One Too Many Nights In Bangkok...
Personal Musings on my least favourite city in Asia
Not every city can be everything for everyone, and with respect, Bangkok isn’t for me. And that’s okay – it’s probably me, not Bangkok.
I have been to Bangkok now 3 (!!) separate times, and I just haven’t vibed with Thailand’s bustling capital city. Conceptually, I can understand that there are some interesting things to see and do in Bangkok, and I believe I have genuinely tried to do all of said things. No matter what, I seem to leave Bangkok each time wondering what’s so great about it and why people praise it the way that they do.
Also, yeah, I do hear how this sounds – who am I to have such opinions about the city that Time Out just called the second best in the world, and Asia’s best city for 20251. I’ve spent maybe 10 days total in Bangkok, which is obviously insufficient to actually get to know Bangkok’s good side. I get that this is a total nothingburger complaint from someone incredibly privileged to have been to Bangkok multiple times, plus the experiences and visits in other cities around the world that I can’t help but compare it to. Woe is me, I get it.
If the idea of my mostly harmless rah-rah against Bangkok is going to bother you, you don’t have to read this. These are just some personal thoughts and reflections I’ve been contemplating after spending the last few days in Bangkok.
Bangkok, It's not you, it's me
Fine, I will own up to it, I do think some of this could be a bit of a me problem. I can never and will never be the girl who fastidiously prepares itineraries and spreadsheets about a destination before arriving. To my core, I am type B and will always show up somewhere first and THEN start searching and pinning to my map.
I can pretty confidently say that this is not an effective strategy in Bangkok. I just end up confused about the different areas/neighbourhoods, and the pins I’ve tried to add to my map lack any cohesion to be able to shape into a proper game plan for a quick few day visit.
Although, I should put a bit of respect on my name and my game – this slightly haphazard strategy has worked for me pretty much everywhere else, from beach side towns to other massive metropolitan cities.
I know objectively that Bangkok has lots to do and see. The city combines Thai culture and tradition with a modern global vibrancy. You can see the unique blend of history in the contemporary.
In Bangkok you can visit some incredible top grade Buddhist temples and the opulent Grand Palace; you can try some delicious local street food; you can shop around massive weekend markets; you can enjoy the peaceful parks around the city; you have your pick of upscale shopping malls; you can get a traditional Thai massage; and of course you can sip the night away one of the endless number of chic (or rowdy) Bangkok bars.
All of this combined should be the recipe for a great city… Right? Wouldn’t it seem that way to you?
so WHY GO BACK?
I went back to Bangkok again this time because I thought maybe the third time’s the charm – maybe this time I would like it more. With sincerity, I do want to get into the big Bangkok vibe.
My first two visits to Bangkok were in pretty close succession while travelling around Southeast Asia the first time. I thought maybe now that I am older, wiser, and more well-travelled, I might enjoy it more on a revisit.
For this quick trip, I thought I would dig deeper into what I most enjoyed during my previous time, which was finding an ultra-cool cocktail bar. Bangkok is known for it’s superb nightlife so I committed to that. This time, I did my own distinguished version of a hostel pub crawl – spending the night sampling inventive cocktails at some of the most atmospheric bars in Bangkok.
I certainly enjoyed my many drinks (although it did cost a pretty penny to have this kind of fun). If you want to check out what I got up to and what I consider to be among the best cocktail bars in the city that, let me point you to my Best Bars of Bangkok guide. Hiiiighly recommend the worm cocktail!
Although it was fun crawling around the dimly-lit cocktail bars, I can’t say that a handful of cool bars makes a city. Frankly, those bars could have been almost anywhere (although some did use creative Thai ingredients, like the aforementioned silk worm). So, as nice as all those cocktails were, my last couple of days in Bangkok didn’t move the needle much on my love for the city.
Actually no, maybe it is you, Bangkok...
I think what I struggle most with in Bangkok is that I feel like the city doesn’t reveal itself.
