Sightseeing in Bangkok

Bangkok works at two speeds. The fast one is an hour on a longtail through the Thonburi canals for 37 dollars: the city from the water, stilt houses, temples at the edge. The slow one is on foot — a four-hour circuit of three headline temples, a three-and-a-half-hour walk stitching temples to the old-town markets, and for independent types, ninety-minute puzzle games through Chinatown and the old quarter from 8 dollars.

Then come the radiuses. The nine-hour classics are Kanchanaburi — the Bridge over the River Kwai, a stretch on the historic railway and lunch — or Ayutthaya with the return leg by river boat. Markets are a morning affair: a seven-hour tour covers the Damnoen Saduak floating market and the Maeklong railway market with a coconut farm and salt pans on the way. The evening alternative is Amphawa: five hours, a canalside market and a boat ride among fireflies after dark. The maximum 11-hour route adds the Erawan waterfall to the markets, and the city after dark belongs to a four-hour tuk-tuk food tour.

GetExperience lists 14 sightseeing programmes for Bangkok and its surroundings, from 8 to 300 dollars, group or private. Pages give the timing, the stops and the inclusions — transfer, lunch, tickets. Dates sit in the calendar; confirmation comes quickly.