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Phichit, mapped.
12Districts — Mueang Phichit, Taphan Hin, Bang Mun Nak, Pho Prathap Chang, Pho Thale, Thap Khlo, Sam Ngam, Wachirabarami, Wang Sai Phun, Bueng Na Rang, Dong Charoen & Sak Lek
347kmPhichit railway station's distance from Bangkok on the State Railway's Northern Line
1058Traditional founding year of the town, first named Sa Luang, then Okhaburi, and finally Phichit
0.4%Share of the province still under forest — Phichit is almost entirely flat, irrigated rice plain
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Why Phichit
Phichit is one of Thailand's quietest provinces — a flat, fertile rice plain in the lower north where the Nan and Yom rivers run south and join shortly before the Chao Phraya is formed. Only about 0.4% of its land is forest; nearly three-quarters is farmland, and rice, sugarcane, pomelo and lime dominate the economy. It has no airport and no national university campus, and it draws almost no foreign visitors: of roughly 280,900 people who visited in 2021, all but around 94 were Thai. What it does have is a Northern-Line rail spine through Phichit, Taphan Hin and Bang Mun Nak, a 400-bed Level S provincial hospital that trains doctors and takes referrals from four neighbouring provinces, its own community college and secondary service area office, an unusually deep well of legend and heritage, and some of the lowest living costs in the country. This is a province for people who genuinely want rural Thailand — not a relocation destination competing with Chiang Mai or the coast, and we say so plainly.
Photo: Pixabay / Pexels02
Where to live
Phichit's living options come down to four practical choices, and all four are small. Phichit town centre on the Nan riverside (Nai Mueang) is the walkable core — the railway station, Phichit Hospital, the provincial offices and Wat Tha Luang. Bueng Si Fai and the old city at Mueang Kao form the green, house-led edge of town around the lake and the historical park. Taphan Hin, roughly 28 rail-kilometres south, is the province's second town, with its own station and a 90-bed hospital. And Bang Mun Nak and the southern districts are rice country — the cheapest and most rural option in the province. The full where-to-live guide compares all four honestly.
Photo: Valeria Drozdova / Pexels03
Getting around
Phichit has no airport, but it does have rail — and that is the province's single best connection. The Northern Line runs its full length, with Class 1 stations at Bang Mun Nak (297km from Bangkok), Taphan Hin (319km) and Phichit (347km), all three opened in 1908 with the original extension from Pak Nam Pho to Phitsanulok. Trains run in both directions between Bangkok and Chiang Mai. By road, Highway 117 links the province north to Phitsanulok and south to Nakhon Sawan, and Highway 113 runs east toward Phetchabun. There is no BTS, MRT or city bus network: within and between the towns, life runs on songthaews, motorbike taxis and — for almost everyone who lives here — a private motorbike or car. The nearest commercial airport is Phitsanulok (PHS), around an hour north.
Photo: Quang Nguyen Vinh / Pexels04
Heritage & legend
For a small province, Phichit carries a remarkable amount of story. It is Mueang Chalawan, the city of the crocodile — the setting of the Krai Thong folk epic in which a commoner hunts down Chalawan, the shape-shifting crocodile lord, and its provincial aquatic animal is still the Siamese crocodile. The old city at Mueang Kao, founded in 1058 and successively called Sa Luang and Okhaburi before it became Phichit, survives as a historical park with earth ramparts, a moat and the cave the legend assigns to Chalawan. Wat Pho Prathap Chang, in the district of the same name, was built in 1701 by King Suriyenthrathibodi — Phra Chao Suea, the 'Tiger King' — at his reputed birthplace, and is still ringed by double walls and trees over two centuries old. Wat Bang Khlan was the temple of Luang Pho Ngoen, who died in 1919 reputedly aged 111 and whose amulets remain among the most sought-after in Thailand. And Wat Tha Luang's Luang Pho Phet anchors the province's signature event, the traditional long-boat races on the Nan.
Photo: Quang Nguyen Vinh / Pexels05
Relocating to Phichit
Phichit suits a narrow group very well and almost everyone else poorly. It works for people with a family or land connection to the province, for retirees on a modest budget who want a genuinely rural Thai life near a real provincial hospital, and for anyone whose work brings them here. It does not work for people who need an international school, an organised foreign community, an airport on the doorstep or a modern condominium — none of those exist here. The standard Thai long-stay visa routes apply (retirement, marriage, DTV, education and LTR), there is no international border in the province, and extensions and 90-day reporting route through the Phichit Immigration Office. Housing is let almost entirely by local owners rather than agencies, so expect to arrange things in person and in Thai.
Photo: Marta Branco / Pexels06
Cost of living
Phichit is among the least expensive provinces in Thailand. Its gross provincial product per head ran at roughly ฿93,950 in 2021 — well under half the national average — and with almost no tourism, no expat-premium pricing and an agricultural economy, day-to-day prices stay genuinely low. The flipside is that structured, Phichit-specific cost data is close to non-existent, so our cost-of-living guide gives clearly labelled indicative ranges rather than inventing precise figures. Budget realistically for a vehicle: with no mass transit and real distances between the towns, a motorbike or car is a fixed line in almost every Phichit budget.
