Centrally located, gleaming white Wat Mahathat is one impressive temple. The showpiece is a 42m-tall five-tiered Ayuthaya-style prang (corn-cob shaped stupa) decorated in stucco relief, a speciality of Phetchaburi’s local artisans you'll see all over town. Inside the wí·hăhn (sanctuary) that fronts it are important, though highly damaged, early-20th-century murals.
When leaving or arriving at the temple follow Thanon Suwanmunee through the old teak house district, now filled with lottery vendors, for a picture-postcard view of the prang from the bridge. There are historical signs in front of some of the notable buildings on this street and Th Klongkrachang.