10 Places to stay in Bangkok (where I have actually stayed)

There are a million “best hotels in Bangkok” articles online. The problem is that the hotels they list are often gleaned from hotel booking sites. The writers of the articles haven’t actually stayed in them – or perhaps just one or two of them – and are just listing them based on their ratings and reputation. 

It’s standard practice, but I always end up rather skeptical. I mean, how can they really say a particular hotel is “best” if they haven’t stayed there?

Transparency

You should also know that articles listing hotels are designed to make money for the website that posts them. When a person googles “Best places to stay in Bangkok,” they’re at the point of making a decision, so they’re likely to book a stay after reading the article. We website owners earn money based on readers clicking on our affiliate links to hotel booking sites. And yes, I hope to do so here too. Hence the disclosure below:

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you click on one and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission. This will not affect your price.

The difference between my list and many other lists is that I have stayed at every one of these hotels, either in November 2022 (by myself) or in January-March 2024 (with my husband). They vary in quality, certainly, but all of them were acceptable places to stay. They were all very clean – my number one priority – and comfortable. Each has free wifi and private rooms with a private bathroom. All are air-conditioned rooms. Depending on your budget and the level of luxury you expect, all of these are places to stay in Bangkok that I would recommend. 

And to continue being transparent, some of the hotels in the list sponsored my hotel stay, so I stayed in them for free.  I’ll note which ones as I go along. I am nevertheless doing my best to be unbiased in writing about them.

I’ve sorted them by star rating, and I’ll start with the top. They’re all marked on the Google map below:

5 stars

Carlton Hotel Bangkok Sukhumvit 

This was a sponsored stay, and I loved this hotel: one of the most well-respected hotels in the Thai capital. It was the best accommodation on this list. I won’t go into great detail here, though, because I wrote an entire review of it, which you can read here. The gist of it is that the room was gorgeous, well-appointed in every way, and the city views from our 31^st-floor window were amazing. The service and attention to detail was everything you would expect from a five-star property. 

On top of that, their dining options are excellent, especially the well-established and Michelin-listed Wah Lok Cantonese restaurant. And the rooftop bar and restaurant called Cooling Tower is a perfect place to watch the sunset over the city, drink in hand.

Book a room in the Carlton Hotel Bangkok Sukhumvit.

4 stars

Holiday Inn Bangkok Sukhumvit

I stayed in three different Holiday Inns in 2022 and then another in 2024, all of them sponsored stays. Holiday Inn is a brand under the IHG umbrella, but the hotels are individually-owned franchises.

The Holiday Inn Bangkok Sukhumvit is right across the street from the Carlton. While it’s four-star rated and somewhat cheaper, it’s still, by anyone’s measure, a high-end hotel.

What I liked best about this hotel was that my room had an amazing view (including a view of the Carlton!). I was in one of their larger “executive” rooms on the 21st floor, which had a huge wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. I never tired of that view and was reluctant to close the curtains to sleep.

Despite the hotel’s location in a very busy and trafficky part of town, right on Sukhumvit Road, the soundproofing is good, keeping the sound of the city to just a low background hum. I love the Holiday Inn pillows and their comfortable beds, and the room has all the amenities I wanted, like bedside outlets, for example, and a desk I could really work at, with fast wifi.

There’s also a large outdoor pool – a rooftop pool on the 8th floor – which is much appreciated after a day sightseeing in the heat. It’s not quiet, though, since it overlooks a busy street and the BTS Skytrain above-ground train line.

The food is also excellent here. The breakfast buffet is huge, with choices ranging from typical western breakfasts like cooked-to-order eggs, pancakes, cereals, and so on, to Thai savory choices of meat and vegetables with rice, to Chinese dim sum and Japanese sushi. I appreciated the fresh local fruit and fruit juices too.

I ate two other meals in the hotel. The first was their seafood buffet dinner at their Zeta restaurant, which had many more choices besides seafood. Much as I would have loved to chow down on the really fresh-looking barbequed shrimp and crab, it was American Thanksgiving that day, so I went with the traditional roast turkey with all the trimmings. I admit to having low expectations in a country where roasting a whole turkey isn’t normally done, but it was excellent.

The other meal I enjoyed in the hotel was at Maya Restaurant on the 29th floor. This top story is cantilevered out from the rest of the building, making the architecture distinctive and giving that restaurant an even more phenomenal view than my room eight stories below. Anyway, it’s an Indian restaurant, and the chef prides himself on tweaking traditional Indian dishes with a contemporary twist. I can’t really name any of what I ate, but it was all interesting and even quirky. Some of the samples were too hot for my wimpy palate, however, so make sure to ask about heat levels if you eat there.

I had a sampling menu, and while mine was gifted to me, it would have cost upward of 1000 bahts. This is a high price for a meal in Thailand, but it’s a normal restaurant meal price where I live in the Netherlands. I’d certainly recommend it for a special night out. There are vegetarian, meat or seafood options.

As for location, this hotel, along with the Carlton, is in a great location if you want to do a lot of shopping: there are big shopping centers and shopping malls nearby and within a few stops on the BTS public transit. The BTS station is a short walk away.

