Mahasarakham sits roughly equidistant between three of Isan's larger provincial capitals: Khon Kaen to the north, Roi Et to the east, and Kalasin to the northeast. Each is around an hour by bus and makes a comfortable day excursion. Khon Kaen has the regional museum and a better range of restaurants and shops. Roi Et has a pleasantly compact old centre around its central lake and the tall walking Buddha of Wat Burapha Phiram. Kalasin has the country's most important dinosaur fossil site at Phu Kum Khao, a worthwhile half day for anyone travelling with children.
For an unusual outing closer to home, the chedi of Phra That Na Dun an hour south of town is the closest thing the province has to a heritage destination — a modern monument over a major Dvaravati-period reliquary deposit. The route there passes through working agricultural country and gives a sense of rural Isan that the town itself does not.
