Yasothon
Yasothon is a mainly agricultural Northeastern Province. There is not a lot of outdoor adventure travel, but there are some nice local cultural features, especially the famous Rocket Festival held every May.
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Things to do in Yasothon
Wat Maha That, Yasothon
In the province of Yasothon, apart from learning about amphibians and folklores at Phraya Khan Khak (toad museum), there are…
Wiman Phaya Tan – A Giant Toad Museum in Yasothon Public Park
Driving through Yasothon town center, you may be a bit surprised to notice a 19-meter high toad looking out over…
That Kong Khao Noi
Yasothon is best known for the giant toad museum. But when you have finished educating yourself, you could venture down…
Introduction
Yasothon is a fairly small province in south-eastern Isaan. It is mostly unexplored by tourists but there are a couple of interesting things to see and discover, including the story of the “Toad Prince”.
Once a year, in May, they host the Rocket Festival (Bun Bang Fai), which ties in with the history of Yasothon. This is a huge festival and we highly recommend it!
Recommended for
- Anybody wanting to get away from the typical tourist trail
- Travelers wanting to experience some authentic Thai culture
- People who want to experience the annual Rocket Festival
Getting there
By bus – Buses run from Mo Chit bus terminal in Bangkok in the morning, or you can take a night bus in the evening. The journey takes about 10 hours and will cost between 350 and 700 baht.
By plane – There is no airport in Yasothon but you could fly to Roi Et or Ubon Ratchathani and take a bus from there.
By train – There is no train station either, so you would have to take the train to a neighboring province and then hop on a bus. This will be a long journey!
Where to stay
You will probably want to stay within the town center as this is where all the activities are. If you are planning on going to the Rocket Festival, you must book in advance!
We find our accommodation on Booking.com by first searching for the town or province and our dates, we then filter out any rooms with a score lower than 7 or 8 (depending on availability) as well as any rooms out of our budget. After this, we open the map and hover over all of the pins in the rough location we already decided we want to stay in. Hovering over the pins gives us the price for x nights plus the review score. We click on each pin to open those hotels in a new tab, review them and book our favorite.
Getting around
Similar to other non-touristic towns, if you don’t have your own wheels, you’re limited to tuk-tuks, songtaews and arranged taxis.
You’ll need to agree on a price before using any of the transport and it might save you some trouble if you have Google Maps with directions as well as a Thai translation of where you’re going.
If you’re staying quite central or down a soi (side road) then your hotel may have bicycles for use.
Nightlife
If you are into partying, then Yasothon is not the place to be. The nightlife is not great here but there is somewhere to have a drink called 90’s Bar that sometimes has live music and a small Thai nightclub called Mix Club. If you are on an Isaan road trip, I would save your night out for another province though.
Fitness & gym
We found a nice little gym with good reviews opposite our hotel but unfortunately, it was closed during the morning and most of the afternoon so we didn’t have time for a workout. The gym is called ‘Cool Fitness‘. Check this link for the GPS location.
Opening times are from 4pm to 9pm.
Getting out
Once you have finished playing with rockets and learning about toads, the next closest province to the center is Roi Et, which would make a nice stop off when heading further north into Isaan. We also recommend heading south-east into Ubon Ratchathani for a little bit of fun and adventure. You could also head east first into Amnat Charoen for a quick stop off. Other options are Mukdahan to the north or Sisaket to the south.
