Places to visit in Bangkok, Thailand
52 places to visit in Bangkok, Thailand, each with LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own: Giant Swing, Phaya Thai Palace, Sanam Luang and more. Stand at any of them with the app open and the stamp is yours, confirmed on site, in your Bangkok volume.
10 National monuments · 9 Famous places to visit · 33 Hidden gems
National monuments in Bangkok (10)
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Giant Swing
A towering red frame, 21 metres tall, standing in front of Wat Suthat in old Bangkok. It once held a swing used in a Brahmin ceremony, and is now one of the city's best known landmarks.
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Phaya Thai Palace
A former royal residence on the Samsen Canal, given its name by King Chulalongkorn, Rama V. The name means lord of the Thais, and its European style halls now stand in the grounds of Phramongkutklao Hospital.
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Sanam Luang
A wide open field in front of the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, in the historic centre of Bangkok. It has long been the stage for royal ceremonies and cremations, and on ordinary days for kite flying and evening strolls.
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Wat Arun
A riverside wat whose central prang is covered in pieces of Chinese porcelain that catch the light. It takes its name from Aruna, the dawn, though it is at its best at dusk, seen from across the Chao Phraya.
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Wat Benchamabophit
The Marble Temple of Dusit, its walls faced with Italian marble under tiers of orange roof tiles. Built in the reign of King Chulalongkorn, it blends Thai forms with touches of European taste, and its gallery holds rows of Buddha images in many styles.
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Wat Bowonniwet
A major royal wat in Banglamphu, founded in 1824 and long the residence of the Supreme Patriarch. It is the final resting place of two kings of the Chakri dynasty, Vajiravudh and Bhumibol Adulyadej.
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Wat Pho
A sprawling wat just south of the Grand Palace, home to a gilded reclining Buddha 46 metres long whose feet are inlaid with mother of pearl. It is also the traditional seat of Thai massage, still taught and practised within its walls.
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Wat Ratchanatdaram
A wat built in 1846 by King Nangklao for his granddaughter, its name meaning temple of the royal niece. It is known for the Loha Prasat, the iron palace, a tiered building topped with dozens of metal spires.
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Wat Saket
A wat in old Bangkok crowned by the Golden Mount, an artificial hill with a gilded chedi on its summit. A winding stair climbs past bells and trees to a terrace that looks out over the rooftops of the old city.
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Wat Suthat
One of ten first-class royal wats in Bangkok, with the tall red frame of the Giant Swing standing in the square before it. Its great hall holds Phra Si Sakyamuni, a large bronze Buddha brought down from Sukhothai.
Famous places to visit in Bangkok (9)
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Chatuchak Weekend Market
The largest market in Thailand, more than 15,000 stalls in 27 sections selling everything from plants and antiques to pets, ceramics and clothes. Over 200,000 people come through every weekend.
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Erawan Shrine
A small, busy shrine at the Ratchaprasong crossroads holding a golden image of Phra Phrom, the Thai form of Brahma. Worshippers bring garlands and incense, and some pay troupes of dancers to perform when a wish is granted.
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Golden Buddha
A seated Buddha of solid gold weighing 5.5 tonnes, kept at Wat Traimit near Chinatown. For about two centuries it hid under stucco and coloured glass, until the plaster cracked during a move in 1955 and the gold showed through.
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Grand Palace
The walled royal city at the heart of Bangkok, home of the Kings of Siam from 1782 and still used for state ceremonies. Its courts hold throne halls with gilded spires and Wat Phra Kaew, the wat of the Emerald Buddha.
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ICONSIAM
A riverside development on the Thonburi bank of the Chao Phraya, with a huge shopping mall that opened in 2018. Its towers include the tallest building in Thailand, and boats and the Gold Line bring people across from the other bank.
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Jim Thompson House
The home of Jim Thompson, the American who revived Thai silk, built in 1959 from old teak houses and set in a leafy garden by a canal. It now displays his collection of Southeast Asian art.
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King Power Mahanakhon
A 314 metre glass tower in Silom, its sides cut by a spiral of jutting cubes that makes it look half unbuilt. It opened in 2016 as the tallest building in Thailand, and its rooftop deck has a glass floor over the city.
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Rajadamnern Stadium
One of the two great stadiums of modern Muay Thai, the other being Lumpinee. Fights run every day of the week, and the stadium keeps its own rankings and championship belts up to middleweight.
