Must Visit Places for Bangkok & Thailand - Starter Guide
Thailand is quite varied, from the mountainous north to the islands in the south. This is a breakdown trips to take in Thailand.
Grand Palace and Wat Arun
These two are near each other. You can tour the Grand Palace in the afternoon, enjoy Wat Arun in the evening (best time to go) and then head to a local rooftop bar or restaurant.
Please be aware of the old tuk tuk scam where they either say something is closed or the price is super cheap. They just take you around to different shops where they get a commission.
Nana Plaza
Red light district area. Fun to go with a group of guys. There are all lady bars with naked girls dancing inside, you can sit and watch while having a drink. If you want a girl to come sit with you they can, just be aware that you'll have to pay for a lady drink. Some places are shitty and charge you two lady drinks so be aware of that.
But overall it's fun.
If you want to take a girl out of the bar and have her join you then you'll have to "bar fine" them which means you have to pay the bar an amount as they're losing a worker. I'm not sure what the amount is, I think 3,000 Baht. Now, this is just to take a girl out of a bar, if you want sex well then you'll have to discuss that with the girl. They typically want 5000 Baht. I personally don't pay for sex (not judging btw) so I'm not exactly sure how it works but I do know they offer short time and long time. Long time meaning they stay with you the whole night.
Apart from where you go exactly go to do the deed, I have no idea. A local hotel associated with Nana Plaza or your hotel? I honestly don't know.
Soi 11
A popular street with once good night clubs, now there is a lot of construction. Sugar used to be good back in the day but now it's pretty mediocre. I typically go to Havana Social which is all the way at the end of Soi 11. You'll see a lot of old men going to Oscars.
They wear what I call "the old man outfit" where they wear a button up shirt, rolled up sleeves, shirt tucked into a pair of blue jeans. They think they're looking sophisticated but it's a bit odd to dress up for such a dogy area.
RCA
A massive nightclub area, this is where young Thais and expats who live in Bangkok go as most tourists have never hear of this. RCA is great if you want a club style environment and the ability to meet normal girls (Havana Social is also good for that too).
I typically order Grab and put in Route 66 to get tot he RCA area. Route 66 is just one big club among many.
Soi Cowboy
It's meh as it's a mini Pattaya style walking street. The girls are not as pretty as Nana Plaza and the little bars tend to charge you two lady drinks for a girl. It's a good spot to spend an hour or two in. At the end of the street near Terminal 21 there are two "normal" bars with live music but they play old man, lullaby music from the 60s and 70s.
Where I like to go if I'm in this area is called Penny Black:
It's a proper club with young people and no working girls so you can actually meet someone here which I've done before.
Also, there are no fat bald old men or goofy Indians (Indians are fine, just the Indians in Pattaya and red light areas in BKK seem to be from the bottom rungs of their society) here simply because they don't know it exists. It's on the 3rd floor of a building above one of the bars.
Secret bar Soi 8
Yea there is a secret bar on Soi 8. It does not have a name, I'm not sure if it's still open, but it was a legit speakeasy that stayed open late when everything else was closed.khikh
It's down a dark alley, you'll have to knock on a door and they'll let you in. This place is open till 5 am and they're open during holidays and what not.
It's hidden away from police as you'll walk in and it's a bar behind a bar.
Chinatown
Just Google China town, it's easy to find. Interesting area with a few hidden cocktail bars.
My favorite in the area:
Fun, secret location. Above a family restaurant:
Jodd Fair
Another decent spot to know of. It's part market, makes for a good date spot, get beers with your friends or just wander around and shop.
Patpong Museum
This was an interesting spot among a bunch of go-go bars. BUT the building was owned by the group that was busted for having underaged girls working a bar in Phuket about a year ago
Phuket bust got most media focus, but cops also closed their Bangkok patpong gogos as well for undisclosed reasons (generally assumed same reason)
Museum was not ordered closed, but group owning the building it are pretty much done and tennant running museum had to close.
Still Patpong is a spot worth checking out as it has go-go bars and a gay area near by. They also have this legit dive bar that's remained the same since the 1970's with the same owners:
Gay area (if that's your speed)
Last the gay area is Silom. This little street has a bunch of sit and chill bars with drag shows. Down the road are some big gay clubs....
My list
Here is a long list of places I've gone to in Bangkok that I liked:
- Urban Music Bar
- Ms Jigger
- Tribe Sky
- Pizza Mania
- Find the Locker Room
- Dope and Dirty
- The Dirty Laundry
- Spectrum Bar
- Jar Tea
- The Woodshed
- Kays Thonglor
- Bad Motel Bar
- DJ Station
- Bar 335
- Billy Coopers
- Sugar Ray You've Just Been Poisoned
- Marriot Buffet
- Lava Bangkok
- Err Infinity
- Pastel Rooftop bar
- Mr French
- Nelson Hays Library
- House on Sathorn
Other Parts of Thailand
With Thailand you have Chaing Rai and Chaing Mai in the north. Krabi and Phuket in the south. The islands and Esan.
Pu Chi Fa and Pu Chi Dao
You fly into Chiang Rai here and then take an hour ride taxi up into the mountains for your homestay. Wonderful trip!
Fly in, stay in Chiang Rai for a day or two and the head up to Pu Chi Fa. Your hotel will be able to help you with transportation.
Koh Lipe
My favorite island in Thailand. You fly into Hat Yai airport from Bangkok and then make your way to the pier. Takes about 1-1.5 hours by boat to get to this island.
Koh Samui
Another lovely island, very easy to get to as they have an airport maintained by Bangkok Airways. I satyed in the Melia resort which I think is the best on the island due to the rooms and the beach front location.
Krabi
Krabi is lovely, it's famous beach is found at Ao Nang. You can also take day trips and go snorkling which is totally worth it as you go out swimming in the ocean.
There a plenty of day trips once you get to Krabi to take advantage of.
Phuket
I'm not a big fan of Phuket in all honestly. It's nice to stay for 2-3 days at a resort and then to head down south to the islands. They do have a walking street there which is similar to Pattaya. It's fun, good spot get some beers, meets some girls and dance.
Personally I would plan an island hopping trip go from Phuket to Phi Phi Islands to Koh Lanta and then finish at Koh Lipe.
Once at Koh Lipe head to Satun province so you can fly out of Hat Yai. I did this trip back in 2012 and it was well worth it.
Budget a few days for each island.
Esan!
The final boss of Thailand, once you've exhausted Thailand and have seen and done everything make your way to Esan.
Khon Kaen is the big city out there, it's more like a big town. They have a place called Tawadang which super fun and local.
Overall not much to do here other than hit up the bars and see some local sites. But the only foreigners you'll see are fat old men married to some random Thai woman.
Also make your way up north to Udon Thani which is surprisingly beautiful. There you can visit the Red Lotus lake.
Explore a random province
Last, just make it an effort to explore a random province. Every province has something going on and unique. Plan on a 4-5 day trip for whatever province you visit.
For example, my friend Tip is from Buriram. They have football, a racing track, a huge Khimer temple complex and fun local night life.
Conclusion
This list will get you started.
Just keep notes in your phone of places to visit and checkout as you come across spots of interest.
