A Tourist’s Guide to Areas to Stay in Bangkok

This post is dedicated to staying in Bangkok and basically trying to figure out which places work the best when you are around the city, and you are a tourist. Before beginning, let me add a disclaimer: I say this from the point of view of someone who has visited Bangkok a few times, and has stayed in four different parts of the city. Based on that, I will be segregating the city into different parts.

The first thing you need to do, before beginning, is to figure out what you are looking for in Bangkok.

What do you want to do?

1. Stay at a place near the ‘happening’ part of Bangkok?
2. Live like the locals and explore the city more thoroughly?
3. Go shopping, especially for brands?
4. Do more sightseeing?
5. Stay close to the airport?
6. Something else.

Where to Stay in Bangkok?

Now, I have a solution for the first four bits. The last couple, not so much. So far, the first four reasons are why I have travelled to Bangkok. But, there are a few things to note when booking a hotel in Bangkok.

1. If you want to stay near the ‘happening’ part of Bangkok, being close to Khao San road is probably a great idea. Khao San Road comes alive in the night, and you can really have a fun time drinking and dancing in the streets of Bangkok. Plus, they have a cool night market from where you can pick up a lot of stuff, and bargaining is always a good thing here. There are street vendors who can sell you cheap food, like Pad Thai, boiled/roasted sweet corn, Barbecue pork, or even exotic stuff like fried scorpion and crickets. Get a massage on the sidewalk, or one at their private parlors. You can also jump into one of the shady places for a lap dance or a ping pong show, quite discreetly. Pickpockets are a hazard, so be careful. I have to say, there are a few red light districts in the region, and Soi Cowboy is pretty famous, and easy for taxis to navigate through.
2. If you want to explore the city more thoroughly, stay in a slightly more residential region, like Thong Lo or Ekami. I have stayed in Thong Lo region in an Airbnb, and it was a good stay. If you are staying for a while, a small hostel or a single room around this region would cost you less, and you can always take the BTS (always check if a BTS station is nearby), or the ferry from one part of the city to another.
3. If you want to shop to your heart’s content, then Siam is probably the area you want to be. Not only does it have one of the largest malls I have seen in my life (Siam Center, Siam Paradise, Siam Discovery), it is also very conveniently located and the connectivity is great. You would also find MBK Centre, Terminal 21, CentralWorld, Platinum Fashion Mall, and Pantip Plaza nearby, which are all popular shopping malls in Bangkok for buying interesting clothes, funky jewelry, shoes, bags, electronics (especially Pantip Plaza and MBK) , and makeup. They are slightly on the expensive side, but the quality is quite good. Another option is definitely Chatuchak Market, but as its a weekend market, I would suggest you stay around the region during the weekends.
4. If you want to do more sightseeing, especially of temples, staying near Khao San road makes sense, because its close to the King’s Palace, Wat Pho, as well as Wat Arun. However, it is always a good idea to book a day tour in Bangkok with a group and just hang out with them, because that takes care of a lot of travelling cost which is quite high. The entrance to The King’s Palace and Emerald Buddha is also not cheap (500 baht per person for a one-day ticket), so check shops (I suggest checking out the shops in Khao San Road) for getting a sightseeing trip arranged, where they do provide pick up and drop from your location.
5. If you want to stay close to Bangkok airport, then pick a hotel close to either one. I personally love Amari Resort, which is very close to Don Mueang airport, and Suvarnabhumi airport has multiple hotels very close to it.

Tackling Sukhumvit

Here’s the thing: whenever someone says, I am staying on Sukhumvit, my first question is: WHICH PART OF SUKHUMVIT? You see, Sukhumvit is one very long road, and most people don’t get it. It’s got a million bylanes, or ‘soi’ as they are called, and depending on your area, you can stay at really elegant or really shady places. I would therefore ask you to check your location and the distance from the nearest BTS or Skytrain station, or MRT (underground) station. If you are close to one, you are mostly sorted because then navigation becomes easy.

Transportation in Bangkok

BTS/MRT as Transportation

There are two major BTS (Skytrain) Lines, which are also connected with MRT (Underground). Check out THIS MAP to understand more about the Skytrain/MRT because this can also help you get to Suvarnabhumi Airport on time, since there is a line that connects it to Phaya Thai, which is close to the city center. You can also check out the Mo Chit line, which connects the city to DMK and there is a shuttle bus (A1) which takes you from Mo Chit to DMK, and drops you at Arrivals Hall 6. I have also mentioned how the two airports are connected via a free of cost shuttle bus between Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang, which is free of cost. All you’ll have to do is show a valid ticket for a flight in the next few hours from the other airport, and you can get a ride. It takes about an hour and half to reach, in general, unless there’s traffic.

Taxis, Tuk Tuks and Ubers as Transportation

I used both Uber and Grab extensively in my trips to Bangkok. First off, when you have a local SIM you can use your own existing Uber code to give yourself a discount on your new uber account with your new SIM. The reason why I strongly suggest this is because it will cost you far less to text or call your Uber driver.

Grab is a popular alternative as well, similar to Uber in many ways, but quite efficient, and is present around Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, Myanmar and Indonesia.  I checked and seems Grab discounts are difficult to avail. So if you are looking for a Grab discount code, here it is on your first ride: GRABPOORNABAN or use this URL.

Normal taxis and tuk tuks are quite ridiculously overpriced around here, and we were made painfully aware that they won’t budge about their pricing. The only one which was still reasonable was one taxi ride from King’s Palace to Terminal 21 (300 baht), which was still more expensive than any Uber or Grab.

Ferries and Buses

Thankfully, buses and ferries are quite extensively available but I found both to be slightly difficult to navigate with. However, it is fun to breeze down the river, and I would definitely recommend ferry rides at least once during your Bangkok stay if the weather is good.

In my future posts, I will be talking about a few places to stay in Bangkok, as well as discuss an itinerary of Phuket. Let me know in comments which one you would like to see first.

Disclaimer: All opinions are the author’s personal ones, derived after a considerable amount of observation.