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40 Best Places to Stay in Bangkok: Our Picks of the Best Hotels and Best Areas to Stay in Bangkok

By: Author Betsy Wuebker

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(Last Updated On: September 26, 2019)

Discover the best places to stay in Bangkok! Our picks identify the best areas to stay in Bangkok, along with hotel specifics. You’ll find that when hunting for the best hotels in Bangkok, Thailand prices deliver outstanding value by comparison with Western expectations.

We absolutely love Bangkok, but there is no doubt that choosing among the best places to stay in Bangkok can be overwhelming. This is true for first time or even returning visitors to Thailand. Bangkok is one of the craziest cities we’ve visited in over 40 countries. Never, for example, have we visited a place where taxi drivers can be just as clueless as you are in terms of getting you to your accommodations.

best places to stay in bangkok Likewise, it’s difficult to know which of the best areas to stay in Bangkok are going to be a match with your intentions and preferences. There are so many different neighborhoods and an enormous number of hotels in Bangkok, some whose names you will recognize and others you’ve never heard of.

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Strategies you might have used successfully in other cities just won’t apply here: there is no clear “downtown” in Bangkok, the streets follow few recognizable patterns, the public transportation network is a work in progress, and there’s a river that twists and turns back again upon itself several times throughout the metropolitan area. But rather than be intimidated by these aspects, you can embrace the Thai capital’s complicated nature. Use our tips and recommendations to find the best accommodations in Bangkok, suited to you!

best place to stay in bangkok

Choosing Among the Best Areas to Stay in Bangkok

Choosing where to stay in Bangkok will depend upon your plans. If you’re visiting for business, convenience and accessibility will govern your choices. If you’re vacationing, you’re going to want to be located close to the attractions that interest you most, or within a convenient distance to public transportation.

Tip: English spelling is “flexible” in Thailand. Silom might be Si Lom. Dusit Thani might be Dusithani, and so forth. Normally, we’re sticklers for spelling, but in this case, going with the charming flow is best.

Let us warn you right now. Proximity and convenience take on new meaning here. Traffic in Bangkok is absolutely insane, particularly during rush hour in the morning and late afternoon and evening. If you think you can just jump into a taxi and get where you want to go across town on time, think again! You’re better off taking the metro. Even a scooter taxi (where you’re the one riding on the back) is better than a regular taxi-cab during these periods. Tuk-tuks are plentiful and a lot more versatile, too. So even if you’ve been successful in saving a few bucks by selecting a wider radius from where you need to be in other cities, don’t risk it here.

Given these challenges, we found it best during several visits to Bangkok to select a location which was in a neighborhood which provided a variety of food and dining, reasonable shopping, and convenience to the train system which could take us to our business appointments in and around the Queen Sirikit Convention Center. The Sukhumvit neighborhood fit these requirements to a T.

Those who have business or an interest in the financial or diplomatic sectors are going to want to stay in the Silom or Sathorn neighborhoods, which are adjacent to each other just east of Lumpini Park and Rama IV Road. Sathorn is an equal distance from the Queen Sirikit Convention Center as Sukhumvit, just in the opposite direction.

Best Places to Stay in Bangkok for First Timers

Our recommendations for the best places to stay in Bangkok if you’re a first timer would be either Sukhumvit or Silom-Sathorn. Both of these neighborhoods have vibrant main thoroughfares and are well-served by the public train system which has two lines: the BTS and the MRT. It is easy to use. In both of these neighborhoods, you’ll recognize familiar brand names which may provide you with a comfort level to balance the overwhelm everyone gets on a first visit to southeast Asia.

best hotels in bangkok

Some of the best hotels in Bangkok, if you’re into international luxury hotels and 4-star brands, can be found in Sukhumvit. Keep a pleasant surprise in mind if you’re used to big city hotel rates in North America and Europe: among the best hotels in Bangkok, Thailand prices on the whole affect their rates. If you’ve budgeted at typical Western prices, you’ll often be able to level up in terms of luxury!

Tip: Check your points and mileage programs for budget-friendly rates or additional perks.

Note: we rated these in terms of general pricing in US dollars at the time of this writing. $=up to $80/night. $$=$80-$125. $$$=over $125. $$$$ = over $175. You’ll find places we stayed where we wrote full reviews highlighted in red.

In Sukhumvit:

