Where to stay in Bangkok with family 2024 - 5 best areas
In this article, we dive deeper into your question about where to stay in Bangkok with family.
To make it as easy as possible for you as a reader, we start with a summary of all the recommended areas.
You can click on the purple links to go directly to that part of the article where you can find detailed information.
Summary of the best areas to stay in Bangkok with family
Riverside: scenic area with great access to the major attractions of the city that is particularly popular among families due to its relatively serene environment.
Sukhumvit: the heart of the city with great access to both the BTS and the MRT, full of modern amenities, but make sure to avoid the nightlife areas when traveling with kids.
Silom: the balance between Riverside and Sukhumvit, an area with great access to the BTS and MRT and good access to the attractions and parks, but make sure to avoid the nightlife area when traveling with kids.
Lower Sukhumvit: great alternative area located a bit away from the city center, but with direct access to the BTS system where you can find hotels with great value for money.
Phaya Thai: budget-friendly area with perfect connection to the BTS system, including the Airport Railway Link.
Important: One of the most important factors when it comes to choosing the right area is having good access to public transport.
In Bangkok, you should stay near a BTS Station or an MRT Station.
The BTS system in Bangkok is an elevated railway system while the MRT is the metro system of Bangkok.
When visiting Bangkok, you should avoid taxi rides as much as possible due to the traffic congestion.
You should use the MRT or BTS as much as possible to save valuable travel time.
Every recommended area discussed in this article has a direct connection to one of these systems.
1. Riverside
Bangkok’s Riverside is, in my personal opinion, the best area to stay in Bangkok with family for several reasons.
First of all, it’s the most scenic part of the city and out of all the recommended areas in this article, the most serene one.
In a chaotic city like Bangkok, this is quite unique.
The second reason why it’s a great area for families is its convenient location near several major attractions.
That means that you don’t have to travel much to see important sites like The Grand Palace, Chinatown, Wat Arun, and the Mahanakorn Skywalk.
Lastly, you have good access to the river, meaning that it’s quite easy to take a boat tour or hop on the ferry that leads you to other important parts of the city.
Like all the central areas, which Riverside is also part of, there is an abundance of (local) eateries, shopping options, and markets.
But when you’re traveling with kids, you might want to dine in a clean, kid-friendly restaurant that offers Western food.
Luckily, you’re located near ICONSIAM, one of the largest shopping malls in Southeast Asia.
Here, you can find in huge variety of restaurants that suit the kids’ taste palate.
Keep in mind that this mall is located on the opposite side of the Chao Phraya River.
Of course, you can also pick one of the many restaurants located next to the river that offer spectacular views.
Now, there are a few things that are worth noticing.
First of all, when staying at Bangkok’s Riverside, in most cases, you do not have direct access to the MRT or BTS.
However, the majority of the hotels offer free tuk-tuk rides to the nearest station.
Or you simply take one of the boat services.
The second thing is that this area is located a bit far from the international airport, which means it takes quite a while compared to the other areas to get to the hotel or to the airport.
Especially when you have limited time to spend in Thailand’s capital, it’s better to choose an area that has a direct connection to the Airport Railway Link (the BTS connection between the city center and Suvarnabhumi International Airport).
But when you’re looking for a kid-friendly area, without much nightlife, in a scenic and serene environment, with good access to the major attractions of the city, Bangkok’s Riverside is probably the best option!
Some of the best hotels to stay in Bangkok with family in this particular area are listed below:
Agoda is part of Booking.com, and is the best option for booking a hotel in Asia. They often offer significantly cheaper options compared to their competitors, including Booking.com. You’ll get the same service that you are used to at Booking.com, but you simply pay less.
2. Sukhumvit
Sukhumvit is an all-time favorite when it comes to convenient areas in Bangkok, including families.
This modern part of the city is home to a good public transportation system, many shopping malls, famous night markets, but also a wild nightlife scene.
Bangkok’s nightlife scene takes place in several locations, and three of them are in Sukhumvit, namely Nana and Asoke, Thonglor and Ekkemai, and RCA.
Especially the nightlife scene around Nana should be avoided at all costs when visiting Bangkok with family, as this is one of the notorious red-light districts of the Big Mango.
With that being said, let’s focus on the benefits.
At Asoke, you can find the connection between the BTS and MRT.
That means that, with the recent extension of the MRT, you can travel all the way to Chinatown and even the Grand Palace by metro.
It’s no secret that traffic in Bangkok is a huge pain, and one of the worst traffic congestion happens in Sukhumvit on a daily basis, so not using one of these two systems is plain stupid.
Sukhumvit is also bustling.
Night markets like Jodd Fairs are located here, the perfect places to discover street food with your kids.
Shopping malls like Siam Paragon not only offer great food courts where you can find clean, cheap, and tasty Thai food, but they also offer kid-friendly activities like SEA LIFE Bangkok Ocean World.
Just keep in mind that Sukhumvit doesn’t offer the major, historical attractions.
You do need to travel a bit to it.
But Sukhumvit comes with a lot of conveniences, thanks to its modernity.
If you choose to stay in Sukhumvit, I suggest staying at one of the following subareas: Chitlom, Phloen Chit, Asoke, Phrom Phong, or Thonglor.
Some of the best hotels to stay in Bangkok with family in this particular area are listed below:
Agoda is part of Booking.com, and is the best option for booking a hotel in Asia. They often offer significantly cheaper options compared to their competitors, including Booking.com. You’ll get the same service that you are used to at Booking.com, but you simply pay less.
