Koh Samui is a lush tropical island in the Gulf of Thailand offering white-sand beaches ancient temples dense jungle interiors vibrant beach clubs and some of Southeast Asia's most diverse dining — all within easy reach of an international airport.
Thailand: Bangkok’s Temples: Thailand’s Dazzling Capital
Contents
1. About Bangkok
2. Things to do
– Wat Arun — Temple of Dawn
– Golden Mount — Wat Saket
– Wat Suthat Thepwararam
– Wat Pho — Temple of the Reclining Buddha
– Grand Palace
– National Museum Bangkok
– Giant Swing — Sao Ching Cha
– Chatuchak Weekend Market
– Jim Thompson House
– Floating Markets
– The Royal Barge Museum
– The Calypso Cabaret
– The Erawan Museum
– Muang Boran — the Ancient City
3. Getting around
4. Vegan dining options
5. Best time to visit
6. Where to stay
About Bangkok
Bangkok is one of those cities that hits you like a warm, fragrant, slightly bewildering wall the moment you step out of the airport, and we mean that in the best possible way. It is Thailand’s capital, its beating commercial heart and, by almost any measure, one of the most visited cities on earth — somewhere around 22 million international visitors a year pour through its streets, which is a remarkable figure for a city that didn’t even exist as a capital until 1782. For context, London has been doing this for roughly two thousand years and still occasionally struggles to cope. Bangkok managed to become a global destination in about two and a half centuries, which is genuinely extraordinary when you think about it.
The city sits on the broad, brown, extraordinarily busy Chao Phraya River in the heart of central Thailand, about 25 kilometres from the Gulf of Thailand as the crow flies. It sprawls across both banks of that river in a fashion that can be initially overwhelming — Bangkok covers around 1,569 square kilometres, and the administrative metropolitan area is home to somewhere north of 17 million people depending on how you draw the boundaries. Getting your head around the sheer scale of the place is something that takes a day or two, during which you will almost certainly get into at least one tuk-tuk where the driver seems to have an entirely different idea of where you’re going. This is, we can confirm, entirely normal and should be embraced as part of the experience.
What makes Bangkok such a remarkable place to visit is the extraordinary contrast between the ancient and the hypermodern that plays out at street level, around every corner, in a way that you genuinely don’t get anywhere else. Within the space of a single afternoon you can stand inside a temple complex that was already three centuries old when Queen Victoria came to the throne, eat a bowl of noodles from a street cart that costs the equivalent of about 60 pence, watch saffron-robed monks collect alms at dawn, and then find yourself in an air-conditioned shopping mall so enormous it has its own postcode and its own ice rink. Bangkok is, in the most literal sense, a city of jarring, wonderful, completely unapologetic contrasts, and if you can get past the heat — which is considerable, by the way, so do pack accordingly — it is one of the most rewarding cities in Southeast Asia.
Formally known as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon — a name that in its full ceremonial version runs to 169 characters and holds a Guinness World Record as the longest place name on earth — Bangkok was established as the Thai capital by King Rama I in 1782, following the fall of the previous capital Ayutthaya to Burmese forces in 1767. Rama I chose a site on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River, previously occupied by a small customs post called Bang Makok, meaning “place of olive plums,” and set about constructing a city that would reflect the glory of the former Ayutthaya kingdom. He dug canals to create an island — Rattanakosin — on which he built the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, the sacred Temple of the Emerald Buddha, and from that original nucleus the city grew outwards, absorbing settlements and communities until it became the vast, pulsing, magnificent beast that greets visitors today.
Rattanakosin, that original royal island, remains the historical and spiritual core of the city, and it is where we spent a good deal of our time. The great temple complexes of Wat Pho, Wat Arun, Wat Suthat and the Grand Palace are all within easy reach of each other here, which is enormously convenient and also means that on a good day you can do an extraordinary amount of sacred sightseeing before it gets too hot to function, which is to say before about eleven in the morning. The rest of the city fans out from that core in every direction: the commercial bustle of Chinatown to the east, the backpacker energy of Khao San Road just to the north, the glass towers of the Sukhumvit corridor stretching away to the east and south-east, and the vast, canal-laced quietness of Thonburi on the west bank.
The city’s transport network, once a byword for gridlock and confusion, has improved dramatically over the past two decades. The BTS Skytrain elevated rail network now covers a substantial swath of the city and has made navigating the major tourist and commercial corridors genuinely straightforward. The MRT subway adds coverage underground. The Chao Phraya express boats remain one of the nicest ways to move between the riverside sights. And then of course there are the tuk-tuks, the metered taxis, the Grab app and the long-tail boats crashing through the canal system at speeds that suggest the driver has places to be and time is very much of the essence. Bangkok is, in short, a city that rewards the curious, the adaptable and the heat-tolerant, and we loved virtually every hot, chaotic, beautiful minute of it.
Things to do
Wat Arun — Temple of Dawn
Golden Mount — Wat Saket
The Golden Mount — formally Wat Saket Ratcha Wora Maha Wihan — is one of Bangkok’s oldest and most genuinely undervisited temples, which seems remarkable given that it was the tallest structure in the entire city for much of the nineteenth century. The artificial hill has an accident-prone history: construction of a large chedi began under Rama III in the 1820s, but Bangkok’s notoriously soft soil caused the whole thing to collapse before completion, leaving an embarrassing grass-covered mound that served as a cholera burial ground for several decades. King Rama V finally sorted it out in the 1860s, reinforcing the hill and completing the gleaming golden chedi — 58 metres above ground — that crowns the summit today. Inside the chedi is a Buddha relic brought from India via Calcutta and donated by the British government, which gives the site a sacred significance that goes well beyond its visual appeal. Climbing the 318 steps rewards you with panoramic views over Rattanakosin and, on a clear day, the full smoggy sweep of greater Bangkok. It is considerably less crowded than the Grand Palace, which is, frankly, a blessing.