For sightseeing, it’s somewhat less convenient. It’s a few blocks to the BTS, then a transfer to the metro and several stops on that to get to any of the best tourist attractions. Having said that, taxis and tuk-tuks are everywhere and cheap. If I could have stayed longer at this hotel, I would have.

Book your accommodation at Holiday Inn Bangkok Sukhumvit.

Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Sukhumvit 11

The difference between this hotel and the 4-star Holiday Inn above is that this one is a Holiday Inn Express. The “express” versions are generally 3-star properties. At the 3-star level, the guest rooms tend to be more cookie cutter, with similar, standard furnishings.

I like Holiday Inns because, consistently, they all have certain things I like: a choice of firm or soft pillows with no lumps, tables on both sides of the bed with reading lamps on both sides, a proper desk space with an ergonomic chair and accessible outlets (without having to crawl under the table to reach them). 

Our room (sponsored) at this Holiday Inn Express was spotlessly clean, with quality sheets, a well-designed bathroom, and decent water pressure in the shower. There was a small fridge, a kettle, and tea and instant coffee. 

The wifi at this hotel was reliable and quite fast. Our room had a view on a very busy street with nightlife, but the sound insulation was good. In combination with the white noise of the air conditioner – which worked well – the action outdoors was hardly noticeable. The good blackout curtains helped as well. 

Rooms here include breakfast, which was not impressive, but serviceable. There were eggs (though they’re not made to order so they were a bit cold), hot dogs, and other “hot” choices, as well as cold food: white and slightly brown bread, Danish, croissants, yogurt (sweetened), some cut-up fresh fruit, tea and coffee. The orange juice was more a sweet orange drink, a pattern we noticed at hotels of all levels. 

The main negative point about this place is its location, in Sukhumvit like the Carlton and the Holiday Inn Bangkok Sukhumvit. This part of Sukhumvit is great if you’re here for the international nightlife – clubs, cannabis, etc. – or for business or shopping, but there’s nothing to see nearby in terms of sightseeing. You’d have to take a 5-minute walk to the BTS on the Sukhumvit Line or walk further to the metro or a ferry pier to get to other parts of the city for sightseeing. On the other hand, there are plenty of places to eat nearby.

Book the Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Sukhumvit 11.

Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Siam

My (sponsored) room at Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Siam is a standard Holiday Inn room, spotlessly clean and with all the amenities I wanted and needed. It has the same Holiday Inn pillows I love and outlets by the bed. There is a table where I could work comfortably – again with an ergonomic chair – and a comfy chair for sitting and enjoying the view.

My room was on the 16th floor, if I remember correctly. And like the four-star described above, this room has floor-to-ceiling windows and a big view.

The breakfast is similar to the Holiday Inn Express in Sukhumvit: basic Western breakfast choices like eggs, bread and sausages, and some Eastern choices like rice, meat and vegetables. There was always good fresh fruit as well. In all it’s very simple and with few choices, but it’s decent: slightly better than at the Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Sukhumvit.

This location is a bit closer in towards the center of the city than the Sukhumvit hotels listed above. It’s near Siam Square, but it still requires some travel on the BTS to see any of the sights. The nearest tourist destination is the Jim Thompson House, a few blocks away.

Find your accommodation at Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Siam.

Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Sathorn

Also a three-star, and also sponsoring my stay, the Holiday Inn Express Sathorn is similar to the Holiday Inn Express Siam. My assigned room was somewhat bigger this time though. The hotel isn’t very tall – six storeys or so, I think – but my particular room had a great view, dominated by the MahaNakhon building: an interesting design that is the tallest building in Thailand. I think most of the other rooms just have an ordinary street view.

This room has pretty much the exact same furniture as the other two “Express” Holiday Inns above: all very well-designed and efficient. The wifi is good and fast, there are outlets by the bed, I had a place to work, and the bed is very comfortable – again, those Holiday Inn pillows! And again, it was all spotlessly clean. 

I wished I’d known ahead of time about the self-service laundry room at this hotel. Getting laundry done for you can be annoyingly expensive at many hotels, so I’d hauled my laundry to a self-service laundromat a few days before. I could have saved myself a lot of effort.

Anyway, what really makes this Holiday Inn Express stand out is the use of charming and colorful artworks by Daniel Monfort Gil. The style is pop art or perhaps street art, and the subjects are all local scenes of things like street vendors or train stations. A huge mural dominates the lobby, smaller murals appear here and there in the hallways, and mounted paintings on glass, all by the same artist, adorn the rooms and hallways.

Breakfast is included and is pretty much the same as at the other Holiday Inn Express hotels: decent quality with quite limited standard choices.

As for location, this one is better. There are plenty of eating and shopping options nearby. I had a tasty ramen down the street one night, and some excellent Korean food nearby the next night. 

Most of the sightseeing I wanted to do still required travel on the BTS. Fortunately, the nearest station is just around the corner – about three minutes’ walk to the Chong Nonsi station – and it is just a few stops to the Saphan Taksin station, without having to transfer. From Saphan Taksin, I took ferries to get to many of the sights that are near the Chao Phraya River that runs through Bangkok. Ferries run frequently along the river, and other ferries cross the river here and there too. Especially in the November heat, I found this the most pleasant way to get around.

