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City municipality in Thailand
Photo: John Smith, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Nakhon Ratchasima (นครราชสีมา), usually referred to as Khorat (โคราช) or, more commonly Korat, is the largest city in the Isaan region of Thailand. Its proximity to Bangkok makes it a good jumping-off point for travellers who are heading into further into the region. It has excellent transport links to the rest of the country and beyond. Hwy 2 (Bangkok to Nong Khai) runs through the city, as does the northeast railway line which splits in the east of the city: one line runs up to Nong Khai and the other, to Ubon Ratchathani. There are buses which run to just about every city in the northern, northeastern, and eastern regions. You can even get buses to Vientiane in Laos and to the Cambodian border at Aranyaprathet.
From the travel guide. Select a place for details, a map and what is nearby.
Ancient Bronze Age artifacts in a burial site dating back 3,000 years.
Korat's main ceramics centre
Famous for its rough textures and rust-like pottery glazes.
Thailand's first national park. Has four different provinces which includes 3,000 species of plants, 200 wild elephants, tigers, gibbons, bears, deer, bats, wild pigs, birds. Lodge houses range from 1,200 baht. Youth Camps range from 10 to 20 baht. Camping rate from 5 baht with your own tent.
Maha Viravong
A small, quiet place, it contains mainly ancient Buddha statues and icons. Chairs used by several Thai kings and queens on their visits to Korat are among the more interesting items. The museum closes for all public holidays.
SWAT Cats
Take in a local football match in Korat at one of the best stadiums in the country. The local team plays in the Northeast Division of the Regional League. The regular season runs from Feb-Sep (but play-offs may extend it). The stadium and surrounding sports facilities were purpose-built for the 2007 Southeast Asian Games.
Korat Zoo
Korat Zoo is one of the biggest in Thailand and, cliché or not, it really is a great day out. The zoo, some 20 km from the city centre, is set in the countryside. As such, the site is huge. The animals live in vast, sprawling natural habitats (except for the snakes) and many of them can be hand fed. Lions, tigers, elephants, bears, giraffes, zebras, chimpanzees, rhinos, cheetahs, wildebeest, alligators, antelope and many, many more species can be found here. Bicycles can be hired to tour the zoo or you can catch the sight-seeing bus for 20 baht. Electric carts (actually, former golf buggies) can also be hired to get around the zoo at a rather pricey 300 baht per hour. The zebras, giraffes, elephants and chimpanzees can be fed with bananas, 20 baht per bunch. There are, of course, many cafes and snack shops dotted around the site. Entrance to "Korat Zoo Lagoon" comes at no extra charge. Swimming caps are compulsory and adults may feel a little out of place in this child-friendly leisure pool.
Khmer stupa built of sandstone.
Stone Khmer temple complex in Phi Mai. Excellent museum as well.
Khmer-style, originally meant to be a nursing place during the 12th century.
On the bank of the Moon River. Includes some of the largest banyan trees in Thailand. Short motorbike taxi trip from Prasat Hin Phi Mai.
Yamo.
The statue stands in a pedestrianized municipal area between Ratchadamnoen and Chumphon Rd. Day and night, Thais will kneel before the statue and pray before making offerings of incense and flowers (purchased for twenty baht from an adjacent hut). It's fine to take photos of the statue but take your shoes off before ascending the steps. You can also have your photo taken by one of many professional photographers who loiter around the statue. This service should cost 50 baht and your picture will be printed out there and then on a portable digital printer.
A rather strange attraction, this one-room museum/art exhibit documents the story of Thao Suranaree (Yamo) through the medium of miniature models. Village and battle scenes are recreated in minute detail and run the length of one wall. On the opposite side of the room is a hugely impressive wall-mounted sculpture, in high relief, of a battle scene. Yamo is near the middle of the scene. On the walls and pillars are some of the oldest photos in existence of the city.
One of the most famous temples in Korat. This one is notable for its lake and island temple. Within the building is an ancient sandstone statue of the Hindu god Vishnu. You can cross the bridge and walk around the island but can not enter the building which houses Vishnu. Also, you may see huge water monitor lizards in the undergrowth or in the water. These things are as big as crocodiles, but are generally safe, and provide a surprising photo opportunity in the centre of the city.