- 📍 Location: 344 Thanon Chakkraphatdi Phong, Ban Bat, Pom Prap Sattru Phai
- 🌐 Website: https://www.tourismthailand.org
- 🕐 Hours: Daily 7:30 AM – 5:30 PM
- 💰 Entry Fee: 20 Baht per person
Wat Suthat Thepwararam
Wat Suthat Thepwararam is, in our honest opinion, one of the most impressive and criminally under-appreciated temple complexes in Bangkok — the fact that it doesn’t always lead tourist itineraries says more about the density of competition in Rattanakosin than any shortcoming of its own. Commissioned by King Rama I in 1807, it took three successive reigns — Rama I, II and III — to complete, finally opening in 1847 after nearly four decades of construction. The centrepiece ubosot, at 72.25 metres, is the longest ordination hall in Thailand, lined by a double cloister of 156 seated bronze Buddhas salvaged by Rama I from the ancient capitals of Sukhothai and Phitsanulok. The hall doors were carved from teak by King Rama II himself — a gifted woodcarver, as it happens — and depict scenes from Hindu and Buddhist mythology in extraordinary detail. The main Buddha image inside, Phra Sri Sakyamuni, was cast in the fourteenth century and transported from Sukhothai on a specially built raft, a journey that apparently took two years. Quite the commute.
- 📍 Location: 146 Bamrung Mueang Road, Wat Ratchabophit, Phra Nakhon
- 🌐 Website: https://watsuthatthepwararam.org/
- 🕐 Hours: Daily 8:30 AM – 9:00 PM
- 💰 Entry Fee: 20 Baht per person
Wat Pho — Temple of the Reclining Buddha
Wat Pho — formally Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimon Mangkhlaram Rajwaramahawihan, a name that presumably exists to test guidebook editors — is the oldest and largest temple complex in Bangkok, pre-dating the city itself. A temple stood here in the Ayutthaya period before Rama I arrived in 1782 and massively expanded it as one of his first acts as king, creating an 80,000 square metre compound containing 91 chedis and 394 seated Buddha images. The main draw is the Reclining Buddha — 46 metres long, 15 metres tall, entirely covered in gold leaf, with mother-of-pearl soles depicting the 108 auspicious characteristics of the Buddha. The building housing it is barely bigger than the statue itself, so the scale only really hits you once you’re inside. Wat Pho is also considered Thailand’s first public university, a centre for medicine, literature and astrology under Rama III, and the formal birthplace of traditional Thai massage — a school still operates here today. You can, if you want, combine a circuit of the Reclining Buddha with a proper massage from its students, which has to be one of the better ways to spend a Bangkok afternoon.
- 📍 Location: 2 Sanam Chai Road, Phra Nakhon
- 🌐 Website: watpho.com
- 🕐 Hours: Daily 8:00 AM – 6:30 PM
- 💰 Entry Fee: 200 Baht per person
Grand Palace
The Grand Palace, found in the heart of the old city, is a key tourist attraction and the major architectural symbol of the Thai Royal family. Whilst the royal family no longer reside here, the palace is used for ceremonial purposes and attracts over eight million visitors every year — standing in the complex on a busy February morning, you can absolutely believe that figure, as it feels like a fair proportion of them are there with you. Go early. The complex was established in 1782, covers 218,000 square metres — roughly 35 football pitches — and is surrounded by 1,900 metres of wall enclosing throne halls, royal residences and the sacred Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Wat Phra Kaew. A practical note: men and women must cover their legs. Vendors on the approach sell wraps and elephant-print trousers for 200 Baht; we crossed the road and found identical items in a shop for 100. Karen still wears the wrap round the house in a way she finds more ironic than she lets on. The Chakri Maha Prasat hall, completed in 1882, was designed by British architect John Clunich but given a Thai roof by royal decree — it’s been nicknamed “the Westerner with a Thai hat” ever since, which is frankly brilliant. Entry includes complimentary tickets to a Khon masked theatre performance at the Sala Chalermkrung Royal Theatre — a UNESCO-recognised art form depicting the Ramakian epic, and genuinely spectacular even if you follow none of the story.
- 📍 Location: Na Phra Lan Road, Phra Nakhon (Rattanakosin)
- 🌐 Website: royalgrandpalace.th/en/home
- 🕐 Hours: Daily 8:30 AM – 3:30 PM
- 💰 Entry Fee: 500 Baht per adult (includes Wat Phra Kaew and Khon performance tickets)
National Museum Bangkok
The Bangkok National Museum, located on the north side of the Sanam Luang ceremonial ground directly opposite the Grand Palace, is the largest museum in Southeast Asia and rewards considerably more time than most people give it. It was established in 1887 by King Rama V, who opened the royal collection to public view for the first time — no small act of generosity given the centuries of accumulated treasures involved. The building itself was the Wang Na, palace of the Deputy King, and had occupied the site since Bangkok’s founding in 1782. The collection spans Thai prehistory through to the Rattanakosin period, with particular strengths in Buddhist art, royal regalia, weapons, textiles and carved ivories. The Thai History Gallery puts the temples and palaces you’ve been visiting into a coherent four-hundred-year chronological context, which is more useful than it sounds when you’ve been floating between magnificent buildings without quite grasping the history that produced them. The Buddhaisawan Chapel within the complex houses the revered fifteenth-century Phra Buddha Sihing image and retains original late-eighteenth-century murals that rank among the finest surviving examples of Rattanakosin religious painting anywhere.
