Four Days in,
Bangkok.
Bangkok, Thailand
Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Arun, Wat Pho, Chatuchak weekend market, ICONSIAM, Chinatown Yaowarat street food, Asiatique, Damnoen Saduak or Maeklong day trip, Terminal 21, Chao Phraya boat
Itinerary
4 chaptersOld City temples, then Chinatown after dark
Bangkok, Thailand
Rain
Overview
This is the Bangkok most people picture, packed into one day and ordered so the walking happens before the heat. The Grand Palace opens at 8:30 a.m. and you want to be at the gate then; by 10 the tour buses have arrived and the shade has gone. Wat Pho is a ten-minute walk south, lunch at Supanniga is a few steps from its wall, and the ferry to Wat Arun leaves from the same block, so everything before 5 p.m. sits within half a mile of the river. Then the express boat carries you two stops downstream to Chinatown, where the day ends with grilled prawns at a plastic table on Yaowarat Road. Expect about 3 miles on foot, a lot of it on hot stone, with a high near 90°F and October humidity. A short heavy shower in the afternoon is normal this month, and it usually passes in half an hour.
Tips
The palace dress code is enforced at the gate, not suggested: long pants or a skirt past the knee, sleeves over the shoulders, nothing sheer or torn. Leggings get turned away. Sarongs are sold outside if you forget, but it is easier to wear the right thing from breakfast. Carry a refillable bottle (Wat Pho hands you one with the ticket), a hat, and small bills for ferries and stalls. Anyone near the palace who tells you it is closed for a ceremony is running the tuk-tuk scam; walk past and go to the ticket window yourself. Wat Arun's central tower has steep, shallow steps, so decide at the base whether you are climbing. Chinatown stalls are cash only, and many take Monday off; this plan puts you there on a Saturday, the busiest and best night of the week.
Getting Around
The river does most of the work today. Tha Tien pier (N8) is the junction: the cross-river shuttle to Wat Arun costs 5 baht and takes five minutes, and the orange-flag Chao Phraya Express is a flat 16 baht to any stop on the line, including Ratchawong (N5) for Chinatown. Express boats run every 10 to 20 minutes until about 7 p.m., and you pay the conductor on board. To reach the palace from your hotel, take a Grab or a metered taxi to the Na Phra Lan Road gate (tell the driver Wat Phra Kaew), or ride the MRT Blue Line to Sanam Chai and walk 10 minutes. After dinner, MRT Wat Mangkon station is five minutes from Yaowarat Road and connects to the whole network, and Grab cars pick up on the side streets rather than on Yaowarat itself.
Local Tips
Buy the palace ticket at the official window inside the outer wall, never from anyone on the street. Inside Wat Phra Kaew, the Emerald Buddha is small and sits high on its altar; sit on the floor with your feet pointed away from it, which is the respectful way to look. At Wat Pho, spend 20 baht on a cup of coins for the 108 bowls behind the Reclining Buddha, then find the massage pavilion near the east gate, where a 30-minute foot massage runs about 320 baht and is the right thing to do after two hours on palace stone. In Chinatown, follow the locals: the good stalls have a line and a laminated photo menu, and you eat where you buy. Yaowarat stays open to traffic all night, so keep to the sidewalk side of the stall and watch for motorbikes squeezing past.
- 0108:30 · 150m
Grand Palace
Open daily 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (last tickets), 500 baht per adult (about $15), free for kids under 47 inches (120 cm). The ticket covers Wat Phra Kaew and the Emerald Buddha, plus the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles. The dress code is enforced at the gate: long pants or a skirt below the knee, shoulders covered, nothing sheer; sarongs are sold outside if you need one. Ignore anyone on the street saying the palace is closed, it is the tuk-tuk scam. Go in at opening; crowds and heat both peak by 10.About this place↗ Open in MapsThe walled royal compound on the Chao Phraya, built from 1782 when Bangkok became the capital. Its temple, Wat Phra Kaew, holds the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred image in Thailand.
HistoryKing Rama I began the palace in 1782, the year he moved the capital across the river from Thonburi and founded the Chakri dynasty. Later kings added halls in their own taste, which is why a Thai temple sits beside the Chakri Maha Prasat, a European-style hall under a Thai roof that Rama V finished for the city's centennial in 1882. No king has lived here since 1946; the compound is used for coronations, royal funerals and state ceremonies.Why it's famousThe Emerald Buddha, a 26-inch green jade figure found in Chiang Rai in 1434 when lightning split a chedi, is the palladium of the Thai state, and the king changes its gold robes three times a year with the seasons. The gilded stupas, mirror-tiled walls and the 178-panel Ramakien mural along the cloister make it the most photographed site in the country.Did you knowNobody but the king, or a prince acting for him, is allowed to touch the Emerald Buddha. Its three robes (for the hot, rainy and cool seasons) are kept in the Pavilion of Regalia, and the robe-changing ceremony doubles as the official start of each season. - 0211:15 · 75m
Wat Pho
A 10-minute walk south of the palace along Maha Rat Road. Open 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., 300 baht, and a bottle of water comes with the ticket. The 150-foot Reclining Buddha fills its own hall; walk the length of it, then drop 20 baht of coins into the 108 bronze bowls behind it for luck. Same dress code as the palace. The massage school pavilions inside the wall do a 30-minute foot massage for around 320 baht, which is exactly what you want after the palace.About this place↗ Open in MapsBangkok's oldest and largest temple complex, home of the 150-foot gold-leafed Reclining Buddha and of the country's first school of Thai massage.
