Where to stay in Bangkok?

Ok, so after reading about Bangkok, the City of Angels and figuring out How to get there and around? you need to figure out where to stay in Bangkok? It is a huge city with some of the worst traffic in the world, so it pays to pick the best area to stay in! You could easily spend hours every day stuck in taxis and tuck tucks, so read how to avoid the traffic and find the best hotel for your plans in Bangkok! And there is a lot to do in Bangkok, so read on! That’s Travel Made Easy!

Bangkok offers plenty of inexpensive accommodations with some of the best service you will find anywhere in the world. 3-star hotels start for under $20 and 5-star luxury hotels can be had for around $100. Most of the large, international chains are present and often their hotels here will be much nicer than what you will get from the same brands in Europe or the US! Tripadvisor and Agoda have very accurate ratings and it’s hard to go wrong with highly rated properties in Bangkok, even at the lower priced ones. There are a few areas to stay that make the most sense for visitors:

ChaoPhrayaRiverTaxiRiverside: Most of the historic sights, like the Grand Palace or Wat Po, are on the Chao Phraya river, making this a good area to stay for first-time visitors who want to get all the historic sights under their belt. Staying near the Saphan Taksin BTS station on the river gives you the best of both worlds, easy access to the river by boat and the rest of the city by BTS Skytrain. The Shangri-La hotel and the Centre Point Silom are in great locations. Further down the river, requiring a boat to connect to the train, are the Sheraton and Mandarin Oriental at the luxury end or the Ibis Bangkok Riverside at the budget end.

HIE Sathorn BedSilom/Sathorn: Sathorn is the major business district of Bangkok, so if business brings you to town, this is the area to stay. As it is close to the river, you can just extend your stay for some sight seeing over the weekend. With easy access to MRT and BTS, it also makes it a great area to stay, if your exploration takes you all over town! And with lively nightlife, hotels in the Silom area allow you to stumble home after your nightly exploits. Agoda counts almost 200 hotels in this area, from hostels at $5 to 5* luxury hotels like the Banyan Tree, W Hotel or Sofitel So at $150 or more. You can read reviews of some hotels I stayed at here (photo of HIE Sathorn):

PP Bed ColSiam/Sukhumvit: Countless malls are along Sukhumvit, making this the best area to stay if you are planning on carrying lots of shopping bags back to your hotel. Among the hundreds of hotels here, I’d zero in on the area around Siam (giving you access to both BTS lines) or Asoke (giving you access to MRT and BTS). You can do lots of shopping and still get to all the destinations across Bangkok easily. I have stayed at a number of hotels in this area, from the Sofitel and Westin at the high end to a number of inexpensive mid-scale hotels. (photo on the right is fro the Pathumwan Princess, Siam). You can read reviews of a few hotels I like, here:

Airport: If Bangkok is just a stepping stone for a bigger trip across South East Asia, there are plenty of inexpensive choices near Suvarnabhumi airport – you can stay at the Novotel across from the terminal or have any number of hotels pick you up for free and take you to your room in 10 minutes or less for a short stopover before heading out of town again.

Using hotel award points is generally a bad idea in Bangkok: The US chains who offer stays on points are overpriced compared to independent or Asian/European chains. So, even if the point value looks great (compared to the rates they charge), it’s not if you compare it to the price of a comparable independent hotel. Bangkok is a great place to earn points, especially with promotions that give fixed point bonuses for hotel nights or stays!

Good luck, you have lots of choices of great hotels at bargain prices all over Bangkok, it’s one of the best values around the world for hotels, so you can save or splurge! With the hotel out of the way, check out Bangkok – Things to See & Do! to get the most out of your trip!


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