Bangkok Itineraries

Sleep in Silom or on the Riverside, where Saphan Taksin BTS and Sathorn pier put the river boats and the Skytrain on the same corner, or in the Old Town if you want the temples on foot and do not mind being off the train network.

Day one is the classic royal riverbank and needs an early start; by 10am the Grand Palace queue is 20 minutes long. Lunch in the shophouses on Maharat Road between Wat Pho and the palace (80-150 baht a plate), and take the afternoon slowly: the Wat Arun crossing, an hour inside, and a cold drink on the Tha Tien bank watching the temple turn gold at 6pm. Chinatown’s stalls set up from 6pm and peak at 8-9pm; Ratchawong pier is a five-minute walk from the Yaowarat strip.

Day two trades the river for the city. The Golden Mount is quiet before 9am and the walk down to the Loha Prasat and the Democracy Monument takes 10 minutes. The canal boat from Phan Fa Lilat is the fast, slightly chaotic way to reach the Siam area; get off at Hua Chang for the Jim Thompson House, whose last tour leaves at 5pm. Spend the hot hours in Siam Paragon, Siam Center and CentralWorld (Sea Life aquarium, food halls, cinema), pay your respects at the Erawan Shrine when the dancers perform in the late afternoon, and finish high up: rooftop bars open around 5pm, enforce smart-casual dress (no shorts or flip-flops at Vertigo and Sky Bar) and charge 350-600 baht a cocktail.

Cost: about 1,300 baht in entry fees for the two days, 100 baht in boats and trains, 400-800 baht a day on street food and 1,000 baht for two rooftop drinks. Budget 2,500 baht a day with a hostel bed, 5,000-6,000 baht with a mid-range hotel.

Keep days one and two above, and add a third day that depends on the day of the week. If it is a Saturday or Sunday, go to Chatuchak Weekend Market; if not, the Thonburi canals, or both if you are quick. Sleeping in Sukhumvit (Asok, Phrom Phong or Thonglor) makes sense for this version because the BTS reaches Chatuchak directly and the night markets are an easy Grab or MRT ride.

Chatuchak works best from 9am to noon: the clothing and vintage sections (sections 2-6) and the homeware and ceramics around sections 7-8 are covered but not air-conditioned, and by 1pm the aisles are an oven. Eat there (coconut ice cream, paella at the famous Viva 8 stall, khao kha moo) and leave when you flag. The Thonburi canal trip is the afternoon’s reward: a long-tail boat from Tha Chang or Sathorn pier loops through Khlong Bangkok Noi and Khlong Bangkok Yai past stilt houses, temples and the Royal Barges Museum (100 baht), with a stop at the Artist’s House (Baan Silapin) where a free traditional puppet show runs at 2pm most days except Wednesday. Agree the price and the route before boarding and ask for the fish-feeding stop to be skipped.

Jodd Fairs at Rama IX (behind Central Rama 9, MRT Phra Ram 9 exit 2) replaced the old Ratchada train market in 2021 and is the most convenient night market in the city for visitors: 300 or so stalls of food, clothes and bars under string lights, 4pm to midnight daily, with mains around 60-150 baht. The Ratchada strip beyond it has the big clubs if you want a late night.

Cost: as for two days plus roughly 1,500 baht for the canal boat (split between the people on it), 100 baht for the Royal Barges Museum, 300-500 baht at Chatuchak and 300-500 baht at Jodd Fairs. Three mid-range days come to around 15,000-18,000 baht for one person including a 2,500-baht hotel room.

Five days turns the trip from a checklist into a feel for the city and its hinterland. Keep the three days above and use days four and five for the two best excursions, swapping their order to suit the weather and the weekday. Stay in one hotel for all five nights; a central Sukhumvit or Silom base reaches every departure point below within 30-45 minutes.

Ayutthaya is the day trip. The ruined capital of Siam from 1351 to 1767 lies 80 km north and the train is the right way to go: the ordinary trains from Hua Lamphong cost 15-20 baht and take 100 minutes, the air-conditioned specials from Krung Thep Aphiwat are faster and 245-345 baht. Leave by 8am, hire a tuk-tuk driver at the station for a four-hour loop of the Historical Park (Wat Mahathat, Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Wat Ratchaburana, then across the river to Wat Chaiwatthanaram) or rent a bicycle if it is cool, eat boat noodles or river prawns for lunch, and be on a train back by 5pm. In the hot season, reverse the day: lunch first, the ruins from 3pm, sunset at Wat Chaiwatthanaram, and the 6-7pm train home. Bang Pa-in summer palace is a 20-minute detour on the way back.

