Grobbler enjoyed the Siam Serpentarium so much we went here twice. It’s 10-15 minutes from the airport and ideal if you have an hour to kill before your flight. Cost us $800 baht for him and I, cheaper if you’re Thai or an expat. If you’re not really into snakes this is not really the place for you obviously but if you have kids with even the slightest interest, this is definitely worth a visit as it’s clean, not too crowded and one of the better places, if not the best place we’ve ever been to to see snakes.
We showed up at 9a.m, when it opened and thought we were the only ones there until we got inside and discovered a bunch of mainland Chinese tourists. If you happen to be lucky and not coincide with a busload or 10 of them, you’ll have the place to yourself. Anyway, we were told by the Siam Serpentarium staff that we had to wait until 9:20a.m, apparently because you have to wait for the guide, but just tell them you don’t need a guide, there’s no reason to have one.
So in we went, you shown a pointless 2 minute movie before being greeted by some weird giant stuffed animals. Once through that you’ll reach the snakes and they’re all in separate cages/homes and this is the best thing about Siam Serpentarium; the place is immaculate and very well kept and all the snakes are kept in very nice cages that look hospitable for the snakes. Not sure what a happy snakes looks like but these guys looked happy and I’d have been pleased to be a snake at the Siam Serpentarium because they cages are spotless and obviously cleaned regularly.
Each snake has places to hide and some little trees or branches to climb on. Snakes don’t need much space but these guys had plenty and you can get a good view of almost all of them with the exception of one or two which were hiding completely. This is the most humane snake place we’ve ever been to and one of the better animal experiences we’ve ever done, and we’ve done a lot (including Borneo, Fiji, Chiang Mai, Australia and numerous other places throughout Asia).
The staff at Siam Serpetarium are also excellent, very friendly, helpful and professional. The second time we went there one lady tried to arrange something special for us and when we finished they got out a milk snake and Grobbler had a hold of that. Okay no big deal but it’s the though that counts and they didn’t need to do that. They recognised we had come back after just a few days and went out of their way to do something nice since I also told them Grobbler loved snakes and had his own Ball Python.
Anyway there must have been 20-30 different varieties of snakes at the Siam Serpentarium, including some massive (but still baby) Anaconda’s. All of the snakes looked really healthy. When you’re done with the snakes, you can see a King Cobra show as well as venom extraction. This is a bit touristy and not really worth seeing if you’ve seen any snake show before. At certain times there’s apparently a snake holding and picture taking session but think that’s later on in the day. There’s something upstairs for tour groups only, not sure exactly what that is but probably touristy.
We encountered what looked like a couple of mainland Chinese tour groups. You can easily identify them but the amount of noise, spitting and hawking going on. Best thing to do is wait until they pass as they don’t stop and look, they just walk through quickly, scream when they see the Anaconda, take a few selfies then leave. Whereas Grobbler and I probably spent 45 minutes just going back and forth looking at the snakes, they whip through in about 5 minutes. Both times we went there early and only encountered a couple of small groups but our fishing guide told us one he went there and the car park was full of tour buses, which would be a nightmare. Although that’s nothing to do with Siam Serpentarium and more to do with a certain group of tourists.
The gift shop was a bit weird, not many snake related items there and rather just another shopping experience for the mainland Chinese tour groups
If you or your kids have any interest in reptiles and specifically snakes, the Siam Serpentarium is a must-visit. Great staff, excellent, clean and generous exhibits and overall a top notch experience. Without the show, you can see everything in 30 minutes.
Visit the Siam Serpentarium’s website here.
