Bangkok city tour recommendations

[PageTwo]

I will be in Bangkok for one week in early March and I'm curious about the best strategy to get to know the city. I could probably cobble together an itinerary by searching online (and maybe asking ChatGPT ) but I'm curious whether anyone here has recommendations for tour agencies or guides that I could book for the full week or a portion of the time. I already have a hotel booked in the Bang Rak part of town, which several friends recommended as having nice outdoor markets, restaurants and nightlife.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

[Breedlove]

One place to go is the MBK shopping mall ….anything you want .They have one floor of nothing but computers , phones and all kinds of electronic stuff. Your head will spin cheap fit bit watches …You can’t see the entire mall in a day.
Do the cruise at Iconsiam Mall that night cruise is beautiful
I could give you my shoemaker . He makes the high end exotics for the MMA fighters at a price that is good . I got King Cobra skin casual shoes for 100. US. …Soy Cowboy and Nana Plaza …..you will get in trouble there .

 

[rembrandt]

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble.
Not much between despair and ecstasy.

 

[Breedlove]

We are going in April , trying to drag up some people . We go to Pattaya for a while then to Bangkok. In Pattaya we go for Sonkran the Thai New Year , worlds largest water gun fight . The hotel we stay in is taken over by retired British people and they really get into defending the hotel . We did good then a bunch of tiny pickup trucks came down the street filled with girls with big water guns . It was a mighty showdown. …You gotta love it .

 

[zinger1457]

The biggest issue in touring Bangkok is the traffic, seems to be in a constant stall, can definitely limit your touring time. Best to take public transport like the BTS when you can. I read where they were offering the BTS for free to get people off the roads, pollution is a big problem with all the traffic.

 

[Zona]

When we go to a walkable city with good public transport, I often google "Free Walking Tour [city name]" and usually find several options. There are some reputable companies that hire English speaking guides (sometimes local, sometimes a foreigner/student living in the country). The tours are advertised as "free" but you tip the guide at the end. We usually give generously because the tours are often pretty good and give a decent orientation to the city. It's good to do these tours at the beginning of your stay because then you know where things are and have a "local" that will answer questions and make recommendations. A quick search found a couple of companies offering Bangkok tours including Guruwalk (which we have used in the past, different city though). Get Your Guide and Viator also offer tours for a set price.

We didn't need to use a tour when we went to Bangkok because I had a relative living there temporarily who showed us around, but if that hadn't been the case I'm sure we would have done a couple of guided walking tours. Another good idea for a foodie city like Bangkok would be to pay for a "food tour" -- if you're not familiar with Thai cuisine, this is a good option to introduce you to it. These tours always have an upfront cost because you stop at several places and try local dishes. We did several food tours in Vietnam and what I liked was that the guides took us "westerners" to clean, well-known places which minimized our risk of getting a stomach bug. Definitely look at reviews before booking. Enjoy Bangkok!

 

[rembrandt]

The Hangover, Part II

 

[PageTwo]

Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions.

To @rembrandt, re: traffic - definitely, I'm studying up on using the trains. It definitely seems to be the way to go. One disadvantage is that they don't seem to have a centralized fare system - you need to pay each line/company separately even if you're connecting. However not being stuck in traffic for hours on end seems to be well worth this minor inconvenience.

 

[NoiseBoy]

The above ground "sky train" and the below ground "subway" are indeed run by two separate companies. However, that doesn't present any real challenges to using one or even both of them for a single journey. For the Skytrains, you can purchase a Rabbit card (I think you need your passport) and then load it up at any ticket machine. There are also plenty of staffed ticket booths. The Subway accepts contactless Visa cards or tokens. I didn't have a Visa branded card when I was there, so I just used tokens. Not a big deal. Both systems are cheap, efficient, safe and incredibly clean. No eating or drinking allowed! There are lots of YouTube videos that show how to use both systems. My Airbnb was near one of the points where the two systems overlap which made it easy for me to plan my journeys. I only used a taxi once and that was to go back to the airport for my very early morning flight home.

 

[fosterscik]

We've been to Bangkok a couple of times. We exclusively used the grab taxi app (the local Uber). It's cheap and an efficient way to get around. Like Uber, it shows your car, lists number plates and a description of the vehicle and most importantly you can type (or copy) a destination address into the app so there's no problem communicating. I also really like knowing the price upfront with the ability to tip at the end if desired.

 

[NoiseBoy]

With respect to things to see and do in Bangkok, I found that to be a bit more of a struggle to plan before my trip. I am a Rick Steves fan boy so I'm used to the level of detail that he provides for how to plan your visit to the major tourist attractions in Europe. Unfortunately, I could not find any guidebook for Thailand/Bangkok that offered the same level of detail that Rick does. For example, there is a dress code that is strictly enforced to enter the grounds of the Grand Palace. I found conflicting information on what it was before my trip. When I was there last year, men were required to wear pants and shirts with sleeves. Short sleeved shirts where okay as were the "elephant pants" that are for sale everywhere to tourists. I can't remember what the pants/shorts rule was for women, but they definitely couldn't show their shoulders. For all of the other temples, I was allowed to enter them wearing knee-length shorts and shirts with sleeves. Golf polos are a good options as it is HOT there.

I ended up using several Thailand guidebooks from the library and I purchased a "Top 10 Bangkok" pocket sized guide from DK Eyewitness. I also watched a lot of YouTube videos about Bangkok. I highly recommend Bangkok Pat's channel for in depth and informative videos about the city. He's a British expat, but he's been there a while, so plenty of local knowledge.

Bangkok Pat

Guides to different parts of urban Bangkok & Thailand Real life in Thailand History, nostalgia Documentaries Hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy shooting them. Support me via Paypal: djpat2000@hotmail.com Facebook page for tailor made urban walking tours...

www.youtube.com

 

[NoiseBoy]

My favorite experience from visiting Bangkok was eating street food in Chinatown. The sheer number of options is incredible and they're mostly ridiculously cheap. But, it gets really crowded so you have to be prepared for that. I also enjoyed eating in the food court of the Terminal 21 mall. The major temples were really interesting too and mostly free. I didn't leave the city so I can't comment on the things like visiting an Elephant park or what the beaches are like. Did I mention that it gets hot there yet? Fee free to ask me any specific questions that you have.

 

[PageTwo]

Thank you, NoiseBoy. I discovered quite by chance that there is a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus for Bangkok! I bought the 3-day ticket so I decided to let that be my main "trip planning" mechanism. I figured that they know what the main attractions are My hotel is right next to one of the stops so it couldn't be more convenient. I have 6 days in the city, so I'll use the bus first and leave the last few days to navigate on my own after I become more familiar with trains and subway.