Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC)
98 Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330
If the Grand Palace is the soul of old Bangkok, the BACC is the brain of the new city.
Chatuchak Weekend Market
Kamphaeng Phet 2 Road, Chatuchak, Bangkok
Chatuchak is not a market.
Chinatown (Yaowarat Road)
Yaowarat Road, Samphanthawong, Bangkok
Bangkok's Chinatown is what happens when a community has had 200 years to perfect its street food game.
Erawan Shrine
Ratchadamri Road, Lumphini, Pathum Wan, Bangkok
The Erawan Shrine sits at the intersection of two of Bangkok's busiest roads, surrounded by luxury hotels and shopping malls, with traffic roaring past on all sides — and somehow manages to be one of the most spiritually charged spots in the city.
Grand Palace
Na Phra Lan Road, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok
The Grand Palace isn't just a building — it's an entire walled city within a city, and for 150 years it was the beating heart of the Thai kingdom.
ICONSIAM
299 Charoen Nakhon Road, Khlong Ton Sai, Khlong San, Bangkok
ICONSIAM is absurd in the best possible way.
Jim Thompson House
6 Soi Kasemsan 2, Rama 1 Road, Wang Mai, Pathum Wan, Bangkok
Jim Thompson was an American spy who moved to Bangkok after World War II, single-handedly revived the Thai silk industry, built a stunning house out of six dismantled teak homes, filled it with one of Southeast Asia's finest private art collections — and then vanished without a trace in the Malaysian jungle in 1967.
Khao San Road
Khao San Road, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok
Alex Garland called it 'the centre of the backpacking universe' in The Beach, and twenty-five years later, Khao San Road still hasn't shaken the title.
Or Tor Kor Market
101 Kamphaeng Phet Road, Chatuchak, Bangkok
Or Tor Kor is the market where Bangkok's serious home cooks shop, and it shows.
Pak Khlong Talat (Flower Market)
Chak Phet Road, Wang Burapha Phirom, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok
Bangkok's flower market is best experienced at 3am, which tells you everything you need to know about this city's relationship with sleep.
Rajadamnern Muay Thai Stadium
1 Ratchadamnoen Nok Road, Pom Prap Sattru Phai, Bangkok
Rajadamnern is where Muay Thai stops being a tourist show and starts being religion.
Siriraj Medical Museum
2 Wang Lang Rd, Siriraj, Bangkok 10200
Warning: this is not for the faint of heart.
Talat Noi
Talat Noi, Samphanthawong, Bangkok
Talat Noi is the Bangkok neighbourhood that Instagram discovered about five years ago, and for once the hype is justified.
Thonglor (Sukhumvit Soi 55)
Sukhumvit Soi 55 (Thonglor), Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok
If the old town is where Bangkok prays, Thonglor is where Bangkok parties, eats, and pretends to be Tokyo.
Wat Pho
2 Sanam Chai Road, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok
Wat Pho is home to a Buddha so big they had to build the temple around it.
Wat Suthat & the Giant Swing
146 Bamrung Muang Road, Wat Ratchabophit, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok
The Giant Swing is one of those things in Bangkok that makes you stop and say 'wait, what?' A 21-metre-tall red teak frame that looks like a massive goalpost stands in the middle of a traffic circle, and for 150 years it was the centrepiece of a Brahmin ceremony where young men would swing to terrifying heights trying to grab a bag of gold coins hung from a pole with their teeth.
Explore culture in Bangkok
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