- 📍 Location: 4 Na Phra That Road, Phra Nakhon
- 🌐 Website: https://www.tourismthailand.org/Attraction/national-museum
- 🕐 Hours: Wednesday–Sunday 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM; closed Mondays and Tuesdays
- 💰 Entry Fee: 200 Baht for foreigners; free for Thai nationals
Giant Swing — Sao Ching Cha
The Giant Swing — Sao Ching Cha in Thai — is one of those Bangkok landmarks where you walk past, think “well, that’s a bit odd,” and then discover it has a genuinely fascinating story that makes it considerably more interesting. Two enormous red teak poles rise 21.15 metres from the road in front of Wat Suthat, connected at the top by a crossbeam with no swing attached — because the swinging stopped in 1935 and nobody’s put it back. The swing was erected in 1784 under King Rama I as part of the Triyampawai ceremony, an ancient Brahmin ritual marking the new year, in which young men swung in escalating arcs to grab gold-coin bags from bamboo poles at heights of up to 25 metres — using their teeth. As dangerous as it sounds: several competitors died over the centuries. After a particularly bad year in 1932, King Rama VII suspended the ceremony, which was abolished entirely in 1935, leaving the now-bare poles as a slightly melancholy historical monument. The red teak you see today is actually a 2006 replacement of the deteriorated originals, though the scale and colour are faithful to Rama I’s original construction.
- 📍 Location: Bamrung Mueang Road, Sao Ching Cha, Phra Nakhon
- 🕐 Hours: Always visible from the road
- 💰 Entry Fee: Free
Chatuchak Weekend Market
The Chatuchak Weekend Market — also known as JJ Market — is the largest market in Thailand and one of the largest in the world, and visiting it without a plan is a bit like being dropped into a city with no map and told to find a specific house. Entertaining, but not efficient. The market has more than 15,000 stalls and 11,500 vendors across 27 sections covering everything from live animals and tropical plants to antiques, vintage records, silk, Buddhist amulets and street food at prices that make you question your entire relationship with London supermarkets. It has operated on its current site on Kamphaeng Phet 2 Road in Chatuchak since 1982, though a market of some kind has existed near here since the early Bangkok period. Sections 1 to 27 each have a loose thematic identity, though in practice the boundaries blur considerably and you can easily lose two hours in Section 7 without noticing. Our approach was to arrive the moment it opened at 9:00 AM, eat something substantial from the food stalls, and then wander without any specific objective — which delivered three things we hadn’t planned to buy and a rather good iced coffee.
- 📍 Location: Kamphaeng Phet 2 Road, Chatuchak, Bangkok
- 🌐 Website: https://www.chatuchakmarket.org/
- 🕐 Hours: Saturday and Sunday 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM; some wholesale sections also open Friday
- 💰 Entry Fee: Free to enter; pay for what you buy
Jim Thompson House
American Jim Thompson was an OSS officer — the wartime predecessor of the CIA — stationed in Thailand during the Second World War. After 1945 he stayed rather than going home, which shaped the course of Thai silk as an international commodity and produced one of the most beautiful small museums in Bangkok. In 1947 he sent bolts of vibrant hand-woven Thai silks to fashion buyers in New York, transforming a cottage industry into a thriving global export business and making himself enormously wealthy in the process. He assembled six traditional Thai teak houses by the Saen Saep canal — some dating from the seventeenth century — into a single integrated home filled with an exceptional collection of Asian art: Thai ceramics, Cambodian sculpture, Burmese lacquerware and ancient Buddha images of real quality. Then in 1967 he went for a walk in Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands and was never seen again. The mystery has never been solved, which gives the whole place an additional layer of intrigue quite apart from its considerable beauty. Guided tours run every thirty minutes; they’re genuinely good, and the guides clearly relish telling the Thompson story.
- 📍 Location: 6 Soi Kasemsan 2, Rama I Road, Pathum Wan
- 🌐 Website: jimthompsonhouse.org/
- 🕐 Hours: Daily 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM (last entry 5:30 PM); guided tours only
- 💰 Entry Fee: 200 Baht adults; 100 Baht children (under 16)
Floating Markets
Bangkok’s floating markets polarise visitors fairly sharply between those who find them charming and those who find them aggressively touristy, and the honest answer is that both assessments are correct depending entirely on which one you go to. The tradition is genuinely ancient — the city was built around a canal system that earned it the nickname “Venice of the East,” and the klongs were Bangkok’s arteries for commerce and daily life for centuries. Damnoen Saduak, about 100 kilometres from Bangkok in Ratchaburi province, is the most photographed and most heavily touristed: go early and hire a private longtail to escape the main crowd. Amphawa Floating Market, 80 kilometres out in Samut Songkhram province, is our preferred option — smaller, more atmospheric, genuinely local in character and magical in the evenings when the canal-side food boats light up on Fridays to Sundays. Khlong Lat Mayom, only 12 kilometres west of the city centre in Taling Chan, is the easiest to reach independently and the most authentically local, selling fruit, vegetables and grilled food to Bangkok residents at prices that reflect the absence of tourist surcharges.
