Nonthaburi is technically its own province, with its own governor and its own licence plates. Functionally, it is Bangkok’s better-behaved riverside — the stretch of the capital’s sprawl that kept its temples, its durian orchards and its manners while everywhere else got flattened for condominiums. And in a bend of the Chao Phraya at the top of it all sits Koh Kret. A Koh Kret Nonthaburi day out means a man-made island, Mon potters, a leaning chedi and the best-value ferry in the country. The crossing costs two baht. Two. There are coins in your pocket that you value less.
This guide does the island properly — pottery villages, the weekend food loop, the chedi that tilts at the river like it has had a few — plus the bits of the province nobody bothers with: a riverside Rama III temple, a golden teak museum, and orchards where a single durian outsells your flight over here. For the quick facts, see our Nonthaburi province profile. This is the long version.
One thing before you plan: Koh Kret runs on weekends. Arrive on a Tuesday and you will find a drowsy island of potters wondering what you want. Arrive on a Saturday and you get one of the most likeable food markets in central Thailand.
What Nonthaburi really is
Nonthaburi is the province immediately north of Bangkok along the Chao Phraya, and on the ground you will not notice the border. The MRT Purple Line runs through it, Bangkok city buses serve it, and the traffic is identical. But it is older than the capital — this was orchard country supplying the Ayutthaya court when Bangkok was a customs post, and its durian was already legendary.
The Mon are the other half of the story. Mon communities fleeing wars with Burma settled along this reach of the river in the eighteenth century, and their descendants still define Koh Kret. The island itself is an accident of civil engineering: in 1722 a canal was dug to shortcut a lazy meander in the Chao Phraya, the river adopted the shortcut, and the bypassed peninsula became an island. The Mon settlers turned to pottery — unglazed terracotta carved with fine geometric patterns — and they are still at it three hundred years later.
Why go to Nonthaburi
Because it is the easiest genuine day out from Bangkok — no minivan, no motorway, no three-digit ticket price. A Koh Kret Nonthaburi day trip gives you river life, Mon culture, proper food and a car-free walkable island for the price of pocket lint. The rest of the province adds a first-division temple, an excellent small museum and arguably the best durian on earth. If you have been in Bangkok a week and the traffic is starting to win, Nonthaburi is the pressure valve.
There is no beach, no rooftop bar, no elephant-print trousers photo op. If a two-baht ferry, a tilted chedi and a bag of deep-fried flowers sounds like a good Saturday, this is your place.
Getting to Nonthaburi
For Nonthaburi town and its pier, the Chao Phraya Express Boat is the civilised option: orange-flag boats run from central piers such as Sathorn (Taksin) north to Nonthaburi Pier, the end of the line, for a flat fare of about ฿20. Count on about an hour from Sathorn, and it beats the road traffic in every conceivable way. The MRT Purple Line also crosses the province, with fares in the ฿15-45 range.
For Koh Kret itself you want Pak Kret district, further upriver, and no train goes there. The simple answer is a Grab or taxi to the Wat Sanam Nuea pier in Pak Kret — about 45-60 minutes and ฿200-300 from central Bangkok. The budget answer is bus 166 from Victory Monument to Pak Kret for pocket change, then a short walk to the pier. From there the shuttle ferry chugs across to the island in roughly two minutes for ฿2-3. Weekend tourist boats run direct from central Bangkok; they cost twenty times more and are rarely faster.
Where to stay
Straight answer: most people should not stay in Nonthaburi at all. It is a day trip — sleep in Bangkok, where your money buys far more. If you do have a reason to overnight — an immigration run, or you simply prefer rivers to nightlife — the area around Nonthaburi Pier and Phra Nang Klao Bridge has clean mid-range riverside hotels for ฿900-1,600, and budget places near the Purple Line from about ฿450-700. On Koh Kret itself there is essentially nowhere to stay, which is part of the charm: the island empties at dusk and goes back to being a village.
What to eat in Nonthaburi
The weekend market on Koh Kret is the main event. The signature dish is khao chae — rice served in chilled water perfumed with jasmine and smoked candle, with fiddly, delicious side dishes. It is a Mon dish that royal Bangkok later adopted and quietly claimed; expect ฿60-100 a set on the island against several times that in a Bangkok hotel restaurant. The Mon sweets are everywhere too — trays of coconut-and-rice-flour confections in colours you did not know food came in, mostly ฿20-40 a bag.
The cult item is deep-fried flowers: actual blossoms and herbs in a light, shattering batter, sold in mixed baskets for about ฿50-80 by the island’s most famous stall, which you will identify by the queue. Do not skip them. Back on the mainland, the row of riverside seafood places near Nonthaburi Pier grills river prawns at honest prices. Then there is the durian — of which more below. Bring money.