HistoryA temple stood here before Bangkok existed, built in the Ayutthaya period, and Rama I rebuilt it in 1788 as the first royal temple of the new capital. Rama III expanded it in the 1830s and had the walls inscribed with texts on medicine, astrology and massage, which is why Wat Pho is called Thailand's first public university. The Reclining Buddha was built in 1832 during that expansion, and the hall was raised around it.Why it's famousThe Reclining Buddha is 150 feet long and 49 feet high, plated in gold leaf, with the soles of its feet inlaid in mother-of-pearl showing the 108 auspicious signs of the Buddha. The temple's massage school, founded in 1955, trained the therapists behind most of the Thai massage you will find anywhere in the world.Did you knowThe 108 bronze bowls behind the statue match the 108 signs on its feet; a coin in each is said to bring good fortune, and the money funds the temple's upkeep. The four huge tiled chedis in the courtyard are dedicated to the first four Chakri kings. - 0312:45 · 75m
Supanniga Eating Room Tha Tien
Air-conditioned dining room on Maha Rat Road, a few steps from the Wat Pho gate, with a rooftop terrace that looks straight at Wat Arun across the river. The menu is the owner's grandmother's cooking from Trat and Khon Kaen: order the crab-meat omelet, moo chamuang (pork in a sour curry of chamuang leaves) and the Isan-style grilled chicken with sticky rice. Most dishes are mild; ask for chili on the side. Around 500 baht per person. Book ahead on weekends, and ask for the rooftop if it is not raining.About this place↗ Open in MapsA small Thai restaurant group built on the owner's grandmother's recipes from Trat, on the eastern Gulf coast, and Khon Kaen in Isan. The Tha Tien branch has the best Wat Arun view of any lunch table in the city.
HistoryThanaruek Laoraowirodge opened the first Supanniga Eating Room on Sukhumvit Soi 55 in 2012, cooking the dishes his grandmother, Khun Yai, made at home in Trat. The Tha Tien branch followed in 2016 in a shophouse across the road from Wat Pho, and the group later added a dinner cruise on the river below it.Why it's famousMoo chamuang, a sour pork curry made with the leaves of the chamuang tree, is hard to find in Bangkok outside the eastern provinces, and the crab omelet made the city's best-of lists early on. The rooftop facing Wat Arun is why people book the Tha Tien branch over the original.Did you knowThe name is the Thai word for the yellow silk-cotton flower, Cochlospermum regium, which blooms across the northeast in the dry season and is the provincial flower of several Isan provinces. - 0414:15 · 15m
Tha Tien Pier
The cross-river ferry to Wat Arun leaves every few minutes, 5 baht each way, pay at the booth, five minutes across. The same pier is N8 on the Chao Phraya Express line: look for the orange flag on the boat, 16 baht flat fare paid on board, and it is how you reach Chinatown later (two stops downriver to Ratchawong, N5). The dried-seafood market behind the pier is worth a two-minute look on the way through.About this place↗ Open in MapsThe pier at the foot of Wat Pho, the busiest cross-river crossing in the old city and stop N8 on the Chao Phraya Express boat.
HistoryTha Tien was a market landing long before it was a tourist pier: rice, dried fish and charcoal came ashore here for the palace kitchens through the 19th century. The old shophouses behind the pier date from the reign of Rama V, and the dried-seafood market still opens in the mornings.Why it's famousIt is the crossing to Wat Arun, and the five-minute, 5-baht ferry is one of the best cheap views in Bangkok, with the temple growing in front of you and the palace roofs falling behind.Did you knowThe name comes from a folk tale: the giant guardian statues of Wat Pho and Wat Arun fought over money one of them owed, and the area was flattened ('tian' means level) in the brawl. The two yaksha figures are said to still glare at each other across the river. - 0514:30 · 75m
Wat Arun
Open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., 200 baht, shoulders and knees covered. The steps up the central prang are steep enough that people come down backwards; if that is not for you, the porcelain detail is better up close at the base anyway. Late afternoon puts the sun behind you for photos of the river side. Shops by the gate rent Thai costumes if you want the photo everyone takes. Allow an hour, then ferry back to Tha Tien.About this place↗ Open in MapsThe Temple of Dawn, a roughly 260-foot Khmer-style tower on the west bank covered in broken Chinese porcelain, and the most recognizable silhouette on the Bangkok river.
HistoryA temple called Wat Makok stood here in the Ayutthaya period. King Taksin made it his royal temple in 1768 when he set up his capital at Thonburi, and the Emerald Buddha lived here until Rama I moved it across the river in 1784. Rama II renamed the temple and began the great prang, which Rama III finished in the 1840s.Why it's famousThe central prang and its four satellites are faced with pieces of Chinese porcelain that arrived as ship ballast, pressed into the plaster in flower patterns that catch the light. It is on the 10-baht coin and is the view from half the riverside restaurants in the city.Did you knowDespite the name, the best light on Wat Arun is at sunset, when the sun drops behind it as seen from the Bangkok side. The name honors Aruna, the Hindu god of dawn, because Taksin is said to have reached the temple at daybreak. - 0617:00 · 90m
Yaowarat Road
From Tha Tien take the orange-flag express boat two stops down to Ratchawong (N5), then walk five minutes to Yaowarat Road. Stalls set up from about 6 p.m. and the neon comes on at dusk. Graze rather than sit: kuay jap (peppery rolled-noodle soup with crispy pork) at Nai Ek, pa tong go doughnuts, roasted chestnuts, mango sticky rice, and the Chinese dessert shops for bird's nest or ginkgo in syrup. Cash only, most plates 50 to 150 baht. The road stays open to traffic all night, so eat on the sidewalk side of the stall.About this place↗ Open in MapsThe main street of Bangkok's Chinatown, a mile-long curve of gold shops by day and food stalls by night, and the center of one of the oldest Chinese communities outside China.
