Mida Grande Dhavaravati — A Pagoda-Shaped Rooftop Facing Phra Pathom Chedi at Dusk
If you want somewhere in Nakhon Pathom that's more than a place to crash for the night, Mida Grande Hotel Dhavaravati is the name guests bring up most. It's a high-rise in the city centre that carries the Dhavaravati art theme through the whole building, and the detail people keep coming back to describe is the Thor rooftop bar — its roof shaped like an inverted bell pagoda, looking straight out at the golden Phra Pathom Chedi at sunset. That view isn't something any other hotel in town can give you.
Mida Grande Dhavaravati is a Mida-group hotel on Phet Kasem Road in the Sanam Chan area of central Nakhon Pathom. What sets it apart from a standard high-rise is a design that pulls Dhavaravati art motifs into everything from the name down to the details — gold patterning on ceilings, timber furniture, and Thai textile runners on every bed. Rooms range from a 30 sqm Deluxe up to the 84 sqm Dhavaravati Suite. The one people ask for most is the Deluxe Chedi View, where pulling back the curtains puts Phra Pathom Chedi right in front of you from inside the room.
The headline act sits on the top floor. Thor Music Bar is a rooftop with a roofline modelled on an inverted bell pagoda, and a domed ceiling done in Dhavaravati gold leaf inside. In the evening it runs as a live-music bar looking out at the golden Phra Pathom Chedi in the middle of town — guests say much the same thing, that the hour around sunset is when it's at its best. The same floor has a coffee corner, Pour Over Lab, open in the daytime for the city view. Stay here and skip the rooftop and you've genuinely missed the point of the place.
We went up to Thor at half past five with no particular plan — just to see what the view was actually like before dinner. The bar was already about half full, most people angled toward the same thing: the gap in the skyline where Phra Pathom Chedi sits. At that point in the evening, the stupa was still catching the last of the daylight, a warm, slightly hazy gold against a pale blue sky. We ordered drinks — the bar does a short list of Dhavaravati-themed cocktails with Thai flowers, around 350 to 450 baht each — and sat down. Neither of us moved for the next hour and a half. The shift happens gradually. The sky goes from blue to purple at the edges, and the floodlights on the chedi start to register against the darkening background. By the time the city lights are fully on, the stupa has gone from ambient gold to something sharper and brighter — lit from below, turning it into a beacon in the middle of the Nakhon Pathom skyline. It's the kind of thing that sounds like a travel-writing cliché until you're actually sitting there watching it happen. The rooftop itself is worth a note separately. The name Thor comes from the shape: the roof outside is modelled on an inverted bell pagoda, and the interior ceiling is a full dome done in Dhavaravati gold-leaf patterning with a chandelier hanging at its centre. It doesn't feel like an ordinary rooftop bar — it feels like someone spent time thinking through what the space should look like, and then built it that way. The live music that evening was a small ensemble playing at low volume, easy to talk over, which made it better than the alternative. The room the next morning settled the other half of the argument. We had a Chedi View on a high floor — the curtains in the morning put the stupa straight in front of the bed, lit differently again: softer, the gold tone blending into pale sky rather than standing out against dark. Two different things, honestly. If I were choosing between a ground-floor Chedi View and a high-floor one, I'd pay the difference for the height without hesitating. Breakfast: the international buffet is solid, and the detail that stood out was the pork rice porridge kept on a hot flame throughout service — rich broth, tender pork. Worth going down at seven rather than nine, when the popular dishes are still fully stocked. The one honest caveat is the road noise. Phet Kasem is a wide highway and the street-facing rooms hear it during the day and into the evening. We had a pool-side room the first night before switching, and the difference was noticeable — the inward-facing rooms are meaningfully quieter. Worth specifying when you book if noise matters to you. Overall: Mida Grande is a hotel that gives you something to talk about afterward. The rooftop with the chedi view, the Dhavaravati design that carries through from the lobby to the room details, the morning view from the bed — it adds up to a stay that has more shape to it than most. If you're in Nakhon Pathom for even one night, and you can get a high-floor Chedi View room, this is the hotel.
Down at ground level, the outdoor pool sits between the two wings of the building with a gilded Thai sala pavilion as its centrepiece and sun loungers along the water. Beyond the pool there's a fitness room with garden-facing glass, a sauna, a spa, and large meeting rooms for events. The hotel runs three restaurants, including a Chinese restaurant several reviewers rate higher than they expected. Breakfast is an international buffet, and the dish that comes up again and again is the morning pork rice porridge.
On location — the hotel is in town, a 3-minute drive from Phra Pathom Chedi and Silpakorn University's Sanam Chandra campus, with HarborLand Central Nakhon Pathom about a kilometre away. But it's worth saying plainly: the hotel sits on Phet Kasem Road, a wide multi-lane highway. That makes it convenient if you've driven, but not easy to walk anywhere from here, since you have to cross a major road. If you're arriving without a car, budget for Grab rides whenever you head out.
The overall score is 9.1/10 from 201 Trip.com reviews, with cleanliness (9.3) and service (9.3) rated highest. The honest feedback from lower-rated reviews flags traffic noise from Phet Kasem Road in street-facing rooms, beds that some find on the firm side, a few rooms starting to look dated, and rooftop drink prices that run high — there's a corkage charge of around ฿500. These are real limitations worth knowing before you book.
On price, Mida Grande starts around ฿1,300/night for a Deluxe on a weekday. The Chedi View room that faces Phra Pathom Chedi costs a little more, while the Executive Suite and Dhavaravati Suite, for anyone wanting more space, sit from about ฿2,500 up. Rooms fill quickly over long weekends and during Nakhon Pathom's festival periods, so book ahead and compare rates across a few platforms before you commit.
The bottom line: Mida Grande Dhavaravati suits travellers passing through Nakhon Pathom who want a hotel with some character rather than just a bed. The pagoda-shaped rooftop and the chedi view are the main reasons people choose it, and the Dhavaravati design plus the pool with its gilded sala make for easy photos. If you don't have a car and want to walk around from the door, a smaller hotel near the town market may serve you better. Land a high-floor Chedi View room and it's the best value here.
Summary from Booking & Agoda
- ✓ Rooftop bar with chedi views — excellent evening atmosphere
- ✓ Friendly, helpful staff who speak good English
- ✓ Clean rooms, comfortable to sleep in, roomy bathrooms
- ✓ Attractive pool with a gilded sala and a relaxed feel
- ! On Phet Kasem Road — street-facing rooms catch traffic noise
- ! Hard to walk anywhere from the hotel; a car helps
- ! Rooftop drinks run expensive, with a corkage charge
- ✓ Dhavaravati design theme is genuinely photogenic
- ✓ Short drive to Phra Pathom Chedi and Silpakorn University
- ✓ Generous breakfast buffet — the pork rice porridge gets praise
- ✓ Chinese restaurant better than expected
- ! Beds firm for some guests
- ! A few rooms looking dated — ask for a refreshed one
- ! No convenience store within walking distance
- 💡If you want a quiet room — specify a pool-side or inward-facing room away from Phet Kasem Road when booking → street-facing rooms catch traffic noise from day into evening
- 💡If you're here mainly for the chedi — request a high-floor Deluxe Chedi View to see the stupa from your room · a low floor or other orientation won't have the view, in which case use the rooftop instead
- 💡If you're not driving — plan on Grab every time you head out, since the hotel is on a major road with no convenience store within walking distance → having your own car makes a real difference here