Krabi town's principal temple and the province's only royal monastery — a third-class royal monastery of the ordinary sub-rank, and the seat of monastic education for the Krabi sangha for more than a century.
วัดแก้วโกรวาราม · Wat Kaeo Korawaram
| Official name | วัดแก้วโกรวาราม — Wat Kaeo Korawaram |
|---|---|
| Where | Pak Nam, Mueang Krabi, Krabi |
| Royal temple class | Third class royal temple, Saman (ชั้นตรี ชนิดสามัญ) The Krabi provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism, which gives the temple's rank as พระอารามหลวง ชั้นตรี ชนิดสามัญ — a third-class royal monastery of the ordinary sub-rank. |
| Monastic order | Not recorded in any register we could read. |
| Ancient monument | Not established. |
Pak Nam, Mueang Krabi, Krabi
The exact location has not been confirmed yet.
Thai temple histories mix two different kinds of statement, and this guide keeps them apart. What a register, a gazette entry, an inscription or a dated royal act shows is one thing. What the chronicles and the temple itself hold is another, and it is worth telling as what it is.
No date is given by that office for the elevation to royal-monastery status, and no Sangha Supreme Council resolution or Royal Gazette notice recording that elevation could be opened in the research for this page. The rank itself is stated by the provincial office and is printed here on that authority; the year it was conferred is not.
Wat Kaeo Korawaram stands on rising ground in the middle of Krabi town, a few minutes' walk from the river and the night market, with its entrance on Maharat Road. It is the provincial temple: the one where the governor's ceremonies happen, where the province's monks sit their Pali examinations, and where a funeral of any consequence in Krabi town is held. The Krabi provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism registers its establishment as B.E. 2443 (1900) and records that from B.E. 2455 (1912) it has been the centre of Buddhist study and Pali scholarship for the whole provincial sangha. That second date matters more than the first for understanding the place, because it is the point at which a town temple became an institution.
It is also the only temple in Krabi carrying a royal rank. The provincial office gives it as พระอารามหลวง ชั้นตรี ชนิดสามัญ — third class, ordinary sub-rank. The ladder of royal monasteries runs first, second and third class, each with its own sub-ranks, and the third-class ordinary grade is the entry rung: it marks a temple the state has taken into royal patronage without giving it the ceremonial weight of a Woramahawihan or a Ratchaworawihan. For a province with no monastic history before the twentieth century that is a meaningful distinction, and it is the reason Wat Kaeo Korawaram rather than the far more photographed Wat Tham Suea is the temple where official Krabi does its business.
What the record does not give is the year the rank was conferred. That is a real gap rather than a shrug: royal elevations are made by resolution of the Sangha Supreme Council and are published, so a date exists somewhere. It could not be opened for this page, and this guide prints the rank on the provincial office's authority while leaving the year blank rather than borrowing one from a travel site. The same applies to the temple's monastic order; the provincial office's entry does not state whether the community is Maha Nikaya or Dhammayuttika, and this page does not guess.
The building most visitors come to see is the white ubosot on the upper terrace, which is modern and makes no pretence otherwise. Its interest is in the murals inside, painted in a style that reads as contemporary rather than traditional, and in the approach: three flights of naga-flanked steps climbing to the platform, so that the ordination hall is met from below in the way a hilltop wihan in the north would be. The effect is deliberate, and in a town built on flat ground beside a river it is the only piece of religious architecture in Krabi that uses height as an argument.
The white ubosot on the raised terrace, reached by naga-flanked steps in three sections. The provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism describes the staircase in exactly those terms, and it is the one piece of designed approach in Krabi town: the hall is meant to be climbed to, not walked into.
The mural cycle inside the ordination hall, painted in a modern idiom — flatter colour and cleaner line than a nineteenth-century temple cycle, and readable without a guide. No source read for this page names the painter or gives a date for the work, so neither is stated here.
The working apparatus of a provincial monastic seat, which is easy to walk past and is the actual reason the temple matters: the study halls where the Krabi sangha sits its Pali and Dhamma examinations, the administrative offices of the provincial ecclesiastical governor, and the ceremonial space used for provincial state occasions.
This is a working place of worship for millions of people rather than an attraction, and it is treated as one at the gate. Where a figure below is blank, no source we are prepared to cite states it.
| Hours | Not established from an official source. |
|---|---|
| Admission | Not established from an official source. |
| Dress | A working royal monastery and a provincial ceremonial temple. Shoulders and knees covered, shoes off before entering the ordination hall, and expect to be turned away from the hall during an examination sitting or a state ceremony. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | In the centre of Krabi town, entrance on Maharat Road near the Manutsayabodin junction. Walkable from the river front and the bus station area. |
Every temple reference repeats claims nobody has checked. These are the ones we went looking for and could not stand up, listed so you know exactly where this page stops.
Yes. The Krabi provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism gives its rank as พระอารามหลวง ชั้นตรี ชนิดสามัญ, a third-class royal monastery of the ordinary sub-rank, and it is the only temple in Krabi province carrying a royal rank at all. The year the rank was conferred is not stated by that office and is not printed on this page, because the resolution recording it could not be opened.
The provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism registers its establishment as B.E. 2443 (1900), which makes it a temple of the early twentieth century rather than an ancient one. The building most visitors photograph, the white ordination hall on the upper terrace, is considerably more recent than that and no source read for this page gives its date.
Because it is the provincial temple and the province's only royal monastery. The provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism records that it has been the centre of Pali and Dhamma study for the Krabi sangha since B.E. 2455 (1912). Wat Tham Suea is far more visited, but monastic administration, examinations and state occasions belong to Wat Kaeo Korawaram.
Shoulders and knees covered, and shoes off before entering the ordination hall, as at any working Thai temple. No official source stating opening hours could be opened for this page, so none is printed here. The grounds are in practice open through the day, but access to the ordination hall itself depends on whether an examination sitting or a provincial ceremony is under way.
Before you go, read the guide to Buddhism and temple etiquette in Thailand — dress, footwear, where photography is not welcome and how to behave around monks. The rest of Krabi’s temples are covered here too.
Every temple here sits in a place worth reading about on its own terms. The nationwide temple guide covers the other provinces to the same documentary standard as this page, and says on each one what the record establishes and what it does not.
If you are thinking about more than a visit: work out which Thai visa route fits your situation, and see what is available to rent and buy in residences across Thailand.
Every fact on this page is drawn from the sources above. Where they disagree, this page says so rather than choosing silently. Registrations, fees, hours and access change; confirm anything you are relying on with the authority concerned. BAANLYY LLC is a Nevada company and a listing portal, does not represent any temple, and offers no legal or religious advice.