Thailand · Bangkok
Plan your Bangkok trip
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01Your itinerary
02Where to stay
Sukhumvit (Asok & Thong Lo)
Best for first-timers and business travellersThe modern, international spine of the city along the Skytrain line — malls, business hotels, and Bangkok's densest concentration of good restaurants and bars. Not atmospheric, but endlessly convenient.
Citypoint Hotel
Being within a few minutes' walk of the BTS/MRT interchange at Asok puts the entire city within easy reach without ever needing a taxi.
€€€La Petite Salil Sukhumvit Thonglor 1
Quieter and leafier than Asok, with the best concentration of independent restaurants and cocktail bars a short walk from your door.
€€Riverside
Best for views and a slower paceGrand old riverfront hotels and their glossy modern neighbours line the Chao Phraya near Saphan Taksin, trading Skytrain proximity for sweeping water views and free boat access to the old city.
Chatrium Hotel Riverside Bangkok
The pier here connects directly to the free-flowing express boats, so you get postcard sunsets and easy access to the temples without the traffic.
€€€€Rattanakosin (old city)
Best for temple-focused short staysThe royal island itself, home to the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, with a handful of characterful guesthouses along Phra Athit Road. Sleepy after dark, but unbeatable for sunrise temple visits.
BBHouse Phra Athit
Stay here for one or two nights to catch the Grand Palace before the crowds, then relocate to Sukhumvit or Riverside for the rest of the trip.
€€Silom & Sathorn
Best for nightlife and central convenienceBangkok's business and nightlife district by day and night respectively — glass towers, rooftop bars, and the Patpong night market, with quick MRT and BTS links to everywhere else.
Mode Sathorn Hotel
Sathorn's towers put you minutes from Silom's bars and a short BTS hop from the river, with some of the best skyline views in the city.
€€€Affiliate notePostcardRoute is reader-supported. Some links to Booking.com (stays, flights, car hire, tickets and tours, airport transfers) are affiliate links, tracked through CJ Affiliate: if you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend places we would send a friend.
03Tickets & tours
Wat Phra Kaew & the Grand Palace
The spiritual and historical heart of Thailand — a dazzling walled complex of gilded chedis, mirrored mosaics, and the revered Emerald Buddha, carved…
Tip Arrive right at the 8:30am opening; by 10am the heat and the tour groups both peak, and the strict dress code queue gets long.
Wat Pho
Home to a 46-metre reclining Buddha covered in gold leaf, housed in a temple that also happens to be the birthplace of traditional Thai massage — you…
Tip Walk to Wat Pho from the Grand Palace rather than taking transport; it is five minutes on foot and far less crowded than the palace itself.
Wat Arun
The Temple of Dawn, its central prang encrusted with porcelain and seashell mosaics, rises directly from the Thonburi riverbank and is best…
Tip Take the tiny cross-river ferry from Tha Tien pier for a few baht rather than a long-tail boat — it drops you right at the temple steps.
Chatuchak Weekend Market
Upward of 8,000 stalls across a genuinely disorienting maze of covered lanes, selling everything from vintage Thai denim to ceramics to actual live…
Tip Download the market's zone map before you go and pick two or three sections to focus on — trying to see all of it in one visit is how people lose entire afternoons and…
Chao Phraya river & Chinatown night market
A sunset boat ride past floodlit temples and grand old riverside hotels, followed by a walk into Yaowarat's neon-drenched, wok-fired night market for…
Tip Hop off at Ratchawong pier and walk into Chinatown from the river rather than approaching from the BTS side — you arrive through the market's best stretch.
Jim Thompson House
The teak-house museum of the American silk entrepreneur who revived the Thai silk industry and then vanished without a trace in Malaysia in 1967.
Tip Book the guided tour slot online in advance; it is the only way to see the interior and it fills up by mid-morning.
Lumphini Park
Bangkok's green lung, a Central Park-scale oasis where locals do tai chi at dawn, monitor lizards the size of dogs patrol the lakes, and the skyline…
Tip Go at 6am to watch the free open-air aerobics classes and catch the park before the heat sets in.
Rooftop bars of Silom & Sathorn
Bangkok's skybars turned sunset drinking into a genre of their own — sweeping views over a skyline that keeps growing, from the famous ones made…
Tip Book ahead for the well-known rooftops at weekends, and check the dress code — flip-flops and tank tops will get you turned away at the elevator.
Day trips from Bangkok
Ayutthaya
The ruined former capital of the Siamese kingdom, an hour and a half north by train, where headless Buddha statues and crumbling brick chedis sit…
Day tripDamnoen Saduak floating market
The classic image of Thailand — vendors paddling wooden boats piled with fruit and noodles through narrow canals.
Day tripMaeklong Railway Market
A market built directly on active train tracks, where vendors fold back their awnings and produce with practiced speed as a train rumbles through…
Day tripEverything to do in Bangkok
Skip-the-line tickets, guided tours and day trips, all in one place on Booking.com.
04Getting there & around
Getting around: sky, street, and river
Bangkok traffic is legendary for a reason, so the first rule is simple: never let a taxi be your only plan. The BTS Skytrain and MRT subway form an efficient elevated-and-underground grid covering most of the areas visitors actually want, and a Rabbit Card (tap-to-ride, refillable at any station) makes hopping between them…
Flights
Compare fares into Bangkok and pick dates that suit the days you planned.
Airport transfers
Book a private or shared ride from the airport so the first evening starts at your door, not at a ticket queue.
Car hire from Bangkok
Only worth it for day trips beyond the city — in town, the plan above works on foot and public transport.
Affiliate notePostcardRoute is reader-supported. Some links to Booking.com (stays, flights, car hire, tickets and tours, airport transfers) are affiliate links, tracked through CJ Affiliate: if you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend places we would send a friend.