Bangkok City Guide

Bangkok punishes plans that ignore its geography. The city's sights cluster in three zones that are slow to travel between by road, so my advice is to give each zone its own day and move within it on foot, by train or by boat.

Pick the neighborhood for the trip you're actually taking. The temples don't move, but your hotel decides how far away they feel.

Bangkok's three headline buildings sit within two kilometers of each other, and the whole circuit works best in a single early morning. Start at the Grand Palace at 08:30 when it opens (฿500, cash, includes Wat Phra Kaew and the textile museum; last entry 15:30), a ten-minute walk south to Wat Pho and the 46-meter Reclining Buddha (฿300), lunch in the lane behind Tha Tien pier, then the ฿5 cross-river ferry to Wat Arun (฿200), which is quieter in the early afternoon than at any other hour. Dress for all three at once, shoulders and knees covered, nothing sheer. The palace no longer lends cover-ups and turns away sleeveless tops even under a scarf.

Round the zone out with what suits you, the Golden Mount at Wat Saket (฿100, 344 steps, the Old City's best sunset), Museum Siam's air-conditioned hour beside Sanam Chai MRT (฿200), or the Wat Pho massage school, where the discipline was codified, at around ฿480 an hour. And the standing warning, because it catches someone every day. Anyone outside the palace telling you it's closed for a ceremony is starting a tuk-tuk scam. It's open. Walk to the gate and look.

Bangkok is a market city before it's a mall city, and the calendar matters more than the map.

The rule that replaces every anxious list is to eat where a queue of office workers is watching food cooked to order. High turnover is the hygiene certificate, and the laminated tourist menu at an empty terrace is the risk. Factory ice (the cylindrical kind with the hole) is fine.

The named essentials are pad thai at Thipsamai on Maha Chai Road, where it's been made since 1966; Jay Fai's ฿1,000 crab omelet two doors down if you can face the queue for the city's only street-stall Michelin star; boat noodles in the alley by Victory Monument at ฿20–30 a bowl, eaten in stacks; khao man gai (chicken rice) anywhere the chickens hang in the window; and the Yaowarat crawl, kuay jab peppery noodle soup at Nai Ek, grilled seafood at T&K, kanom buang crêpes for dessert. Food courts are the secret weapon at midday. Or Tor Kor's and Pier 21 at Terminal 21 serve ฿50–100 versions of everything in air-conditioning.

At the other end, Bangkok's fine dining is Asia's best value, since tasting menus that would cost triple in Singapore run ฿3,000–8,000 and need booking about a week ahead. One splurge dinner and street food the rest of the way is how I'd allocate almost any budget.

The skyline is the after-dark headline, and there are two ways to buy it, a ticket or a cocktail. Mahanakhon SkyWalk's glass-floored roof, Thailand's highest deck, runs ฿880 by day and ฿1,080 for the sunset slots that sell out a day ahead. The bars price the same view into a drink. Sky Bar at lebua (63rd floor, the Hangover II one, ฿700 cocktails, no shorts or sandals), Vertigo at the Banyan Tree (open-air, smart dress), or Octave in Thonglor, the best value of the three at ฿350–450 with a relaxed door. Sunset is 18:00–18:30 all year, so be up by 17:45.

The rest of the night sorts by temperament. Rajadamnern Stadium fights seven nights a week (from ฿1,600; Thursday and Saturday are the big cards, and the wai khru ceremony and live band are half the show). Saxophone Pub by Victory Monument and Brown Sugar have anchored the jazz-and-blues scene for decades. Khao San Road is still the backpacker rite, one loud walk-through, then Rambuttri next door for the version with conversation. And Yaowarat after 21:00, when the queues thin, is arguably the best nightcap in the city. Dessert stalls, neon, and the road still warm.

Ayutthaya is the great one, the former capital's UNESCO ruins, 90 minutes north by ordinary train from Krung Thep Aphiwat for ฿15–20, a rented bicycle (฿50–100) between Wat Mahathat's Buddha head in the tree roots and Wat Chaiwatthanaram, and back for dinner. The good ones are Maeklong Railway Market paired with Amphawa's evening floating market (Friday–Sunday only), and Bang Krachao, the ‘green lung’ across the river, by ฿80 rental bike on elevated paths through the jungle, twenty minutes from downtown.

The skips are Damnoen Saduak (see the markets section) and Pattaya, which is two hours away and a different holiday. If a day trip is competing with a third Bangkok day, I'd give the city the win. The 3 Days in Bangkok itinerary shows what that third day holds.