Wat Thammikarat

The roosters are the first thing you'll notice. Dozens of them, wandering the grounds, and there's a story behind them that the people there are happy to tell if you ask. Beyond the birds, this is a working Buddhist temple wrapped around the remains of an older complex, with monks in residence and a shrine where people come to pay respects to a revered Buddha head. That's the main draw, and it's a modest one. If you're expecting the scale of Wat Mahathat, you'll be underwhelmed.

What it does have is quiet. It sits a couple of minutes from the Mahathat crowds and barely gets any of the overflow, especially midweek. The feel is local rather than curated for tourists, which is exactly the point of coming. Give it twenty minutes as part of a wider loop rather than making it your one stop. Hiring an electric moped is the sensible way to string Ayutthaya's sites together, since they're spread out and the roads here are calmer than Bangkok's.