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Township in Thailand
Photo: Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Phimai (พิมาย) is a small town in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand. It is home to the Phimai Historical Park, one of Thailand's most important Angkorian sites.
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ปราสาทหินพิมาย
The Khmer temples are among the best-preserved in Thailand and similar (if much smaller) than those at Angkor Wat. Parts of the park are older than Angkor Wat. Includes Khmer buildings, sculptures leading to the shrine, restaurant and gift shop.
Southern Victory Gate
The southern gate of ancient Phimai, oriented directly towards Angkor (in what is Cambodia today).
Ancient water basin. Prime spot for Loy Krathong festival. Nowadays, the walkway all around the basin is popular for early morning or late night exercise. It's also where Phimai's public calisthenics park is located.
Daytime market for food, clothes, plants, garden items, pets and various other goods. Open on the 8th, 18th and 28th every month. It's along the main road exiting Phimai to the south, still at a walkable distance from the center.
Serves popular Thai and Chinese dishes, along with a few Western staples, in a scenic open-air setting.
Serves all kinds of local and Thai food, not just papaya salad. Good quality and popular among locals. In Chomsa road between the main road and Sra Phlaeng (the square artificial lake east of the centre).
Meals, fruit and vegetables, open early every morning until around 9am.
Clean and central. Social area upstairs, library and Thai cafe with Western breakfasts.
Clean, modern rooms with air-con. Excellent restaurant: try the fish fried with lemon grass.
Thai-style elevated bungalows with covered terraces line the river just opposite the National Museum. A ten minute walk from the town centre and the Khmer temple/Prasat Hin. Hot showers, TV, refrigerator, free Internet; breakfast optional. Owner Khun Chin speaks English and German. The river is safe to swim and great fun, too.
In the heart of the town offers air-conditioned rooms.
A slightly more up-scale lodging and has a swimming pool and restaurant, but is a hike from town.
Clean, well-organised hotel with rooms ranging from small singles at 500 baht to a triple family room at 650 baht. There is a swimming pool, which may have cleaning equipment in it when you visit, as at least one traveller reported seeing this. Great location near the night market and Phimai Historical Park. Very noisy in the morning. Phimai still has tannoy radio from 06:30 to 07:30, and there is much other noise within and from near the hotel. If you came to see the Angkorian ruins at dawn, you won't need an alarm clock!
Local buses run approx. every 60 minutes (05:30-22:00) between Phimai and the provincial capital of Nakhon Ratchasima, with shorter intervals in the morning. The 60-km trip costs 50 baht and takes 70-90 minutes.
Read in the guideThe town itself is quite small and can be easily explored on foot.5km from the ruins and is easily reached by bicycle or can be walked in 20 minutes.
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Buriram · Regional · BFV
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