Best Bangkok shrines and sacred sites for Songkran luck

What it is: Bangkok’s most famous shrine isn’t exactly hidden away. Sitting prominently on the corner of the busy Ratchaprasong intersection, right in front of the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel and framed by crowds of shoppers, traffic and BTS walkways, the Erawan Shrine has drawn devotees and visitors since it was built in 1956 to appease spirits believed to be disrupting construction of the original Erawan Hotel. The gilded statue enshrined there depicts Phra Phrom, the Thai form of Brahma, with four faces representing different life aspects – career and success, relationships and family, wealth and prosperity, and health and well‑being. If you’re lucky and the timing’s right, you’ll often see classical Thai dancers in full regalia performing as offerings from worshippers thanking the deity for answered prayers.

What to wish for: Walk clockwise around the statue and address each face with a specific wish – career at one, love at another, money at the next, health to close it out. Common offerings include garlands of flowers, fruits, wooden elephants or even hiring the resident Thai dance troupe to perform for Phra Phrom.

Time Out tip: Walk the skywalk from Chit Lom BTS station to arrive without touching the street. If you return because your wish came true, commissioning one of those dances is the correct – and rather wonderful – way to say thank you.

494 Ratchadamri Rd, Ratchaprasong intersection, Pathum Wan. BTS Chit Lom (Skywalk). Daily, 6am-midnight.

What is it: If Erawan is Bangkok's spiritual showstopper, Lak Mueang is its soul. The shrine's story begins in 1782 with King Rama I, who founded Bangkok. The first city pillar was made from the sacred Cassia javanica tree, known locally as Chaiyaphruek. It is the city's original spiritual foundation – erected before the Grand Palace, before anything else – and it represents the very axis connecting the earthly realm to the heavens. Today it houses not just the pillar itself but five guardian deities: Phra Seu Mueang, Phra Song Mueang, Phra Kalachai Sri, Chao Phor Jettakup and Chao Phor Hoklong. Childless couples come hoping for fertility. Devotees come to seek prosperity. And at Songkran, there's a particular reason to visit: locals pour water over the city pillar as a form of blessing and purification for the upcoming year. 

What to wish for: Prosperity, career fulfilment and protection from misfortune. This is also the place to ask for good luck, power and prestige – a Thai spiritual tradition that dates back to the Rattanakosin kingdom's founding. 

Time Out tip: Combine with a visit to the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew across the road. Dress modestly.

Southeast corner of Sanam Luang, Phra Nakhon. Chao Phraya Riverboat to N9 Chang Pier. Daily, 6.30am-4.30pm.

What is it: One of Bangkok's best-loved open secrets – its nickname is the Lovers' Shrine. The Trimurti Shrine is a replica of an ancient statue from Ayutthaya, the ancient capital, and comprises three most powerful Hindu gods: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer. In their combined form they become Lord Trimurti, who represents love and unity. Lovelorn singles wearing red turn up every Thursday evening at 9.30pm, paying their respects to Trimurti with offerings of red roses – all in the name of love and in the hope that they'll meet their eternal sweethearts. 

What to wish for: Love. Specifically, finding it, keeping it or getting it back. The traditional offering is nine red roses along with red incense sticks and red candles. Nine because it sounds like ‘moving forward’ in Thai – and red because it's Trimurti's colour and, well, love. 

Time Out tip: Come here with a particular person in mind, not just a vague romantic aspiration. Thursday at 9.30pm is the moment when it is believed that the god will descend from heaven to collect wishes. 

In front of CentralWorld, Ratchadamri Rd, Pathum Wan. BTS Chit Lom or BTS Siam. Open 24 hours.

What is it: Standing directly beside the Trimurti Shrine, the large and very unmissable Ganesha shrine at CentralWorld is dedicated to the elephant-headed deity who is, quite simply, the divine remover of obstacles. The four-armed Ganesha holds an object in each hand: a noose that signifies cutting attachments and conquering emotions; a weapon to help destroy evil; a tusk for the removal of obstacles; and a kotok signifying success. He's worshipped as the patron of wisdom, knowledge and new beginnings – making him a very appropriate deity to visit at the start of a new year. 