When I travel, I want to be in a city where I feel like I can wander endlessly, finding my own hidden gems. Even if I’m not in the trendiest neighbourhood with boutiques or cafes spilling out onto the street, I want to be somewhere where what’s around me still feels alive and resonating. In Bangkok, I honestly end up feeling like there isn’t much to see, and the street life is just kind of drab.
How hidden should the gem be?
Beyond the ‘must-do’ activities, where elephant pants are strung around like curtains, I know Bangkok surely has to be full of hidden gems. But that is the issue… they are too hidden! It’s almost impossible to simply stumble upon them just by wandering around town. Except, that’s how I want to do it – I don’t want a place that requires me to put together a perfect itinerary and get myself to the exact right spot, at the right time of day, on the right day of the week. I want to be in the city that no matter when you find yourself there, the city here for you and always delivers. I know could name a few, across every continent.
Sure, you can read a listicle or find a tiktoker who won’t gatekeep all their favourite spots, but when you look them up on the map, I feel like no one neighbourhood brings any of them together. Even if it looks like a great place, as a traveller with a limited number of days, I am not going to go to an area for just one thing… I need to know there will be more for me there. Maybe if I could confidently bet all my chips on the fact that where there is one nice cafe, there is bound to be more, but based on my personal experience in Bangkok, that is not a truth you can take to the bank. Or at least not in the way I would hope for and expect when I run through my rolodex of neighbourhoods and cities around the world.
let me present my latest case study: Song Wat Road
Take Song Wat Road as a representation of what and why I struggle with Bangkok. I saw many tiktoks of people saying, “omg I could spend the day wandering around Song Wat Road” and Time Out also recognized it as one of the World’s Coolest Neighbourhoods. With that kind of praise, I thought I might have found the thing I was missing in my previous visits!
I was going in with a handful of map pins and expectations that were probably too high, but I was ready to wander around and check out everything on (and around) Song Wat Road!
DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A ONE OF BANGKOK’S HOTTEST NEIGHBOURHOODS TO YOU?
AM I DOING SOMETHING WRONG?
I dutifully pinned a handful of spots and set out to see this “trendy, historical neighbourhood with a modern edge” that is being brought back to life by “a generation of forward-thinking creatives”. I wasn’t expecting the Champs-Élysées, but I thought that there might be a few more boutiques or restaurants than what I came across. And yes, I did walk down all the side alleys and through all the archways to try and find it all.
Again, maybe it’s me? Perhaps I made the mistake of going in the afternoon, after already having my coffee for the day, so I didn’t stop at either coffee shop I pinned (aside from peeking my head in to check the vibes). I (naively) pictured that there would be any other kind of cafe where I could have sat out with an afternoon beer or a lemonade, but those didn’t seem to exist. The neighbourhood didn’t exactly keep me locked in and wanting to explore more either…
I, of course, tried one of the famous steam buns at Gu Long Bao, a 100-year-old food stall that has been selling bao for over 4 generations. It was a good pork bun, but with nowhere to sit aside from a couple of small stools out front, and it being a quick handheld snack, it only took about 2 minutes from the time I ordered to taking my last bite before I was moving on.
I just didn’t feel like this “buzzy” neighbourhood had enough to spend an hour mooching around in, let alone a whole afternoon…
Sure, it is only a 10 minute walk to Chinatown so there is more one could do in the area. But realistically, you won’t want to be in Chinatown until the sun goes down and the Yaowarat Night Market picks up. So even though technically you can do both, the timing can make it tough to combine the two neighbourhoods into one meaningful activity.
DO YOU GET MY STRUGGLE YET?
OK so maybe you’re not going to combine it with Chinatown, and you will head somewhere else and get back to Chinatown later…
WELL NOW YOU’RE IN TRAFFIC!
No matter where you are in Bangkok, whatever you plan to do next is going to be at LEAST 45 minutes away from where you are (on a good traffic day). This is a known plight of Bangkok, but it is difficult to get around the city. The metro is not super extensive, and where there’s no metro, a hundred buses are whipping around, but you can’t trust the Bangkok traffic.