  • $$$$ JW Marriott (Sukhumvit 2, close to Phloen Chit Center, between Nana and Phloen Chit BTS stops). Click here for Trip Advisor reviews. Click here to book with Booking.com. To book with Agoda, click here.
  • $$$$ Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit (Asok BTS stop) Click here for Trip Advisor reviews. Click here to book with Booking.com. To book with Agoda, click here.
  • $$$ Hotel Sofitel Sukhumvit (Asok BTS stop) Click here for Trip Advisor reviews. Click here to book with Booking.com. To book with Agoda, click here.
  • $$ Four Points by Sheraton (Asok BTS stop) Click here for Trip Advisor reviews. Click here to book with Booking.com. To book with Agoda, click here.
  • $$$ Westin Grande Sukhumvit (Asok BTS stop) See our full review here. Click here for Trip Advisor reviews. Click here to book with Booking.com. To book with Agoda, click here.
  • $$ Aloft Bangkok Sukhumvit 11 (between Asok and Nana BTS stops) Click here for Trip Advisor reviews. Click here to book with Booking.com. To book with Agoda, click here.
  • $$ Mövenpick Hotel Sukhumvit 15 Bangkok (between Asok and Nana BTS stops) Click here for Trip Advisor reviews. Click here to book with Booking.com. To book with Agoda, click here.
  • $$$ Athenee Hotel (on the Lumpini side/Phloen Chit BTS stops) Click here for Trip Advisor reviews. Click here to book with Booking.com. To book with Agoda, click here.
  • $$ Holiday Inn Bangkok Sukhumvit (22 Sukhumvit) Click here for Trip Advisor reviews. Click here to book with Booking.com. To book with Agoda, click here.
  • $$$ Radisson Blu Plaza Bangkok (on Sukhumvit Road at Phrapatson Alley, approximately Sukhumvit 27) Click here for Trip Advisor reviews. Click here to book with Booking.com. To book with Agoda, click here.
  • $ Best Western, Premier Sukhumvit (located at Sukhumvit 1 Alley, close to the Bumrungrad International Hospital) Click here for Trip Advisor reviews. Click here to book with Booking.com. To book with Agoda, click here.
  • $ Best Western, Plus (Sukhumvit 20) Click here for Trip Advisor reviews. Click here to book with Booking.com. To book with Agoda, click here.

best hotels in bangkok thailand

In the Silom-Sathorn neighborhood, you’ll find:

best accommodations in bangkok

Best Places to Stay in Bangkok for a Home-like Atmosphere

For some people, the best place to stay in Bangkok isn’t a hotel room per se, but something that feels a little more like home, particularly if your stay is lengthier than a few days. If you’re searching for the best places to stay in Bangkok with a home-like atmosphere, you’ll want to investigate serviced apartments. These are often chosen by ex-pats with long-term work contracts and there may be a real sense of community among residents who see each other frequently in the public areas.

best serviced apartments in bangkok

Be aware that no place does serviced apartments better than Bangkok. Indeed, Bangkok takes the concept of a serviced apartment – which is kind of a hybrid between a hotel and a private, furnished apartment – to an entirely new level. In most cases, you’ll get regular – even daily – maid service, your own kitchen, on-site amenities such as health and beauty spa, full work-out facilities, restaurants, concierge, swimming pool, and more. All this for equal to or less than the price of the best hotels in Bangkok, and incentive pricing available at weekly and monthly rate discounts.

best service apartment bangkokOur idea of what might be the best place to stay in Bangkok for returning visitors like ourselves definitely leans toward this for a couple of reasons: you can choose a configuration which gives you individual privacy as a couple, and there are generally multiple options for workspaces. This is not necessarily the case in a typical hotel room unless you’re upgrading to a suite.

In Silom-Sathorn:

best places to stay in bangkok

In the Sukhumvit neighborhood:

best place to stay in bangkok

Best Places to Stay in Bangkok for Luxury Amenities at Value Pricing

Don’t misunderstand: you don’t have to budget at North American or European levels to get a fairly luxurious hotel experience in Thailand. Some of the best places to stay in Bangkok offer luxury amenities at eye-popping values equivalent to what you might pay at a mid-level branded hotel off the interstate in the U.S. This is great news!

places to stay in bangkok

Among the best hotels in Bangkok in which we’ve personally stayed is a lovely little gem in the Sukhumvit neighborhood, the Windsor Suites.

If your idea of the best place to stay in Bangkok includes bargain pricing (and by this we mean $80 and under per night), you’ll have plenty of options to work with. Here are just a few that we’re familiar with.

In the Sukhumvit neighborhood:

where to stay in bangkokIn the Sathorn neighborhood:

We hope this post has given you an indication of how to find the best places to stay in Bangkok, particularly if you’re visiting Thailand for the first time. We’ve circled back to Bangkok many times during our extended stay in southeast Asia, and we’ve grown to love the city as we would an old friend.

best hotels in bangkok

Likewise, now that we’ve discovered our preferences, we’d return to this list of hotels in the neighborhoods we view as the best areas to stay in Bangkok. Then we’d drill down depending upon whether we wanted a home-like atmosphere or a traditional hotel room. Let us know how you get on with your search for the best place to stay in Bangkok and even more importantly, the places to stay in Bangkok that you personally recommend.

Pinnable Images:

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Tips for Trip Success

Book Your Flight
Find an inexpensive flight by using Kayak, a favorite of ours because it regularly returns less expensive flight options from a variety of airlines.

Book Your Hotel or Special Accommodation
We are big fans of Booking.com. We like their review system and photos. If we want to see more reviews and additional booking options, we go to Expedia.

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Thursday 4th of January 2018

Pictures are Stunning! Just inspired me to plan for next trip.. Thanks for Great Information.

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