Wat Saket sits on top of an 80 meter manmade hill.

Wat Saket is a historic temple in Bangkok, Thailand that was built in 1467. The temple is also known as the Temple of the Golden Mount or the Golden Mountain Temple.

The architecture of the temple is unlike any other temple that I have seen. The solid white base with the golden temple sitting on top reminded me on a golden temple on top of a snow capped mountain which is probably why it is known as the Golden Mountain Temple.

I have included a map below that helps to see the entire complex with other religious buildings but the focus of this post is primarily on the portion known as the Golden Mount.

Temple Entrance

The entrance to the temple is by a long winding staircase with 344 steps that circles the outside of the white base.

Before reaching the top there is a level area with prayer bells and a gong. Ringing the bells are for good luck and then bang the gong.

Inside the temple

The inside area is where the shrine hall is located. Some of the statures have gold leaf pressed on them where worshipers have applied the thin ½” squares onto the statue. Another area designated a different Buddha statue for each day of the week.

Rooftop Chedi

The rooftop area is the most impressive part of the Golden Mount because of the huge Golden Chedi. The chedi is made of gold mosaic tiles and during important religious festival, it is wrapped in red or gold cloth. We visited during the Loy Krathong festival and the chedi was wrapped with a red cloth.

On each of the four corners of the rooftop is a golden pinnacle in the shape of a chedi. The design of the corner pinnacles adds symmetry to the architecture and makes the entire building look more impressive.

Nice views from everywhere

The rooftop provides 360-degree views of the area around the temple. Some of the notable sites are the other nearby temples and the Rama VIII Bridge that is also close to the temple.

The view from shrine hall is also and gives a nice view of the other areas of the Wat Saket complex as seen in the next two photos.

The final photo is of the Golden Mount taken from a nearby alley way which provides an idea of how the Golden Mount looks from the nearby streets.

The Dust on My Shoes

There are some places that when I see just one picture I instantly want to visit that place. This is the case for the first time I saw a photo of the Golden Mount. I instantly put it on my list of places to see when visiting Bangkok.

My appeal for wanting to visit the Golden Mount was the façade architecture and that it was the high point of the city before the modern skyscrapers were built.

Admittedly, there are many more impressive temples in Bangkok but my experience at the Golden Mount was really nice. There were very few other tourist wandering around during my visit which instantly made it a very relaxing place to be in a crowed and busy city like Bangkok.

I enjoyed ringing the bells and banging the gong. I hope it brought me some good luck!

Finding a calm place in the middle of a busy city can be difficult but the Golden Mount rooftop is a peaceful place to relax and the views are really nice!

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