HistoryChinese traders were moved to this bend of the river in 1782 when Rama I took their old site for the palace, and the district grew with Teochew immigration through the 19th century. Rama V had Yaowarat Road cut through in 1892; it took eight years, and its winding line, which people say follows a dragon's body, came from bargaining around the houses already there.Why it's famousAfter dark the sidewalks turn into the densest stretch of street food in the city, under neon Chinese signs and the gold shops that set the country's gold price by the baht weight. Every food show shot in Bangkok ends up here.Did you knowYaowarat means 'young king' and was named for Rama V, who was crowned at 15. Most stalls take Monday off for street cleaning, so the road is at its quietest on Monday nights. - 0718:45 · 75m
T & K Seafood
The green-shirt seafood stall on the corner of Yaowarat and Phadung Dao Road (Soi Texas), open from about 4:30 p.m. until late. Grilled river prawns, charcoal squid, crab in yellow curry and stir-fried morning glory, with rice, comes to around 400 to 600 baht a head. Ask for a table upstairs for fans and elbow room; the sidewalk tables are the show. Cash only, and the line around 7 p.m. moves fast. The red-shirt stall across the corner, Lek & Rut, is the rival, and both are good.About this place↗ Open in MapsThe better known of two rival seafood stalls that face each other at the corner of Yaowarat and Phadung Dao, grilling river prawns on the sidewalk every night.
HistoryT & K grew from a sidewalk cart into a shophouse with tables spilling onto both streets, and its green-shirted staff have faced the red shirts of Lek & Rut on the opposite corner for decades. The corner itself is now a landmark: taxi drivers know it as the seafood corner before they know the street names.Why it's famousCharcoal-grilled river prawns split down the middle and served with a sharp lime-and-chili seafood sauce, at a fraction of restaurant prices, plus the theater of a dozen woks and grills going at once on a live traffic corner.Did you knowThe two teams are separate businesses with separate kitchens, and ordering from the wrong shirt color at the wrong table is the most common mistake on the corner. Look at the shirt before you sit down.
Chatuchak, Terminal 21 and a park sunset
Bangkok, Thailand
Rain
Overview
Sunday is the right day for this. Chatuchak Weekend Market runs Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the plan is to arrive as it opens, spend three hours before the heat and crowds build, and eat at Or Tor Kor next door, the fresh market CNN ranked among the best in the world. Then the day cools off indoors at Terminal 21, followed by a sunset walk on the elevated path through Benjakitti Park and dinner at Cabbages & Condoms, a garden restaurant whose profits fund a rural development charity. Total walking is about 4 miles, most of it flat and half of it under a roof. Expect a high near 90°F; October afternoons often bring a short heavy shower, and the mall is where you wait it out.
Tips
Chatuchak covers 35 acres and 27 numbered sections, so fix a meeting point (the clock tower in the middle) before you split up, and photograph the section map at the gate. Bring cash in small bills; some stalls take Thai QR payments, but foreign cards rarely work. Bargain gently, with a first counter of around 70 percent, and pay the asking price for food. A hat and a bottle of water are more important here than at the temples, because the alleys between sections have little shade. At Terminal 21's Pier 21 food court, you buy a stored-value card at the counter and refund the balance on the way out. Sunday evenings on Sukhumvit are busy, so book Cabbages & Condoms for 6:30 p.m. and ask for the garden.
Getting Around
The MRT Blue Line is the backbone of the day. Kamphaeng Phet station exit 2 opens directly into Chatuchak; from Silom or Sukhumvit it takes about 30 minutes and costs around 40 baht. Or Tor Kor is across Kamphaeng Phet Road through exit 3. From there, ride the Blue Line to Sukhumvit station (about 20 minutes), which connects underground to Terminal 21 and to BTS Asok. Benjakitti Park is a 10-minute walk south along Ratchadaphisek Road, or one MRT stop to Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, exit 3. Cabbages & Condoms on Sukhumvit Soi 12 is a 15-minute walk back north or a 5-minute Grab. Buy single-journey tokens at the machines, or tap a contactless Visa or Mastercard at the MRT gates; the BTS does not take bank cards, so buy a ticket there.
Local Tips
At Chatuchak, sections 2 to 6 are clothes and souvenirs, 7 is art, and 8 to 26 are handicrafts, ceramics and homeware; the plant zone at the north end sells orchids by the armful. Coconut ice cream served in the husk with sticky rice and peanuts is the market snack, about 60 baht. At Or Tor Kor the fruit is graded and priced by quality, so a perfect mango costs more than at a street cart and tastes like it, and durian is sold in sealed boxes because it is banned on the MRT. Terminal 21's restrooms are themed by floor, and the London ones are the most photographed. In Benjakitti, the elevated walkway loops the wetland ponds and is at its best in the half hour before the 6 p.m. sunset, when the Sukhumvit towers switch their lights on.
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Kamphaeng Phet MRT Station
Ride the MRT Blue Line to Kamphaeng Phet and take exit 2, which comes up inside the market; it is about 30 minutes from Silom or Hua Lamphong. BTS Mo Chit exit 1 also works, with a 5-minute walk through the park side. Single tokens cost 17 to 45 baht from the machines, and a contactless Visa or Mastercard taps straight through the MRT gates. Kids under 35 inches (90 cm) ride free.About this place↗ Open in MapsThe Blue Line station built for the market: exit 2 is the only subway exit in Bangkok that opens straight into a maze of stalls.
HistoryThe Blue Line, Bangkok's first subway, opened in 2004 with Kamphaeng Phet as one of its original 18 stations, sited under Kamphaeng Phet Road between Chatuchak and the Or Tor Kor fresh market. The 2019 and 2020 extensions turned the line into a loop through the old city and Thonburi, which is why it now reaches Sanam Chai beside the Grand Palace.Why it's famousFor most of the week it is a quiet stop north of the center; on Saturday and Sunday mornings it moves a large share of the 200,000 people who visit Chatuchak on a weekend day.Did you knowDurian is banned on the MRT and the BTS, which is why Or Tor Kor sells it in sealed, vacuum-packed boxes. Two of the exits lead to different markets, so the wrong exit costs you a 10-minute walk in the sun. - 0209:00 · 180m
Chatuchak Weekend Market
Saturday and Sunday only, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., more than 15,000 stalls across 27 sections. Agree on the clock tower as your meeting point before anyone wanders off. Go straight in at opening while the alleys are still cool: sections 2 to 6 for clothes and souvenirs, 7 for art, 8 to 26 for ceramics, handicrafts and homeware, with coconut ice cream and juice carts at every junction. Bargain politely and pay in cash; ATMs are by the main gates. Three hours is plenty before the heat wins.About this place↗ Open in MapsOne of the largest weekend markets in the world: 35 acres, 15,000 stalls, vintage denim, orchids, antique Buddha heads and everything in between, open Saturday and Sunday.
