Historic Forts and City Walls in Bangkok
A visual guide from the Bangkok travel guide — see all posters in Visual Guides.
Bangkok once had fourteen forts stitched into a brick wall around its royal island. Two survive. Phra Sumen, octagonal and whitewashed, stands where Khlong Rop Krung meets the Chao Phraya, and the park below it is where Banglamphu comes to sit on the grass at dusk while barge trains slide past. The rest of the ring was pulled down as the city outgrew it in the nineteenth century, leaving fragments of wall, two forts, and a much larger riverside fort park an hour downriver at the estuary.
What survives
Phra Sumen Fort, built in the 1780s, anchors Santichaiprakarn Park on Phra Athit Road, a short walk from Khao San and free to wander at ground level. Mahakan Fort sits at the other end of the old canal near the Golden Mount, with a restored stretch of city wall running along Mahachai Road beside it; the site is now a public park. Wichai Prasit Fort in Thonburi dates from the 1680s, about a century before the capital, but sits on restricted government land and is not open to visitors.
Downriver at Paknam
For a bigger day out, head to the river mouth at Samut Prakan instead. The Bang Krachao green area across the river is good for cycling, and the Bang Pu seaside park is known for seagulls in the cool season, roughly November to April. Bang Krachao is a short boat crossing from the Khlong Toei side of the river; for Bang Pu, take the BTS to the end of the Sukhumvit line, then a taxi. Allow a few hours and aim for late afternoon, when the light is soft and the heat drops.