- 📍 Damnoen Saduak: Ratchaburi province, approx. 100km from Bangkok
- 📍 Amphawa: Samut Songkhram province, approx. 80km from Bangkok
- 📍 Khlong Lat Mayom: Taling Chan district, approx. 12km from Bangkok centre
- 🕐 Hours: Typically 7:00 AM – noon for most; Amphawa evenings Friday–Sunday 4:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- 💰 Entry Fee: Generally free to enter; pay for food and goods
Royal Barge Museum
The Royal Barge Museum doesn’t make most short-stay Bangkok itineraries, which is a genuine shame, because it contains some of the most extraordinary examples of traditional Thai craftsmanship in the country. Housed in a large dry dock warehouse in the Thonburi canal district on the west bank of the Chao Phraya — about fifteen minutes from the Grand Palace by river taxi — it contains eight royal barges of remarkable beauty alongside assorted smaller vessels. The star of the collection is the Suphannahong, the Golden Swan, built in 1911 during the reign of Rama VI from a single piece of teak more than 46 metres long and 3 metres wide. The prow is carved into a magnificent hamsa — the golden swan of Hindu mythology — extending nearly eight metres forward of the bow, and the entire vessel is gilded with glass mosaic, lacquer and gold leaf. It requires a crew of 61 to operate: 50 rowers, seven stern oarsmen, two officers, a flagman and a rhythm chanter. The barges are deployed for the Royal Kathin ceremony at the end of Buddhist Lent — a full royal procession is one of the most spectacular sights Bangkok offers, full stop.
- 📍 Location: 80/1 Arun Amarin Road, Bangkok Noi, Thonburi
- 🌐 Website: finearts.go.th
- 🕐 Hours: Daily 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
- 💰 Entry Fee: 100 Baht for foreigners; 30 Baht for Thai nationals; camera fee 100 Baht
Calypso Caberet
We’ll be upfront: Calypso Cabaret is not an ancient temple or a UNESCO heritage site, and it requires no prior knowledge of Thai history to appreciate. It is, however, one of Bangkok’s longest-running and most genuinely entertaining evenings out, and if you think cultural experience means only museums and temples, you are missing something rather special. Staged at the Asiatique the Riverfront complex — a beautifully converted nineteenth-century dock district on the Chao Phraya — Calypso is a ladyboy cabaret show that Thailand has elevated to a legitimate art form. The performers deliver elaborate costume changes, genuine live singing and dance routines ranging from classical Thai to full-on Las Vegas showstopper, with a level of professionalism that is frankly impressive by any standard. Thailand’s kathoey community has a long and complex history — evidence of a recognised third gender goes back at least to the Ayutthaya period — and Calypso, operating since 1988, presents that tradition with evident respect and considerable style. Shows run twice nightly, the venue is comfortable and well organised, and there is a reliable queue for photographs with the cast afterwards if you want one.
- 📍 Location: Asiatique the Riverfront, 2194 Charoen Krung Road, Wat Phraya Krai, Bang Kho Laem
- 🌐 Website: calypsocabaret.com
- 🕐 Hours: Shows nightly at 8:15 PM and 9:45 PM; doors open 30 minutes before each show
- 💰 Entry Fee: From 900 Baht per person
The Erewan Museum
The Erawan Museum in Samut Prakan, about 15 kilometres south of central Bangkok, is one of those places you cannot quite prepare yourself for, no matter how many photographs you’ve seen. From a distance you see a very large building topped by an enormous three-headed elephant — and as you get closer you realise the elephant is not decorating the roof. It is the roof: a 29-metre copper casting weighing approximately 250 tonnes, its hollow interior accessible by a spiral staircase winding up through the neck into three sacred spaces housing Buddhist, Hindu and Taoist artefacts of exceptional quality. The museum was built by Lek Viriyaphant, the same collector responsible for Muang Boran, and opened in 1994. Three floors correspond to the underworld, the earth and the heavens in Thai cosmological belief. The lower hall is a circular space fitted with stained-glass windows depicting mythological scenes — the light at certain times of day turns the floor into what looks like a jewelled mosaic. The upper level, inside the elephant itself, contains a bone relic of the Buddha and fragments of his footprint. It is quite unlike anywhere else we have ever been, and we mean that emphatically as a compliment.
- 📍 Location: 99/9 Moo 1, Sukhumvit Road, Bang Mueang Mai, Samut Prakan
- 🌐 Website: erawan-museum.com
- 🕐 Hours: Daily 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (last entry 4:30 PM)
- 💰 Entry Fee: 400 Baht for foreigners; 200 Baht for Thai nationals; children under 1.2m free
Muang Boran — the Ancient City
Muang Boran — “Ancient City” — is a museum park in Samut Prakan, about 30 kilometres south-east of Bangkok, and it defies easy categorisation. It is not an amusement park, though you can easily fill a full day here. It is not a conventional museum, though it is packed with historical and cultural depth. It is best described as an open-air living museum of Thai civilisation: 200 acres of grounds in a shape roughly mirroring Thailand itself, containing more than 100 reconstructed, relocated and full-scale replica monuments from across the country’s history. The project was the life’s work of Lek Viriyaphant, who began acquiring the land in the 1960s and opened the site in 1972. Several structures within Muang Boran are faithful reconstructions of temples and monuments lost to war or neglect — including the Sanphet Prasat Palace, destroyed when the Burmese sacked Ayutthaya in 1767 and which exists nowhere else — making the park, in some cases, the only surviving visual record of significant historical architecture. We explored by bicycle, which we’d strongly recommend, and still didn’t cover everything. A properly absorbing day out.
- 📍 Location: 296/1 Sukhumvit Road, Samut Prakan (approx. 30km south-east of central Bangkok)
- 🌐 Website: ancientcitygroup.net
- 🕐 Hours: Daily 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM
- 💰 Entry Fee: 700 Baht adult foreigners; 350 Baht Thai adults; 350 Baht foreign children; bicycle hire from 50 Baht
Getting to and Around Bangkok
✈️ Getting to Bangkok
Bangkok has two international airports. Suvarnabhumi (BKK) handles most long-haul flights, around 30 kilometres east of the centre. Don Mueang (DMK) serves budget carriers including AirAsia and Nok Air, further north of the city.
