From the moment you step off the train it is clear that monkeys are the main focus of Lopburi, for residents and visitors alike. Small enough to walk all around in 30 to 45 minutes, it is easy to navigate on foot.
We recommend using the bathroom at the train station (3 Baht, bring your own toilet paper or buy an entire roll for 10 Baht) before embarking on your monkey search as it can be difficult to find a public restroom otherwise. When you exit the very small train station, turn right. There are plenty of tuk tuk drivers ready to take you to Monkey Temple (Wat Phra Prang Sam Yot in Thai), but unless you are carrying lots of baggage with you, it’s easy to walk the 100 meters. The temple will be at the end of the road right in front of you.
Starting at about 50 meters, however, keep your eyes open for monkeys…on wires above, on the sidewalks and on cars, which may or may not be moving at the time. The monkeys (actually long-tailed macaques) on the street will most likely not bother you; however, before paying the 50 Baht admission to the Monkey Temple, be sure to do the following to ensure you enjoy your visit:
1) Take off and secure all glasses, jewelry, hair ties, scrunchies or hair clips of any kind. They painfully ripped out Ligeia’s hair clip. (Try to get a hair clip back from a monkey without looking like a crazy person!)
2) Do not take in any food or drink unless you plan to give it to the monkeys. They will find it anyway. This includes bottles of water. 
We witnessed a monkey relieve a visitor of her water bottle and watched in amazement when the monkey unscrewed the top and drank from it like a human would.
3) If your camera has a strap or way to fasten it tightly around your wrist or neck, use it. Cameras seem to be one of the items monkeys enjoy taking the most.
4) If you find yourself with lots of monkeys all over you and you want them off, one way is to spin very fast and they will fly off. Do not sit or lie down as this will only encourage more to jump on you.
Especially around the back of the temple, monkeys will jump on you. Depending on whether you welcome this or not, consider either hiring a guide (who carries a long stick to keep them away) or simply stay back and out of the coveted shaded areas and observe from the perimeter.
The monkeys are mostly harmless, but it is possible that some will bite you. If you do get bitten, check to see if the skin was broken, in which case we recommend getting treatments for rabies (5 shots in all and this does not include the 3 vials of immunoglobulin that they will inject directly into the wound – ouch!) During the Monkey Festival in late November, there are rabies clinics set up just outside the temple. If you are worried about germs in general, consider bringing some sanitizer with you.
The entrance fee is 50 Baht for non-Thais and 10 Baht for Thais or those holding a Thai work permit. There is an even cheaper option, however, which entails walking past the monkey temple, keeping it on your left and walking in the back gate where there is no ticket booth.
What else is there in Lopburi besides the Monkey Temple?
A visit to Monkey Temple can take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how adventurous you want to be with the monkeys. The good news is that once you leave, you can come back later the same day. Just show them your ticket and say “don chao”, meaning “this morning”. This allows you to take a monkey break and perhaps get something to eat or visit the museum or other ruins before playing with or photographing monkeys again.
If you have time to kill before your train leaves or if it is late, which it most likely will be except for the few tains that originate in or just before Lopburi, consider visiting Wat Phra Sri Rattana Mahathat. It is serene with flowering trees and old ruins. For a 50 Baht entrance fee, it is the perfect place to find some shade and relax. Located directly across from the train station you can actually hear the announcements when a train is arriving, with enough time to simply walk across the street and board your train.
Monkeys can only be seen at and around the Monkey Temple. It is rare to see a monkey further in the center of town. You can actively see Lopburi residents giving monkeys things to eat and they don’t seem bothered by them. A taxi driver even smiled as he brushed off monkey poop from the top of his cab. Traffic stops for monkeys crossing the street and it is understood that if you park across from the Monkey Temple that monkeys will immediately investigate your car. They seem to really enjoy pick-up trucks the best.
If you want a monkey experience where you can sit down in the shade and just watch the monkeys without them climbing all over you, scratching or biting you, consider sitting on the single step in the right hand corner of the alley just across from the Monkey Temple. They will walk by you but their attention will be elsewhere. It’s also a nice view of the temple.
Traveling from Lopburi to Ayuthaya?
You can pick up a blue southbound train schedule from the ticket counter and it is fairly easy to read. The trains on this schedule are marked ORD, RAP or SP EXP. ORD trains (Ordinary) cost only 13 Baht, having no assigned seats and take about 1 1/2 hours to Ayuthaya. RAP trains (Rapid) cost 20 Baht with no assigned seats and still taking the same 1 1/2 hours. The price for an SP EXP train (Special Express) bumps up to a whopping 310 Baht, which gives you an assigned seat and takes 45 minutes. The woman at the ticket counter reported that the Special Express Train leaving at 18:05 is always 1 to 2 hours late every day, nullifying the quicker travel time.
If you are concerned about time, chose a train that does not originate in far away places such as Chiang Mai as these are more likely to be late with all the stops they have to make before getting to Lopburi. The best trains for on time performance are the 5:15am, 6am, 8am and 5:27pm (17:27).