HistoryThe market began in 1942 when the government ordered every province to hold a flea market, and Bangkok's was set up at Sanam Luang beside the palace. It moved twice as it outgrew its sites and settled next to Chatuchak Park in 1982, on land the State Railway of Thailand still owns, in time for the city's bicentennial.Why it's famousThe sheer size, and the fact that everything is here at close to wholesale prices: it is where Bangkok's designers, restaurant owners and plant collectors shop, not only tourists. Around 200,000 people come through on a busy weekend day.Did you knowThe clock tower in the middle was built as a landmark because so many people got lost. On Friday nights the market opens for wholesale buyers, and the plant section runs on Wednesday and Thursday when the rest is shut. - 0312:15 · 60m
Or Tor Kor Market
Across Kamphaeng Phet Road from Chatuchak through MRT exit 3: a clean, covered fresh market run by the farmers' marketing organization, with a food court at the back. Try khao kha moo (braised pork leg on rice), grilled seafood, som tam, and the mango sticky rice here, which is the best in the neighborhood. Then buy fruit to take back: durian comes vacuum-packed so it is allowed on the train, or pick mangosteen and rambutan. Clean restrooms, fans and shade; a good place to cool off.About this place↗ Open in MapsBangkok's premium fresh market, run by the Marketing Organization for Farmers, where the produce is graded, the aisles are clean and the fruit is the best you will see in the city.
HistoryThe Marketing Organization for Farmers (Or Tor Kor is its Thai acronym) is a state agency set up in 1974 to give growers a direct outlet at fair prices. Its Bangkok market grew up on this site beside Chatuchak and became a display of the best each province grows: Nakhon Chai Si pomelos, Chanthaburi durian, Chiang Mai sausage.Why it's famousCNN listed it among the world's ten best fresh markets in 2017, and Bangkok's chefs shop here. The fruit is priced by grade, and the top grade is worth the extra baht.Did you knowThe market sells durian ready to eat in sealed boxes because the fruit is banned on the MRT, the BTS and in most hotels; the vacuum pack is the only way to get it home without a fight. - 0414:30 · 120m
Terminal 21 Asok
MRT Kamphaeng Phet to Sukhumvit takes about 20 minutes, and the station exit leads straight into the mall; BTS Asok connects on the other side. Each floor is a city: Rome on the ground floor, then Paris, Tokyo, London, Istanbul, and San Francisco with a Golden Gate Bridge across the atrium. Pier 21 food court on floor 5 is the cheapest good meal on Sukhumvit: load a cash card at the counter, dishes run 40 to 70 baht, and refund the balance on the way out. The restrooms are themed by floor and worth a look.About this place↗ Open in MapsA nine-story mall at the Asok interchange designed as an airport terminal, with each floor styled as a different world city and a famously cheap food court on the San Francisco level.
HistoryTerminal 21 opened in October 2011 on the corner of Sukhumvit and Asok, one of the busiest junctions in the city. Its developer took the airport idea literally: the entrances are gates, the staff dress as cabin crew, and each floor is a destination. It did so well that copies opened in Pattaya and Nakhon Ratchasima.Why it's famousThe Golden Gate Bridge spanning the atrium on the San Francisco floor, the London double-decker bus, and the Pier 21 food court, where a plate of pad kra pao costs less than a bottle of water at the airport it imitates.Did you knowThe themed restrooms have their own following online; Tokyo's are styled like a sushi bar and London's have a red phone box. The escalator from the ground floor is one of the longest in Thailand, at 118 feet. - 0517:00 · 60m
Benjakitti Park
A 10-minute walk south from Terminal 21 down Ratchadaphisek Road, or one MRT stop to Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, exit 3. Walk the elevated skywalk over the wetland ponds and loop the big lake for sunset behind the Sukhumvit skyline, around 6 p.m. in October. Free, open 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., with water fountains, shaded benches and a lot of joggers after 5. Restrooms are near the lake entrance.About this place↗ Open in MapsA 180-acre park on the old state tobacco factory land beside Sukhumvit, rebuilt in 2022 as a wetland forest park with a lake and a mile-long elevated walkway through the treetops.
HistoryThe land was the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly's factory for 70 years. The first lake park opened in 2004, named for Queen Sirikit's 60th birthday in 1992 (Benjakitti means the fifth cycle of the 12-year calendar). When the factory moved out, the army's engineers rebuilt the site as a forest park, and the expanded park opened in 2022.Why it's famousThe elevated walkway rising over ponds and young forest with the glass towers of Asok behind it, and the sunset view across the lake, which has become one of the standard Bangkok skyline photos.Did you knowThe wetland ponds are a working filter: they clean water from the adjoining canal before it reaches the lake. Water monitor lizards over four feet long have moved in from neighboring Lumphini Park and sun themselves on the banks. - 0618:30 · 90m
Cabbages & Condoms
On Sukhumvit Soi 12, a 15-minute walk from the park or 5 minutes by Grab. A garden restaurant run by the PDA, a family-planning and rural-development charity; the name amuses everyone and the food is honest central Thai. Order massaman curry, tom yum goong, deep-fried fish with three-flavor sauce and a plain fried rice. Mains 200 to 400 baht. Book for weekend evenings and ask for the garden. The check comes with a condom instead of a mint.About this place↗ Open in MapsA garden restaurant on Sukhumvit Soi 12 owned by a family-planning charity, known for its name, its condom-themed decor, and profits that fund rural projects across Thailand.