Chapel shaped like a Chinese junk.
Commemorates Miss Boonlua and the people of Nakhon Ratchasima who died in the battle of Thung Samrit in 1826.
Takes place on the Moon River near the old Khmer city of Phimai and are held yearly by the people of Phimai during the second weekend of Nov. This event includes boats decorated competitions and stalls selling local products.
Held at the same time as the Phimai boat Races in Phimai Historical Park. This event includes light and sound presentation of Buddhist, historical, and cultural exhibitions.
Held from 23 Mar-2 Apr to commemorate the victory of Thao Suranari. This event includes cultural displays, exhibitions, and fireworks.
The Country Club Khao Yai starts at 250 baht for guests and 500 baht for visitors; Friendship Meadows Country Club ranges from 600 baht for guests to 800 baht for visitors on weekdays, 400 baht more on weekends; Misson Hills Golf Club Khao Yai ranges from 800 baht for guests and 600 baht for visitors; Rooks Korat Country Club Golf & Resort starts at 500 baht for both guests and visitors; Voyage Panorama Resort and Golf Club starts at 500 baht for guests and visitors on weekdays and 800 baht on weekends.
Landscaped jogging park near the military base.
The municipal area (sometimes referred to as a park) is a long pedestrianized strip sandwiched between Chumphon and Ratchadamnoen Rds. It runs nearly the full length of Chumphon Rd from the junction with Hwy 224 up to the Yamo monument. It's one of the best places in Korat for an evening stroll. Best place to start your walk is at the northern end (Hwy 224) at the 'Yamo Entrance' (see main photo at the top of this article). You will pass a short section of moat. Wat Phayap is on your left, and then come to the start of the pedestrianized area. Here, a raised water course follows the line of the long-gone moat and city wall. As you continue your walk you will pass the 'Light and Sound Performance Building' (see See) on your left and, near to that, a reconstructed section of the city wall complete with explanatory plaque in English. Further up the municipal area you will come to an amphitheatre and, beyond, the statue of Yamo and the Chomphon Gate. Beyond here, the moat recommences.
Dragonfly Volunteer Projects operates out of Korat and arranges volunteering opportunities in schools and orphanages across Isaan.
Has an Olympic-sized pool, great to do some laps and stay in shape.
Different from most cheap Thai restaurants, this one only sells pre-cooked curries. There are eight to ten different types on display at the front counter ready to eat. Gaeng Massaman (Muslim curry) is sweet and not too spicy, and is thoroughly recommended. Price for all curries is 25-30 baht. The owner speaks good English and will whip you up a refreshing iced-tea or coffee. The board out front advertises an 'American Breakfast' for 90 baht, a concession made for the many farangs staying at the nearby Chao Phaya Hotel.
ลงตัว
Thai-style steak and distinctive noodle soups in an informal and popular restaurant. A refreshingly small menu with just a dozen or so dishes on it (most Thai menus run to hundreds of dishes). Chicken and pork steaks are 50 baht and beef, 60 baht. French fries 39 baht. Vietnamese style noodle soup starts at 25 baht. All food is available to take away. A very popular place to watch football on the big screen so expect big crowds on Saturday and Sunday evenings.
It is surprising that, given the population of Korat, it seems to lack a "beer bar" area of the type found in Udon, Khon Kaen, Hua Hin and other smaller cities. This is a very good bar run by a Brit. Has excellent food. One pool table. Has a Facebook page at "monkeybarkorat".
Cheap place, not far from either night market. Double with WiFi and A/C 270 baht.
A little run down but reasonably clean place and good location, many long-term foreigner stay here. 270 baht gets you a nice fan room. Wifi in most (but not all) rooms. Hot showers, even in the fan rooms. There is a convenience store right at the entrance, and a massage place downstairs. Self-service washing machines (20 baht a load) at the entrance.
Pretty basic and quite tatty. 430 baht is for a double room with air-con, but rooms with a fan start from 260 baht. All rooms have a TV, but none have a fridge. A small, quiet restaurant serving typically cheap Thai fare is at the rear of the ground floor. No lounge or bar. The closest hotel to the statue of Yamo since the closure of the Potong Hotel.
