In my opinion, the best place to stay in Bangkok Thailand is in Old Bangkok, Rattanakosin Island. This is the Phra Nakon area. This puts you within walking distance of the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, The Khao San Rd, Golden Temple, Giant Swing, and more must-see icons of Bangkok. You can walk to the river and catch a ferry to Wat Arun on the opposite bank, or take any of the passenger ferries that travel up and down the river. If you would like to, you can stay in a lovely older building in a residential part of Bangkok, close to some of the klongs (canals). There are also some bigger hotels nearby, we’ll mention a few in this post.
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I wouldn’t book anything directly on the main road (Ratchadamnoen Rd, nor on Khao San Rd, it could be noisy. The Rambuttri Village Plaza (formerly Inn) is still going strong on Soi Rambuttri and has been extended. We have stayed there, but these days I prefer the quieter areas. Take a look at that classic on Booking here.
If you’re looking for a 5 star or more luxury stay, you need our other post on Bangkok hotels with family rooms. Most of the lodging on this page is budget to mid-range.
Where to Stay in Bangkok, Hotels and Hostels (Recommended)
This is the area we’ve stayed in on our two most recent trips to Bangkok, in 2024 and 2023. We’ve used a family room in a hostel and a room for 2 (that had 3 beds, so it would work for a family with 1 child, or you could share a bed with a young child if you can find a child stays free deal.) The latter, Baan Katchitpan Bangkok is here. It was more expensive than our typical budget hotels. We treated ourselves a bit on this short trip. It’s in Phra Nakhon on the south side of Ratchadamnoen Rd and just a very short walk from the Democracy Monument. It’s on a quiet side street, away from the traffic.
We also used The Old Capital Bike Inn in this area a few years ago, that was a nice boutique hotel. We booked this hotel as a treat for my 50th birthday, it was on that trip that I was gifted a sak yant. Our post on this hotel is here, or you can view it on Booking.com, or on Agoda here. Agoda is often a better choice for Asia.
The hostel we used in 2023 was very close to the Golden Mount, on a quiet back street. We booked a family room but they also had dorms and doubles. That one was Here Hostel (Booking.com). It had a garden, pool and a nice bar/restaurant downstairs. We had a small balcony which was great for drying washing. There was a washing machine in the kitchen area.
If you’ve been subscribed to our site for a few years you’ll know that we often used to stay in Silom (another part of Bangkok). We liked a particular hotel there, Mile Map Hostel, it’s on Agoda. They had a good family room, it was cheap and there was great food nearby. I’d rather stay in Old Bangkok now, hands down. We actually bumped into readers there a few times!
Another hostel we’ve always liked is Shanti Lodge (Booking.com), in the Dusit area, the far side of Phranakorn. The Bangkok Zoo is in Dusit, opposite the New Palace. It’s on the other side of the Khao San Rd. It was a fair walk away but it was close to a pier to catch the ferries. This one really appealed to my inner hippie, with lots of Ohm Mani Padme Hum and a good restaurant. It was cheap and had a family room plus doubles.
Visiting The Major Sights from Old Bangkok
This area is not near the airports, nor near the new main train station or the Metro system (the BTS Skytrain or MRT). It’s away from the high rises and huge highway flyovers that dominate the Bangkok skyline today. It’s very easy to just call a Grab car now to take you anywhere you’d like to go in the city. In our experience Grab is cheaper than both taxis and tuck tucks today, there’s no cash involved and no haggling over prices.
To use Grab or any other ride sharing service you will need a local SIM Card. We buy ours in advance from SIM Corner and have done for years. Get a SIM here, with a special discount from our link.
If you plan to go to Bangkok’s huge shopping malls in Sukhumvit, be ready for terrible traffic. I wouldn’t stay in that part of town but the Sea Life Aquarium and Tussauds are there and they’re good. Sukhumvit is on the green or blue line Metro. The Jim Thompson House is near the malls too. It’s a very well preserved older house and garden that belonged to Jim, a silk merchant, it’s worth a look if you have time.
Chatuchak Weekend Market is to the north. It’s right next to the new central train station (Krung Thep Aphiwat or Bang Sue Station.) Both are on the Metro. We took a Grab ride from our hotel to the market. To be honest, I didn’t like the market much. I’d say that’s not worth going unless you’ve been to Bangkok dozens of times as we have.
This area is also within walking distance of Jay Fai, Michelin Star street food. But I’ll warn you, it’s expensive, and very good. Share the crab omelette, it’s huge. A blog post on that experience is coming soon! We had to stand in line for about an hour for the honour of eating there.
We have walked to Chinatown from this area but it’s quite a hike. There isn’t really any need to visit Chinatown other than for Chinese-style food. We took a food tour in Chinatown on our last trip and didn’t enjoy the food on that tour as much as the more usual Thai food. Details of that food tour, and photos of the Michelin guide food stalls are here. The biggest solid gold Buddha in Thailand is at Wat Traimit, also on the edge of Chinatown, near the decorative Chinese gate.
Th Phra Nakhon area has plenty of convenience stores, restaurants and easy access to tourist souvenir shopping on Khao San Rd and Rambuttri Rd. (Soi Rambuttri, Soi means street.) The quality of these market stalls seems to have declined over the years. We think you’d be much better off shopping in Chiang Mai by taking the sleeper train to the north of Thailand. (How to get from Bangkok to Chiang Mai is in this post.)
If you’re visiting Bangkok be sure to read our post on Things To Do in Bangkok. We have photos from 2 more places to add for 2024. That will happen tomorrow, hopefully. For all of our Bangkok guides, Go to the Bangkok tab, for more Thailand you need the Thailand Category. Most of the most popular tours and activities in Thailand are in Bangkok. We have a list in that post.
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