🚆 Airport Rail Links
From Suvarnabhumi — Airport Rail Link (SARL)
The City Line runs every 10–15 minutes to Phaya Thai station in around 30 minutes, where it connects to the BTS Skytrain. Fares 15–45 THB.
From Don Mueang
No dedicated rail link. The A1/A2 public buses into the city cost around 30 THB, though they can be slow in traffic. SRT commuter trains run from Don Mueang station to Bang Sue Grand Station — cheap but infrequent.
🚇 BTS Skytrain
The elevated Skytrain is the most visitor-friendly way to get around central Bangkok — clean, air-conditioned and punctual. Two lines cover the key tourist and business districts: the Sukhumvit Line running east–west through the centre, and the Silom Line connecting the financial district to the river. Fares 17–59 THB. Daily 06:00–midnight.
Rabbit Card — A reloadable contactless card that works across the BTS network and at many shops and convenience stores. Costs 200 THB to purchase (including deposit and stored value). Available at any BTS station.
🚇 MRT Subway
The underground MRT covers areas the BTS doesn’t reach. The Blue Line runs in a loop connecting Hua Lamphong, Chinatown, Chatuchak and the key BTS interchange at Asok/Sukhumvit. The newer Yellow Line serves the south-east. Fares from 17 THB. Daily 06:00–midnight.
Note: the MRT and BTS do not share a travel card. An MRT stored-value card is available at any station for 180 THB.
⛴️ Chao Phraya Express Boat
A practical and enjoyable way to travel the river, stopping at key piers including Chang (Grand Palace), Tien (Wat Pho) and Sathorn/Central Pier (BTS connection). Fares 15–40 THB. Orange flag boats stop most frequently; blue and yellow are express services. Daily roughly 06:00–19:30.
A Tourist Boat day pass (200 THB) offers hop-on, hop-off privileges with onboard commentary.
🚌 Public Buses
Extensive but complex. Fares from 8 THB (non-air-conditioned) or 13–25 THB (air-conditioned), making this the cheapest option. Best for routes not covered by rail; journey times can be unpredictable in traffic.
🚕 Taxis
Metered taxis are plentiful and inexpensive. Flag-fall 35 THB. Always insist on the meter — “meter, krap/ka” is widely understood. Expressway tolls are paid separately in cash.
📱 Grab
Southeast Asia’s leading ride-hailing app, with fares agreed upfront. GrabCar for standard journeys; GrabBike for solo trips through traffic. Particularly useful late at night. Worth downloading before you arrive.
🏍️ Motorbike Taxis
Riders in orange numbered vests wait outside BTS stations and at the end of most side streets. Fast, cheap (10–50 THB for short hops) and best for cutting through traffic. Helmets provided.
🛺 Tuk-Tuks
Bangkok’s iconic three-wheeled rickshaws are an experience rather than a practical daily option. Always agree the fare before you climb in.
🗺️ Practical Tips
- The BTS and MRT do not share a travel card — you may end up carrying two.
- Avoid road-based transport during rush hours (07:00–09:30 and 17:00–20:00) — the rail network is always faster.
- Google Maps works reliably for planning routes across rail, river and road.
- Download Grab before you arrive for a straightforward, agreed fare from either airport.
- Keep small change for boats, buses and tuk-tuks.
Vegan Dining in Bangkok
Bangkok has one of the most exciting vegan dining scenes in Asia, from century-old wooden houses serving elevated Thai classics to buzzy Sukhumvit cafés turning out globally inspired comfort food. Whether you’re after a meticulously plated heritage Thai dinner or a casual all-day brunch, the city delivers. Note that opening hours in Bangkok can shift seasonally, so it’s always worth checking ahead before visiting.
🌿 Veganerie Concept
Bangkok’s most beloved vegan chain, founded by a family who converted to a plant-based diet for health reasons and never looked back. Now spanning multiple locations across the city, Veganerie serves an enormous menu of over 150 dishes — Thai curries and stir-fries alongside Western-style burgers, pasta, and all-day breakfasts — alongside some of the best vegan desserts in Bangkok. The soy banoffee waffles and chocolate mousse pie have become something of an institution. The flagship Concept branch behind Benjasiri Park is the most atmospheric, with high ceilings, polished concrete and an abundance of hanging greenery.
- Location: 35/2 Sukhumvit 24 Alley (Soi Methi Niwet), Khlong Tan, Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110 (flagship; multiple branches citywide)
- Website: veganerie.co.th
- Phone: +66 2 258 8489
- Opening hours:
- Daily 9:30 am – 10:00 pm (last order 9:30 pm)
🌿 Vistro Vegan Café & Restaurant
Voted Thailand’s best plant-based restaurant two years running, Vistro is a globally inspired café and restaurant tucked down Sukhumvit 24, a short walk from Phrom Phong BTS station. The menu is creative and wide-ranging — Tokyo tacos in crispy nori shells, truffle flatbread pizza, dumplings, superfood salads, and a banana cream latte that deserves a mention of its own. The two-storey space is airy and plant-filled, with a relaxed neighbourhood feel despite the accolades. Free parking is available at the rear.
