Riverside Hotels in Ayutthaya
7 Stays with Temple Views
and Riverside Sunsets!

If you could pick only one riverside stay in Ayutthaya, Baan Pomphet is the first name people in the know reach for. It's an 8-room boutique on the Chao Phraya, right where the Pa Sak flows in to meet it, beside the Pom Phet fortress, one of old Ayutthaya's surviving bastions. Designed by the onion studio in brick and timber, it has a rooftop bar, a riverfront terrace, a small riverside pool and a big Bodhi tree in the courtyard. The riverside Thai restaurant is listed in the MICHELIN Guide, known for its charcoal-grilled river prawns and share-style dishes. The best moment is the evening, sitting by the water as boats pass and the sky changes colour.

If you want a Thai-house stay on the Chao Phraya in a quiet garden, only an hour from Bangkok, Ayutthaya Garden River Home is the one people who like calm mention. It's a small 12-room resort on the Chao Phraya at Bang Pa-In, with gabled Thai houses set among tropical gardens, lotus ponds and a riverside sala. What guests talk about is the leafy riverside-garden setting and a kitchen that cooks Thai food using produce from the resort's own garden. It's about 30 minutes from the old city, so it suits people with a car who want to relax by the water rather than spend all day walking the temples.

If you want a riverside room on the island that's easy on the budget and has a pool, River View Place is one mid-range travellers look at. It's a serviced mansion on the Pa Sak river on U Thong Road, with river-side rooms that face the water and the sunset. It has an outdoor pool, a fitness room and a riverside restaurant, and being on the island it's easy to cycle or drive to the temples. To be honest, the building and rooms are getting on, and reviews on upkeep are mixed — but book a river-side room for the view and it's good value.

Bann Kun Pra has been on Ayutthaya's riverfront so long it's become a legend among travellers who love old wooden houses. It's a pair of century-old teak houses on the Pa Sak river, originally the home of a court official in the reign of King Rama VI, now a guesthouse, with rooms done in four-poster beds and period furniture and some with a riverside terrace. What people talk about most is the riverside restaurant under a big shade tree — lovely at dusk — and the evening river cruise it runs. It's a charming old place; to be clear, the rooms are traditional wooden ones rather than a modern hotel, so if you're after luxury this isn't it.

If you like design-led places at a reachable price, Busaba is the one design fans mention. It's a hostel converted from an old, roughly 50-year-old Thai wooden house into a white, modern, gabled building, designed by Tidtang Studio — the pointed roofs, reworked from a traditional Thai house, are the feature everyone photographs. It sits by the river with a quiet garden where you can sit by the water away from the main road. There are budget dorm beds and private rooms, so it suits a solo traveller or a couple who want design atmosphere without paying much; it scores 8.8 from 270 reviews.

If you arrive by train and want to sleep in a riverside teak house on a budget, Baan Are Gong is the one backpackers pass along. It's a genuine old teak house on the Pa Sak river, directly opposite Ayutthaya train station and right by the ferry that crosses to the island. It's family-run, with a riverside terrace where you can watch boats and trains go by, and the owners help arrange river cruises and temple tours. What guests talk about is the warmth and the real old-wooden-house-by-the-water feel; it scores 8.2 from 313 reviews. To be clear, several rooms use shared bathrooms and the wooden floors creak — it's a homestay, not a hotel.

If you're on a budget but still want a river-view room and you're arriving by train, Ayothaya Riverside Hotel is the cheapest riverside option in this group. It's a budget hotel on the Pa Sak river, a 5-minute walk from Ayutthaya train station, where the river-side rooms look out over the water, the bridge and the boats passing. It's near the ferry across to the island. It scores 8.3 on Booking from over 1,500 reviews, with guests praising the location and price. To be honest, the hotel and rooms are quite dated — this is a stay you choose for the riverside location and the price, not for newness or design.