Essentially the same type of hotel as the Far Thai but much brighter and better appointed. Room with a fan, fridge, cable TV, free Wi-Fi, balcony, closet, small table with chairs, Western toilet and shower for 270 baht. Clean rooms, centrally located with a lot of street food stalls nearby. No bar or restaurant.
A small budget hotel, the Srivichai is a rival to the nearby Chao Phaya. Quite a cosy place with a small lounge and small bar/restaurant both overlooking the street. There's a computer with Internet access (30 baht/hr) near reception. Rooms are basic but functional with air-con, fridge and TV. All rooms are the same price.
double fan/ac rooms with own bathroom.
Sakolkorat
fan/air-con double rooms with own bathroom. air-con rooms have cable tv. Has restaurant adjoining reception but check when it's open if you plan to use it.
Jomsurang Hotel
One of the oldest hotels in Korat and one of the best in its day. That day, however, was some forty years ago. Today, it is quiet, very dated (even the promotional leaflets are fifteen years old) and completely outclassed by other hotels in the city. The fact that the room rates have been considerably reduced from those displayed on the website tells you something. But the location, adjacent to the south entrance of Night Bazaar 1, close to several popular restaurants and 10-min walk from Klang Plaza and Yamo, is hard to beat.
Small room is 600 baht with breakfast, and a larger room 750 baht. Breakfast is a choice of Thai or Western and is cooked to order. Hotel is dated, but clean, and hot water in the shower. Good Wi-Fi. Plenty of tuk-tuks outside, and close to the night market, and adjacent to Best Babylon, a soapy massage.
Formerly, The Royal Princess
A Sima Thani rival, the Dusit Princess is part of the Dusit International group. Facilities are as you would expect from a luxury hotel and there is a limousine service which can collect you from Suvarnabhumi airport (9,000 baht). Like the Sima Thani, it suffers from a location adjacent to a main highway and is several kilometres from the city centre. Website claims it is 3.5 km from the train station and 2 km from the bus station are bold to say the least.
โรงแรม เฮอร์มิเทจ โคราช
A 139-room hotel in the southeast of the city. Surrounded by gardens and lakes. Pool, gym, sauna, good restaurant.
A former Sheraton hotel, the Siam Thani is the most famous and biggest (265 rooms) hotel in Korat. It's also one of the most expensive. It's more traditional-luxury than the V-One's modern-funky. It has all the facilities you would expect from a hotel and is a favoured destination for any celebrities that happen to be in town. But its location, a couple of kilometres west of the city centre, isn't great for night owls.
The V-One is a self-styled "trendy, boutique hotel". Certainly, its modern, colourful décor and 21st-century facilities mark it out as quite different from any other hotel in the city; you have to pay for it, though. It does have affiliated hotels, smaller buildings adjacent to the main building. The rooms in these are smaller and cheaper than the quoted figures. The road the hotel is on is one of the best for nightlife by Korat standards. The V-One also benefits from being close to Hwy 2 and the main bus station.
One of the largest indoor markets in Korat, Mae Kim Heng sells food: both fresh produce and prepared dishes. Get there early (06:00-) and you can buy some typical Thai breakfast fare: satays, grilled chicken and warm soya milk with doughnuts for dipping. Viewed from the Pho Klang entrance, the market can be divided into three main sections: fresh meat and fish on the left-hand side, fruit & veg and pre-cooked food down the middle and small restaurants down the right-hand side. At the Suranaree Rd-end of the market there is a clothes section, and next to that, just where the market spills out onto the street, are two very popular 'OTOP' grilled chicken and sticky rice stalls. Stalls selling fruit, veg, fish and meat then continue down the pavement on Suranaree Rd towards the junction with Ratchadamnoen Rd. These stalls set up mid-morning, and here you can experience some of the hustle and bustle missing from the main market.
Mainly sells clothes and accessories, and a little food. It's well-known throughout the city but you may be left wondering why. There's nothing on sale here that can't be found at myriad markets and stalls all over the city and it's pretty small, too.
