Chao Phrom Market

This is a working wet market first and a traveller stop second, which is exactly why it's worth your time. Vegetables, meat, seafood, and stalls doing breakfast and ready-to-eat food, all packed tight and moving fast from the small hours. Prices are low enough that reviewers keep mentioning it. If you want to understand what people in Ayutthaya actually eat, an hour here does more than any restaurant.

Fair warning: parts of it smell strongly. That's what happens when fresh fish and meat sit out in the heat, and no amount of framing it as authentic changes the fact that some people find it unpleasant. If that's you, stick to the produce and cooked-food sections and keep moving.

The location makes it easy to fold into a temple day, since the historic sites are close by. One reviewer describes arriving by train from Bangkok, then crossing by ferry to Chao Phrom pier for 10 baht, which lands you near the market and near shops renting bicycles, motorbikes and tuk tuk tours.