The One Khaosan

This is a Khao San Road bar in the fullest sense: doors open at 5.30pm, the shutters come down at 3am, and everything in between is street noise, music and whoever happens to be walking past. If that sounds like too much, it probably is. If it sounds like exactly the night you came to Bangkok for, you'll be fine here.

Mid-range pricing is the useful part. You're on one of the most famous addresses in backpacker Southeast Asia without paying rooftop money for the privilege, which makes it a sensible anchor for a bar crawl rather than a destination you commit the whole evening to. Go early, around six or seven, and you get a table, a drink and a good view of the street filling up. Go at eleven and you're part of the crush, which some people want.

My advice is to treat the street as the main event and the bar as your base. Food stalls, vendors and half a dozen other venues are within a minute's walk in either direction.