I’m taking some time at the end of the year to reflect on all the things I’ve done and everywhere we traveled this year. One of these things was a trip to Southeast Asia. I wanted to make a quick guide to Bangkok, Thailand for anyone else who’s heading there in 2026 and beyond.
There are no affiliate links in this article — these are just the resources I’ve come to love. I’m incredibly grateful to say that this is my third trip to Asia in five years, so I feel like I have a good grip on what you need and how to plan.
Enjoy!
On a February 2025 trip to Asia, we had 24 hours in Bangkok between a trip to Vietnam and a wedding on the beach island of Koh Samui, Thailand.
My husband, had never been to Bangkok before, but this was my second visit. While I wished we had more time, I wanted to give him a highlight reel of a few things that made me fall in love with this beautiful country and vibrant city.
If you’re heading to Bangkok, Thailand, there is so much to see that even starting to plan can be overwhelming. I suggest two things: Firstly, get comfortable with the fact that you won’t see everything. Secondly, start with a list of a few things you definitely want to see and then leave some time to wander.
But before I lay out a quick 24 hour itinerary, some general notes on packing and planning:
Bangkok, Thailand travel essentials and planning
Here’s what you need to do before you set out to Thailand:
See if you need to arrange a visa in advance
As U.S. passport holders, we didn’t need a visa for Thailand in advance. However, that’s not true for everyone. Check out the Thai E-Visa official website — it has a handy tool where you put in your home country and planned stay length to find out what (if any) visa you need.
Get the Grab app at home
Download the Grab app before you set off on your journey to Thailand, or Asia in general.
It’s basically the Uber of this area — it’s available both in Thailand and in the other country we visited this trip, Vietnam, as well as Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It helps you get around pretty affordably, including from the airport. You can even hitch a ride on a scooter/moped! When you’re exhausted from a long day of walking, you can order delivery food on the app, too. It’s just a helpful tool to have.
Downloading it at home means that you don’t have to wait to get on WiFi to download it. Since you might need it for a ride from the airport to the hotel, you might as well get it and set it up before you leave. After all, not every airport has reliable or strong public WiFi, and having to use your data to download it can easily be avoided. Speaking of…
Buy a phone data plan from Ubigi
We never buy international data from our U.S. based phone plan — the cost is usually pretty high. Instead, we love using Ubigi for affordable, temporary data plans for traveling.
Before we left the states, we both bought the 3 GB Best Asia plan for $14. It gave us up to 30 days to use the data, and we found that this was the perfect amount for our phone usage during our entire 12 day trip.
Ubigi’s Best Asia plan works in Thailand as well as about 14 other countries, so it was a perfect fit for our itinerary.
We previously bought the Best Asia Ubigi plan for travel to Taiwan and Japan in 2024 and loved it. As long as your phone has an e-sim capability (even my trusty old iPhone 12 Pro has it!), you can switch plans in just a few minutes. You simply turn off your U.S.-based plan when you land and turn the Ubigi plan on in your phone settings. By the time your plane taxis to the gate, you’ve got service. We really love this, and it’s so much more affordable than our normal phone plan would be for international service.
Grab some cash in advance
We didn’t have a lot of time in Bangkok, and we didn’t want to spend any of it looking for an ATM. We ordered Baht directly to our house in the States from AAA for what we felt was a fair exchange rate and very little effort. We’ve used this service to order Vietnamese Dong, New Taiwanese Dollars, Japanese Yen and other currency in the past, and it’s been a game-changer for us. AAA is highly underrated for this service (even though you do need a membership!)
Having cash on hand saves us time later. It also forces us to budget a bit while traveling without being super restrictive, so we really like getting it in advance.
Once you’ve gotten these things, you’re ready to start planning. Here’s what we did in 24 hours:
Checked into the Akara Hotel Bangkok
We booked the Akara Hotel Bangkok on Agoda my favorite site for booking hotels and stays in Asia.
I love getting a nicer hotel in Bangkok for short stays — since we were going to be here for two nights (one and a half if you count the fact that we left at 4 am on the second night!) I went for it.
We really loved the rooftop pool at this hotel, and the location near the Ratchaprarop station made it easy to get to and from Suvarnabhumi Airport.
From the airport, you hop on the Airport Rail Link towards Phaya Thai, and it’s a straight shot. We got to Ratchaprarop in about 35 minutes for 40 THB, or about $1.30 USD per person. The hotel was just around the corner.
Visited one of Bangkok’s many night markets
After we dropped off our stuff and got acquainted with the hotel, we wanted to stretch our legs a bit after spending most of our day in transit.
What better way to do that than a night market?
Pratunam Night Market was just around the corner. We also hadn’t eaten much since we left Vietnam, so we decided to eat our way through the market for dinner. J had never had an authentic Thai iced tea, so I picked one up.