HistoryMechai Viravaidya, nicknamed Mr. Condom, founded the Population and Community Development Association in 1974 and pushed Thailand's birth rate down by handing out condoms in markets and getting monks to bless them. The restaurant followed as a way to fund the charity's work, on the idea that birth control should be as easy to buy as vegetables.Why it's famousLamps and mannequins made from condoms, the sign out front, and a story with real results: Thailand's fertility rate fell from about six children per woman in the 1960s to under two by the 1990s, and PDA is one of the reasons.Did you knowInstead of after-dinner mints, the check comes with condoms. Branches opened in Chiang Rai, Pattaya, Khao Yai and even near Oxford, England, all sending profits back to PDA.
Damnoen Saduak, Maeklong and the Golden Mount
Samut Songkhram, Thailand
Rain
Overview
Today's markets are the two most photographed in Thailand, and both are best before 10 a.m. Damnoen Saduak, in Ratchaburi province, is a canal market on a waterway dug in the 1860s; vendors paddle up to your boat with noodles, coconut pancakes and mangoes. Maeklong, 30 minutes further on, is an ordinary fresh market with a railway running through the middle of it, and the whole point is to be standing behind the yellow line at 11:10 a.m. when the train comes through. This day falls on a Monday, which means fewer tour buses at Damnoen Saduak but also that Amphawa's floating market (Friday to Sunday) is closed, so lunch is at a riverside restaurant in Amphawa or Maeklong town. The drive back to Bangkok is about 90 minutes, then the Golden Mount's 344 steps for sunset and pad thai in the old city.
Tips
Leave the hotel by 6:30 a.m.; arriving at Damnoen Saduak at 8 versus 10 is the difference between a market and a traffic jam of boats. Agree on the paddle-boat price before you step in (150 to 200 baht per person for 30 to 40 minutes is fair, and the first quote will be higher), and keep your bag on your lap. At Maeklong, do what the vendors tell you: the train passes with a few inches to spare and the market people will move you if you stand in the wrong place. Bring a hat, sunscreen and water, because both markets are open air. The car is your air-conditioned refuge, so keep the driver's phone number handy. Klook, GetYourGuide and most hotel desks sell a car-and-driver day for 2,500 to 3,500 baht; a shared minivan tour is cheaper but runs on the group's clock, and today you want to leave Damnoen Saduak the moment it fills up.
Getting Around
With a private car everything is door to door: pickup at 6:30 a.m., Damnoen Saduak by 8, Maeklong by 10:30, lunch by the river, and back on Rama II Road by 2:30 p.m. Without one, minivans leave the Southern Bus Terminal (Sai Tai Mai) on Borommaratchachonnani Road from about 6 a.m., around 100 baht per person and 90 minutes each way to Damnoen Saduak. Getting from there to Maeklong takes a local songthaew or taxi, and coming back from Maeklong you can ride the Maeklong Railway itself to Ban Laem, cross the Tha Chin river by ferry, and take the second train into Wongwian Yai in Thonburi, slow but a fine trip. Back in Bangkok, the Golden Mount is on Boriphat Road in the old city; the nearest MRT is Sam Yot, a 15-minute walk, and Thipsamai is five minutes on foot from the temple gate.
Local Tips
The paddle boats at Damnoen Saduak are for shopping and eating; the motorized long-tails go out along the quieter side canals where people still live on the water, and are worth the extra 200 baht if you have time. Coconut sugar is the Samut Songkhram specialty, sold in tubs at every market and lighter than it sounds. Maeklong's trains have been arriving at 8:30 a.m., 11:10 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 5:40 p.m.; check the State Railway of Thailand timetable the day before, because they change. At the Golden Mount the steps wrap the hill gently with benches and prayer bells along the way, so it is easier than the number suggests; ring the bells on the way up, and walk clockwise around the chedi at the top. Thipsamai's line looks long but moves fast, and the pad thai haw kai, wrapped in a thin egg net, is the one to order. Jay Fai, the Michelin-starred stall next door, needs a reservation weeks ahead.
- 0106:30 · 30m
Southern Bus Terminal (Sai Tai Mai)
If you booked a car and driver, skip this stop and ask for a 6:30 a.m. hotel pickup. Public option: minivans to Damnoen Saduak leave Sai Tai Mai on Borommaratchachonnani Road from about 6 a.m., around 100 baht per person, 90 minutes each way, and they go when full. The terminal has a food court and a 7-Eleven if you left without breakfast. Bring water, a hat and sunscreen; the markets have little shade.About this place↗ Open in MapsBangkok's terminal for buses and minivans to the south and west of Thailand, on the Thonburi side of the river, and the public-transport starting point for Damnoen Saduak and Amphawa.
HistoryThe terminal has moved three times as the city grew, most recently in 2007 to this site on Borommaratchachonnani Road in Taling Chan, which is why locals still call it Sai Tai Mai, the new southern terminal. In 2016 the city pushed minivan services out of Victory Monument and into the main terminals, so the vans to Damnoen Saduak and Amphawa now leave from here.Why it's famousIt is the door to the Gulf coast and the peninsula: buses from here run to Hua Hin, Krabi, Phuket and the ferry piers for Ko Samui and Ko Tao.Did you knowThe minivan bays are numbered by destination, and the Damnoen Saduak vans leave when full rather than on a timetable, so the first van of the day often goes before 6 a.m. - 0208:00 · 120m
Damnoen Saduak Floating Market
About 60 miles from Bangkok in Ratchaburi province, at its best between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m., before the tour buses. Take a paddle boat along the canals, 150 to 200 baht per person for 30 to 40 minutes with the price agreed before you board, and eat from the vendor boats: boat noodles, kanom krok coconut pancakes, mango and fried bananas. It is touristy and opening prices run high, so counter at half and settle around two-thirds. Keep your bag on your lap on the boat.About this place↗ Open in MapsThailand's most famous floating market, on a canal dug under King Mongkut in the 1860s, where vendors sell fruit and noodles from paddle boats to customers sitting in other boats.
