Bangkok Hotel Rooms and Travel Guide

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Bangkok Thailand

Bangkok, officially known as Krung Thep and always used in Thai , is the capital and largest city of Thailand, with an official 2000 census population of 6,355,144. Bangkok is located at 13?45?N 100?31?E, on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River, near the Gulf of Thailand.

Krung Thep has been the proper name of the city for more than two centuries. Nonetheless, the city's original name of Bangkok, which now is used locally to refer only to a district of the city, is the name by which most foreigners know the city. (See History and Full Name below.)

Bangkok is the wealthiest and most populated city in Thailand as well as the 22nd most populated city in the world. Although Bangkok now has roughly 7 million registered inhabitants, the actual population is much higher, and including commuters from the surrounding areas, may reach an estimated 15 million people during the day time, making the city one of the most densely populated in the world. Recently, the value of Bangkok's economic output has matched that of Singapore, making Bangkok a major economic and financial center in Southeast Asia. Bangkok has one of the fastest rates in the world for construction of high rise buildings.

The World Meteorological Organization has dubbed Bangkok the world's hottest large city. The city's wealth of cultural sites makes it one of the world's most popular tourist destinations.

How to get here

Bangkok lies in the geographic centre of Thailand and is serviced by a good network of road, rail and air.

Most tourists arrive in Bangkok by air The vast majority of people arriving in Bangkok come by air and arrive at Don Muang International Airport. The airport itself is huge, one of the biggest in South East Asia, and is something of a regional hub. The Thai government is hoping that this becomes even more so once the new Suvarnabhumi airport opens in 2006.

Until then all flights land at Don Muang, which is roughly 45 minutes drive north of the CBD. The most practical way to get from the airport to the city centre is by taxi or your hotel’s pre-arranged shuttle. Usually you needn’t wait more than 15 minutes in the taxi queue and a typical journey will cost no more than 150 baht (US$4), but insist on the meter and don’t be tricked into a set fee.

There is a reliable taxi counter outside the International Arrivals hall and a 50 baht fee is charged for their use of the airport facilities. It’s worth paying the extra 40 baht for the toll-way to significantly reduce journey times. Bangkok traffic can be horrendous and is usually at it’s worst before 9:30 am and after 4pm – during which your journey could be more than 90 minutes. There are trains and buses from the airport but they are slow and infrequent and hardly worth the saving. Cars can be hired directly from the airport but driving in Bangkok is inadvisable if you are unfamiliar with the city.

Some flight times from abroad are approximately:

From Europe : 12 hours direct, 16 hours with a change
From Eastern Australia : 9 hours direct, 12 hours with a change
From West coast USA : 16 hours direct, 21 hours with a change
From East coast USA : 22 hours with one change on West Coast USA, 24 hours with a change in Europe.
For more information on the airport itself and how to get into town, please see our section on Bangkok Airport.

To get back to Bangkok once you’ve left to travel elsewhere is very easy – pretty much everywhere in Thailand will offer a bus and / or train service back to Bangkok. If you are in Chiang Mai, Phuket, Krabi, Samui, or any major city it’s well worth thinking about flying back to Bangkok – internal flights are very cheap largely due to all the competing budget airlines that have sprung up. Try Air Asia or Nok Air for some of these bargains.

If you insist on travelling overland there are several trains a day from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and some over night sleepers, with journey times of approximately 12 hours. Trains also depart and arrive from Bangkok’s Hua Lampong station to other popular up country destinations such as Ayuthaya, Phitsanoluk (for Sukhothai), the Pattaya area, Kanchanaburi, and near Surat Thani (for Samui, Koh Pha Ngan, Krabi and Phuket).

From all popular tourist destinations you will also find long distance buses departing for Bangkok almost every hour. From Penang, Butterworth and Kuala Lampur in Malaysia, Vientiene in Laos or Phnom Penh in Cambodia there are travel agents which offer minibus or bus tickets direct to Bangkok leaving several times a day, but no rail services cross the border.