Night Bazaar 2
A bigger, more relaxed market than the crowded, narrow Night Bazaar 1. This one mainly sells food but has some clothing and other goods.
บิ๊กซี นครราชสีมา 1 (มิตรภาพ)
This large superstore (officially a "supercenter") has restaurants, banks, clothes shops, jewellery shops and more on the ground floor and a supermarket on the first floor. As with most modern supermarkets, it sells a lot more than food and drink. Clothes, furniture, household appliances, even motorbikes can all be found on the first floor. Tuk-tuks and motorbike taxis wait outside and songthaews 7 and 15 will get you back to the city centre.
IT City/IT
IT Plaza (sometimes mistakenly referred to as IT City; IT City is a large shop within IT Plaza) is a technology-only department store. The main entrance is on the first floor and is reached by a footbridge over Mittraphap. The ground floor is mainly taken up by mobile phone shops. The first and second floors are occupied by shops selling computers and related accessories. There is a Hot Pot restaurant in the basement/lower-ground floor. For a 21st century high-tech superstore, it's actually quite dated and tired inside with cracked and missing floor tiles; tatty, chipped walls and lots of vacant shops. In fact, the empty shops and completely unused third floor tell you that residents are doing their electronics shopping elsewhere these days. Indeed, everything that IT sells can be found in much nicer surroundings at The Mall or Klang Plaza Chomsurang.
Klang Plaza 1
This is the original Klang Plaza, built in 1976. It was one of the biggest department stores in the northeast when it opened. It has most of the same shops and departments that its younger brother has (except for technology stores) but on a much smaller scale. Walk down the soi behind the shop and onto Chomphon Rd to catch songthaews 1, 8, or 12 back to the centre/Yamo area.
Klang Mai/Klang Plaza 2
This building, staggeringly huge by Korat standards, utterly dominates the downtown/city centre area. It is about 100 m from Yamo but directions are superfluous: you really can't miss it. The more useful points of interest include: a supermarket, food hall and various restaurants on the ground floor and another food hall on the fifth floor; coin-operated Internet access on the fifth floor; a kids' play area, including miniature railway on the sixth floor and an exhibition hall often used for sports events on the seventh floor.
เดอะมอลล์ โคราช
A popular daytime haunt for the more affluent members of Korat society. The sprawling complex has all you would expect of such a place: Western restaurants (including the only McDonald's in the whole city), fashion boutiques, a supermarket, cinema, a large food hall, an outdoor swimming pool, and so on. After window shopping upstairs, head down into the basement/lower-ground floor level where you will find many small independent shops and stalls selling clothes for a fraction of the price of those upstairs.
The newest addition to the Korat retail landscape, Lotus is similar to Big C in that there are small shops on the ground floor and a huge hypermarket on the first floor. Songthaews 6 and 4129, among others, will get you there from the city centre. Beware! You have to cross the ten lanes of Hwy 2 to get a songthaew back to the city centre. Tuk-tuks and motorcycle taxis also wait out the front, and it's also a good place to catch a bus to Pak Chong or Pak Thong Chai if you don't want to go to the old bus station.
By bus
There are two main bus stations in Korat.
By train
Trains leave from Bangkok Railway Station (Hualamphong) daily and can take anything from four to six hours depending on what type of train you catch. Twelve trains a day leave Bangkok for Korat.
By plane
Nakhon Ratchasima Airport (NAK) is a modern, fully equipped general aviation airport. Opened in 1997, apart from private and club flying it is unused.
By motorbike taxi
Wherever you find tuk-tuks you will find motorbike taxis., a 60 baht tuk-tuk fare will be 40 baht on a motorbike).
By taxi
Meter-taxis are a fairly new introduction to the Korat roads. They are blue and yellow in colour and scarce in number.
By cycle rickshaw (samlor)
The traditional pedal-powered 'samlor' (literally, 'three wheels') is a large tricycle with room for, at a squeeze, two passengers who sit on a covered, padded seat behind the rider.
By songthaew
Songthaews are the most popular type of public transportation. A songthaew is a pick-up truck which has been converted into a small short-hop bus.
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