3. Silom
Silom is an area that offers a bit of both Riverside and Sukhumvit.
It has a direct connection to the BTS and the MRT, although the BTS is not per se the most convenient line for tourists (there are two BTS lines, and for tourists, the Sukhumvit Line is the most useful one, not the Silom Line).
The area is located more conveniently to the major attractions compared to Sukhumvit.
For example, Chinatown is just around the corner.
Silom also has a nightlife scene, although not as wild as Sukhumvit, it should still be avoided when traveling with kids.
This is because it’s also a red-light district.
And like Sukhumvit, traffic congestion is a huge pain, although it’s not as intense as Bangkok’s main artery.
But this area also offers perks that none of the other areas offer.
For example, there are two parks located at or nearby Silom that are ideal to explore with kids, namely Lumphini Park and Benchakitti Park.
Visiting these parks can be a great relief of Bangkok’s chaos.
I believe that Silom has a better location compared to Bangkok’s Riverside.
It’s just that it’s not as serene.
Also, it’s more difficult to reach Silom from Suvarnabhumi Airport, especially compared with Sukhumvit.
But once you’re here, reaching other parts of the city is a piece of cake thanks to its connection to both the MRT and the BTS.
That means that those who visit Bangkok for several days should definitely check out Silom, while those who have limited time to explore the city should stay in areas that are connected directly to the Airport Railway Link (Sukhumvit, Lower Sukhumvit, Phaya Thai).
Some of the best hotels to stay in Bangkok with family in this particular area are listed below:
Agoda is part of Booking.com, and is the best option for booking a hotel in Asia. They often offer significantly cheaper options compared to their competitors, including Booking.com. You’ll get the same service that you are used to at Booking.com, but you simply pay less.
4. Lower Sukhumvit
It’s no secret that traveling with kids gets expensive really quickly.
Now, in Southeast Asia, hotel prices are significantly lower than in Europe and North America, but still, a family room doesn’t always come cheap.
Luckily, there are plenty of budget-friendly areas, and my personal favorite is Lower Sukhumvit.
There is always a discussion about which parts of Bangkok are part of Lower Sukhumvit, but in this article, the areas Phra Khanong and On Nut are, in my opinion, Lower Sukhumvit.
What’s good about these two areas is that you have direct access to the BTS, and that railway system takes you to the heart of the city within ten to fifteen minutes.
Whenever you want to take the metro, you simply head to Asoke by BTS first and then take the connection to the MRT.
Lower Sukhumvit is considered a budget-friendly area and many expats tend to choose to stay here.
These expats don’t always want to eat Thai food, so automatically, you can find quite some international restaurants in this particular area, which is great when traveling with picky eaters.
Staying a bit outside the tourist epicenter means automatically that there aren’t that many attractions to find in Lower Sukhumvit.
For that, you always have to travel a bit.
That is the compromise you have to make, but if you’re traveling on a somewhat stricter budget, you can easily save quite some bucks staying at one of the hotels here.
Some of the best hotels to stay in Bangkok with family in this particular area are listed below:
Agoda is part of Booking.com, and is the best option for booking a hotel in Asia. They often offer significantly cheaper options compared to their competitors, including Booking.com. You’ll get the same service that you are used to at Booking.com, but you simply pay less.
5. Phaya Thai
The last area that I recommend is Phaya Thai.
This is not a common area for families, but it does come with a few perks making it an area worth considering staying at.
One of the advantages of staying here is that you have direct access to the Airport Railway Link.
You can take the train from Suvarnabhumi Airport to Phaya Thai, and visa versa, which saves you a lot of traveling time.
Another great thing about Phaya Thai is that it’s located centrally in the city, although there aren’t major attractions within the area.
It’s incredibly easy to head over to Siam, where you can switch between BTS Lines or take the boat services.
Taking a taxi to the older parts is also relatively simple by visiting Victory Monument BTS Station where you can find plenty of taxis waiting for you.
If you arrive or leave Bangkok via Don Muang Airport, you also have a direct connection.
And on top of that, Phaya Thai is known for its budget-friendliness with many affordable hotels and hostels.
But keep in mind despite its central location, Phaya Thai is boring and you always have to travel a bit in order to reach the main attractions of the city.
So, unless you’re traveling on a strict budget or when you have limited time in the city and want a direct connection to one of the airports, there are, in my opinion, better areas that simply offer more.
Some of the best hotels to stay in Bangkok with family in this particular area are listed below:
Agoda is part of Booking.com, and is the best option for booking a hotel in Asia. They often offer significantly cheaper options compared to their competitors, including Booking.com. You’ll get the same service that you are used to at Booking.com, but you simply pay less.
Areas to avoid in Bangkok with family
There are a few areas that you should avoid when visiting with family. You can always visit them, but it doesn’t make sense to pick a hotel there.
The first one is Nana, as this is the red-light district epicenter of Bangkok.
The second one is Khao San Road, which is the backpack epicenter of Bangkok and many younger travelers tend to stay here to sleep cheap and party until dawn.
The last one is Chinatown, which is a chaotic part of Bangkok that you should definitely explore with your kids, but staying here with all the (noise) pollution will not result in a great experience.
In both Asoke (Sukhumvit) and Silom, you can also find a red-light district (Soi Cowboy and Patpong). However, these are less prominent compared to Nana and you can easily avoid these places.