Photo: Qing Luo / Pexels07
Healthcare
Phichit's healthcare is stronger than the province's size suggests and plainly not a regional hub. Phichit Hospital in the town centre is the province's only general hospital, graded Level S by the Ministry of Public Health at around 400 beds — one tier below a regional centre — and it takes referrals from the border districts of Phitsanulok, Phetchabun, Nakhon Sawan and Kamphaeng Phet as well as from its own network. Its Clinical Medical Education Centre, approved by cabinet in June 2004 and teaching from March 2005, delivers the clinical years of Naresuan University's medical degree under the national CPIRD rural-doctor programme. The other eleven districts each have a community hospital — Bang Mun Nak and Taphan Hin the largest at 90 beds each — backed by 109 sub-district health-promoting hospitals. On the private side, Chaiaroon Vechagarn and Pitsanuvej Phichit both sit in Mueang Phichit, and Pitsanuvej is part of the SET-listed PRINC group whose network includes the JCI-accredited Pitsanuvej Phitsanulok an hour north. For genuinely complex or specialist care, patients travel to Phitsanulok, and we say so rather than overstating what is here.
Photo: RDNE Stock project / Pexels08
Schools & universities
Phichit has a full Thai state school system and no international layer above it. The province runs its own Secondary Educational Service Area Office administering 30 secondary schools in four clusters — Mueang Phichit, Sam Ngam, Taphan Hin and Bang Mun Nak — with Phichit Pittayakom School at 31 Phichit–Kamphaeng Phet Road the town-centre flagship, teaching M.1 to M.6 with selective SMTE and Science–Mathematics–English streams, and Taphan Hin School founded in 1951 serving the south. Behind them sit three government vocational colleges — Phichit Technical College next door to the flagship, the 523-rai College of Agriculture and Technology at Sam Ngam, and Phichit Vocational College at 316 Busaba Road beside Wat Tha Luang, which carried the name Phichit Polytechnic College until a Ministry of Education renaming on 21 December 2021 — plus Phichit Community College at Pho Thale, a state higher-education body created in 2002 precisely because the province has no university. Beyond them the province has one Buddhist-university service unit, MCU's, at Wat Phruksawan Chotikaram in Taphan Hin, and no Ramkhamhaeng presence at all: neither one of its 23 regional campuses nor one of its 41 examination centres, so a distance student registers and sits finals out of province. Families needing a genuine international curriculum will not find one here — that negative has been tested in Thai as well as English — and the realistic options are Phitsanulok an hour north, or Chiang Mai and Bangkok for a full international track.
Photo: Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels09
Housing & condos
Phichit is a house-and-apartment market, not a condominium market. Real estate accounts for about 3.8% of provincial output, there is no student or investor demand of the kind that produces condo towers, and BAANLYY has not verified a single registered condominium building in the province. Rather than fabricate a building directory with invented developers, completion years, floor counts or coordinates, our condos-and-housing overview is explicit about what the supply actually is — apartments above shophouses, townhouses and detached homes let directly by local owners — and leaves the verified building directory to our ongoing data process, clearly labelled as pending.
Photo: Pixabay / PexelsExpat community
There is no organised expat community in Phichit, and BAANLYY will not invent one. In 2021 the province recorded around 280,908 visitors of whom 280,814 — very nearly 100% — were Thai. The foreigners who live here are overwhelmingly individuals married into Thai families, scattered across the districts rather than clustered anywhere, plus a small number of teachers. That is the honest picture: a province where you will be the only foreigner in most rooms, which is exactly what some people are looking for and a dealbreaker for most.
Phichit Living Summary
Editorial analysis compiled and periodically refreshed by BAANLYY’s research team — not a live data feed.
- Is Phichit growing?No — and that is the honest answer. Recorded population fell from about 572,989 in 2000 to roughly 532,310 in 2020, a pattern of quiet rural out-migration common across the lower-central rice plain. Phichit is a stable agricultural province rather than a growth market, and nothing in its economic mix suggests that changes soon.
- How deep is Phichit's rental market?Thin. Real estate is about 3.8% of provincial output, there is no university-campus or investor demand of the kind that builds towers — the province's higher education is a community college whose main campus is at Pho Thale, not a student city — and no verified condominium supply exists. What there is: apartments above shophouses in Phichit town and Taphan Hin, townhouses, and detached houses let directly by owners across the districts. Expect to find a home by asking locally rather than browsing listings.
- Who does Phichit suit right now?People with a personal reason to be here — family, land, or work — plus budget-minded retirees who genuinely want rural Thailand and are comfortable functioning in Thai. It does not suit families needing international schooling, anyone wanting a foreign community, or buyers looking for a condominium.
