Bangkok, Thailand

Street food, temples, rooftop bars, and the world's best hotel value. November to February is the cool, dry window.

cityfoodnightlifebackpackertemples

Best time to visit

Month	High	Low	Rain	Season
Jan	31°	22°	16 mm	prime
Feb	32°	23°	21 mm	prime
Mar	34°	25°	43 mm
Apr	34°	27°	78 mm
May	33°	26°	148 mm
Jun	32°	26°	134 mm
Jul	32°	26°	154 mm
Aug	32°	25°	157 mm
Sep	31°	25°	263 mm
Oct	31°	24°	201 mm
Nov	31°	23°	53 mm	prime
Dec	31°	21°	11 mm	prime

30-year averages (1995–2024) from ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo. Rain is the monthly total.

Serves travellers at Backpacker→Ultra-luxury level. Typically around $60 a day on the ground.

Ranges are typical costs, not quotes. Check the real price before you book.

Street stalls, markets and most taxis are cash. Cards work in malls, hotels and chain restaurants and largely nowhere else. Tipping is not expected, though change is often left behind.
money · editorial
Temples enforce a dress code: shoulders and knees covered, shoes off, and the Grand Palace turns people away at the gate. Anyone offering to take you somewhere because a temple is closed today is running a gem scam.
know before · editorial
April is the peak of the hot season, above 35 degrees with no relief after dark. September and October bring the heaviest rain, and streets can flood within an hour of it starting.
when not to go · editorial
Sukhumvit runs along the Skytrain and is modern, long and full of food. Silom is offices by day and loud at night. Riverside is quieter with boat access to the old city. Banglamphu, around Khao San, is the old quarter and the backpacker one. Ari is low-rise and residential.
where to stay · editorial
BTS Skytrain and MRT for anything near a line, the Chao Phraya boats for the river, motorbike taxis for the last few hundred metres. A car is useless; the traffic is the reason the railways were built in the air.
getting around · editorial
Suvarnabhumi handles most international flights; Don Mueang takes the low-cost carriers. Both are an hour from the centre in traffic, but the rail link from Suvarnabhumi is thirty minutes and immune to it.
getting there · editorial

Wat Pho
The 46-metre reclining Buddha, and the original Thai massage school.
The Grand Palace
Two hundred and thirty years of gilded roof. Shoulders and knees covered.
Wat Arun
Covered in broken Chinese porcelain, brought over as ship ballast.
Chatuchak
Fifteen thousand stalls, weekends only. Bring water and no hurry.
Wat Saket, the Golden Mount
Three hundred and forty-four steps in a spiral, and the flat city all around.
The express boat on the Chao Phraya
Fifteen baht, orange flag, stopping at almost everything that matters.

Eat boat noodles at a street stall — two bowls, because they are tiny
Pad kra pao with a fried egg
The country's real lunch, not pad thai. Order it hot and take the consequences.
Som tam pounded to order
Green papaya, in the mortar, with as many chillies as you dare ask for.
Mango with sticky rice
March to May, when the nam dok mai mango is at its best.

Reach Chatuchak by 8am on a Saturday, before the heat
An hour of Thai massage
It is not relaxing. It is stretching done to you, by someone stronger.
A klong by long-tail boat
The canals on the Thonburi side, where the city is still amphibious.

A cooking class that starts at the market
Choosing the ingredients is half of the lesson.