By Harry Nara · Last updated
Stay at Siam if you want the whole rail network one ride away, in Sukhumvit if the evenings matter more than the mornings, at Sathorn for the rooftops, and on the river if the trip is mostly temples. What you should not do is stay anywhere that depends on the roads.
Bangkok has two transport systems that work and one that does not. The BTS Skytrain and the MRT are fast, air-conditioned and run entirely clear of the traffic underneath them. The Chao Phraya express boats are cheap, frequent and equally indifferent to what is happening on land. The surface roads in the centre are congested at effectively every hour of the day, and in heavy rain they flood.
So the neighbourhood question here is really a transport question, and it has a clean answer: sleep within a short walk of a Skytrain or subway station, or sleep on the river. Anything else is a daily negotiation with the traffic, and the traffic wins. The areas below are ordered by how well they suit a first visit, and each one names what it costs you.
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The best areas to stay in Bangkok
The rail crossroads, and the hardest base to get wrong
Siam and Phayathai
Suits: First visits, short trips, and anyone arriving from the airport by train
Siam is where the two BTS lines cross, which in a city built around the Skytrain makes it the best-connected address available. Both branches run from here, and the elevated walkways carry you between stations and into Siam Paragon, CentralWorld and the rest without ever touching the street. On a wet afternoon that is worth more than a view.
Phayathai, one stop north, is the same idea with the airport attached. The Airport Rail Link runs in from Suvarnabhumi in about thirty minutes for ฿45, entirely clear of the roads, and interchanges with the BTS at the far end. On a short trip that removes the least predictable hour of the itinerary at both ends of it.
Watch out: It is a shopping district rather than a neighbourhood, so the character is mall rather than street. Evenings are quieter here than along Sukhumvit, and dinner tends to mean a food hall or a short ride.
- Sweet spot Pathumwan Princess Hotel Connected straight into National Stadium BTS with MBK next door and Siam Square across the road, so the room-to-train-to-mall run happens entirely under cover. There are ten places to eat in the building, plus a pool and a tennis court, and the floor-to-ceiling windows look out over the skyline.
- Budget Eastin Grand Hotel Phayathai The door is fifty metres from Phaya Thai BTS, which doubles as the Airport Rail Link terminus, so the city and the airport are both covered without ever needing a taxi. An infinity pool and a spa come with it, at a price well under what the same standard costs in Sukhumvit or on the river.
Best for eating, drinking and staying out
Sukhumvit
Suits: Return visitors, and anyone whose plans start after dark
Sukhumvit is less a neighbourhood than a spine, with the Skytrain running the length of it. That is what makes it work. Almost everything worth eating at sits a few minutes from a station, and the density of restaurants, bars and night markets down the side sois is the highest in the city.
It is the natural second-visit base and a perfectly good first-visit one, with one caveat: the old city is at the wrong end. The Grand Palace, Wat Pho and Wat Arun are all over towards the river, which from here means a change and a boat rather than a walk.
Watch out: It is long. Sukhumvit runs for kilometres and the soi number matters far more than the road name: a hotel on Soi 1 and a hotel on Soi 55 are twenty minutes and several different neighbourhoods apart. Check which BTS station you are actually near, not which road you are on.
- Sweet spot Ariyasom Villa A family-run boutique in 1940s Thai heritage style, set in a garden with a pool, a spa and an organic restaurant of its own. It is 750 metres from Phloen Chit BTS, which puts Siam Paragon and CentralWorld about five minutes away on the Skytrain, and the garden is the reason to choose it over something glassier.
Best for rooftops, and the one base between rail and river
Sathorn and Silom
Suits: Couples, business travellers, and anyone who wants skyline bars without a taxi home
Sathorn and Silom sit between the Skytrain and the river, which is a more useful position than it sounds. The BTS Silom line runs through, the MRT crosses it, and the piers are close enough that both of the transport systems that actually function are available from a single address.
It is also where the rooftop bars are. Bangkok more or less invented the genre and most of the good ones are stacked here, which is worth planning around in the cool season from November to February, when sitting outside at that height is comfortable rather than something endured for the photograph.