- What are the current pros and cons of living in Phichit?Pros: exceptionally low cost of living, three Northern-Line rail stations within 50km of each other, a 400-bed Level S provincial hospital that takes referrals from four neighbouring provinces and teaches Naresuan University's clinical medical years under CPIRD, a private hospital inside a national group that reaches JCI-accredited care an hour north, real heritage and lake-and-river green space, and almost no tourism. Cons: no airport, no national university campus, no international school, no verified condo market, essentially no foreign community, very thin published data, a double-track railway that is approved but unbuilt, and a car or motorbike is mandatory.
Analysis last reviewed August 2026.
Phichit's Heritage Timeline
- 1058The town is founded as Sa LuangTradition records the founding of the town by Phraya Kotabongthevaraja as Sa Luang, the 'city of the royal pond' — the pond that still appears on the provincial seal. It later became Okhaburi, 'the city in the swamp', before taking the name Phichit.
- 1701Wat Pho Prathap Chang is builtKing Suriyenthrathibodi of Ayutthaya — Phra Chao Suea, the 'Tiger King' — builds Wat Pho Prathap Chang at his reputed birthplace in the village of Pho Prathap Chang, enclosing it in double walls. Trees on the site are now over two centuries old.
- 1908The Northern Line reaches PhichitOn 24 January 1908 the State Railway's extension from Pak Nam Pho to Phitsanulok opens, bringing Bang Mun Nak, Taphan Hin and Phichit stations into service and giving the province the rail spine it still runs on.
- 1919Luang Pho Ngoen dies at Wat Bang KhlanLuang Pho Ngoen, abbot of Wat Bang Khlan in Pho Prathap Chang district, dies reputedly aged 111. His amulets, cast at the temple, become among the most collected and most valuable in Thailand and remain a signature of the province.
More Phichit guides
The core Phichit relocation guides are below, with more being added. In the meantime, see the general Thailand visa and relocation guides too.
Phichit neighbourhood & areas guide →
Phichit Area Score — every area ranked & rated →
Frequently asked
Is Phichit a good place to live for expats?Only for a specific kind of person. Phichit is a quiet agricultural province with a Level S provincial hospital that trains doctors, very low costs, good train links and genuine heritage — but no airport, no national university campus, no international school, no condominium market and effectively no foreign community. It suits people with a family or land connection here, or retirees who actively want rural Thai life on a modest budget. Anyone wanting expat infrastructure, international schooling or a modern condo should look at Phitsanulok an hour north, or Chiang Mai.
What is Phichit known for?Phichit is known as Mueang Chalawan, the city of the crocodile, from the Krai Thong folk epic set here — its provincial aquatic animal is the Siamese crocodile and a giant Chalawan statue stands at Bueng Si Fai lake. It is also the birthplace of King Suriyenthrathibodi (Phra Chao Suea), commemorated at Wat Pho Prathap Chang; the home of Luang Pho Ngoen's famous amulets at Wat Bang Khlan; the site of a major traditional long-boat racing festival on the Nan River; and rice, pomelo and lime country.
How do you get to Phichit?By train, most easily: Phichit is a Class 1 station 347km from Bangkok on the State Railway's Northern Line, with Taphan Hin (319km) and Bang Mun Nak (297km) also on the line, and services running both toward Bangkok and toward Chiang Mai. By road, Highway 117 connects north to Phitsanulok and south to Nakhon Sawan. There is no airport in the province — the nearest is Phitsanulok (PHS), about an hour north.
Does Phichit have condos?Not in any meaningful sense. Phichit has no verified registered condominium supply — the province's housing is apartments above shophouses, townhouses and detached houses let directly by local owners. BAANLYY publishes buildings only once their core facts are individually verified, so rather than fabricate a directory we say plainly that there is nothing verified to list yet.
What is the difference between Phichit and Phitsanulok?They are neighbouring provinces about an hour apart, and they are not comparable in scale. Phitsanulok is the lower north's working regional hub — a major rail junction, a domestic airport, Naresuan University and large tertiary hospitals including the JCI-accredited private Pitsanuvej. Phichit is a quiet agricultural province with a single Level S general hospital, a community college rather than a university campus, and no airport. The link between them is closer than the contrast suggests: Naresuan teaches the clinical years of its medical degree inside Phichit Hospital, and Phichit's private hospital belongs to the same group as Phitsanulok's. Phichit residents still routinely travel north for specialist healthcare, flights and higher education.
Ready to explore Phichit?
See our Thailand visa guides, then talk to us about relocating.
Sources & References
- Phichit province — Wikipedia
- Phichit Hospital — Wikipedia
- Phichit railway station — Wikipedia
- Bueng Si Fai — Wikipedia
- Tourism Authority of Thailand
- National Statistical Office, Thailand
Primary and official sources are cited above. Government rules, fees and procedures in Thailand change over time and vary by office; always confirm current requirements with the relevant authority before relying on them. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.
General information and indicative pricing, not legal, tax, immigration or financial advice. Hero photograph via Pexels. Confirm current details — especially train schedules, which change — with official sources, individual listings or licensed professionals.
Founder of BAANLYY · International real estate broker, investor & relocation specialist
Last updated 27 August 2026 · Last reviewed 27 August 2026