Ban Amphoe Lake: hiking and cycling, picturesque sunrises and sunsets in the suburbs of Pattaya

Lake (or reservoir) Ban Amphoe was a pleasant discovery for me. On this day, my wife and I went to see Khao Chi Chan (Buddha image on the mountain). It's an impressive piece of art, but we looked at it pretty quickly. The question arose – what to do next?

See also: Khao Chi Chan: a huge Buddha image on the mountain (photos and video)

The wife said that she saw some kind of sign on the road – if there is a sign, then it points to something that you can also see – it's still better than going home right now.

And that's how I first got to know Khao Chi Chan reservoir. There is a pedestrian road around the reservoir, so you can just walk around the lake. The path is about 3.5 km.

Even for the first time, walking around the lake, I saw the Buddha’s Footprint Mandapa. This is a beautiful religious building on a mountain with spectacular views.

For details, see the article: Buddha’s Footprint Mandapa and a breathtaking view from the top of the mountain

Mandapa is located a little further from Ban Amphoe Lake. But right on the shore of the lake you will also find two temple complexes – Thai and Chinese. Each of these places deserves its own article:

• Wat Yan Sang Wararam Worawihan
• Viharn Sien

But that's not all. There is a bike path along the lake. The cycling route is very long and only a small part of it extends along the lake. Then the bike path goes far in different directions from the reservoir – I will make a map of the bike route for you and publish it separately.

In the meantime, let's stop at Ban Ampho Lake, because there are beautiful pavilions and other buildings here, and here you can also admire sunsets and sunrises and feed huge fish.

How to get to Ban Amphoe Lake

Map with a route by motorcycle or car from Pattaya to the Ban Amphoe reservoir. The route to Ban Amphoe Lake is marked with a blue line.

In fact, from the Sukhumvit road, you can turn not only at the indicated place. There are a couple of places before the indicated turn. But the shown route passes along the best road. In addition, this turn is harder to miss because it is more noticeable: at the turn is 7-Eleven and the bike path begins, this is the turn onto the same road that leads to Khao Chi Chan.

Where to rent bikes at Ban Amphoe Lake

There is a bike trail in the Ban Amphoe lake area, but no bike rental shops. Don't be discouraged: next time I'll tell you about an even cooler bike trail (11 km of a circular route isolated from cars and pedestrians!) with several bike rental shops.

Hiking trail around Ban Amphoe Lake

The walking route around on the map above is marked with a red line.

The entire route runs along an asphalt or paved road. In some places, you can take a short cut along a dirt road.

Walk around the lake Ban Amphoe

Let's walk along the road around Ban Amphoe and briefly get acquainted with the sights of this place. Perhaps I will list these interesting places not quite in the order in which they will meet you. I have walked around this lake several times, sometimes my route was clockwise, sometimes counterclockwise, so photos may not be consistent.

So, we start our journey and see that along the coast there are small, but very picturesque buildings – we will come to them very soon.

These buildings are closer. Some buildings are clearly made in the Chinese style. You can also see the statue of the Water Dragon.

The buildings are located on the territory of a small park. This park has a main entrance, here it is.

It says “ศาลานาคเล่นน้ำนานาชาติ” in Thai. I tried to translate both with the help of a dictionary and with the help of my wife, but I did not succeed.

Just behind the entrance there is another sign “ศาลาไทยล้านนา”. Its meaning also remained incomprehensible to me.

This place is beautiful, but obviously not fully prepared for tourists: some buildings are still under reconstruction, the park clearly needs to be cleaned.

This pavilion, in connection with the 5th round of the birth of King Rama IX, was donated to Wat Yan Sang Wararam by Walter and Olive Meyer (I can not vouch that I correctly understood the commemorative tablet).

Here you can take a closer look at the statue of the Water Dragon (a little later we will see him alive!).

Let's move on to the next, Chinese povellon.

It offers a beautiful view of the lake (as well as from any other building). You can also see another similar Chinese pavilion from here.

Images on the Chinese theme. Most likely, these are fragments from Chinese folklore.

Each fresco has a small explanation in Chinese, but I don't speak Chinese, so I don't know what exactly is written there.

These buildings have a spiral staircase to the second floor. I went up to the second floor, there are holes in the walls, but they are too high to see anything from them.

And this is a building in the Thai style, with Thai characteristic elements of decor and images.

Another Chinese building, the twin of the previous one, differs only in colors.

And this is Thai style again. There's a commemorative plaque inside, but it's in Thai and Chinese, so I didn't even try to figure it out.

I am fascinated by buildings on the water through which you can look at the water, I don’t know why. All these pavilions are especially beautiful in the setting sun.

The last building, in my opinion, is in a futuristic style. You can walk around the building, but the building itself is locked and clearly under renovation.

Throughout almost the entire path along the lake you can see the water. In some places you can get close to the water.

We continue our way – another building. I was a little tired and therefore did not come closer. Next time I will need to come up, at least in order to read the commemorative plaque.

Clock Tower. It was a little unexpected to build this clock tower here, but it must be admitted that it fits well into the local eclecticism.

I called this place on the map “Sunset point”. There is also a “Sunrise point” – on the opposite side.

Our path passes through a small park, I will talk about it in more detail in an article on Wat Yan Sang Wararam Worawihan.

Fish feeding at Ban Amphoe Lake

Remember in Thailand there were many people who offered you to buy caged birds to release them into the wild? It seems like it's good for karma. In recent years, you will not see these enterprising Thais selling caged birds, as the government has banned it. Namely, it was forbidden to sell birds in cages to tourists so that they could release them. The Thais are not discouraged: next to the Ban Amphoe lake you can buy fish in a bag to release them into the pond ))))) I just remembered this, in fact, this is really a section about feeding fish.

Perhaps, if you have visited at least 3 Thai tourist places, then you have either seen how someone feeds giant catfish or even did it yourself. I've done this so many times already that I'm tired of this “entertainment”.

Opposite Viharn Sien, not far from the parking lot, which is marked on the map as “Free parking lot”, you will see merchants and stalls. The wife, seeing the stalls, was delighted: “Now I will buy something to eat”. As it turned out, most of these stalls sell food, but food is not for people, but for fish!

In fact, you can find food and drinks for people, there is even a small restaurant. But we have already switched our thoughts to fish, so we bought food for them.

By the way, there are signs on which a request is written not to feed the birds and dogs.

Video of how we feed catfish in Ban Amphoe:

Behind the scenes there were jokes about “looking at them, I myself got hungry” and “what are you waiting for, come on, catch them, we’ll fry them at home”.

Asian water monitor (Varanus salvator) swims in Ban Amphoe lake

Remember the Water Dragon statue? In Thai, it literally says something like “Dragon playing in the water”.

So, when I was standing next to this statue, the Dragon decided to show me live.

In this video Asian water monitor (also called Varanus salvator) swims.

Conclusion

Ban Amphoe Lake is located very close to Pattaya, where you can walk or run. You can enjoy sunsets, sunrises, just relax by the water at any other time of the day, see temples and pavilions, feed the fish.

The entrance to the reservoir is free.

It's a quiet place, not too many people.

Tourists are brought here by bus, mostly Chinese, but there is enough space so that it is not crowded. In addition, there are almost no tourists in the evening.

Other interesting places nearby (many of them can be visited for free):

• Wat Yan Sang Wararam Worawihan
• Buddha's Footprint Mandapa
• Khao Chi Chan: a huge Buddha image on the mountain (photos and video)
• Ban Amphur Beach: the best beach in Pattaya
• Nong Nooch Tropical Garden
• Swiss Sheep Farm Pattaya