Erick
So strange to see so many monkeys out on the streets. Are there any other kind of animals like squirrels or raccoons?
Mindy & Ligeia
No raccoons in sight, but some squirrels. Monkeys were definitely the dominant species, though! 🙂
TammyOnTheMove
I think monkeys are adorable, but I think the more they get used to humans the more viscious they can become. I would have been petrified if one tried to get my hairclip of me. The picture of the baby monkey is so cute by the way. 🙂
Ryan & Liz - Pause The Moment
NO thanks! Monkeys are some of the most unpredictable animals on the planet. Sure, some of them look cute but I would never trust one. As you can tell, I’m not too much of a fan of monkeys. LOL!
Mary R
Oh, I would totally love this place!
Mindy & Ligeia
Hi Mary,
It was definitely pretty awesome and it’s very easy to get to from Bangkok. We also recommend combining it with a stop in Ayuthaya. 🙂
sankar
how does one see if we have to take off glasses cos the monkeys will get them. i went to the monkey temple in bali, though, not as numerous, i managed to keep my glasses on
Mindy & Ligeia
Hi Sankar,
That’s a good question. If you happen to have contact lenses, I recommended wearing them instead of glasses on the day of your visit. Or you could also stay along the fence when you visit. If you are familiar with monkey behavior you will probably know when you are getting to close and in possible danger of losing your glasses so trust your judgement and just stay behind that comfort line. Have a good time. They are fun to watch. 🙂
Matt Hulland
Great info and advice well written. Really happy we found this post as will be heading to play with the monkies in a few days time. Thanks. Oh, did you get bitten?
Mindy & Ligeia
Hi Matt,
I’m glad the information was helpful. Enjoy the monkeys as they are fun to both watch and interact with. But, yes I did get bitten twice, once on my back and once on my finger. Because the bite on the finger broke the skin I was encouraged to get rabies shots. You can get the series ahead of time and if you get bitten you would only need to get 1 shot instead of the full 5. Also, be aware of the mosquitoes next to the river in Ayuthaya. I got bitten by one who was carrying Dengue fever and oh my god, you do NOT want that. So bring bug spray and remember it’s the mosquitoes with the dangling legs that are out during the day that are Dengue fever carriers. The ones at night are not a concern. Do not bring bug spray from home as this will not help with these kinds of mosquitoes; instead, go into a pharmacy when you first arrive in Thailand and buy the buy spray that has 95% deet. It will keep the bugs away.
Hope I didn’t scare you away. I wish I knew this info before arriving. 🙂
Hope you get some great monkey pics. 🙂
Graham Franklin
I went to the monkey temple in July this year. A word of warning if you are wearing sunglasses, take them off and put them in your bag, luckily enough the cheeky monkey didn’t get mine, but he did have some American woman’s ear rings!
Phra Prang Sam Yot in Lopburi is great place to go and see monkeys, a couple of hours from Bangkok by minivan, we stayed for about 3 hours inc food.
http://thetravellingphase.com/monkey-temple-lopburi/
hyphen
I believe it would have been fitting to mention that there is close to a 100% chance that you will get bitten and have to spend over 7000 baht to get it sorted. If I thought that it was going to cost me 7000 baht just to have some monkeys climbing over me and randomly biting various bits of my body, I dare say I would have given it a miss. I guess I could go back there now and make the most of the cash I just had to spend.
Bounding Over Our Steps
Wow Hyphen, that is indeed a lot of money. I can’t remember how much I paid to get my rabies shots but it could have been around that after all was said and done. There were many people there who did not get bitten as they stayed back from the macaques and simply watched them and made the decision to not engage. If I were going again, this is probably what I would do…then again, knowing me, I would see the adorable macaques and not be able to help myself. I hope the rest of your trip isn’t as costly.
hyphen
I was mostly annoyed at my own lack of preparation. I had all these ideas of making sure that I kept everything out of reach but clearly I was not prepared enough.
I was so careful and so cautious about sudden movements but then realized that I had left my little phone in my pocket. One started reaching in and I just instinctively pushed him off without thinking – he bit and drew blood.The 7000 baht was apparently not too bad and I only did the simple tetanus shot and not the full deal. I have been to Thailand multiple times before and never ever taken any shots in my own country before going but I had never thought of going to Lopburi.
Bounding Over Our Steps
The macaques are definitely clever and seem to find ANYthing that is not bolted down and even then, they will try to get it anyway.
Billy
Any advice on makig this a cheap day trip from Bangkok? Looks like the train schedule getting into Lop Buri and leaving do not match up. We would have to stay over night from what I saw. Any advice?
Bounding Over Our Steps
Hi Billy,
When I went I left Bangkok in the morning and then took the train in the afternoon to Auyttaya where I spent the night, but the train I was on went all the way back to Bangkok. I also remember that I had traveled on the weekend so I’m not sure if the train schedule is different during the week. It has also been a couple of years since I’ve done this trip so it is highly possible that they have changed the train schedule. If you do have to spend the night away from Bangkok, there are more laces to stay in Auyttaya than in Lopburi, including some very cheap options. Enjoy your trip.