Clearly, there are a lot more than just 3 places to visit in a city as busy and full of life as Bangkok. For the purposes of this post, though, we wanted to give a quick overview of a few sites we visited during a short trip at the end of 2019. If you have a few days to spend here, or even if you’re planning a longer trip, make sure you add these places to visit in Bangkok to your itinerary.
The Grand Palace
Bangkok’s major tourist attraction is the Grand Palace of Thailand and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Both are located on the same grounds and accessible with purchase of the same ticket. The Grand Palace has been the official residence of the Thai Kings since 1782 and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha is considered the main Buddhist temple in Thailand. Tickets can be bought on the Palace’s website in advance or at the ticket window on site. During our visit, we arrived early to try and avoid the worst of the crowds (and high temperatures). Luckily, we didn’t encounter any lines when buying tickets at the on site window.
In addition to The Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, your admission ticket will also grant you access to the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles. Also on the Palace grounds, this museum is an illustration of the life of the Queen Mother and it is also a nice place to escape Bangkok’s sun and humidity. As a side note, we recommend using the bathrooms at the Queen Sirikit Museum when visiting as they are much cleaner than the public bathrooms at the palace.
River Cruise on Public Ferry Boats
Traveling like a local can be an adventure in and of itself in many places — and this is certainly the case in Bangkok. You can take one of Bangkok’s skytrain lines (BTS Silom Line) to the central ferry pier for the Chao Phraya Express Boat. Get off at the BTS station Saphan Taksin and transfer to the central ferry station, Sathorn (Taksin). From there find an attendant and tell them the name of the ferry station you want to get to. It’s important to have this information on hand ahead of time, as there are a lot of other vendors trying to sell tourist boat excursions — which are overpriced and won’t get you where you need to go.
For the Royal Palace, you want to take one of the ferry lines to Tha Chang (Station N9). From there, it is an easy 10 minute walk to the public entrance of the Royal Palace. Note, you will have to walk through a small area of shops when leaving the pier before you get to the street.
Wat Arun
With the ferry you can also stop at the Buddhist temple, Wat Arun, on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River. Wat Arun is one of Thailand’s best known landmarks, and the view changes throughout the day as it reflects the sunlight. You can get off the ferry if you want to visit or just take in the views from the river by staying on the ferry when it stops at the station. There is a small entrance fee to visit the temple.
Have you ever visiting Bangkok? What werer your favorite places to visit in Bangkok and around the city?
