Bangkok 6 Day Itinerary

Bangkok 6-Day Itinerary

The taxi driver at Suvarnabhumi who insists his meter is broken is running the oldest scam in the city, and the fix is two words said before you get in: meter please. Watch for the red 35 baht flag drop, and if he won’t switch it on, walk to the next cab in line. That single habit will save more money over six days than any amount of market haggling.

Accommodation: Riverside hotels near the Chao Phraya give you the best combination of skyline views and easy boat access to the old-city temples, while a base near Sukhumvit puts you closer to the BTS Skytrain network for the shopping and nightlife days later in the trip. Either works; just don’t split your nights between the two, since the cross-town traffic will cost you more time than the hotel switch saves.

Transportation: The Airport Rail Link runs from Suvarnabhumi into the city for 15 to 45 baht depending on distance, about 26 minutes to the Phaya Thai interchange, and it’s the cheapest and most reliable way in. A metered taxi runs 200 to 500 baht plus a 50 baht airport surcharge and tolls, and can take anywhere from 40 minutes to 90 depending on traffic. Once in the city, buy a Rabbit card for the BTS Skytrain and top it up as you go; the MRT subway uses a separate token or card system, so budget a few extra minutes at interchange stations the first time you switch lines.

Day 1: Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew

  • Entry to the Grand Palace complex is 500 baht and covers Wat Phra Kaew, home to the Emerald Buddha, along with the Chakri Maha Prasat and Dusit Maha Prasat halls. Under-12s go free.
  • The dress code is enforced at the gate, not a suggestion: shoulders covered, legs covered past the knee, closed-toe shoes or toe-covering sandals. Free sarongs are handed out if you show up underdressed, or you can rent proper clothing at the gate for 200 baht.
  • Go early, by 8:30am if you can manage it, since tour buses arrive in waves from mid-morning and the complex gets genuinely crowded by 11.
  • For lunch, skip the tourist-priced cafes right outside the palace walls and walk a few minutes toward Tha Tien pier, where the food stalls serve the same grilled and noodle dishes at local prices.

Day 2: Wat Arun and Wat Pho

  • Cross the river to Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn, in the morning light when the porcelain-inlaid spires catch the sun best. The central prang can be climbed partway for a view back over the river to the old city.
  • Wat Pho, a short ferry hop back across, holds the reclining Buddha, 46 metres long and covered in gold leaf, and doubles as the country’s most respected traditional Thai massage school. A one-hour massage on site, taught and practised on the temple grounds since the 1800s, is worth booking ahead in high season.
  • For dinner, Jay Fai is the single Michelin-starred street stall everyone mentions, but it doesn’t take reservations. You queue in person, it’s open Wednesday to Saturday only, and it’s cash only, so don’t build a whole evening around getting a table; treat it as a bonus if the queue is short when you pass.

Day 3: Chatuchak Weekend Market

  • Chatuchak is only open Saturday and Sunday (with a smaller Wednesday and Thursday plant and wholesale session), so this day has to land on a weekend or the whole plan shifts.
  • With more than 8,000 stalls across sections for clothing, antiques, homeware, and pets, it’s easy to lose hours without a plan; pick two or three sections from the market map at the entrance rather than wandering blind.
  • Haggling is expected, but the opening ask is usually only 10 to 20 percent above the real price here, not the aggressive markup you’ll meet at tourist-zone night markets.
  • Eat at the stalls inside the market itself rather than the restaurants ringing the perimeter, which charge a premium for the same dishes.

Day 4: Rattanakosin Island

  • Wat Mahathat, on the island alongside the Grand Palace, is one of the oldest temples in the city and hosts a well-known meditation centre offering walk-in sessions in English, a good stop if you want something quieter than another photo-taking temple visit.
  • The Royal Barge National Museum, tucked along a canal on the Thonburi side, holds the ornately carved ceremonial barges still used for royal river processions; it’s small, easy to combine with a longtail boat ride through the connecting klongs.
  • For dinner, a riverside rooftop bar along the Chao Phraya delivers the classic Bangkok skyline shot with the illuminated Wat Arun across the water; book a table by the rail in advance, since the view seats go first.

Day 5: Shopping and Street Art

  • Siam Paragon and CentralWorld cover the big international brands and air-conditioned relief from the heat, while a night market such as Ratchada Rot Fai trades the mall polish for street food stalls and secondhand fashion at a fraction of the price.
  • Bangkok’s street art has spread well beyond the old backpacker zones; the Charoenkrung and Talat Noi neighbourhoods near the river have the highest concentration of large-scale murals from the annual Bukruk street art festival.
  • Dinner at a Thai-Chinese kitchen in Chinatown, Yaowarat Road, gets you the same style of wok cooking Jay Fai is famous for, at a fraction of the queue and often the price.

Day 6: Floating Market and Farewell

  • Damnoen Saduak is the floating market everyone’s heard of, but it’s also the one most reworked around tourist commissions; taxi drivers routinely divert passengers to private piers where boat prices balloon and every stall vendor claims to be “family” with the boat driver to pressure a sale.
  • Amphawa, a shorter drive south, runs a real local market with better seafood and far fewer hard-sell tactics, and it operates on weekend afternoons and evenings rather than the early-morning tourist-bus schedule of Damnoen Saduak, making it easier to fit around a late checkout.
  • Book any boat trip through a fixed-price counter and confirm the total cost before stepping onto the boat, not after.
  • For a farewell dinner, choose a modern Thai kitchen doing inventive plates with local ingredients over another temple-adjacent tourist restaurant; it’s a better note to end the week on than a rushed final meal near the hotel.

Things to know

  • Dress modestly for every temple, not just the Grand Palace; loose scarves packed in a day bag save you from being turned away or forced into a rental sarong.
  • Tipping isn’t expected in restaurants or taxis, though rounding up is appreciated and increasingly common in tourist-facing spots.
  • The gem-shop scam is still active: a friendly stranger, often near the Grand Palace, claims it’s closed for a Buddhist holiday and offers a “cheap” tuk-tuk to a jewellery shop instead. The palace is essentially never actually closed for this reason; walk away and check the entrance yourself.
  • Carry cash for markets and street stalls, since card machines are inconsistent outside malls and mid-range restaurants.