Bangkok Travel Forum

My husband and I are going to bangkok this weekend for at least 3-4 days. it is our first time in Bangkok but we've travelled to other asian countries without getting a tour guide/package. from my research, bangkok is a great destination but above complex than other countries like singapore or malaysia so i'm having 2nd thoughts on wandering the city by ourselves.

i've created my own day 1 to 4 itineraries (including visiting the famous sights including grand palace, what po, jj market, etc etc, eating at the best restos, etc) but actually getting to and from these places is still the big question/adventure.

i would appreciate your recommendations as to when/where it is best to get a tour and when/where it is best to just explore by foot (on our own). we don't wanna waste time guessing :-)

Thank you all in advance.

It is easy to go around Bangkok using the BTS. the tourist stand at the airport provides good maps of the city and the hotel staff are good sources of information.
If you are taking the taxi just make sure that you have your hotel's calling card or brochure so that you can show it to the taxi driver. :)

You don't need a tour for around Bangkok, it is quite easy to walk around and should be cooler to when I was there. For a little further afield, there are the Ferries and the Skytrain. Tuk - Tuks and Taxis are plentiful if you need one. I had 4 days there and saw a lot.I have just finished my Bangkok page and it tells you what I did each day. I didn't bother too much about a lot of Temples because I had seen heaps previously. Just click on my name, then on the travel page Bangkok for what I did. There are stacks of travel agents to choose from.

SOLO!

Been to bkk several times but the first time, we took a tour as we don't have pretty much clue especially on transport - saves a lot of time on hit or miss, all travel agencies there arranges that and it's really cheap in fact you can find tons of tour offers on the ad pages of the Bangkok Post or other newspapers at your hotel, even the hotel can arrange it for you bangkok sights tour price starts at $15 or 20 per head or maybe a little more this time includes pick up and drop off with english-speaking guide. you can checkout the bankokpost online classifieds and click on travel agencies here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/classified/

But for shopping, you can easily do it by yourself, take the skytrain and get down at Mo chit station it's the last one qand follow the huge crowd they're all heading to the chatuchak weekend market. don't miss to checkout the huge MBK mall for a more convenient airconditioned shopping of factory overruns or 1st class knockoffs:

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/a4c2f/160d76/c/

also have fun!

Most hotels have tour operators in there reception araes, to help with half day tours etc. I agree that very good maps are available at the airport, then you can get around using the skytrain and river taxis. If you take the skytrain to the river station, then get onto the local river taxis..cheap and great...they stop all along the river. Youy can do Chinatown, Wat Po, Grand Palace, Temple of dawn,etc all using the river taxis, and can do all in one day.

Do it yourself..you will have a great time.

Regards

Mike

Hi

Bkk is very easy to get around in. The BTS Skytrain takes you a long way, but it doesn't serve the old town (palace, Wat Po,...).
But that isn't a problem at all. You can easily take the ferries/river taxi's from the last BTS stop at Saphan Taksin/Central Pier. From there you can get on the very cheap river taxi's to visit Wat Arun (temple of the dawn), Wat Po, the Grand Palace, ... Or just stay on the boats to take a tour on the river.

Here you can find the map of the skytrain : http://bangkok.sawadee.com/skytrain.htm
This is for the express boats : http://bangkok.sawadee.com/expressboat.htm

When touring on the khlongs, a visit to the Royal Barges Museum might interest you.

Have fun !

thank you all so much. very excited already!