Most guides to Buriram cover the same short list. Phanom Rung, Mueang Tam, Khao Kradong, the stadium, the circuit — and then they stop. The list below goes further. It draws on time spent in the province, research across Thai and English sources, and knowledge of a landscape most international visitors never see.
The result includes a wetland that harbours the tallest flying bird in Asia — reintroduced from extinction and almost entirely absent from the tourist trail — and a lake with floating hire rafts that appears in no English-language guidebook or travel blog. The places to visit in Buriram reach well beyond the standard six. Between them are ancient volcanoes, Khmer ruins, world-class motorsport, and one of Southeast Asia’s most remarkable conservation stories.
Buriram is a large province. Most of the places on this list require transport. More on that at the end.
1. Phanom Rung Historical Park
Phanom Rung sits at the summit of a 200-metre extinct volcano and is the most complete Khmer temple complex in Thailand. Built largely between the 10th and 13th centuries as a Hindu sanctuary dedicated to Shiva, it predates the formal incorporation of the region into any Thai polity by several hundred years — a reminder that northeastern Thailand was deep Khmer territory when much of the rest of the country was still forest.
The temple’s most distinctive feature goes largely unmentioned in standard guides. Four times each year the sun aligns perfectly through all fifteen door frames of the main corridor, creating an unbroken tunnel of light from the eastern gate to the inner sanctuary. The April and September alignments occur at sunrise; the March and October alignments at sunset. The April alignment — falling around the Songkran period — draws crowds and a festival. The other three dates offer the same phenomenon with a fraction of the visitors. If you can time a visit to one of these dates, it is worth doing.
Entry: 100 THB for foreign visitors. Located around 50 km south of Buriram city. A combined ticket covering both Phanom Rung and Prasat Mueang Tam costs 150 THB — if you are going to one, go to both.
→ Full guide: Phanom Rung: The Khmer Temple on Top of the World
2. Prasat Mueang Tam
Eight kilometres from Phanom Rung, Prasat Mueang Tam is the Khmer temple that most visitors rush past on their way to the better-known site. That is their loss. Mueang Tam is smaller and sits on the plain rather than a volcano, but it has something no other Khmer temple in the world possesses: four L-shaped ponds arranged symmetrically around the central sanctuary. At the right hour, the stonework doubles in the water.
The five brick prangs at the centre are largely original, and the main sanctuary has partially collapsed — which only adds to the atmosphere. Since 2019, the Phanom Rung, Mueang Tam, and Prasat Khao Plai Bat ensemble has been on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List. On a quiet morning, you may have the site almost entirely to yourself.
Entry is included in the combined ticket with Phanom Rung (150 THB). Located in Prakhon Chai District.
→ Full guide: Prasat Mueang Tam: The Khmer Temple Almost Nobody Visits
3. Khao Kradong Forest Park
Khao Kradong is an extinct volcano at the edge of Buriram city. Its summit holds a large standing Buddha image visible from the plain below, a hilltop Buddhist temple, and views across the flat Khorat Plateau that give the surrounding landscape its proper scale. The forested slopes form a public park with walking trails — popular in the early morning with locals doing laps of the paths, and with merit-making visitors throughout the day.
It is not a spectacular destination in the way Phanom Rung is. But it is free, ten minutes from the city centre, and one of those places that earns its position through reliability rather than drama. For anyone spending more than a day or two in Buriram, a morning on Khao Kradong gives the province a context that is difficult to get any other way.
Free entry. Around 6 km from the city centre.
→ Full guide: Khao Kradong: The Extinct Volcano in Easy Reach of Buriram City
4. Chang International Circuit
Home to the Thai MotoGP round, Chang International Circuit is one of the finest motor racing venues in Asia. The 4.5 km circuit was built to FIM Grade A specification and opened in 2014. It has since hosted MotoGP, World Superbike, and various Asian championship rounds. The 2026 MotoGP race — the opening round of the season — was held here in late February and was won by Marco Bezzecchi.
MotoGP weekend draws around 200,000 visitors to the province, but the circuit exists beyond the race calendar. The wider Chang complex operates year-round. For anyone interested in motorsport, it is possible to visit outside race periods; for anyone here during the race weekend, the atmosphere in Buriram city itself — not just the circuit — is worth experiencing.
