Bangkok Hotel Recommendation

We've arranged a private guide for our overnight port stop Laem Chabang, but we need to arrange our own hotel. Can anybody recommend a hotel? The tour company suggested the Sukhumvit area. We would like to keep it under $200 USD with breakfast. We'll be touring all day and only staying one night with an early pick up for day two, so is this what you would recommend? Would the river area be better for finding a dinner place and spending the evening on our own? Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks!

It largely depends on where is the last attraction of the day and where you're headed to the next morning. I say that because of traffic issues (too many cars, not enough roads).

Though still moderate, hotel rates are rising in Bangkok, as is the cost of dining out (unless you do street food which I don't - except for deep-fried chicken - as much as I like Thai food) Good food can be hard to find for a non-local outside the hotels in certain spots (west side of the Chao Praya river comes to mind).

Sukhumvit is a somewhat touristy area with a goo amount of place to eat. Other spots are Silom (Road) area and around Siam Square. Lots of hotels for all sorts of budgets but having some idea of the 1st paragraph woul dbe helpful.

It largely depends on where is the last attraction of the day and where you're headed to the next morning. I say that because of traffic issues (too many cars, not enough roads).

 

Though still moderate, hotel rates are rising in Bangkok, as is the cost of dining out (unless you do street food which I don't - except for deep-fried chicken - as much as I like Thai food) Good food can be hard to find for a non-local outside the hotels in certain spots (west side of the Chao Praya river comes to mind).

 

Sukhumvit is a somewhat touristy area with a goo amount of place to eat. Other spots are Silom (Road) area and around Siam Square. Lots of hotels for all sorts of budgets but having some idea of the 1st paragraph woul dbe helpful.

Thanks for your insight! Our last stop is Long Tail Boat Chao Phraya & Thonburi Canals...then transfer to hotel. First stop in the morning is"driving towards Damnoen Saduak". What do you think?

Looks like you want to be on the west side of the Chao Praya (logically) if you're headed west the next day. Hotel choices are a bit sparse. There's the Millenium Hilton and if you want to go lower end, the Ibis Riverside (I've stayed in both, and both are fine). Prefer the pool at the Ibis and there's, interestingly enough, appears to be more to eat outside but both establishments on the west bank are strongly oriented toward locals..

Not sure where the canal boat ride dumps you. You may want to choose depending on where it is (rush hour traffic is particularly bad- travel speed can be 2-3 Km/h).

I think the Sathorn and Silom areas on the east side is o.k. but I've only had to cross a couple of times (stay on the east side of the river) and that was years ago.

You should have no issue getting a good hotel and breakfast for under $200.

We have stayed at Vie, Novotel Ploenchit, and Renaissance Ratchaprasong (sp). All were very good. The last two are a few blocks from a canal boat stop. Vie is across the bridge from Siam Square, walking distance to Jim Thompson House. It is probably our favourite of the three. All three are within a block of mass transit.

We've stayed at the Sheraton Royal Orchid (for convenience to Chao Phrya River travel, river views and quality) and a small hotel - sorry, don't remember the name - further from the river (for economy)

Royal Orchid is alongside River City pier, probably the best place in Bangkok for boats - express ferries up & down & across the river to places like the Royal Palace & Wat Arun, private or shared long-tail boat rides into the klongs (canals), rice barge trips, boat excursions to/from places like Ayutthaya, dinner-cruises and such. And from river-view rooms there's always plenty of river traffic to watch. On a random date river-view rooms start from little more than $100 (room-only), that's for quite a small room but has everything you need & perfect for a one or two night stay.

Hotels generally are extremely clean & well-maintained, and still relatively inexpensive.

Yes, overniting in the city is strongly recommended - saves repeating that 1.5 to 2.5 hr drive from L/C and gives you an evening in this fascinating city.

JB :)

We stayed in the Eastin Grand Sathorn for our overnight in Bangkok earlier this year. Large, modern spotlessly clean hotel with amazingly helpful staff.

Also very good value.

The hotel was suggested by our tour company. Sorry I can’t be specific as to the location but it was very close to a metro line which some of our party used to go out in the evening.

I'll check out all these recommendations. Appreciate everyone's help!

We typically pay $100-$125 night for a 4 1/2-5 star hotel, including buffet breakfast. But these are often purchased in advance.

We have found some of the best offers to be on the hotel chain websites-Accor ( sofitel, novatel, ,mcgallery, ibis etc), Marriott, Hilton, etc. They all have swimming pools, mostly on the roof with stunning views.

Get a hotel that is close to mass transit. If you are going during Chinese New Year we suggest that you book early. We have spent four winters in Thailand and are always very careful to ensure we are booked for this week no matter where we happen to be. Other times, we just book a few days in advance.