- Location: 46/1 Sukhumvit 24 Alley, Khlong Tan, Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110
- Website: vistrobkk.co
- Phone: +66 65 998 2201
- Opening hours:
- Daily 10:30 am – 9:00 pm (last order 8:30 pm)
🌿 Broccoli Revolution
One of Bangkok’s most established all-vegan eateries, Broccoli Revolution has been a fixture of the city’s plant-based scene since it opened on Sukhumvit 49 in 2016. The restaurant is as socially and environmentally conscious as its name suggests — a portion of every sale goes to selected partner organisations. The menu draws freely on Thai, Vietnamese, South American and other influences, and the fresh-pressed juices and made-on-demand smoothies are among the best in the city. There are now three locations, including one in the Central Embassy mall’s Open House.
- Location: 899 Sukhumvit Road, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110 (Sukhumvit 49 flagship; also Central Embassy and Charoen Krung 42/1)
- Website: broccolirevolution.com
- Phone: +66 2 662 5001
- Opening hours (Sukhumvit 49 branch):
- Tuesday–Sunday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
- Closed Mondays
🌿 Vegan Mahanakhon
Quite possibly the most extraordinary dining setting in Bangkok’s vegan scene: a meticulously restored 120-year-old Thai colonial teakwood residence in the Bangkok Noi district, once home to Khun Khaimook Chuto, Thailand’s first female sculptor. The restaurant claims to be the first in Thailand dedicated to presenting traditional Thai cuisine in an entirely plant-based form, and the kitchen takes that seriously — house-made mock meats, aromatic curries, five-spiced broths and beautifully plated Thai classics that honour their origins without compromise. Guests remove their shoes at the door and are shown to their tables by staff in traditional dress. Reservations are strongly advised.
- Location: 661 Arun Amarin Road, Siriraj, Bangkok Noi, Bangkok 10700
- Website: veganmhnk.com
- Phone: +66 85 826 4655
- Opening hours:
- Daily 10:30 am – 9:00 pm (last order 8:30 pm)
🌿 May Kaidee
A Bangkok institution that began as a single street cart near Khao San Road in 1988, May Kaidee has spent nearly four decades perfecting vegan and vegetarian Thai cooking. The menu covers over 50 dishes — tom yum soup, pad thai, green curry, Isaan specialties and fresh spring rolls — all prepared without meat, fish sauce or MSG. After temporarily closing its Thailand locations during the pandemic, the restaurant has reopened at a new location on Samsen Road Soi 5, not far from the original site in Old Bangkok. Cooking classes are offered alongside the restaurant.
- Location: 54/1 Soi Samsen 5, Wat Sam Phraya, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok 10200
- Website: maykaidee.com
- Phone: +66 92 246 9668
- Opening hours:
- Check the website for current hours, as these have varied since the post-pandemic reopening
🌿 Nature’s Charm Café
Run by the founders of the internationally distributed Nature’s Charm coconut-based plant-milk and cream brand, this cosy, welcoming café is tucked down a quieter lane off Sukhumvit 51 in the Thong Lor area. The menu is impressively diverse for its size — banana blossom fish and chips, jackfruit burgers, poke bowls, Tom Yum mac and cheese, all-day breakfasts, and a selection of veganised Thai staples — and the plant-based mock pork regularly draws particular praise. A bright, unhurried spot that rewards going back more than once.
- Location: Sukhumvit 51 Alley, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110
- Website: naturescharmcafe.com
- Phone: Not publicly listed — contact via the website
- Opening hours:
- Check the website for current hours
🌿 Kem-Kon Vegan
A no-frills, flavour-forward Thai vegan restaurant with several branches across Bangkok, Kem-Kon is a reliable and very affordable option wherever you happen to be in the city. The extensive menu covers classic Thai curries, stir-fries, noodle dishes and rice plates alongside Chinese-inspired mock-meat dishes and braised vegetables, with Khao Soi — the rich northern Thai coconut curry noodle soup — a consistent standout. The locations spread across different districts, which is genuinely helpful given Bangkok’s notorious traffic.
- Location: Multiple branches — check the website for the nearest location
- Website: kem-kon.com
- Phone: Listed per branch on the website
- Opening hours:
- Vary by branch; generally daily from around 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
🌿 Plantiful
What began as a meal-delivery service built around clean, preservative-free plant-based cooking has grown into a popular café destination with two locations in Bangkok. The menu spans nourishing all-day breakfasts, hearty bowls, buckwheat pasta, tofu wraps, burgers, smoothies and cold-pressed juices, all made from nutrient-rich whole ingredients without refined sugars or oils. Particularly good for a lighter, health-conscious meal when the richer end of Bangkok’s vegan scene starts to take its toll. The gluten-free chocolate raspberry cake has something of a cult following.
- Location: Two locations in Bangkok — check the website for addresses
- Website: plantifulbkk.com
- Phone: Listed per branch on the website
- Opening hours:
- Check the website for current hours at each branch
🌿 Mango Vegetarian Café
A charming vegetarian café in the Phra Nakhon district, near Khao San Road, where the food is as photogenic as the setting. The menu is eclectic and globe-trotting — spicy Kung Pao noodles, creamy garlic butter-style dishes, beautifully dressed salads, vegan dumplings and pineapple fried rice served in a wooden bowl — and most dishes are either fully vegan or easily made so on request. Groups report it can comfortably handle a takeover of the small dining room. Particularly popular with travellers based in the Old Bangkok and Banglamphu area.
- Location: 13 Thanon Tanao, Wat Bowon Niwet, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok 10200
- Website: facebook.com/MangoVegetarianCafe
- Phone: Not publicly listed — contact via Facebook
- Opening hours:
- Check Facebook page for current hours
The Best Time to Visit Thailand
Thailand’s climate is more complex than most, and the single most important thing to understand before planning a trip is that the country has two distinct coastlines — the Andaman Sea to the west and the Gulf of Thailand to the east — which follow opposite monsoon cycles. When the Andaman side is being battered by the south-west monsoon between June and October, the Gulf coast around Koh Samui and Koh Phangan is largely dry. When the north-east monsoon swings in from November, the situation reverses. Bangkok and the north operate on a third rhythm of their own. Getting that geography straight is the key to avoiding a soggy fortnight.