Watch out: It empties at the weekend. This is the financial district, so Saturday and Sunday are noticeably quieter than the Sukhumvit sois, and the better restaurants tend to sit inside hotels rather than out on the street.
- Splurge Banyan Tree Bangkok Vertigo and Moon Bar on the roof are the draw, and they look out over the whole city. Seven places to eat, a spa and a pool sit below them, and the rooms face either the skyline or the Chao Phraya, so it is worth saying which when you book.
Best for the old city, and the base that ignores the traffic entirely
The Riverside
Suits: Anyone whose priority is the temples, and anyone who has been stuck in Bangkok traffic before
The Chao Phraya is the reason the city is here, and the express boats along it are the one part of Bangkok transport that predates the traffic and remains untouched by it. Fares run roughly ฿15 to ฿30, the piers come often, and the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun and Yaowarat all sit within reach of the same stretch of water.
For a trip built around the old city this is simply the right answer, and it is the base that holds up best in the rainy season, when the roads flood and a taxi stops being a plan. The trade is that the modern city, and most of the eating and drinking, is on the far side of a transfer.
Watch out: You are away from the Skytrain, so reaching Siam or Sukhumvit means a boat and then a train, or a taxi you will regret. The riverside is also strung out, and the walk between a hotel and its nearest pier is usually longer than the map implies.
- Splurge Chatrium Hotel Riverside Bangkok A 35-metre infinity-edge pool and a jacuzzi, sitting directly on the Chao Phraya, with suites that add kitchenettes, balconies and glass from floor to ceiling. Yaowarat and the old city lie along the same stretch of water, which is the whole point of this side of town.
When to book, and what it costs you
Bangkok is among the cheapest major cities in Asia to sleep well in, and the season moves rates further than the neighbourhood does. Two months ahead is comfortable for most of the year.
The best value is usually June, August and September.
Prices and availability tighten most in December, January, February and April.
The cool season from November to February is when the city is most comfortable and most expensive, and the fortnight around Christmas and New Year is the tightest stretch of the year. Songkran on 13 to 15 April is the other spike, and because those dates are fixed rather than lunar it is unusually easy either to plan around or to plan into. The monsoon months are the value window: the rain tends to arrive as a heavy hour in the afternoon and then stop, rather than settling in for the day, and the rates fall a long way to account for a reputation worse than the reality.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which area of Bangkok is best for a first visit?
Siam, for the reason most people end up there: it is where the two Skytrain lines cross, so the rest of the network is a single ride away. Sukhumvit is the better answer if your evenings matter more than your mornings, and the riverside if the trip is mostly temples.
Is it better to stay near the BTS or on the river?
Both work, they just suit different trips. The Skytrain reaches the modern city, the malls, the restaurants and the nightlife. The river reaches the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun and Yaowarat. Neither reaches the other quickly, so choose the one that matches where you expect to spend your days, and if you are unsure take a rail base and treat the boat as a day out.
How bad is Bangkok traffic, really?
Bad enough that it should decide where you sleep. Roads in the centre are congested at effectively all hours, and in heavy rain they flood and taxis can be stuck for a very long time. The BTS, the MRT and the river boats all operate independently of it, which is why the advice on this page keeps returning to them. A hotel ten minutes on foot from a station is worth more than one two hundred metres closer to a temple.
How far ahead should I book a hotel in Bangkok?
Two months suits most of the year. The exceptions are the cool-season peak from November to February, and Christmas and New Year in particular, which want considerably longer. Songkran from 13 to 15 April also fills the city, though the fixed dates make it easy to book around well in advance.
How do I get from the airport to these areas?
Suvarnabhumi has the Airport Rail Link, which reaches Phaya Thai in about thirty minutes for ฿45, runs entirely clear of the roads and interchanges with the BTS at the end. Don Mueang, which most budget airlines use, has a free shuttle to Don Mueang train station, or a metered taxi at ฿200 to ฿400 plus a ฿50 airport surcharge. From either airport in rush hour, a taxi can take several times as long as the train and cost a good deal more.
Checked against Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thai Meteorological Department, BTS Skytrain. Hotel details are verified on each property’s own Booking.com listing.
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