Traffic is certainly not unique to Bangkok, but rarely do I find it as prominent of a consideration in my day to day travel planning while in other metropolitan cities.
I tried to get across town from the Grand Palace to Sukhumvit (which was initially to be just over 1 hour on a bus). When I was 3/4 of the way there and already close to an hour into the journey, the bus got stuck in traffic, and it was projecting 48 MORE minutes… So I just got off the bus and started walking. Was I close to my destination? Not really, but anything was better than sitting on that bus for another hour. Like, as if it should take 2 hours to go 14 kilometres between the two most touristic areas of Bangkok!
Want to know the best part of it all – when I got off and was blasting past the traffic jam, I saw that the major road we were going down was 5 lanes one direction, one in the other? How is that good city planning? UGH.
Maybe you’re reading this and screaming at me for trying to get between the Grand Palace and Sukhumvit, but your girl only had a few days and was trying to see what everyone says is the best of the best and the must-sees in Bangkok. Don’t blame me!
Just walk instead
Normally, instead of transit, I might choose to walk from point A to point B and explore the city around me on the way. It’s about the journey, not the destination, right?
But Bangkok isn’t the most beautiful and is kind of dull unless you happen to be on the right street. Most of my time, I felt like I was walking down empty streets with metal gates down on all the shop fronts, or I was walking past hotel entrances and massage parlours, sometimes passing a street vendor or two. I just haven’t found Bangkok to be very enticing at street level.
If you want to leave the streets behind, Bangkok has about 101 malls to visit. I think the actual statistic is over 200 malls (who needs that many malls?) But, personally, once you’ve been to one swanky mall in Asia and enjoyed the blasting aircon during the peak heat of the day, you’ve really been to them all. I don’t know about you, but I personally will not be buying Hermes from the 1st, 10th, or 100th bougie mall I find myself in as I backpack around Southeast Asia. Ah yes, me and my brand new Gucci bag will be getting on the slowboat to Laos next… Suuuuuure.
Maybe Bangkok can be everything for you
I’m gonna say it again, not every city can be everything to everyone and I know that. Bangkok is surely someone’s favourite city in Asia and maybe even the world! According to the CNN series My Happy Place, it is Simu Liu’s and it could be yours too!
I certainly wouldn’t want my personal opinions to dissuade you from spending one night in Bangkok. That was a joke for my mum, you definitely will want to give your first visit to Bangkok more than one night. I’d recommend 3-5 nights for someone travelling around Thailand or Southeast Asia. Despite everything I just ranted about, there is an honest and traditional way of life that you can witness in the city, and combined with ultra-modern amenities, it can be a fascinating metropolis to explore. Not to mention, it is a great hub for getting around.
All of my grumbling is also not just because Bangkok is a big city – I am writing this post from Chiang Mai (Thailand’s second largest city) and all my issues with Bangkok disappear here. I’m thriving! I know it is a tenth of the size, so Chiang Mai isn’t metropolitan in the same way, but with 1.2 million people, it’s not as if I am comparing Bangkok to Koh Phi Phi.
Happy trip planning!
Ok that was a lot… Sorry. From one traveller to another, I hope this gave you insights into what to expect in Bangkok, and maybe it is helpful for you as you make your plans and set out on your next adventure!
If you read through this and still have questions about my experiences in Bangkok or have other questions… I can still help! I have a personalized trip planning and advice service available to all Everywhere Travel Club readers. I’d love to chat for an hour with you and help answer any questions you’re working through, share fun ideas, and help bring your big trip into reality! For more info about the one one-on-one call for advice check out the details of my Personalized Travel Planning Sesh.
Let me know what you think about this personal essay or if it helped you – I’d love to hear from you! You can find me everywhere on the Everywhere Travel Club Instagram, TikTok or Pinterest!