What to wish for: Career launches, creative endeavours, business ventures and the clearing of whatever's been blocking you. If you have a goal you've been procrastinating on, this is the place to make it official.

Time Out tip:  Offerings include certain fruits, sweets, flowers and small elephant statues, completed with nine joss sticks and a prayer repeated three times. Meat should not be offered. Ganesha and Trimurti are right next to each other, so it makes sense to do them as a double act – love and success in one stop. 

In front of CentralWorld, Ratchadamri Rd, Pathum Wan. BTS Chit Lom or BTS Siam. Daily, 6am-11pm.

What is it: The goddess of wealth, beauty and divine abundance finds her Bangkok home on the fourth floor of Gaysorn Village shopping mall. Lakshmi is often depicted as a beautiful woman with four arms, seated or standing on a lotus flower. Each arm symbolises aspects of prosperity, including righteousness, wealth, desire and liberation. She is Vishnu's divine consort and represents the nurturing, supportive power of the feminine. The shrine is consistently popular with local Bangkokians seeking blessings in both love and finance.

What to wish for: Financial fortune, material abundance and romantic luck. 

Time Out tip: Worship with nine joss sticks, pink lotus flowers, sugarcane juice, water, milk, five kinds of fruits and various aromatic substances. Avoid meat or eggs. 

4/F, Gaysorn Village, 999 Phloen Chit Rd, Lumphini. BTS Chit Lom. Daily, 10am-8pm.

What is it: The oldest Hindu temple in Bangkok and arguably its most visually arresting. Sri Maha Mariamman Temple was built in 1879 by Vaithi Padayatchi, a Tamil Hindu immigrant. Its facade is in strikingly florid style – a riot of different colours with carved images of various gods and goddesses in different shapes and sizes. At the entrance rises a six-metre gopura tower covered in deities. Inside, the main hall houses a full pantheon – Ganesha, Shiva, Krishna, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Kali, Saraswati – with the central shrine devoted to Goddess Mariamman, the powerful motherly deity worshipped for protection, health and prosperity. What makes Wat Khaek particularly remarkable is who shows up: it draws Tamil Hindus, Thai Buddhists and ethnic Chinese devotees in roughly equal numbers, with many Thai visitors believing that Hinduism is not a separate religion but a branch of Buddhism. That's Bangkok – plural, pragmatic and spiritually generous.

What to wish for: Health, protection from illness, fertility and general life blessings. 

Time Out tip: Friday visits are considered especially auspicious – the temple stays open until 9pm and an oil lamp ritual is performed at midday on most Fridays. Come in the morning to avoid crowds, remove your shoes outside and note that photography is not allowed inside. 

2 Pan Rd, corner of Silom Rd, Bang Rak. BTS Saint Louis. Open Mon-Thu 6am-8pm; Fri 6am-9pm; Sat-Sun 6am-8.30pm.

What is it: Mae Nak is not technically a deity. She is a ghost – Thailand's most famous ghost – and this is her shrine, housed inside the large Wat Mahabut temple complex in On Nut. The legend is heartbreaking: Nak died in childbirth while her husband Mak was away at war during the reign of King Rama III. Her spirit – refusing to be separated from the man she loved – haunted the Phra Khanong district until she was eventually subdued by a powerful monk. This famous shrine is a popular visit for pregnant women seeking easy childbirth, men hoping to avoid the military draft and all kinds of people seeking lucky lottery numbers. The shrine itself is a small wooden structure by the canal, draped in clothes and offerings, with a TV perpetually on in the corner – because Mae Nak, it is said, likes watching Thai dramas. 

What to wish for: Lottery luck, love blessings and – if you believe hard enough – genuine good fortune in all its forms. For luck and lottery blessings, the temple opens all night for prayers one day before the lottery draw. The atmosphere on those nights is extraordinary: candles everywhere, fortune tellers lining the alley, fish and birds released into the canal as merit-making offerings.

Time Out tip: On the way through the complex, look out for the enormous Ton Takien tree wrapped in coloured cloth, where people rub the bark hoping to receive lucky numbers. Strange, beautiful and utterly Bangkok.

Wat Mahabut, Sukhumvit 77 (On Nut Rd), Soi On Nut 7, Suan Luang. BTS On Nut. Daily, 7.30am-5.30pm.

