Songkhla Old Town & Waterfront

About this Place

Songkhla Old Town — 25km from Hat Yai — is one of South Thailand's most architecturally charming and undervisited destinations, a peninsula city with Chinese-Portuguese shophouses from the 19th-century tin and rubber trading era. The old town streets display colourful murals (inspired by Penang's George Town street art), well-preserved Sino-colonial architecture, and independent cafes and galleries occupying heritage buildings. The city is flanked by two bodies of water: the Gulf of Thailand (Samila Beach with the famous bronze mermaid statue) and the vast Songkhla Lake (Thailand's only natural freshwater lake). The National Museum in a beautifully restored Chinese mansion houses southern Thai and Islamic heritage exhibits. The Songkhla Lake ferries (bang kao) cross to the opposite bank. A genuinely rewarding alternative day trip from Hat Yai that few visitors take.