HistoryThe Damnoen Saduak canal was cut between 1866 and 1868 on the orders of Rama IV to link the Tha Chin and Mae Klong rivers, 20 miles of straight waterway that turned the district into orchard country. Farmers sold from boats because there were no roads. When roads arrived in the 1960s the government promoted the surviving market to visitors, which is why it now opens at dawn for tourists rather than at 4 a.m. for locals.Why it's famousThe boat chase in the 1974 James Bond film 'The Man with the Golden Gun' was shot on these canals, and the photo of straw-hatted vendors in a canal packed with boats is the Thailand postcard. It is in every guidebook.Did you knowThe market you see is the tourist section, Ton Khem; the locals' market, Hia Kui, is a few hundred yards away and runs at first light with far fewer cameras. - 0310:30 · 90m
Maeklong Railway Market
Thirty minutes by road from Damnoen Saduak. Trains have been arriving at Maeklong around 8:30 a.m., 11:10 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 5:40 p.m., and leaving at 6:20 a.m., 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.; check the State Railway of Thailand timetable the day before, because it does change. Be in position 20 minutes before the 11:10 arrival, stand where the vendors tell you behind the yellow line, and keep hands and phones in. Then stay for the 11:30 departure and watch the awnings go back up. Free.About this place↗ Open in MapsA fresh market laid out along a live railway line, where vendors roll back their awnings and pull in their trays eight times a day so the train can pass through with inches to spare.
HistoryThe market was here first. The Maeklong Railway opened in 1905 to carry fish and produce from the coast, and its Ban Laem to Maeklong section ended in the middle of the town market. Rather than move, the vendors set up along the tracks, and Talat Rom Hup, the umbrella pull-down market, has folded itself out of the way of every train since.Why it's famousThe moment the horn sounds and the market collapses inward, with produce on the ground sitting under the passing carriages. It is one of the most shared travel videos on the planet and appears on nearly every list of things to see in Thailand.Did you knowThe Maeklong line is not connected to the rest of Thailand's railways: it runs in two pieces, split by the Tha Chin river, and you cross between them by ferry at Mahachai. The trains creep through the market at walking pace on meter-gauge track. - 0412:15 · 90m
Amphawa Floating Market
Five minutes from Maeklong. Amphawa runs Friday to Sunday from around noon into the evening; this day is a Monday, so ask your driver for a riverside seafood restaurant in Amphawa or Maeklong town instead (the ones along the Mae Klong river near the Rama II Memorial Park are reliable). On a weekend, sit on the canal steps and eat from the cooking boats: grilled river prawns, charcoal squid, hoi tod (crispy oyster omelet), pad thai and Thai sweets, small portions at fair prices so you can try several. If you would rather stay for the dusk firefly boats, drop the Golden Mount and eat dinner here.About this place↗ Open in MapsAn evening canal market in an old wooden town on the Mae Klong river, where locals eat from boats moored under the bridge and firefly tours leave at dusk, Friday to Sunday.
HistoryAmphawa was a market town in the Ayutthaya period and the birthplace of King Rama II in 1767, whose memorial park sits beside the river. The canal-side market faded when roads arrived, then was revived in 2004 as an afternoon and evening market for weekenders from Bangkok, with the two-story teak shophouses along the water restored.Why it's famousIt is the floating market Thais go to themselves, with prices to match, and the boat trips after dark to see fireflies flashing in the lamphu trees along the river.Did you knowThe firefly population has fallen as boat traffic and lighting have grown, so the better operators now paddle or cut their engines near the trees. Ten minutes away is Wat Bang Kung, a small chapel swallowed whole by the roots of a banyan tree. - 0516:30 · 60m
Wat Saket (Golden Mount)
Open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., 100 baht. The 344 steps spiral gently around the hill with benches, bells and gongs along the way, so it is a slow stroll rather than a climb, and the shaded garden at the bottom is a fine place for anyone who sits it out. The terrace at the top gives a 360-degree view over the old city; aim to be up there for the 6 p.m. sunset. Shoulders and knees covered inside the chedi.About this place↗ Open in MapsAn artificial hill in the old city topped with a golden chedi, the best sunset viewpoint in Rattanakosin and, until the 1960s, the highest point in Bangkok.
HistoryRama III ordered a giant chedi built here in the 1820s, but the soft ground gave way and it collapsed into a mound. Rama IV built a smaller chedi on top of the rubble, and Rama V finished it in the 1890s and enshrined a relic of the Buddha, unearthed in India and sent by the British viceroy in 1899. In the 19th century the temple below was the city's cremation ground, and during cholera epidemics its vultures were a byword for death in Bangkok.Why it's famousThe winding staircase with its bells, the view over the temple roofs of the old city at sunset, and the November temple fair, when a red cloth is wrapped around the chedi and carried up the hill by candlelight.Did you knowThe hill rises about 260 feet and is held up by concrete walls added in the 1940s to stop it slumping again. The relic came from an 1898 dig at Piprahwa, which many scholars believe was the Buddha's home city of Kapilavastu. - 0618:00 · 60m
Thipsamai
A 5-minute walk from the Golden Mount on Maha Chai Road, cooking pad thai over a charcoal wok since 1966, open from about 9 a.m. until late. Order the pad thai haw kai, wrapped in a thin egg net, with fresh river prawns, and the famous orange juice, squeezed fresh and priced higher than the noodles. Around 150 to 300 baht a plate. The line moves quickly and there are plenty of tables. Jay Fai, the Michelin-starred stall next door, needs a booking weeks ahead.About this place↗ Open in MapsThe most famous pad thai in Thailand, cooked over charcoal on Maha Chai Road since 1966 by the same family, with a line out the door most nights.