What is it: Located within the Grand Palace complex, Wat Phra Kaew is where the country's spiritual centre of gravity has sat since 1785, when King Rama I installed the Emerald Buddha on its gilded throne. The temple continues to serve as the site of Buddhist religious rites undertaken by the king and the royal family and annual rites are held on Chakri Memorial Day, the Royal Ploughing Ceremony, the King's Birthday and Songkran. That last one matters here: this isn't just a place Thais visit at Thai New Year – it's a place the nation ritually gathers at Thai New Year. The Emerald Buddha itself is a 66cm jade figure of profound national significance and three times a year the King personally changes its robes to mark Thailand's seasons, while monks and members of the royal court take part in the proceedings, with holy water sprinkled as part of the blessing for the nation. The summer robe – a solid gold crown and sceptre – goes on just before Songkran, making a visit in April unusually charged.

What to wish for: National protection, personal merit and a sense of genuine awe. This is less a wish-making stop and more a place to show up with sincerity and gratitude. Bring offerings of lotus buds and incense, walk the outer galleries with their epic Ramakien murals and spend a moment in front of the Emerald Buddha.

Time Out tip: Dress code here is seriously enforced – no shorts, no sleeveless tops. Sarongs are available to borrow at the entrance. Photography is permitted in the outer courtyard and galleries but not inside the ordination hall with the Emerald Buddha. Budget at least two hours for the complex.

B500 (non-Thai visitors; includes Grand Palace). Na Phra Lan Rd, Phra Nakhon. Chao Phraya Riverboat to N9 Chang Pier; or MRT Sanam Chai. Daily, 8.30am-3.30pm.

What is it: Bangkok's oldest and largest temple complex. Wat Pho predates the city itself – it was already here when King Rama I established Bangkok as the capital in 1782. The centrepiece is the Reclining Buddha: a 46-metre-long gold-plated Reclining Buddha, recognised as one of Bangkok's most ancient temples and officially classified as a first-class royal temple. The statue depicts the moment of the Buddha's passing into Nirvana. Around the statue is a corridor holding 108 bronze bowls, each representing one of the 108 auspicious characteristics of the Buddha – and it is believed that donating coins into these bowls brings wealth and prosperity. 

What to wish for: Wealth, wellbeing and liberation from what's been weighing on you. The act of dropping a coin in each of the 108 bowls is a full-body practice in presence – it's impossible to rush and still count. At Songkran, devotees visit Wat Pho to make merit and participate in traditional ceremonies during April's water festival. The temple also houses the national school of traditional Thai massage, so after your spiritual intentions are set, a 30-minute foot massage on the premises is arguably the most grounded way to close the loop on new-year good intentions.

Time Out tip: Come via MRT Sanam Chai – it deposits you almost directly at the south gate. The northeast entrance on Chetuphon Road typically has shorter queues. 

B300. 2 Sanamchai Rd, Phra Nakhon. MRT Sanam Chai (5-minute walk). Daily, 8am-6.30pm.

What is it: Wat Mangkon Kamalawat – or Wat Leng Noei Yi as the local Chinese-Thai community still calls it – has been drawing devotees since 1871. The temple was founded as a Mahayana Buddhist temple and later given its current name, meaning ‘Dragon Lotus Temple’, by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V). It is built in a classic Chinese architectural style with sweeping tiled roofs decorated with animal and floral motifs, including ubiquitous Chinese dragons and around the temple there are shrines dedicated to a variety of Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian deities. 

What to manifest: Health, prosperity, longevity and the clearing of bad luck accumulated over the past year – Songkran's essential brief. 

Time Out tip: One of the most interesting practices here is 'kau cim', a traditional form of Chinese fortune-telling in which you shake a canister of numbered sticks until one falls out, then take the corresponding fortune slip to an interpreter nearby. Other practices include pasting gold leaf onto statues for merit, offering fruits and candles and burning incense at the main hall's three Chinese-style Buddha images. The MRT stop is called Wat Mangkon – could not be easier to reach. 

423 Charoen Krung Rd, Samphanthawong. MRT Wat Mangkon. Daily, 6am-6pm.