🌞 November to February — Cool & Dry Season
This is Thailand at its most comfortable and, not coincidentally, its most visited. The south-west monsoon has retreated, the north-east monsoon brings dry, cooler air down from China, and the result across most of the country is warm, sunny days with low humidity and pleasantly cool evenings — particularly in Chiang Mai and the northern highlands, where temperatures can drop to 15°C or below overnight in January. The Andaman coast — Phuket, Koh Lanta, the Phi Phi Islands, Krabi — is fully open and at its most inviting, with calm, clear seas ideal for snorkelling and island-hopping. Bangkok is at its most walkable. The trade-off is straightforward: this is also the most expensive and most crowded window of the year, with accommodation on the popular islands booking out months ahead around Christmas and New Year.
Packing: Lightweight breathable clothing for the days, a light layer or thin long-sleeved shirt for cooler northern evenings and air-conditioned transport, swimwear, reef-safe sunscreen, a hat, sandals and a smarter pair of shoes for evenings out.
🌶️ March to May — Hot Season
The coolness of January fades quickly into an often ferocious heat that builds through March, peaks in April and only begins to ease with the first pre-monsoon storms in May. Temperatures in Bangkok regularly hit 38–40°C, the air in Chiang Mai and the north becomes hazy with agricultural burning, and humidity climbs steadily. The saving grace is Songkran, Thailand’s exuberant water festival, which falls in mid-April and turns the streets of every city and town into a good-natured nationwide water fight — one of Southeast Asia’s great travel experiences, and worth timing a trip around specifically. Rates drop noticeably from the December–February peak, and some travellers find the heat manageable provided they plan outdoor activity for early mornings and evenings. By May, the first Andaman resorts begin closing for the low season as the south-west monsoon approaches.
Packing: The lightest, most breathable clothing you own, a refillable water bottle, high-SPF sunscreen, a wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, and a change of clothes for Songkran if travelling in April — you will get soaked regardless of your plans.
🌧️ June to October — South-West Monsoon
The south-west monsoon arrives in earnest from June, bringing heavy, sustained rainfall to the Andaman coast, the Gulf of Thailand’s western shores and much of the interior. Phuket, Krabi and the Andaman islands receive their heaviest rain of the year, seas turn rough, and several of the smaller island resorts close entirely between June and October. Bangkok floods periodically in September and October, when rainfall peaks. The Gulf coast, however — Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao — follows the opposite pattern and stays comparatively dry through this period, making it the right side of the country to base a beach trip. The north and inland areas receive regular rain but often in short, intense afternoon bursts rather than all-day downpours, and the countryside is extraordinarily lush. Prices across most of Thailand drop to their lowest, and popular destinations feel genuinely quiet.
Packing: Quick-dry clothing, a lightweight waterproof jacket or compact poncho, waterproof sandals, a dry bag for boat trips and electronics, insect repellent, and a flexible itinerary that can bend around weather disruptions.
🌀 November — North-East Monsoon (Gulf Coast)
November sits in a transitional position that deserves separate mention. For most of Thailand, it marks the beginning of the best season — the Andaman coast reopens, Bangkok cools and dries, and Chiang Mai starts to feel wonderful. But the north-east monsoon, which is bringing all that dry, pleasant weather to the rest of the country, simultaneously pushes rain onto the Gulf coast, and Koh Samui and Koh Phangan see some of their heaviest rainfall of the year in November. Flooding can be significant, and a handful of years have seen the Samui airport disrupted. Anyone with the Gulf islands on their itinerary in November would do well to adjust either their timing or their destination.
Packing: Similar to the cool and dry season for most of Thailand — light layers and sun protection — but with a waterproof jacket and a contingency plan if travelling to the Gulf coast.
Overall Best Time
November to February is the easiest answer for most visitors: the weather is at its most reliable, the widest range of destinations is fully accessible, and Thailand in the cool season has a particular lightness to it that is difficult to argue against. For the Andaman coast specifically — Phuket, Krabi, the Phi Phi Islands — December to March is the undisputed prime window. Travellers who want the Gulf islands and can travel outside peak season should target February to April, when the Gulf coast is dry, the Andaman is still perfectly good, and the worst of the heat has not yet arrived. Those happy to follow the sun around the peninsula’s two coastlines, and who plan accordingly, can piece together an excellent trip in virtually any month of the year.
Where to Stay in Bangkok
🌟 Sukhumvit
Sukhumvit is Bangkok’s most cosmopolitan neighbourhood and the natural choice for first-time visitors who want everything within easy reach — the BTS Skytrain runs the length of the road, connecting you to the rest of the city in minutes, while the streets between Asok and Thong Lo deliver some of Bangkok’s best international restaurants, rooftop bars, craft beer pubs, luxury shopping malls including Terminal 21 and EmQuartier, and a buzzing night market scene. It is simultaneously upmarket and gritty, with gleaming five-star towers rising alongside alley-side street food stalls and lively night bazaars, and the mix gives Sukhumvit a lived-in energy that makes it feel less like a tourist enclave and more like a genuine slice of the city at full throttle.
- 🏨 Upscale: The Okura Prestige Bangkok — A sleek Japanese-owned tower on Park Ventures with one of Bangkok’s most refined service reputations and a stunning infinity pool suspended above the city.