HistoryThipsamai began as a street cart near the Pratu Phi intersection and moved into this shophouse in 1966. Its founder, Samai Baisamut, was cooking the dish when pad thai was still new: the government had promoted it in the late 1930s and 1940s as a national dish to cut rice consumption, and Thipsamai helped make it Bangkok's signature street food.Why it's famousThe charcoal woks lined up on the sidewalk, the egg-net haw kai version, and the orange juice, squeezed from Thai tangerines and famous enough to have its own line. Michelin lists it in its Bangkok guide, and it has appeared on nearly every food show filmed in the city.Did you knowThe house pad thai is fried in prawn oil rendered from shrimp heads, which gives it the orange color and the flavor that copies miss. Next door is Jay Fai, the goggle-wearing chef whose crab omelet won a Michelin star in 2018.
A river day: Wat Traimit to Asiatique
Bangkok, Thailand
Rain
Overview
The last day stays on the water and asks little of your legs: under 2 miles of walking, most of it in air conditioning. Wat Traimit at the edge of Chinatown opens at 8 a.m., and the gold Buddha takes half an hour. From there the free ICONSIAM shuttle from Si Phraya pier crosses to the west bank, where the mall's ground floor is a floating market under a roof with stalls from all 77 provinces. In the afternoon the shuttle drops you at Sathorn Pier, the river's central station, and the free Asiatique boat takes you downstream for the evening. The Ferris wheel at 6:15 p.m. catches the sunset, and dinner on a terrace over the river is a soft landing before the flight home. Highs near 90°F again, but the boats are open-sided and the breeze on the river is real.
Tips
Take the free shuttles rather than paying for a tourist boat. ICONSIAM's runs every 10 to 15 minutes from Si Phraya (River City) and Sathorn piers, and Asiatique's runs from Sathorn every 15 minutes from 4 p.m. to about 11:30 p.m.; both are marked with the mall's name at the end of the pier, and Sathorn Pier sits under Saphan Taksin BTS station, so the Skytrain is always the fallback. Wat Traimit charges 100 baht for the Buddha hall and another 100 for the small museum, which tells the story of Chinatown and is worth it if you have skipped every museum so far. Book Baan Khanitha's riverside terrace for 7 p.m.; walk-ins get the inside room. If your flight leaves tonight, a taxi from Sathorn to Suvarnabhumi takes 45 to 60 minutes at that hour, or ride the BTS to Phaya Thai for the Airport Rail Link.
Getting Around
Wat Traimit is a 5-minute walk from MRT Hua Lamphong, exit 1. To reach ICONSIAM, walk 15 minutes down Charoen Krung Road to Si Phraya pier behind River City (or take a 10-minute Grab) and board the free shuttle; it also runs from Sathorn Pier, and the BTS Gold Line from Krung Thon Buri stops at Charoen Nakhon inside the mall. From ICONSIAM, the shuttle back to Sathorn Pier is the link to Asiatique's boat, which leaves from the far end of the same pier. After dinner the last Asiatique shuttle is around 11:30 p.m.; from Sathorn, Saphan Taksin BTS runs until midnight and taxis wait on Charoen Krung Road. The orange-flag Chao Phraya Express also stops at Sathorn (Central Pier) for a 16-baht ride if you have an hour spare.
Local Tips
At Wat Traimit the Buddha sits on the top floor up a broad staircase; the museum on the floors below is quieter and explains why the statue was covered in plaster in the first place. At Sook Siam, look for the province signs above each stall: khao soi from Chiang Mai, kanom jeen from the south, boat noodles from Ayutthaya. Most stalls have photo menus, and the food court card is refundable at the counter. ICONSIAM's river terrace has a free fountain-and-light show most evenings at 6:30 and 8 p.m., if you end up staying on that side. At Asiatique, souvenir prices are marked and only a little higher than Chatuchak, so buy the things you skipped on Sunday. The Ferris wheel ticket buys about four rotations over 15 minutes, and the gondolas are air-conditioned.
- 0109:00 · 60m
Wat Traimit
MRT Hua Lamphong exit 1, then a 5-minute walk. Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., 100 baht for the Golden Buddha hall and another 100 for the museum. The 5.5-ton solid gold statue, nearly 10 feet tall, sat under plaster for two centuries and was only revealed in 1955 when it slipped from a crane and the coating cracked. Shoulders and knees covered as at every temple; shoes off at the top of the stairs.About this place↗ Open in MapsThe temple of the Golden Buddha, a 5.5-ton solid gold statue from the Sukhothai era that spent centuries disguised in plaster, at the eastern edge of Chinatown.
HistoryThe statue was cast in the 13th or 14th century in Sukhothai style and later moved to Ayutthaya, where it was coated in stucco, most likely to hide it from the Burmese army that sacked the city in 1767. Nobody remembered. It ended up as a plain plaster Buddha under a tin roof at Wat Traimit until May 1955, when it slipped from the ropes during a move, cracked, and showed gold underneath. The marble building that houses it now opened in 2010.Why it's famousIt is the largest solid gold statue in the world, listed by Guinness, and the gold alone is worth several hundred million dollars at today's price. The rediscovery story, two hundred years of treasure hiding in plain sight, is the one guides love to tell.Did you knowThe statue comes apart: it was cast in nine pieces that fit together with a key, a design that let it be moved and hidden. A chunk of the original plaster is on display in the museum downstairs. - 0210:45 · 135m
ICONSIAM
From Wat Traimit, walk 15 minutes or take a 10-minute Grab to Si Phraya pier at River City, where the free ICONSIAM shuttle boat leaves every 10 to 15 minutes; or ride the BTS Gold Line to Charoen Nakhon, which opens into the mall. A huge air-conditioned complex on the west bank with river terraces, Thai crafts at ICONCRAFT on floors 4 and 5, Thailand's first Apple Store, and restrooms and nursing rooms on every floor. Give it two hours including lunch downstairs at Sook Siam.About this place↗ Open in MapsA riverfront mega-mall on the Thonburi side, opened in 2018 at a cost of over $1.5 billion, with an indoor floating market, a river promenade and the city's biggest fountain show.
