A little over a year ago Eric and I found an incredible deal on flights to Bangkok on Thrifty Traveler. I know I mention it a lot, but this site is seriously the best when it comes to travel deals. We were able to book roundtrip to Bangkok on Singapore Airlines for about $360 per person through a mistake fare they posted. I highly recommend subscribing to their daily email so you don’t miss anything.
Since we booked so long ago, I had plenty of time to plan out the perfect itinerary and make sure we got the most out of our time here. BUT, note to everyone planning international trips, ALWAYS pay attention to the dates and times on your flight itinerary. I mistakenly thought we arrived at 5 pm on Tuesday, when really due to time changes we arrived at 5 pm on Wednesday. Luckily Eric noticed my mistake before we left and we were able to adjust our hotel reservations, and we still made it in time to do the majority of the things on our list.
We booked our stay at the Hotel Lebua, which may look familiar, as it was the hotel they used to film the movie The Hangover (we booked it because it looked beautiful, not because of the movie). We decided to book the hotel car service to pick us up from the airport which was the BEST idea ever. The driver met us right outside of customs, and pulled the car right up to the curb for us. The drive from Suvarnabhumi Airport takes about 50 minutes so we were able to settle in and relax a bit after our flight.
When we arrived at our hotel a representative met us at the car and already had our keys ready to go. She walked us straight up to our room, and we sat in the seating area in our suite as we went through the check-in process. It was the most seamless check-in I’ve ever experienced. There are two separate options for booking at Lebua – the normal rooms, or the suites in the Tower Club. Tower Club suites are all location on floors 51 or above, all come with a balcony, as well as access to a lounge on the 52nd floor with free food and drinks (alcohol included!). We also booked the option that gave us free breakfast for the duration of our stay.
We settled in, cleaned up, took some pictures of the view, and then headed straight to our reservations at Gaggan – by far the best thing we did while in Bangkok. Gaggan has been on the top 50 restaurants in the world list for a few years now, and was rated the best restaurant in Asia in 2015. The service and the food were incredible, and I highly recommend adding this to any Bangkok itinerary. Check out this post to see all 25 courses in more detail.
After Gaggan we headed back to our hotel and up to the top floor to check out the Dome. The open air restaurant and bar is located on the 63rd floor and has the most incredible views of the city and the Chao Phraya River. The bartenders are all equipped with flashlights and will help you take the most amazing photos with the right lighting, so don’t pass that opportunity up! Drinks were pretty pricey, so we opted to have one and then head back down to our room on the 58th floor, which also had an incredible view.
At this point it had been over 48 hours since we’d slept in a real bed, so we passed out, ready to get up early and hit the town the next morning.
Day two started with free breakfast at Mozu in the hotel. It was free with our reservation, and quite possibly the largest breakfast buffet I’ve seen outside of Vegas. We filled up on food, and then gathered up our belongings for the long day of sightseeing ahead.
From our hotel it was a quick 5 minute walk down to the Chao Phraya River pier. Traffic in Bangkok is pretty bad, so the best way to get between most of the tourist attractions is by boat down the river. There are plenty of boat options to choose from – we decided to go with the blue flag boats – these are tourist specific which means they speak English, offer a hop on hop off ticket, and are WAY less crowded than the local boats.
We hopped on at the Oriental pier and headed to the Grand Palace stop – about a 20 minute boat ride. Keep in mind that if you plan to tour the Grand Palace or any of the temples, you’ll need to have your legs and shoulders covered. If you forgot to bring pants (because why would you bring pants to a place as hot as Thailand?!), don’t fret – they have a TON of shops selling adorable elephant pants for about $3 USD max.
The details on every building at every temple are incredible – colorful tile mosaics, and shiny gold everywhere. It’s also HOT, so make sure to bring lots of bottled water as you’re walking in the sun.
After the Grand Palace, you can walk down the street about 10 minutes to Wat Pho, also known as the Reclining Buddha. To enter the temple you do need to take off your shoes, so I’d suggest bringing along some light socks to put on if you don’t want to walk around outside barefoot.
After Wat Pho we wanted to cool down in some air conditioning and get some food. We crossed the street to Arom D cafe which had free wifi and incredible food. We ordered the chicken satay and the beef curry croquettes (SO GOOD). From here we were able to order an uber on the wifi to take us to our next destination about 45 minutes away – and the price was only about $5 USD for an uber black.
Our next stop was Sukhumvit Soi 11 – a street that is known for being a place where expats hang out, and is littered with pubs and touristy restaurants. We weren’t interested in that and instead headed straight to Cheap Charlie’s for a few beers before our evening flight. Opening at 5 pm, Cheap Charlie’s is a small group of tables around a corner outside bar. It’s been around for almost 35 years and is about as eclectic and divey as you can get.
And did I mention it’s cheap? A cold beer or mixed drink will only cost you 80 baht (about $2 USD).
After a few beers we headed back to Lebua to grab our luggage and take our flight to Phuket (check out our island itinerary here – coming soon!).
After an amazing, relaxing few days in Phuket, we headed back to Bangkok for one more full day in the city. We landed around midnight, slept in, and got up to explore one last day in the city. We started by heading to Terminal 21, which is the most incredible mall. Each floor is a theme from a world city – Tokyo, London, Istanbul, and San Francisco. Each “city” is made up of tiny “streets” filled with shops. There are also a ton of amazing restaurants, including the Michelin rated Tim Ho Wan dim sum spot from Hong Kong. It’s the cheapest Michelin restaurant in the world with most items being around $4 USD. Get the BBQ Pork Buns and thank me later.
After the mall we planned on taking one of the highest rated food tours in Bangkok and then checking out the famous Chinatown, but unfortunately something I had eaten in Phuket had other plans for our day. We headed to the airport early and spent some time shopping in the terminal before our flight. Part of getting such a cheap fare involved a pretty lengthy layover in Singapore on the way home, and luckily we ended up having time to get out and explore the city so check out our 1/2 day itinerary here.
Spent time in Bangkok and have some suggestions for our next visit? Have any questions about what to do on your next trip? Leave a comment below and chat with us!
