to touring Thailand. Wat Samphran is definitely worth the trip if you are near Bangkok!