Book accommodation and transport well in advance for MotoGP weekend. Prices across the province increase significantly during the race.
→ Full guide: MotoGP Thailand at Chang Circuit
5. Chang Arena & Buriram United FC
Buriram United are the most decorated club in Thai football history. Five consecutive Thai League 1 titles, the fifth clinched in April 2026 — more than any other club has won consecutively — built on a model of serious investment, professional coaching, and a level of fan organisation that most Southeast Asian clubs cannot match. Their stadium, Chang Arena, holds over 32,000 and fills on a big match day.
The club’s story is inseparable from the province’s recent transformation. The result has turned a relatively obscure northeastern province into Thai football’s capital. Going to Chang Arena on matchday is a piece of the Buriram story you will not get anywhere else — even if you know nothing about Thai football going in.
→ Full guide: Buriram United FC: The Complete Guide
Most of the places on this list are spread across a large province. Phanom Rung and Mueang Tam make a natural combined day trip; the crane wetland and Nong Tah Haeng each require their own drive. Renting a car from Buriram Airport is the most practical way to cover the ground. Compare car hire rates from Buriram Airport — search, compare, and book before you travel.
6. Sarus Crane Wetlands — Huai Chorakhe Mak
In 1960, the Eastern Sarus Crane was declared extinct in Thailand. Today, a breeding population lives in the wild less than twenty minutes from Buriram city. The story of what happened between those two points is one of the more remarkable wildlife recoveries in Southeast Asia — and it appears in almost no travel guide in English.
The Eastern Sarus Crane (Grus antigone sharpii) is the tallest flying bird in Asia, reaching up to 1.8 metres in height with a wingspan that can approach 2.4 metres. The Thai population was lost entirely through the 20th century; a reintroduction programme beginning in the late 1990s brought birds from Cambodia, and the species has been breeding in the wild in Buriram province for over two decades. The reservoir at Huai Chorakhe Mak is the best place in Thailand to see them. Boat tours are available on site. The Tourism Authority of Thailand carries a formal listing; the Bangkok Post ran a travel feature on the site in 2020.
This is the inclusion that makes this list different from every other guide to Buriram. If you visit the province and see nothing else on this page, see the cranes.
→ Full guide: Where to See Sarus Cranes in Thailand: Your Complete Buriram Guide
7. Nong Tah Haeng Lake
Nong Tah Haeng does not appear in any English-language guidebook, travel blog, TripAdvisor listing, or TAT English page. As of the time of writing, buriram.live is the only source covering it in English.
The lake straddles the Buriram–Surin border in Tambon Phiayram, around an hour’s drive from Buriram city. It covers roughly 247 rai and is home to around thirty wooden floating hire rafts, combining swimming platforms and slides with food and drinks served by the raft owners. There is no entry fee. It is a working reservoir used by local families on weekends, and that is exactly what makes it worth the drive: no ticket booths, no coach tours, no souvenir stalls. It is one of the few places in the region that offers this kind of experience without having been found and packaged for tourism.
→ Full guide: Nong Tah Haeng: The Stunning Hidden Lake You Won’t Find in Any Buriram Guide
A good-value eSIM will save you hunting for a SIM card on arrival and keeps data running between stops. Get a Thailand eSIM before you arrive — Thailand data packages starting from a few dollars — worth sorting before you fly.
8. Buriram Walking Street
Buriram’s walking street market runs in the evenings and brings most of what makes Isaan street food worth eating into one walkable stretch. Som tam from the mortar, gai yang grilled over charcoal, moo ping on roadside racks, sticky rice — it is a local market, not a tourist one, and that is its value. The food stalls run alongside clothing vendors, phone accessories, and the general range of Thai night-market goods.
The atmosphere shifts through the evening: the early hours are the food rush, later is slower and more social. For a first night in Buriram, it is the easiest way to eat well for under 100 baht and get a sense of what the city feels like after dark. Cross-reference with our Isaan food guide before you go — knowing what to order makes a significant difference.