Day five starts across the river. Bang Krachao is a loop of the Chao Phraya that was never developed, a 16 sq km island of coconut and nipa palm 15 minutes from the Sukhumvit high-rises, with elevated concrete paths wide enough for one bicycle. The weekend floating market at Bang Nam Phueng is the most popular reason to go but weekdays are emptier and better for riding; two to three hours covers it. Back in town, a cooking class fills the hot afternoon: the Silom Thai Cooking School (near Chong Nonsi BTS) and Sompong (Silom Soi 13) both include a wet-market tour and five dishes for about 1,200-1,500 baht, and Baipai, further out, is the more polished 2,500-baht version. Talad Rot Fai Srinakarin, from Thursday to Sunday, is the original train night market in its sprawling suburban form, worth the ride for the vintage-car garages and the rockabilly barbers as much as the food.

The Maeklong and Amphawa day is the alternative, and the better choice if you are in town Friday to Sunday. The train passes through the Maeklong Railway Market eight times a day (arrivals 8.30am, 11.10am, 2.30pm and 5.40pm; departures 6.20am, 9am, 11.30am and 3.30pm), the awnings folding back in seconds as it comes. The 2.30pm arrival lines up with a late lunch, an hour’s drive to Amphawa in Samut Songkhram for the evening canal-side grills, and a 60-80 baht long-tail ride to see the fireflies in the lamphu trees after 7.30pm. Damnoen Saduak, the famous morning floating market, is 20 minutes from Amphawa but is a staged tourist operation by 9am; if you want it, go at 7am from Bangkok with a tour.

Cost: five days at a mid-range pace run 25,000-32,000 baht ($720-920) per person including a 2,500-baht room, or about 12,000 baht with hostels and third-class trains. Day four and the alternative day are the cheapest days of the trip if you take public transport.

Suvarnabhumi to the old city and back is realistic in a layover of 10 hours or more, and 24 hours gives you a full day. Thailand’s 60-day visa exemption covers most passports, and every arrival needs the free Thailand Digital Arrival Card completed online before landing (check the current rule at tdac.immigration.go.th). Leave your bag at the left-luggage counters on the airport’s basement level (about 100 baht per piece per day) and take the Airport Rail Link from the same level: 15-45 baht, trains every 10-15 minutes from 5.30am to midnight, 26 minutes to Phaya Thai, where you connect to the BTS.

If your layover is shorter, eight hours is the minimum for leaving the airport: 90 minutes each way including immigration and security, leaving four hours for Wat Pho, Wat Arun and lunch by the river. Under eight hours, stay airside or visit the Bang Phli market near the airport. A taxi from the airport rank costs 300-450 baht to the centre plus a 50-baht airport fee and tolls, and takes 35-70 minutes depending on traffic; it beats the train only with heavy bags or after midnight.

Sleeping near the airport makes sense for a dawn departure: the Novotel Suvarnabhumi is connected to the terminal, and the hotels around Lat Krabang (one ARL stop away) are a third of the price. Flights from Don Mueang, the budget-airline airport, are a different matter; it is 45 km from Suvarnabhumi and the free inter-airport shuttle or a 400-baht taxi takes 50-90 minutes, so a Suvarnabhumi-Don Mueang connection needs four hours at minimum.

First-timers: follow the two-day plan exactly before improvising; the Grand Palace, Wat Pho and Wat Arun on the first morning give you the city’s bearings and the river gives you its geography. Stay in Silom or on the Riverside so the boats and the BTS are at your door, and book the Grand Palace ticket online to skip the queue.

Families with children: cut each day to one temple, and add the Sea Life aquarium under Siam Paragon, the paddle boats and playgrounds of Lumphini Park, the Museum Siam interactive galleries next to Wat Pho, the Erawan Museum’s three-headed elephant in Samut Prakan, and Safari World in the northern suburbs. Hotels with pools are not a luxury; they are the afternoon plan. Bang Krachao’s flat bike paths work well with children over about eight.

Rainy season (June to October): move everything outdoors to the morning and treat 3-6pm as indoor time, with the Jim Thompson House, the malls, a cooking class or a massage ready to go. Keep the Ayutthaya day for a morning with a clear forecast and take the air-conditioned train. Do not plan the Maeklong train for the 5.40pm arrival in September or October, when the storms are longest.

On a budget: sleep in Banglamphu or around Khao San Road (300-600 baht a bed), where Phra Arthit pier gives the same river access as a 5,000-baht riverside hotel, eat at street stalls and food courts (50-80 baht a dish), use the orange-flag boat and ordinary trains, and swap the paid rooftops for the free sunset terrace at Tha Tien or the 100-baht Golden Mount. The two-day plan then costs about 1,300 baht in fees and under 2,000 baht a day in total.

Slow travel and repeat visits: base yourself in Ari or Thonglor for the cafe neighbourhoods, add Bangkok Design Week (late January to February) or the Vegetarian Festival (October) to the calendar, and spend a day in Nakhon Pathom at the Phra Pathom Chedi or on the Death Railway in Kanchanaburi, both reachable by train.

Onward from Bangkok: the city is the hub for everything else in the country. Overnight trains run north to Chiang Mai (11-13 hours), buses and minivans reach Pattaya and Hua Hin in two to three hours, and flights from both airports reach Phuket and Krabi in 80 minutes. For a full-country plan built around these routes, see the Thailand itineraries guide.