For more than four hundred years Ayutthaya was one of the richest cities in Asia, founded in the mid-fourteenth century on an island where three rivers meet, and visited by Portuguese, Dutch, French, Japanese and Persian traders who all had their own quarters. Then in 1767 a Burmese army took it after a long siege and burned most of it to the ground. The Thai court moved south, eventually to Bangkok, and what remained became a field of brick ruins, the prangs and chedis standing above the grass. UNESCO listed the site in 1991.
You cannot see it all in one go, and the best way to travel between the ruins is to ride slowly around the island, or on a bicycle if you leave the motorbike parked. Wat Mahathat has the famous Buddha head caught in the roots of a banyan tree, a photograph everybody takes, and visitors are expected to crouch so that they do not stand higher than the head. Wat Chaiwatthanaram, on the riverbank, has a central prang surrounded by smaller ones, and at sunset the stone turns gold. Wat Phra Si Sanphet holds three bell-shaped chedis that once guarded the royal palace.
The ride up from Bangkok follows flat farmland and rice fields, and once you reach the town the roads are straight, slow and busy. Heat is the real challenge, especially from March to May, so do your sightseeing in the early morning and again late in the afternoon. Dress respectfully in temple areas, with covered shoulders and knees, and watch for stray dogs and tuk-tuks around the island, which slow without warning.
Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, the modern town, has more than eighty thousand people and no shortage of fuel, small restaurants and guesthouses. Boat noodles, a small and strongly flavoured bowl of beef or pork broth, are the local dish, and the riverside stalls are cheap. In November the cooler weather and the full moon festival make this a lovely time, with candles floating on the water, though the roads are busier and the temples more crowded.