We also grabbed a few skewers of grilled Thai sausage, chicken and pork. These were 20 to 40 baht a piece, so three skewers didn’t even break $5 USD.
After trying a few of the food vendor stalls, we wandered the few blocks back home, full from the food and thrilled to be in this vibrant city.
While New York City is often called the “city that never sleeps” in the states, in my mind, that title goes to Bangkok. We were out until 11 p.m. on a weeknight and the number of people out could have convinced me that it was 8 pm.
We decided to call it a night and head home.
Wandered Wat Pho
The next day, we set out for Wat Pho. Getting here by train from Ratchaprarop via Airport link with a transfer to the Blue Line wasn’t necessarily quick — it took about an hour. This would have been a great use of a Grab, because its about a 15-minute drive, but we were awake early from the jetlag and like to see the city by public transit so we didn’t mind.
Onto Wat Pho — it’s one of the oldest and largest temple complexes in Bangkok. We went right in the morning when it opened. While it did cost 300 baht (about $10 USD) to enter, it’s really worth it to see it.
This is my second time visiting this intricate and stunning Buddhist temple and I’m in awe every time. There’s a stillness in this sacred space that invites you to slow down, especially in the morning before the tourists flood in. For a minute you forget that the streets of Bangkok are swarming with motorbikes and people getting to and from their daily errands outside the walls.
And of course, this temple is renowned for its giant reclining Buddha.
As you plan your day that includes a visit to Wat Pho, however, you should be aware of a few things:
- Wear modest, respectful attire: You’ll need to respect the temple’s rules, so no tank tops or sleeveless shirts, and pants and skirts should hit below the knees. On days when I plan to visit temples, I wear a long, light skirt or dress with at least short sleeves all day. But if you’re highly sensitive to Thailand’s heat, carry a light wrap or cardigan and a long skirt or flowy pants to pop over your street clothes before you buy a ticket.
- Wear easily removable shoes: You don’t wear shoes into any of the sacred spaces, so you’ll need to take them off fairly often. Wearing something that can easily be slipped on and off will let you feel free enough to pop into any of these spaces. Trust me, you’ll want to see what’s inside and take a minute to reflect in these spaces.
For more advice on what to pack for Southeast Asia, see my guide here.
See The Grand Palace in Bangkok
From Wat Pho, the gates of The Grand Palace are about a 10-minute walk.
This walled complex is filled with stunning Thai architecture, and it’s also home to Wat Phra Kaew, or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. If you want some quick reading to understand the history and meaning of each of the buildings you’ll encounter, I really liked Michael Turtle’s blog post on the temple complex.
Like Wat Pho, you’ll need to adhere to the same dress rules, just another reason it makes sense to do it all at once.
We went very early in the morning, and that’s the best thing you can do. Check the Grand Palace’s hours on their official site, and try to go as close to open as possible. This place gets very busy, even during off-peak tourism seasons. And, going early beats the afternoon heat.
If you’ve done all of this in a day, you might be ready for a break. But if you’ve still got a bit of energy left, there’s one more (close) place to check out.
Cross the Chao Phraya River to see Wat Arun up close
While you could just get a view of this temple from across the river, going to Tha Tian Pier and catching a boat across to Wat Arun is worth it.
You’ll need cash to do this, but the river boats look like this:
The river crossing gives you a great chance to take a breather and see the city from a new angle.
While you could just stay on the other side to catch a glimpse of Wat Arun’s silhouette in the sunset, crossing the river lets you get up close to see the detailed artwork on the spires.
This is one of the few temple complexes where the stairs are open, so you can climb to the top for some fantastic views of the river and Bangkok.
When you make your return trip, there’s a great market with food stalls near the docks. This is a great place to grab a refuel, or pop into a 7-Eleven nearby.
At this point, we were ready for a little rest: We took advantage of our rooftop pool access and grabbed a few bottles of Chang from the 7-Eleven for the afternoon.
Later in the evening, we took a walk down Ratchadamri Road to Central World Mall, where we did some shopping and grabbed some dumplings for dinner. I love the shopping malls in Bangkok — some are almost like a small city themselves.
We turned in early since we’d need to catch the first Airport Link train to catch our early flight to Koh Samui. So, that was pretty much our taste of Bangkok this trip.
While that was a whirlwind of 24-ish hours, there are a few things I would have done if we’d had more time. This is the short list:
- Chatuchak Weekend Market: This massive market only happens on Saturday and Sunday, but has over 15,000 vendors in one place.
- Lumphini Park: I stayed near this park previously and really liked the calm vibes. The cafes and restaurants in this area were also very cute from what I remember. We would have gone back if time permitted!
Did you get to spend any time in Bangkok in 2025? If you did, drop your favorite thing you saw in the comments!
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