HistorySiam Piwat, the company behind Siam Paragon, and Charoen Pokphand built ICONSIAM on old warehouse land in Khlong San, and it opened in November 2018 with fireworks over the river. The BTS Gold Line was built largely to serve it and opened in 2020. It turned the west bank, which had been the quiet side of the river, into a destination.Why it's famousSook Siam, the floating market on the ground floor; the 1,300-foot river promenade with a nightly water-and-light show; and the sheer scale, over 5 million square feet with 500 shops. The Michelin guide lists several restaurants on its upper floors.Did you knowThe rippled glass facade is meant to look like krathong, the lotus-shaped floats set adrift on the river at Loy Krathong each November, and the mall's promenade is one of the best places in the city to watch that night. - 0313:00 · 75m
Sook Siam
The indoor floating market on ICONSIAM's ground floor, with food and craft stalls from all 77 provinces and canal boats you can eat beside. Pick and mix: boat noodles from Ayutthaya, khao soi from the north, southern curries, kanom krok coconut pancakes and cut fruit. Most stalls show pictures, and most dishes cost 60 to 150 baht. Pay with cash or load a Sook Siam card at the counter and refund the balance when you leave.About this place↗ Open in MapsA 32,000-square-foot recreation of a Thai canal market inside ICONSIAM, with stalls, boats and street food from every one of the country's 77 provinces.
HistorySook Siam opened with the mall in 2018 as its anchor attraction, designed with each province's tourism office to bring regional food and crafts onto one floor. Around 3,000 small producers rotate through it, and the province zones change with the seasons.Why it's famousIt is the easiest place in Bangkok to eat your way around Thailand in one sitting, air-conditioned, with a canal and paddle boats built into the floor. Tour groups and locals both use it as a rainy-day floating market.Did you knowThe name means happy Siam. The canal is real water with vendor boats moored along it, and the space was built to look like a village market rather than a food court, down to the wooden bridges. - 0415:15 · 30m
Sathorn (Central) Pier
Take the free ICONSIAM shuttle back across to Sathorn Pier, under Saphan Taksin BTS station, the hub for every river service. The free Asiatique shuttle leaves from here every 15 minutes from 4 p.m. to about 11:30 p.m.; walk to the far end of the pier and look for the Asiatique sign. If you have an hour spare first, the orange-flag Chao Phraya Express is 16 baht for a ride upriver to Phra Arthit and back, and the blue-flag Tourist Boat, 30 baht a trip, has English commentary.About this place↗ Open in MapsThe river's central station: the pier under Saphan Taksin BTS where the express boats, the tourist boat and the free mall shuttles all meet, and the only place the Skytrain touches the water.
HistoryThe pier is numbered zero on the Chao Phraya Express line because every stop is counted north (N) or south (S) from here. It took on its role in 1999, when the BTS Silom Line opened Saphan Taksin station directly above it, making it the one place you can step from a train onto a boat. The station was meant to be temporary and has survived every plan to close it.Why it's famousFor most visitors it is where a Bangkok river trip starts: the express boats to the Grand Palace, the hotel launches from the Peninsula and the Mandarin Oriental, and the free boats to ICONSIAM and Asiatique.Did you knowSaphan Taksin is the only BTS station with a single track, because the bridge it sits on had no room for two, which is why trains wait for each other here. The pier is named after Sathorn Road, itself named for the Chinese-Thai businessman who dug the canal beside it in the 1890s. - 0516:30 · 150m
Asiatique The Riverfront
Open until midnight, free entry, and the market and rides get going from 4 p.m.: ten old warehouses turned into an open-air night market with a fair. Asiatique Sky, the 200-foot Ferris wheel, costs about 500 baht per adult and 250 per child, with air-conditioned gondolas, roughly 15 minutes, and is best at sunset around 6:15 p.m.; there is also a carousel and a haunted house. Souvenir prices are marked and fair, so this is the easiest place for last-day shopping. Calypso Cabaret runs evening shows if you want one.About this place↗ Open in MapsA riverside night market and fairground built in the restored 1907 warehouses of the Danish East Asiatic Company, a mile downstream from Sathorn, with a 200-foot Ferris wheel over the water.
HistoryThe Danish East Asiatic Company set up its Bangkok docks here in 1907 to ship teak to Europe, and the sawmills and godowns along this bank were the city's link to the world before the sea port moved downstream. The site sat derelict until the developer Asset World rebuilt the warehouses and opened Asiatique in 2012, keeping the timber frames and the rail tracks between the sheds.Why it's famousThe Ferris wheel lit up over the river, 1,500 shops in numbered warehouses, and the Calypso cabaret, which moved here from Pratunam. Most first-time visitors end at least one evening here.Did you knowH. N. Andersen, who founded the East Asiatic Company in 1897, started out running the Oriental Hotel a mile upriver. When the Ferris wheel opened in 2012 it was the tallest in Thailand. - 0619:00 · 90m
Baan Khanitha by the River
Sit-down Thai restaurant inside Asiatique with a terrace over the river, calm enough after the market noise. Order green curry with chicken, steamed sea bass with lime and chili, pomelo salad and a fried rice. Around 800 to 1,200 baht per person with a drink. Book a riverside table for 7 p.m.; the terrace goes first. Afterwards take the free shuttle back to Sathorn Pier, last boat around 11:30 p.m.About this place↗ Open in MapsThe riverside branch of one of Bangkok's longest-running upscale Thai restaurants, in a teak-floored warehouse at Asiatique with tables on a terrace over the Chao Phraya.
HistoryKhanitha Akaranitikul, a fashion designer, opened the first Baan Khanitha in her house on Sukhumvit Soi 23 in 1993, serving the central Thai home cooking her guests kept asking for. The brand grew to several branches, and the Asiatique restaurant opened with the market in 2012 as its river address.Why it's famousThirty years of consistent central Thai cooking that neither waters down the chili nor turns it into a show, in a dining room that feels like a house rather than a mall. The Asiatique terrace is the one people book.Did you knowThe founder dressed her dining rooms in Thai silk from her fashion days. The Sukhumvit original still runs in the house she lived in, and the Sathorn branch occupies a colonial-era mansion.
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