Top things to do in Nonthaburi
1. Cross to Koh Kret and walk the loop
The island is about six kilometres around on a raised concrete path, entirely car-free, past stilt houses, temples, banana groves and pottery yards. From the ฿2-3 ferry at Wat Sanam Nuea you can walk the full loop in two to three hours at eating pace, or hire a bicycle near the pier for around ฿40-60 if you must. The joy of it is the aimlessness: this is the closest thing to a Chao Phraya village that survives within sight of Bangkok’s towers.
2. The leaning chedi at Wat Poramaiyikawat
Steps from the ferry landing stands the island’s icon: a white Mon-style chedi that the shifting riverbank has tipped photogenically towards the water, like a polite Siamese cousin of Pisa. The temple behind it, handsomely restored in the nineteenth century, deserves twenty minutes; the chedi deserves fifty photographs. Free, always open, best in the low light before the crowds arrive from about 10am.
3. Do the weekend food loop properly
Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, roughly 9am to 4pm, the lanes near the pier become a continuous food market: khao chae, deep-fried flowers, Mon sweets, grilled river fish, coffee in carved terracotta cups. Budget ฿200-300 a head and arrive hungry. By 5pm the stalls are packing up, and by Monday morning the whole thing might as well never have happened.
4. Wat Chaloem Phra Kiat Worawihan
Downriver in Nonthaburi town sits the province’s great overlooked temple, built by King Rama III in honour of his mother on the site of an old riverside fort, with the Chinese ceramic detailing that marks his reign. It faces the water, it is quiet enough to hear the boats, and entry is free. Take the express boat to Nonthaburi Pier and hop across; anywhere else in Thailand it would be famous.
5. Hunt the legendary Nonthaburi durian
Nonthaburi durian is to durian what Burgundy is to wine: the same product, a different universe of price. The orchards that survived the condominiums and the 2011 flood produce fruit — the kan yao variety above all — that sells for thousands of baht apiece, with prize specimens fetching sums that would embarrass a business-class fare. Season runs roughly late April to June. Try the fresh market near Nonthaburi Pier, or ask about orchard visits out west in Bang Kruai and Sai Noi districts in season.
6. The golden teak museum at the old provincial hall
Near Nonthaburi Pier stands the former provincial hall, a long, handsome golden teak building from the early twentieth century that began life as a school and now houses the provincial museum — Mon pottery, river history, durian lore. Entry costs nothing or next to it, and the woodwork alone justifies the walk from the pier.
What to skip
The organised Koh Kret day cruises sold from Bangkok hotel lobbies at ฿1,500-2,000 a head. You are paying roughly five hundred times the ferry fare to do the island on someone else’s schedule: marched off the boat, herded to a set-menu lunch, shipped home. The entire point of Koh Kret is aimless drifting; a cruise deletes the point and sells you what is left. Take the ฿2 ferry like an adult and keep the change for durian.
And do not come on a weekday expecting the market. The island stays open, the chedi still leans, the potters still pot — but the food loop is shut and half of what makes the place sing is asleep.
Nonthaburi travel: practical info
Best time: November to February for cool-season walking weather; late April to June if you are here for durian, at the price of serious heat. Koh Kret is a weekend animal; Saturday morning is the sweet spot — on the island by 9am, ahead of the crowds that land around 11am. Half a day covers the island; a full day adds Wat Chaloem Phra Kiat and the teak museum.
Onward, you are well placed: Pathum Thani sits just upriver and Bangkok is an orange-flag boat or a Purple Line ride away. One warning — the express boats wind down by early evening, so if you linger past dusk it is Grab or the MRT home.
Planning the specifics? The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s official Nonthaburi page has current market days and pier details, and Wikipedia has the background on Koh Kret and its Mon community.
FAQ
Is Koh Kret Nonthaburi worth visiting?
On a weekend, absolutely — the best cheap day out from Bangkok: Mon pottery, the leaning chedi and a genuinely good food market for a ฿2-3 ferry. On a weekday it is a quiet island village — only worth it if quiet is what you came for.
How do you get to Koh Kret from Bangkok?
Grab or taxi to the Wat Sanam Nuea pier in Pak Kret — 45-60 minutes and ฿200-300 from central Bangkok — then the shuttle ferry across for ฿2-3. The cheap route is bus 166 from Victory Monument. There is no rail link to Pak Kret.
Is Koh Kret open on weekdays?
The island never closes and the ferry runs daily, but the food market and most stalls operate only on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. On weekdays you get temples, potters and peace — pleasant, but not the full show.
How much does the Koh Kret ferry cost?
฿2-3 per person each way from Wat Sanam Nuea in Pak Kret, and the crossing takes about two minutes.
Can you stay overnight on Koh Kret?
Effectively no — there are no proper hotels on the island, which is precisely why it still feels like a village. Sleep in Bangkok or near Nonthaburi Pier and cross over for the day.
