Backpacking Bangkok
Bangkok is where it starts for most people, and it does not ease you in. You land, you step outside, and the heat, the traffic and the smell of grilled pork all arrive at once. Twenty minutes later you are sitting on a plastic stool eating the best thing you have had in months.
The city is a genuinely strange mix and that is the appeal. Glass towers next to 200-year-old temples. Luxury malls next to markets where nothing costs more than a euro. Silent alleys that open onto eight lanes of motorbikes. You can spend the morning barefoot in a temple and the evening on the 78th floor with a cocktail you cannot afford.
It is also the hub for the entire region. Trains north, buses and boats south, and cheap flights to basically every capital in Southeast Asia. Almost every trip through this part of the world begins or ends here, and usually both.
Why Bangkok is popular with backpackers
- Hostels for €6 and dinner for €1.50
- Nightlife that does not stop for anyone
- Rooftop bars you have definitely seen on a screen
- Markets and temples, hundreds of both
- The obvious place to start Thailand
- Full of other backpackers, so arriving alone is easy
Best time to visit Bangkok
Bangkok has three seasons and the only real difference is how hard the heat hits you. It never gets cold: even in the coolest month it is around thirty degrees in the afternoon.
If you land during Songkran (13 to 15 April) the entire city turns into a three-day water fight. It is one of the best things you will ever accidentally walk into, but put your phone and passport in a dry bag and mean it.
Backpacker budget: around €20 a day
- €6hostel bed
- €1.50local meal
- €1.50beer
- €1ride on the BTS
Guide prices from our own days in Bangkok. Add a tour or a night out and it climbs fast.
Best hostels in Bangkok
Here Hostel
Sociable without being a party hostel, which is the sweet spot for your first night in Asia. Small pool, plenty of common space, and they run things you can join without knowing anyone. Close enough to Khao San to walk, far enough to sleep.
BED STATION Hostel Khaosan
Modern, clean, properly cold air conditioning and dorms with more privacy than most. This is the one for people who want to actually see Bangkok during the day rather than recover from it. Jet lag friendly.
Mad Monkey Bangkok
You already know what this is. Pub crawls, beer pong, pool parties, and a 9.7 rating from several thousand people who were not there to sleep. Brilliant for meeting half your future travel group in one night. Less brilliant for the 7am train.
Best things to do in Bangkok
Cycling tour through old Bangkok
Cycling through Bangkok sounds insane until you do it. You end up on paths through Thonburi, across canals and into neighbourhoods nobody sends tourists to, and you see more of how the city actually works in three hours than in three days of temples.
The skywalk, or any rooftop bar
The glass floor 314 metres up is the bit people talk about afterwards. Go for sunset, because seeing Bangkok switch on from above is genuinely worth the ticket.
Day trip to Ayutthaya
The old capital, eighty kilometres north, burned down in 1767 and never got rebuilt. What is left is a field of brick ruins and a Buddha head that a tree has slowly grown around. Doable by train if you want it cheap.
A Muay Thai night
Rajadamnern is the old stadium, and the crowd is as much of a show as the fight. The betting section shouts in unison, the band plays live through every round, and it builds all night to the main event.
Floating market and the train market
At Maeklong the market is built on the railway tracks, and eight times a day the traders fold their awnings away, a train squeezes through with centimetres to spare, and then everything goes straight back. It should not work and it has worked for decades.
Best area for backpackers
Khao San Road, and the streets around it.
It has been the backpacker quarter for forty years and it earns the reputation both ways: it is loud, it is a bit of a circus, and it is also the easiest place on earth to arrive on your own. For your first nights in Thailand that matters more than authenticity.
Good to know about this area
- Cheap hostels and guesthouses on every corner
- The easiest place anywhere to fall in with other travellers
- Street food, bars and night markets all within a few minutes
- Walking distance to the Grand Palace and the river
- Something happening at any hour, for better and worse
It is also just a soft landing. Get over the jet lag, work out how much things should cost, and then move on with some idea of what you are doing.
How to plan your days in Bangkok
Most backpackers do three days, usually split: a couple at the start of the trip and one at the end before the flight home. Pick how long you have.
