Nakhon is nice

Nakhon Si Thammarat is not the prettiest town in Thailand, but it has an interesting history, lots of good food at lunchtime, and some lovely countryside near the city.

Right. That's lunchtime sorted! Khanom jeen restaurant at the corner of Boang and Soi Rajnikom, just SE of Grand Park Hotel

The city centre is spread over quite a long and narrow area, around Rajdamnern Road. At the top end of this central area, you'll find the train station, and a range of hotels, many catering to businessmen (at least, that's what I'm assuming, based upon the two young ladies who knocked on my hotel room door one evening, asking if I wanted a massage).

Following Rajdamnern south, you'll pass several small temples, the remains of the old city wall, the small Tha Ma market (not much there when I passed by, but it was a public holiday).

Chedi Yak, the first temple of note as you head south from the train station area along Rajdamnern

Howdy, partner! This bench is by the old city wall. No, I don't know why they love cowboys, either.

Just over a km further south, you'll find the most famous (and probably largest) wat in the area, Wat Phra Mahathat.

Wat Phra Maharat is stupa-endous.
(I'll get my coat)

Another km further south, you'll find the National Museum (which I didn't get to visit, because of the afore-mentioned public holiday).

After all that walking, you'll work up an appetite, but don't wait too long to eat, as Nakhon is much more of a lunch town than a dinner town - a lot of places are only open during the day, and I found it not always that easy to find places that were open after 7pm.

(I rather suspect that recent years have not been to kind to Nakhon and the surrounding area, based upon the lack of places open in the evening. Hope things improve soon.)

Pretty, but this won't fill my tummy....

When you're done with the city centre, Khao Luang National Park is nearby, as is the popular homestay destination of Khiriwong village.

From the vast number of homestays and small hotels visible on Google maps for Khiriwong, I'd expected it to be over-toutisty. Instead, I found a very quiet little town, where motorcycles delivering baskets of fruit greatly outnumber tourists, many restaurants were closed, and the main local products shop (where locally produced dried fruit and handicrafts are flogged to tourists) was closed down.

Still pretty countryside, though.

Just outside of Khiriwong village

Overall, while Nakhon is never going to be a world-class tourist destination, it's a nice town for a couple of day's exploring.