Sukhothai or Ayutthaya: how Thailand's two old capitals differ as historical parks

The short answer

Sukhothai came first. ICOMOS, evaluating both nominations for UNESCO in 1991, describes Sukhothai as the capital of the first Siamese state and Ayutthaya, from 1350, as the second Siamese capital.[2][1] UNESCO's list records both as inscribed as World Heritage in 1991.[3] Both survive as historical parks run by the Fine Arts Department.[6][5]

The difference that matters for planning is shape. Ayutthaya is one historic city.[2] Sukhothai is one of three historic towns inscribed together as a single property, with Si Satchanalai and Kamphaeng Phet.[4][1] And the Sukhothai that XTOUR treats as a destination is the modern town, not the old city where the park is. XTOUR's reading is that the choice is about which period and which kind of site you want to see; it gives no travel times to help decide by distance, because it has no routing provider.

Ayutthaya: one city, destroyed

The Fine Arts Department dates Ayutthaya from 1350 to an invasion in 1767, giving both years in the Buddhist Era as 1893 and 2310.[5] ICOMOS says the city was destroyed by the Burmese, and names the prang, a reliquary tower that did not exist at Sukhothai, as its main architectural feature.[2] The Sukhothai evaluation qualifies that: it lists among Sukhothai's monuments "an impressive prang (reliquary tower typical of Ayutthaya art) from a somewhat later period".[1]

Ayutthaya Historical Park, the department's agency, maintains the historic site in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district of Ayutthaya Province. The Fine Arts Department dates its Ayutthaya Historical Park Project to 1982, while ICOMOS's 1991 evaluation says the site was classed a historic park in 1967, and that only part of it was proposed for World Heritage.[2][5] Ayutthaya is its own destination on XTOUR. The Ayutthaya Historical Park guide separates the park, the town and the World Heritage property, and sets out the park's own figures.

Sukhothai: the older capital, and a park reached from the town

ICOMOS names Sukhothai as the capital of Ramkhamhaeng's kingdom, and says the civilisation that grew up in the kingdom of Sukhothai forged what is known as the "Sukhothai style".[1] The sources XTOUR read do not give a date for the end of Sukhothai as a capital. ICOMOS's Ayutthaya evaluation does date one phase of Ayutthaya's cultural life as running from its foundation to "the annexation of Sukhothai", 1350 to 1438.[2] The Fine Arts Department describes the ramparts of the ancient city as approximately 1,300 metres wide and 1,800 metres long, with more than 200 archaeological sites outside them. It registered an area of 70 square kilometres in 1975 and opened the historic park officially in 1988.[6]

XTOUR does not place the park in the modern town. The Fine Arts Department gives its location as Tambon Mueang Kao, in Mueang Sukhothai district.[7] ICOMOS says the historic town lies "a dozen or so kilometers" from the modern town, and that a modern road cuts the site in two.[1] XTOUR treats the modern town as the Sukhothai destination and the historical park as a separate place reached from it. It states no route or travel time between them.

The park is not one undivided area for a visitor either. Its contact page charges admission by three areas: the inner historic zone, a northern zone that includes Wat Si Chum and Wat Phra Phai Luang, and a western zone, the Aranyik area.[7] XTOUR does not repeat the fees or hours; read them on that page.

Si Satchanalai and Kamphaeng Phet

ICOMOS calls Si Satchanalai the kingdom's second royal residence, famous for its ceramics, and says Kamphaeng Phet played mostly a military role.[1] The Fine Arts Department runs each as a historical park, Si Satchanalai in Sukhothai Province and Kamphaeng Phet in its own province, and none of XTOUR's destinations serves as a base for either.[9][8] The guide to Si Satchanalai and Kamphaeng Phet covers both parks, how each is laid out, and the figures the sources disagree on.

What ties the three Sukhothai parks together

ICOMOS describes the three towns as the principal centres of one kingdom, and as together representative of the first period of Siamese art and the creation of the first Thai state.[1] A 2008 UNESCO news item observed that few realise the property's boundary takes in Si Satchanalai and Kamphaeng Phet as well as Sukhothai, and described UNESCO and the Fine Arts Department presenting the three parks as one visitor destination, with itineraries linking them.[4]

The two compared

Where the numbers do not match

The Fine Arts Department and ICOMOS give different figures and dates for the same parks, and XTOUR does not reconcile them: the Ayutthaya dates are given above, and the Si Satchanalai and Kamphaeng Phet figures are set out in the guide to those two parks. A park boundary and a World Heritage component are different things drawn for different purposes, which is why XTOUR never treats a designation as the same record as a park. The explainer on what UNESCO inscribed covers the distinction.

What XTOUR does not tell you

XTOUR does not publish opening hours, ticket prices, entrance locations, bicycle or vehicle rules inside the parks, accessibility or travel times for any of these parks. The Fine Arts Department manages all four, and its current pages are where to read them.