Temples and the river. Start early at the Grand Palace and Wat Pho with the reclining Buddha, before the heat and the tour buses. Then take the little ferry across to Wat Arun and ride the Chao Phraya Express back.
Tonight: Khao San Road. Once, at least, for the story.
Markets and skyline. Chatuchak if it is the weekend, otherwise the floating market and the train market at Maeklong. Finish on a rooftop or the skywalk at King Power Mahanakhon.
Tonight: street food in Chinatown, along Yaowarat Road, from about seven.
Ayutthaya or Muay Thai. The old capital is eighty kilometres north and easy by train or tour. Staying in town? Go to a fight night at Rajadamnern instead.
Tonight: night train or a flight, north or south. Bangkok is a hub, use it.
Food and drink in Bangkok
This may be the best street food city in the world, and the ranking is not close. The good stuff does not come out of restaurants. It comes off a cart on the pavement and costs less than a coffee at home.
Go to Chinatown around seven in the evening, when the carts open. Find where the locals are queuing and join the queue. You do not need to know what it is.
What to eat here:
Say nothing about spice and you get the Thai version. If you want it milder, ask for mai phet.
Getting there and onward
Bangkok is the hub of Southeast Asia. Almost every backpacking trip through the region starts or finishes here, and usually does both.
From the airport. Suvarnabhumi is thirty kilometres out. The Airport Rail Link gets you to Phaya Thai for about a euro fifty and beats a taxi comfortably in rush hour, which is most of the day.
Around town. The BTS Skytrain and MRT metro are fast, cold and cheap. For everything else use Grab, or a boat up the Chao Phraya, which is often quicker than the road and definitely more fun.
Onward. Night train to Chiang Mai, night bus plus boat to the islands. And from here you can fly cheaply to nearly every capital in the region, which is how a three-week trip turns into five.
- BTS and MRTFrom about €0.40 a ride, until midnight
- Chao Phraya ExpressPast the temples, about €0.40
- GrabFixed price up front, motorbike option too
- Night trainChiang Mai 13 hrs · Surat Thani 9 hrs
- Night busKoh Tao, Phangan and Samui, boat included
Staying safe in Bangkok
Bangkok is a safe city to walk around, including at night. Almost every problem backpackers have here is about money: paying too much, or signing something you did not read.
- Insist on the meter in a taxi, or just use Grab and skip the conversation
- Cover shoulders and knees at the temples, or you are not getting in
- Only rent a scooter from a shop that does not want your passport as a deposit
- At an ATM, choose your own bank's exchange rate, never the machine's
- Believe the man who tells you the Grand Palace is closed today. It is not, and it is the oldest trick in the city
- Get in a tuk-tuk offering a cheap loop past "a temple and a jeweller"
- Leave a drink unattended on Khao San Road
- Say anything negative about the royal family. It is a criminal offence here
Rebels on the Road tip
Walk one street over from Khao San to Soi Rambuttri. Same backpacker energy, half the volume, and about a third of the people trying to sell you something. Trees, live music, cheap food and actual chairs. It is where you will end up on your second night anyway, so you may as well start there.
Frequently asked questions
How many days do you need in Bangkok?
Three is enough for almost everyone. Two at the start and one at the end works nicely, because you will see the city completely differently after a few weeks in Thailand.
Is Bangkok cheap?
Very. Around €20 a day covers a hostel bed, three meals and getting around. Street food and public transport are the two things that keep it that low.
Is Bangkok safe for backpackers?
Yes. Violent crime against travellers is rare. Watch your bag in crowds and treat anyone who approaches you with an unsolicited plan as a sales pitch.
What is the best way to get around Bangkok?
BTS Skytrain and MRT metro for anything they reach, because the traffic here is legendary for the wrong reasons. Grab for everything else. Tuk-tuks are fun once and you will pay for the privilege.
Is Bangkok too intense as a first stop?
It can be, for about a day. The heat, the traffic and the noise all land at once and plenty of people wonder what they have done. Then something clicks, usually over food, and by day three most people love it. Feeling overwhelmed on your first afternoon in Bangkok is not a sign you picked wrong, it is just part of it.
