Khao San Road, Bangkok

Mornings are the quiet shift. From about 06:00 to 09:00 the street belongs to hostel checkouts, coffee and the travel agents opening their shutters, and through the day it's clothing stalls, secondhand bookshops, money changers and agencies selling buses and boats to the islands. It's pleasant enough for a coffee before the temples, but there's little to see.

The change starts around 16:00, when the food carts and stalls set up along the walking street, and by 19:00 the bars have spread their tables into the road and the music is up. From then until about 22:00 is the best time to walk it end to end, when it's lively without being a crush. After that it's a party street, packed and loud until the bars wind down around 02:00. Thursday to Saturday are the heaviest nights. The Khao San Business Association counts 40,000 to 50,000 visitors a day in high season.

The bars are open-fronted and close together, each with its own sound system, and the street becomes one long bar crawl. The Club is the big nightclub in the middle of the road, three levels that hold about 1,500 people, with international DJs and themed nights, open from about 21:00 to 04:00. The One Khaosan opens at 17:30 and runs until 03:00, a mid-priced street-front bar that works as a first stop to watch the road fill up. Brick Bar, inside the Buddy Lodge complex just off the street, is the live-music room, with Thai rock and pop bands and a crowd that skews Thai. For a drink above the noise, Sanay Rooftop Bar at The Gravitique hotel on Tani Road is known for its cocktails.

Closing time is a gray area. Khao San sits outside Bangkok's designated late-night entertainment zones, so many venues trade on restaurant licenses, and police rounds decide how late a night runs. In practice most bars stop serving between about 01:00 on weeknights and 02:00 at weekends, the clubs list later hours, and the government has discussed a pilot that would license the street and Rambuttri for later trading, so these hours may change. Shops can sell alcohol from 11:00 to midnight.

Buckets of spirits and mixer are the street's signature drink. Order your own drink, keep it in your hand and check the bill before you pay, since a drink you didn't order turns up on the tab often enough that reviewers warn about it. Promotions shouted at the door aren't always what they sound like. Beer in the bars costs about ฿80–150.

The street food is the cheapest meal in the Old City. Grilled meat and chicken skewers cost about ฿10–20 each and banana roti ฿40–60, and the pad thai carts, fruit shakes and fried-insect stalls (scorpions included) line the road from late afternoon. It's built for snacking between bars, and the stalls stay open late.

For a sit-down meal, Olive Kitchen, a few minutes west toward Phra Athit, bakes its own bread and runs Thai, Thai fusion, pasta and sourdough pizza across two floors, and it's the place people staying in the area come back to. Thip Samai, the old-school pad thai shop on Maha Chai Road, is about 15 minutes away on foot if you want the version Bangkok queues for. Rambuttri and Phra Athit have most of the area's better small restaurants.

Soi Rambuttri curves around the back of Wat Chana Songkhram, a block north of Khao San, with the same guesthouses, massage shops and bars under trees and fairy lights, at a volume where you can talk. It's where I'd sit for the evening after one walk down the main street.

Wat Chana Songkhram, directly opposite the western end of Khao San, is a royal temple from the 1700s with free entry and grounds quiet enough that people sit and meditate a street away from the bars. Beyond it, Phra Athit Road runs along the river with small bars, cafés and restaurants in old shophouses, and at its north end Phra Sumen Fort, a white octagonal tower from 1783, stands in a small riverside park with benches and a breeze. Samsen Road, across the canal to the north, is the local version of the same neighborhood.

Khao San's real advantage is its location. The Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew are about a 15-minute walk south past Sanam Luang, open 08:30 to 15:30 for ฿500. Wat Pho, with the Reclining Buddha, is about 25 minutes on foot or a short express-boat ride to Tha Tien pier, for ฿300. The Golden Mount at Wat Saket is 20 to 25 minutes east, ฿100 for 344 steps and the Old City's best sunset.

Closer still, Wat Bowonniwet, a few minutes' walk north, was founded by Rama III in 1826 and is where several Thai kings ordained as monks, a working monastery that's quieter than the headline temples. The Democracy Monument on Ratchadamnoen Avenue, a few minutes southeast, is best seen lit up at night, and Rajadamnern Stadium, opened in 1945 as the world's first purpose-built Muay Thai stadium, is a short ride along the same avenue for a fight before a drink on Khao San.

Khao San's problems are the usual tourist-area ones. The best-known is the friendly stranger who says the Grand Palace is closed today and offers a cheap tuk-tuk to another temple, which ends at a gem or tailor shop. The palace is open every day from 08:30 to 15:30, so walk on. Agree tuk-tuk fares before you get in, or use Grab or a metered taxi, since late-night quotes run high.

Watch your drink and your phone in the crowds, and book long-distance buses and boats with the operator or a booking site rather than the cheapest board on the street, because the through-tickets sold here vary a lot in what they include. Thai ATMs charge ฿250–350 per foreign-card withdrawal, so take out the maximum each time.

Songkran, the Thai New Year from 13 to 15 April, turns Khao San into one of the two biggest water fights in Bangkok, along with Silom. The street is packed and nothing stays dry, so carry your phone in a waterproof pouch. On New Year's Eve the bars spill into the road and the party runs well past midnight. It's free and loud, but you won't see the river fireworks from here.

For one evening, yes. Go after dark, walk it end to end between 19:00 and 22:00, eat from the carts, then cross to Rambuttri for a drink where you can hear each other. As a daytime sight, no. At noon it's a quiet street of shops and agents, and the temples nearby are the reason to be in the Old City by day.

Whether to stay here depends on the trip. It's the cheapest base within walking distance of the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, and a good one for a short sightseeing stop or a first night in Thailand on a backpacker budget. For a longer stay, or if you want to sleep, a hotel on the BTS in Sukhumvit or Silom gets around the city faster.