Things to do in Bangkok

Bangkok is built on a bend in the Chao Phraya, and the old city sits inside it. Everything royal and religious is on that bend. The rest has spread east across a flat delta.

The old city and the river

• Rattanakosin — the royal island of 1782: Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew with the Emerald Buddha, and Wat Arun over the water.
• The Golden Mount — 344 steps up Wat Saket, for the one wide view of the old city.
• The Thonburi canals — longtail boats past stilt houses, on the bank the city never rebuilt.
• Yaowarat — Chinatown, and the street-food centre after dark.

East of the old city the register changes. Siam is malls, Silom offices, Sukhumvit where visitors sleep. Chatuchak swallows a weekend morning.

Doing the palace properly

The gates open at half past eight. The ticket window shuts at half past three, and that is the real deadline.

• Go at opening. No shade in those courtyards, and by eleven the stone throws heat back at you.
• Dress is stricter than shoulders and knees. Torn jeans, leggings and see-through anything are refused. Cover-ups are lent at the gate, and that queue is its own wait.
• Nobody outside sells tickets. Anyone saying the palace is shut today is selling a tuk-tuk ride to a gem shop. It opens daily, bar the rare royal ceremony.
• Pair it with Wat Pho, which shares a wall, then cross to Wat Arun on the Tha Tien ferry for a few baht.

All three fit into one morning. In the afternoon they fit into nothing.

Eating, and the small hours

• What a plate costs. Rice with something over it is 50 to 70 baht at a neighbourhood stall, 100 to 180 in the visitor streets.
• Phiset. The big version, usually ten baht more. Say it and the plate comes loaded.
• Closing time. Most bars shut at two. Only Silom, RCA and Ratchadaphisek are zoned to four, so Sukhumvit and Thonglor end early.
• Dry hours. Shops stop selling alcohol at midnight, and Buddhist holy days are dry nationwide.

Where the day trips go

Bangkok is the best base in Thailand for leaving Bangkok.

• Ayutthaya — 80 kilometres north, capital from 1350 until the Burmese burned it in 1767.
• Kanchanaburi — the bridge over the Kwai, and Erawan falls in seven tiers.
• Damnoen Saduak and Maeklong — the floating market, and the market on live railway tracks.
• Amphawa — a weekend canal market, with boats out to the fireflies.

Practical

• Seasons. Cool and dry from November to February, and that is the window. March to May pushes 40C, with field-burning smoke some weeks. June to October is rain.
• Sois. Addresses hang off numbered side streets, odd on one side and even on the other. Soi 31 is not next to Soi 32.
• Getting about. The BTS and MRT beat the traffic. Commuter river boats are flagged by colour and cost tens of baht; the tourist boat costs more.
• Airports. Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang are on opposite sides of town. The rail link reaches Phaya Thai in half an hour, 45 baht.
• Money. Neighbourhood wats ask 40 to 100 baht or nothing; the palace at 500 is the outlier. Tipping is not customary; leaving the coins is.