Thailand tips, advice & information | Thailand Travel Guide
It might need a stretch of the imagination for today’s visitors to the Thai capital to picture it, but when Bangkok was founded in 1782 it was a compact walled city with fortifications to protect it from invaders. That original area of Bangkok, also known as Ratanakosin Island, now only has a few traces of [...]
Sitting at the very heart of Bangkok, the Lak Mueang or ‘city pillar’ is often overlooked by overseas visitors who come to see the better known attractions nearby such as the Grand Palace, Temple of the Emerald Buddha and Wat Pho. The Bangkok City Pillar Shrine may lack the more obvious grandeur and spectacle of [...]
Despite its proximity to the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo, the public park at Saranrom Royal Garden doesn’t usually merit a visit from the tourists who flock to the other more celebrated sights nearby. But the loss of those on whistle-stop tours of the Thai capital is very much the gain of visitors who [...]
One of Bangkok’s smallest and least well-known museums, the site dedicated to Thailand’s royal elephants enjoys a picturesque setting in the grounds of the Dusit Palace complex. The museum consists of two buildings, both of which were former elephant stables. History of the Elephant Museum Up until the reign of King Rama IV, the royal [...]
The outside of a Bangkok shopping mall isn’t most people’s idea of a romantic setting. Flanked by the traffic-choked Ratchadamri Road on one side and the modern glitz of the Central World Plaza and Zen department stores on the other, the Trimurti Shrine is an unlikely venue for romantics. Nevertheless, young lovelorn Thais make a [...]
One of Bangkok’s most notable landmarks, the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall has played an important role in Thai history. Formerly a reception hall within the Dusit Palace complex, the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall was used as the headquarters of the People’s Party during the 1932 revolution which saw Thailand (then called Siam) transformed from an [...]
Bangkok taxis operate on a meter system with fares set by the Department of Land Transport. Although Bangkok taxi fares are regulated, there are some important things that visitors to the Thai capital need to take into consideration when hiring a cab. Not switching on the meter Some tourists complain that drivers refuse to switch [...]
From Bangkok to San Francisco to London to Rome . . . all in the space of 30 minutes and with no passport and no jet-lag. That’s the prospect that awaits visitors to the unique Terminal 21 shopping mall located adjacent to Asoke Skytrain station in central Bangkok. Opened in October 2011, Terminal 21 is [...]
They may be amongst the Thai capital’s least well-known attractions, but the gardens and traditional buildings of Suan Pakkad Palace (known in Thai as ‘Wang Suan Pakkad’) are well worth seeking out if you want to get off the main tourist trail during your visit to Bangkok. The palace and attached museum is a relaxed [...]
In all the time I’ve spent travelling around Bangkok I’d never been to the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC). It’s been on my ‘to do list’ for far too long, but I finally made it there last week and it rapidly established itself as one of my favourite places in the Thai capital. And [...]