Phichit Thailand Guide

Nobody ends up in Phichit by accident, and the people who stay tend to stay a long time. This is one of the cheapest comfortable bases in Thailand — a provincial capital with a hospital, markets, a railway station and a giant lake for a park — for travellers who measure luxury in quiet, space and fruit. What Things Cost (Typical Prices) Item Typical cost Room / small apartment, monthly ฿2,500–5,000 Rented house in town, monthly ฿5,000–10,000 Street meal / noodle bowl ฿40–60 Market groceries for two, weekly ฿1,000–1,800 Songthaew in town ฿20–30 Bicycle (buy, simple new) ฿2,500–4,500 Thai massage, 1 hour ฿180–250 A single person living simply and cooking half their meals can manage on ฿15,000–25,000 a month ; ฿30,000 a month here buys a very comfortable life with a house, a motorbike and regular trips out. Where to Live Most long-stayers rent in Phichit town itself — near the market and Wat Tha Luang for walkability, or out toward Bueng Si Fai for lake air and morning rides...

Phichit food is central-plains food at its most honest: river fish, sharp curries, market noodles and fruit that the rest of Thailand buys by the truckload. Meals are cheap — a noodle bowl typically ฿40–60, a rice-and-curry plate ฿50–80, grilled river fish ฿150–300 depending on size — and portions are sized for people who work outdoors. The Pomelo Province Phichit's pomelo (som-o) is famous nationwide, especially the Tha Khoi variety grown around Pho Prathap Chang: huge, sweet, pink-fleshed fruit sold at roadside stalls and in the town markets. In season (roughly the cool months, with fruit around much of the year) a large pomelo typically costs ฿80–200 depending on size and grade. Roadside stalls on the roads south of town will cut one open for you to taste before you buy — take them up on it. Markets to Know Phichit Morning Market — the town's fresh heart near the river: vegetables from the floodplain farms, river fish, curry pastes, sticky rice and fried snacks from b...

Bueng Si Fai is Phichit's front garden, playground and symbol — a broad, shallow freshwater lake (about 8.6 square kilometres, 5,390 rai) on the western edge of Phichit town, fed by the Nan River. Locals come to walk, cycle, fish, feed the fish for merit, watch birds and photograph the sunset. Visitors should come for exactly the same reasons, plus one more: the 38-metre Phaya Chalawan. The Giant Crocodile At the lake's front edge stands Phaya Chalawan, a hollow concrete crocodile 38 metres long and about 5 metres tall, modelled on the crocodile king of the Krai Thong legend. It is reportedly the largest crocodile statue in the world, and its belly contains a meeting room for 25 to 30 people. It is gloriously, unapologetically Phichit — every visitor's first photo, and the province's unofficial logo. A smaller crocodile pond and zoo area nearby keeps real crocodiles, a reminder that these rivers genuinely were crocodile country. The Aquarium and the Park The Chaloe...

Phichit is the Thailand most visitors never see — a flat, green, river-crossed province in the lower north, about 330 km north of Bangkok, famous across the country for two things: the crocodile-king legend of Chalawan, and some of the sweetest pomelo in Thailand. There is no tourist strip here, no bar street, no queue. There is a huge lake with a 38-metre crocodile statue, temples that matter deeply to Thais, longboat races that stop the whole province, and prices that belong to another decade. If that sounds like your kind of place, read on. The Legend That Runs the Town Every Thai schoolchild knows Krai Thong, the folk tale of the hero who slew Chalawan, the shape-shifting crocodile lord who lived in an underwater cave and kidnapped a merchant's daughter. The story is set here, on the rivers of Phichit, and the province has cheerfully adopted the villain as its mascot. Crocodiles — statues, signs, souvenirs — are everywhere, and the giant Phaya Chalawan statue at Bueng Si Fai ...