BANGKOK · THAILAND
Gilded temples, river boats, neon nights.
The Grand Palace and Wat Arun, dinner cruises on the Chao Phraya, Chinatown street food and rooftop bars, the floating markets and the day trips up to Ayutthaya. Every good day in Bangkok, and every road out of it.
Only here
Three days that could only be Bangkok.
Temples and food tours exist in every Asian capital. A market that folds up for a passing train, a longtail roaring through the canals of Thonburi, and Chinatown eaten by tuk-tuk do not.
A train through the stalls
The Maeklong Railway Market
At Maeklong the market is laid out across a working railway line. Several times a day a bell rings, the awnings fold back and the baskets of chillies and mangoes slide clear, then a train eases through with inches to spare before everything springs back into place. Most tours pair it with Damnoen Saduak, where the whole market floats on a canal of paddle boats. Nowhere else does a market move for the train.
- 1 The Old Siam: Damnoen Saduak and Maeklong Railway Market
- 2 Bangkok: Train Market & Floating Market with Boat Ride
- 3 Half-Day Railway Market and Floating Market Tour in Thailand
Into the Thonburi khlongs
The Canals of Thonburi
Cross the Chao Phraya to the Thonburi bank and the city turns back into water. A longtail with a truck engine bolted to the stern roars off down the khlongs, past stilt houses on the waterline, orchid nurseries and temples you can only reach by jetty. This is the older Bangkok, the one that was here before the roads, and you still see it from the water.
- 1 Bangkok Canal Tour: 2-Hour Longtail Boat Ride
- 2 Bangkok: Longtail Boat Canal Cruise
- 3 Bangkok: Temples, Canals & Local Life Bike Tour
Yaowarat after dark
Chinatown by Tuk-Tuk
When the heat drops, Yaowarat Road lights up in stacked Chinese and Thai neon and the whole street starts to cook. You ride in by tuk-tuk and eat your way along it: charcoal-grilled river prawns, fishball noodles, century-old gold shops glowing behind glass, and a bowl of bird’s-nest dessert from a cart that has parked on the same corner for fifty years.
- 1 Bangkok: Backstreets Food Tour with 15+ Tastings
- 2 Bangkok Backstreets Food Tour with 15+ Tastings
- 3 Bangkok: Michelin Guide Street Food Tour by Tuk Tuk
Two cities in one
Bangkok runs on two clocks.
There is the city of gold temples and floating markets that starts at dawn, and the city of neon, sky bars and night food that takes over once the heat lets go. Most travellers want both.
Start here
The one almost everyone books first.
If you do a single thing in Bangkok, more travellers start with this than anything else on the list.
Where most people start
Bangkok's Most Popular Experiences
The Grand Palace, a dinner cruise on the river, Chinatown street food and a market day out. The things most travellers come to Bangkok for.
Where to begin
The days a Bangkok trip is built around.
The Grand Palace and the temples, a river dinner cruise, the floating and railway markets, Chinatown street food, a cooking class and the day out to Ayutthaya. The handful of days most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
Out of town
Day trips from Bangkok.
Bangkok is the hub for the best of central Thailand. Three days out, from a half-morning among the floating markets to a full day in the ruins or out on the River Kwai, depending on the time you have.
Markets
The whole city is a market.
Bangkok shops in the open. The weekend sprawl of Chatuchak with its eight thousand stalls, the wholesale flowers of Pak Khlong Talat banked up through the night, the gold and dried-goods lanes of Chinatown, and the night markets that set up after dark under strings of bare bulbs. You buy, you bargain, and you eat as you go.
Read the guide: the best Bangkok markets →After the heat drops
Bangkok comes alive after dark.
The city saves its best for the evening. Sky bars sixty floors up with the whole grid glittering below, the neon canyon of Yaowarat starting to cook, a cabaret show, a Muay Thai card at the stadium, and a dinner cruise sliding past the floodlit temples on the river.
See Bangkok after dark →The river of kings
Bangkok was built facing the water.
The Chao Phraya is the spine of the city. Long-tail ferries and rice barges still work it by day, and the great temples line the banks. After dark a dinner cruise drifts past a floodlit Wat Arun and the Grand Palace while the bridges light up. The river is the oldest road in Bangkok, and still the best seat in town.
River cruises & boat trips →The Old City
Start where Bangkok started.
Inside the old walls of Rattanakosin stand the temples that built the city. The Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, home of the Emerald Buddha; Wat Pho and its gold reclining Buddha the length of a football pitch; and Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn, its porcelain spire rising across the river. Go early, dress for the temples, and let a guide read the murals for you.
- 1 Bangkok: Grand Palace, Wat Pho, and Wat Arun Guided Tour
- 2 Bangkok: Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun Sacred & Local Tour
- 3 Bangkok: Wat Pho and Wat Arun Guided Walking Tour
Plan by distance
Pick how far you want to go today.
Bangkok is a hub. Spend the day among the temples and markets in town, push an hour out to the floating markets, or give a full day to the ruins of Ayutthaya and the River Kwai.
In the city
Stay in town.The Grand Palace at opening, Wat Pho and Wat Arun, Chinatown after dark and a rooftop bar to finish. Days you never leave Bangkok.
Half a day out
Out to the markets.Damnoen Saduak floating market by paddle boat and the Maeklong railway market on its live track. A dawn start, back in the city for lunch.
A full day there and back
Upriver and beyond.The ruined temples of Ayutthaya by road or river cruise, or the River Kwai and the Death Railway out at Kanchanaburi. The big days that earn an early alarm.
By tuk-tuk
Three wheels, no walls, all of Bangkok.
The tuk-tuk is Bangkok on a sugar high: a two-stroke engine, a canvas roof and the whole street in your face. The best ones run after dark, cutting between the temples lit gold for the night and pulling up at food stalls down lanes a taxi would never find. You arrive everywhere a little windblown and grinning.
See all 72 tuk-tuk tours →By place
The city, and the roads out of it.
The Old City for the Grand Palace and the temples. Chinatown for the gold shops and the night food. The Riverside for the Chao Phraya and the canals. Ayutthaya for the ruins. Kanchanaburi for the River Kwai. The markets for the floating boats and the railway track.
By activity
Pick what kind of day you want.
A temple morning if you want the gold and the history. Street food if you want to eat the city. A cooking class if you want to take it home. The river if you want the skyline at dusk, a rooftop bar if you want it after dark.
Plan it
Three days that cover the essentials.
First time in Bangkok? Here is how three days plays out without a wasted hour.
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