- 🏨 Mid-range: Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Sukhumvit 11 by IHG — A reliable, well-rated IHG property on Soi 11 with complimentary breakfast, free parking and a short walk to both BTS Nana and Terminal 21.
- 🏨 Budget: Lub d Bangkok Siam — A design-forward hostel with private rooms and dorms, excellent social areas and a central Siam location directly opposite MBK and steps from the BTS.
🛕 Silom and Sathorn
Silom and its quieter neighbour Sathorn form Bangkok’s financial heartland by day and one of its most surprising after-dark destinations by night, with the legendary Patpong night market and the city’s main LGBTQ+ strip, Silom Soi 4 and 2, drawing an exuberant, international crowd after dark. The area is well served by both the BTS at Sala Daeng and the MRT at Silom station, which puts Lumphini Park — Bangkok’s answer to a city-centre green lung — within a pleasant ten-minute stroll, and the mix of corporate high-rises, riverside luxury hotels, vine-covered lane restaurants and rooftop venues gives the neighbourhood a dual personality that suits business and leisure travellers in equal measure.
- 🏨 Upscale: Capella Bangkok — One of Bangkok’s most lauded recent openings, with just 101 suites and residences set directly on the Chao Phraya river, offering extraordinary views and impeccable personalised service.
- 🏨 Mid-range: Pullman Bangkok Hotel G — A polished, well-run Accor property in the heart of Silom with a rooftop pool, good-value rooms and easy BTS access.
- 🏨 Budget: Silom Space Hostel — A highly rated, sociable hostel on Silom Soi 2 offering both private rooms and dormitories, a short walk from both Sala Daeng BTS and Silom MRT stations and the Patpong night market.
🛶 Riverside and Rattanakosin (Old City)
The Riverside district, which stretches along the Chao Phraya from the Oriental Pier northwards towards the old royal quarter of Rattanakosin, is where Bangkok’s grandest history plays out against its most cinematic backdrop — the gilded spires of Wat Phra Kaew, the colossal reclining Buddha of Wat Pho and the towering Wat Arun rising on the opposite bank are all within comfortable walking distance of the river hotels, and the Chao Phraya Express Boat connects the entire waterfront within minutes for next to nothing. Staying here puts you closer to Bangkok’s most important temples and palaces than anywhere else in the city, and the nightly views across the river — wide, busy and golden with temple lights — are among the most atmospheric in all of Southeast Asia.
- 🏨 Upscale: Mandarin Oriental Bangkok — In continuous operation since 1876 and widely considered one of the world’s great hotels, with legendary service, riverside suites and an Authors’ Lounge that has hosted Somerset Maugham and Noël Coward.
- 🏨 Mid-range: Sala Rattanakosin Bangkok — A boutique riverside hotel with just eleven rooms, a rooftop bar looking directly at Wat Arun, and a genuinely intimate atmosphere rare in this part of the city.
- 🏨 Budget: NapPark Hostel @Khao San — A consistently well-reviewed hostel a short walk from Khaosan Road and the old city temples, offering smart pods, private rooms and a sociable common area.
🛍️ Siam and Pathumwan
Siam is Bangkok’s undisputed shopping epicentre — Siam Paragon, CentralWorld, MBK Centre and Siam Discovery are all clustered within a few hundred metres of one another — but its central position on the BTS network, where the two main Skytrain lines intersect, makes it the most genuinely convenient base in the entire city regardless of whether you intend to visit a single mall. Jim Thompson’s House, the National Stadium, the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre and Chulalongkorn University are all close by, and from Siam you can be in Sukhumvit, Silom or Mo Chit without changing trains, which makes it the logical choice for anyone trying to cover the city efficiently across a short stay.
- 🏨 Upscale: Pathumwan Princess Hotel — Connected directly to the MBK Centre shopping mall via a covered walkway, with a large pool, multiple restaurants and reliably high ratings across a huge volume of guest reviews.
- 🏨 Mid-range: Novotel Bangkok on Siam Square — A solid, well-located Accor property right on Siam Square with comfortable rooms, a rooftop pool and excellent BTS connectivity at the front door.
- 🏨 Budget: ibis Bangkok Siam — A reliable Accor budget hotel directly beside National Stadium BTS station with over 5,000 guest reviews, clean compact rooms and walking distance to MBK, Siam Paragon and Jim Thompson’s House.
🌺 Pratunam and Ratchaprarop
Pratunam may lack the polished gleam of Sukhumvit or the temple grandeur of Rattanakosin, but it punches well above its weight for value and central convenience — the Pratunam Market and Platinum Fashion Mall make it the city’s wholesale fashion hub, while Ratchaprarop Road’s cluster of mid-range and budget hotels offers some of the best-priced rooms of any well-connected neighbourhood in central Bangkok. The BTS at Chit Lom and Ratchaprarop ARL station both sit within walking distance, the Baiyoke Tower II observation deck is just around the corner, and the chaotic, colourful street life — noodle carts, garland sellers, tuk-tuks threading through gridlocked lanes — gives it an authenticity that the more sanitised tourist districts sometimes lack.
- 🏨 Upscale: Centara Grand at CentralWorld — A towering five-star hotel connected to one of Bangkok’s largest shopping malls, with a spectacular rooftop bar and pool complex and consistently strong guest ratings.
- 🏨 Mid-range: Amari Bangkok — A reliable, well-regarded hotel directly above Pratunam Market with a rooftop pool, good-sized rooms and strong value for its central location.
- 🏨 Budget: Stable Lodge — A long-established, friendly guesthouse near Sukhumvit Soi 8 with a garden pool, clean rooms and a loyal following among budget travellers who prefer a quieter setting.
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