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Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen
A large royal wat on the Chao Phraya in Thonburi, founded in 1610 in the Ayutthaya period. Its towering white stupa holds, on its top floor, a small glass stupa beneath a painted ceiling of green, and it is the origin of the Dhammakaya meditation tradition.
Hidden gems in Bangkok (33)
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Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall
A domed marble throne hall in Dusit Palace, commissioned by King Chulalongkorn in 1908 in the style of an Italian Renaissance palace. It was finished in 1915, after his death, and is still used for state occasions.
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Asiatique The Riverfront
A large open-air mall on the old docks of the East Asiatic Company, facing the Chao Phraya. It opened in 2012 in restored warehouses, and a big Ferris wheel turns over the river.
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Assumption Cathedral
The principal Catholic church of Thailand and seat of the Archdiocese of Bangkok, off Charoen Krung Road near the river. Both papal visits to the country, by John Paul II in 1984 and Francis in 2019, were hosted here.
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Baan Kudichin Museum
A small house museum on the Thonburi riverbank telling the story of Kudi Chin, home to a Portuguese community since the Ayutthaya period. It keeps the tools of early residents and old photographs, in a neighbourhood still centred on Santa Cruz Church.
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Bang Luang Mosque
A historic mosque on the Thonburi side, by Khlong Bangkok Yai near where it meets the Chao Phraya. Locals call it Kudi Khao, the white mosque, and it is built in a Thai style rather than with domes and minarets.
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Bangkok Art and Culture Centre
A contemporary arts centre at the Siam crossroads, its spiral ramps rising through floors of galleries. Music, theatre, film and design events fill it too, and well over a million people a year now come through.
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Bangkok National Museum
The main national museum of Thailand and one of the largest in Southeast Asia, set in the former palace of the vice king facing Sanam Luang. Its halls trace Thai art and history through sculpture, royal regalia and ceremonial objects.
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Benjakitti Park
A park around a large lake in Khlong Toei, opened in 1992 and popular with joggers and cyclists. A later extension turned old tobacco factory land into a wetland forest crossed by raised walkways.
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Chao Phraya Sky Park
A 280 metre garden walkway laid on a viaduct left from an abandoned skytrain project, between Memorial Bridge and the Phra Pokklao Bridge. It opened in 2020 and gives a high, open view along the Chao Phraya.
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Democracy Monument
A monument on a traffic circle on Ratchadamnoen Avenue, built to mark the change to constitutional monarchy in 1932. Four tall wings stand around a central turret topped by a copy of the constitution.
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Hua Lamphong Station
Bangkok's old central railway station, with an arched hall of glass and steel that was for decades the hub of Thai rail. Long-distance trains moved to Krung Thep Aphiwat in 2023, but the grand terminus still stands in Pathum Wan.
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King Prajadhipok Museum
A museum in old Bangkok given to King Prajadhipok, Rama VII, and Queen Rambai Barni. Three floors of exhibitions follow their royal life through photographs, letters and personal belongings.
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Leng Buai Ia Shrine
A Chinese shrine tucked inside the Talat Kao market off Yaowarat Road, in the heart of Chinatown. It is often said to be the oldest Chinese shrine in Bangkok, and smoke from incense coils hangs under its roof.
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Lumphini Park
The first public park in Thailand, a green space in central Bangkok built around an artificial lake where you can hire pedal boats. Joggers circle its 2.5 kilometres of paths at dawn and dusk, and large monitor lizards roam the lawns.
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Museum Siam
A discovery museum in the old Ministry of Commerce building near Wat Pho, opened in 2007. Its interactive rooms ask what it means to be Thai, tracing the country's story and its ties with its neighbours.
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Museum of Contemporary Art
A private art museum in Chatuchak, opened in 2012 by the businessman Boonchai Bencharongkul. It is one of the largest contemporary art venues in Asia, filled with Thai painters such as Thawan Duchanee, Chalermchai Kositpipat and Prateep Kochabua.
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National Gallery
The national art museum of Thailand, on Chao Fa Road in old Bangkok, run by the Fine Arts Department. Its collection runs from traditional Thai painting to modern and contemporary work, housed in a registered historic building.
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Or Tor Kor Market
A large, spotless fresh market opposite Chatuchak, opened in 1974 by the Marketing Organization for Farmers. It is known for premium fruit, especially durian and mango, and was named by CNN in 2017 among the world's best fresh markets.
