The 24 areas we cover in and around Bangkok

The long, loud commercial spine of Bangkok — BTS stations every 500m, endless hotels, and every price band from hostel to Park Hyatt.

Bangkok's business district by day, Patpong night market and rooftop bars by night — with the city's best Indian food tucked into the side sois.

Twin boulevards of embassies, luxury towers, and Bangkok's best five-stars — quieter than Silom, and one BTS stop away from everything.

The shopping heart of Bangkok — Siam Paragon, MBK, CentralWorld — and the BTS interchange where the whole city network crosses.

The wholesale garment district — chaotic, cheap, non-touristy — with the Baiyoke tower on top and Platinum Fashion Mall next door.

One BTS stop north of Siam — cheaper hotels, student neighbourhood, and the Airport Link one block away. The value pick for central Bangkok.

The oldest Chinatown in the world outside China — gold shops by day, one of the planet's great street-food streets by night.

The royal island where Bangkok was founded in 1782 — Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun, no BTS, no malls, and the city's proper heart.

The legendary backpacker artery — cheap beds, pad thai carts, and buckets of Sangsom at 2am. Loud, chaotic, unapologetic.

Khao San's grown-up neighbour. Shophouse guesthouses, canal-side cafes, and the old city gates without the party wreckage.

Bangkok's forgotten west bank — canal life, dawn temples, and the last neighbourhoods where nobody speaks English on the bus.

Bangkok's most livable neighbourhood — third-wave coffee, low-rise sois, and a Bangkok Thai crowd instead of tour buses.

Thonglor's calmer cousin — craft beer bars, community malls, and the Eastern Bus Terminal if you’re heading to Pattaya.

Where wealthy young Bangkokians actually go out. Rooftop bars, izakayas, cocktail speakeasies — and prices to match.

The old royal district — Grand Palace, boulevards designed to look like Paris, and small guesthouses in the shophouse alleys.

Bangkok's Whitehall — royal palaces, ministries, and wide European-style boulevards laid out by Rama V in the 1890s.

North Bangkok district built around the largest weekend market in Southeast Asia, with cheap sleeps and easy MRT access.

Bangkok's original commercial waterfront — colonial shophouses, riverside luxury hotels, and the city's best hawker rice.

The satellite city 30 minutes upriver from central Bangkok — cheap rooms, real neighbourhoods, and the last stop of the Chao Phraya Express Boat.

The province wrapping Bangkok's southern edge — home to Suvarnabhumi Airport, the Erawan Museum, and the mangroves at Bang Pu.

The 14th-century royal capital 80km north of Bangkok — brick ruins, riverside guesthouses, and the best boat noodles in Thailand.

Small provincial city 60km west of Bangkok — home to the tallest Buddhist stupa in the world and Thailand's original Dvaravati capital.

Provincial capital 130km west of Bangkok — the Death Railway, WWII cemeteries, Erawan waterfall, and limestone karst country.

Beach city 150km southeast of Bangkok — mass-tourism resort with a legendary nightlife strip, gentrifying suburbs, and the country's best amusement parks.