Free entry. Check local social media for current days and hours, as market schedules in smaller Thai cities can shift seasonally.
9. Wat Khao Angkhan
Wat Khao Angkhan sits on a forested hilltop outside Buriram city and holds something most visitors drive straight past: a collection of Dvaravati-era sema stones — carved sandstone boundary markers for sacred space — from a period predating the Khmer temples for which the province is better known. Dvaravati culture spread across the upper Khorat Plateau between roughly the sixth and eleventh centuries, and these sema stones are among its most direct remnants in Buriram.
The modern Buddhist temple built around the ancient stones adds a reclining Buddha and elevated views across the surrounding countryside. Lonely Planet carries a proper entry for the site. Travel blogs, almost universally, do not. The absence of coverage is not explained by the site being uninteresting — it is simply that very few writers have looked beyond the standard list.
Free entry.
→ Full guide: Wat Khao Angkhan: Your Complete Guide to Buriram’s Most Underrated Temple
10. Lam Nang Rong Reservoir
In the south of the province, Lam Nang Rong Reservoir offers a different register from the rest of this list. It is not a temple or a wildlife site — it is a large body of water built around a dam in Nang Rong District, used for recreation and fishing, and valued locally for the same slow-afternoon quality that characterises the best of rural Isaan.
It does not top anyone’s list of unmissable destinations, and it earns its place here not through spectacle but through context. For visitors spending several days in Buriram and interested in the province as a whole rather than just its headline sites, it is worth a half-day — particularly when combined with the drive south, which passes through agricultural land that looks nothing like the tourist-circuit version of Thailand.
Honourable Mentions
Several places came close to the main list:
Prasat Khao Plai Bat — Part of the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List ensemble (listed 2024) with Phanom Rung and Mueang Tam. The site of the largest discovery of Buddhist bronze images ever made in Southeast Asia — several hundred pieces found in 1964. Currently undervisited and underinterpreted in English. Worth the detour for anyone with a serious interest in the region’s history.
Play La Plaen — A combined flora park and water park around 30 km north of Buriram city. Better suited to families than solo travellers. The botanical garden element is better than the average review suggests.
Infinity SeeSun Resort — The most resort-like water park in the province, around 20 km from the city in the Krasang area. Occasionally referenced in hotel aggregators; never covered in tourism guides. Best for a dedicated resort day, particularly with children.
Planning Your Visit
Getting to Buriram
The overnight train from Bangkok is the most straightforward option for most travellers. Daytime trains are also available. Buriram Airport (BFV) has connections to Bangkok via Nok Air; the airport is around 32 km from the city centre.
For trains and buses across Thailand, Search Bangkok to Buriram trains and buses — compare and book routes in advance, including onward connections.
→ Full transport guide: Getting to Buriram: The Complete Transport Guide
Getting Around
Most of the places on this list require a car or motorbike. Phanom Rung and Mueang Tam are a natural combined day trip; the crane wetland at Huai Chorakhe Mak is around twenty minutes from the city; Nong Tah Haeng is an hour’s drive. Public transport options for the outlying sites are limited.
Compare car hire rates from Buriram Airport — search, compare, and book before you travel.
Where to Stay
Most accommodation is concentrated in Buriram city. The Amari Buriram United — operated by the ONYX group and connected to the football club — is the premium option. During MotoGP weekend and major match days, book well in advance.
→ Full accommodation guide: Where to Stay in Buriram
Before you travel, it is worth picking up a Thai eSIM. Get a Thailand eSIM before you arrive — activate before landing — no hunting for a SIM on arrival, and coverage throughout the province.
Considering travel insurance for your trip? Get a travel insurance quote for Thailand — World Nomads covers more than 150 adventure activities as well as emergency medical, lost luggage, and trip cancellation.
SafetyWing Nomad Insurance is worth considering for longer stays — it operates on a rolling monthly basis and covers Thailand comprehensively.
If you are transferring money for accommodation, car hire, or other costs in Thailand, Send money to Thailand with Wise — consistently better exchange rates than bank transfers or airport bureaux.
Feature image: Philip Nalangan, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Prasat Mueang Tam image: Ddalbiez, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Sarus Crane image: KongkhamWichit, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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