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Pak Khlong Talat
Bangkok's main flower market, near Memorial Bridge where an old canal meets the Chao Phraya. It is open around the clock but busiest before dawn, when boats and trucks unload marigolds, roses and orchids from nearby provinces.
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Pratunam Market
Thailand's largest clothing market, a maze of stalls and wholesale shops in central Bangkok. The name means water gate, after an old sluice on the canal nearby.
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Safari World
An open zoo and marine park on the northeastern edge of Bangkok, opened in 1988. You drive or ride through the safari section among roaming animals, and the marine park adds shows and a bird park.
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Santa Cruz Church
A Catholic church on the west bank of the Chao Phraya, in Kudi Chin, on land granted to Portuguese settlers around 1770. The present building, in Renaissance Revival style, dates from 1913 to 1916.
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Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World
An aquarium beneath the Siam Paragon mall, among the largest in Southeast Asia. Its 10,000 square metres and about five million litres of water hold hundreds of species, with a walk-through tunnel under the sharks and rays.
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Siam Park City
The oldest amusement and water park complex in Southeast Asia, opened in 1980 in eastern Bangkok. It has a huge wave pool, seven storey slides and a suspended looping coaster with five inversions.
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Siam Square
A grid of shops, cafes and tutoring schools at the corner of Phaya Thai and Rama I roads, owned by Chulalongkorn University. Skywalks link it to MBK Center and Siam Paragon, and it is where Bangkok's teenagers come to see and be seen.
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Siriraj Medical Museum
A group of seven small medical museums inside Siriraj Hospital, on the Thonburi side of the river. Their anatomy, pathology, forensic and parasite collections were gathered for teaching doctors, which is why locals call it the Museum of Death.
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Sri Maha Mariamman Temple
A South Indian style Hindu temple on Silom Road, built in 1879 by Vaithi Padayatchi, a Tamil immigrant. Its gopuram is crowded with brightly painted deities, and Thais call it Wat Khaek.
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Suan Luang Rama IX
The largest park in Bangkok, 500 rai of lakes, lawns and themed gardens in Prawet district. It was created in honour of King Bhumibol, Rama IX, and is a favourite weekend escape for families in the eastern suburbs.
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Suan Pakkad Palace
Four traditional teak houses joined by covered walkways in a garden on Si Ayutthaya Road, once the home of Prince Chumbhotbongs Paribatra. It opened as a museum in 1952, with Thai antiques and Ban Chiang pottery over 4,000 years old.
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Ton Son Mosque
Often called Bangkok's oldest mosque, a Sunni mosque on the bank of Khlong Bangkok Yai in Thonburi. It faces Wat Moli Lokayaram across the water, with Bang Luang Mosque on the opposite bank.
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Victory Monument
A military monument raised in 1941 after the Franco-Thai War, its obelisk shaped like bayonets rising from a traffic circle in Ratchathewi. The roundabout around it is one of the city's busiest bus and Skytrain hubs.
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Wat Mangkon Kamalawat
The largest and most important Chinese Buddhist temple in Bangkok, set in the heart of Chinatown. Incense smoke fills its halls, and it is at its busiest at Chinese New Year and during the annual vegetarian festival.
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Yaowarat Road
The main street of Bangkok's Chinatown, lined with gold shops, Chinese signs and old shophouses. Chinese traders settled here about 200 years ago, and at night the road turns into one long food street.
Collecting in Bangkok
What are the best places to visit in Bangkok?
LOQAH lists 52 places in Bangkok. The best known include Giant Swing, Phaya Thai Palace, Sanam Luang, Wat Arun and Wat Benchamabophit. Each has a stamp of its own to collect when you are there.
How many LOQAH stamps are there in Bangkok?
52, and more are added over time. Each place has LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own.
How do I collect a stamp in Bangkok?
Open LOQAH at the place and get its stamp. LOQAH checks where you are once, at that moment; at the place itself the stamp is confirmed on site, with a gold badge.
I have been to places in Bangkok before. Can I add them?
Yes. In Earlier trips, choose Bangkok and swipe through its stamps, or import your Google Timeline. Each one goes into your volume with the date, if you know it.
More in Thailand
Collect your first stamp.
LOQAH is free on iPhone and Android, in India and 20 more countries, with more countries on the way. Stand at a place, collect its stamp, and keep every trip in a passport that grows.