Reserve a room at Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Sathorn.

2½ stars

The hotels in this group all have 2½ stars on Expedia, except the last one, Hansa Bangkok House. That one isn’t listed on Expedia, but in my view it fits in this category.

Sitara Place Serviced Apartments

This hotel is really more of an apartment house but administered like a hotel. It has no lobby to speak of, just a room with a reception desk. The building is a large square around a glassed-over atrium, but the ground floor of the atrium is used for parking. It seems a missed chance to me: that could have been a lovely park-like space if it was filled with plants and trees. But of course, then there’d be no parking available.

Our studio (39 square meters) was well-organized. It has a kitchen and dining area of sorts at one end, a living room space in the middle and a bedroom at the other end, with a balcony and a bathroom off that. The only window is the floor-to-ceiling glass doors of the balcony at one end of the long rectangular space. It didn’t feel dark, though, because there are no interior walls to block the light.

The room was spotless, the bed is comfortable and the air conditioning works well. I was happy to find a desk in the living area with a decent chair. A minor negative was that there’s a light and an electric outlet only on one side of the bed.

The kitchen has a table and chairs and quite minimal cooking or eating utensils. We asked for the optional countertop single burner and had just a few cooking implements. There are just enough dishes and cutlery for two people. The kitchen does have a hot-water kettle, though, and a full-size fridge, but no tea or coffee makings. The cleaning staff left us two bottles of water each day.

Oddly, the kitchen sink isn’t in the kitchen. Instead, it’s out on the balcony, so when we did use the dishes, that meant carrying them the length of the apartment to wash them in cold water – there is no hot water on the balcony.

The bathroom is good, with a decent shower and hot water. Washers and dryers are available outside in the atrium for anyone to use for a small fee. There’s even a laundry basket in the room.

Since these are serviced apartments, a cleaning crew came every day. They didn’t change the sheets every day but did replace towels and do dishes as well as cleaning the floor and bathroom, making the bed, etc.

The wifi here is excellent: fast and reliable, with a separate modem in every apartment. This makes it a great place for a longer-term stay: a digital nomad, for example.

The prices are quite reasonable, with longer stays considerably discounted: again, great for the digital nomad.

This neighborhood is residential, with lots of local eateries and food carts within a few blocks, and few tourists. There’s a 7/11 nearby and a supermarket a bit further, but it’s not near the tourist sights. The hotel offers a free tuktuk to the nearest MRT station at Phra Ram 9, and there are malls near the MRT station. However, they won’t pick you up to go back, so that means walking for about 15 minutes or hiring a tuktuk.

Book your serviced apartment at Sitara Place Hotel and Serviced Apartments.

Tara Place Hotel

Tara Place Hotel is closer to the city center, which is better if you’re more into sightseeing than shopping. Some of the main sights are within walking distance, like Chinatown, for instance, and Khao San Road. The hotel offers a free tuktuk to some tourist destinations a few times a day.

Our room at Tara Place hotel was very clean and basic, with a big bed, though it only has an outlet on one side of the bed and a bedside light only on one side. At the same time the light switches are not near the bed. On the other hand, the bed is quite comfortable.

The room is quiet because the hotel is mostly off the street, or at least the part we were in is. Our room felt a bit cave-like since it only has one window which looks across an alley at a wall. The air conditioner works well: nice and quiet.

The shower is decent but the water pressure isn’t great, though there’s plenty of hot water.

The room has a mini-fridge with two free bottles of water each day, but tea and instant coffee are only available in the lobby.

Speaking of the lobby, it is small, with a few places to sit. The only place to sit and work is a single table with two chairs – the rest are armchairs and sofas with low coffee tables. There’s a desk in the room, but the only chair is a pouffe, not a real chair, so I worked in the lobby.

The main reason I worked in the lobby, though, was that the wifi wasn’t good in our room. It cut out often, though it was better in the middle of the night. In the lobby, the connection is constant and fast.

While some of the reviews on booking sites mention food, as far as we could tell, the hotel has no restaurant. It does seem to offer some sort of discount at a nearby restaurant, but we weren’t informed of this when we checked in. It wasn’t a problem, though, because there are plenty of places to eat very nearby.

This hotel is fine and, importantly, clean. The staff is friendly and helpful. It’s quite inexpensive so it would work well if you just want the basics.

Book a room at Tara Place Hotel.

Once you’ve booked one of these places to stay in Bangkok, take a look at these articles:

• A compelling WWII tour of the Thai-Burma Railway
• 16 Best Temples in Bangkok, Thailand
• Chinese Temples in Bangkok

Norn Riverside Hotel

I really liked the location of this one. Right on the river, it has easy access to a ferry pier. That means it’s really easy to hop on a long boat up or down the river to any sights near the river like Wat Arun or some of the Chinese temples. Or it’s easy enough just to hop across the river to Chinatown.

The chic lobby of Norn Riverside is almost right on the river – there’s just an outdoor buffet restaurant between the building and the water. Small snacks, coffee and juice were available to guests all the time at reception.

Unfortunately, our room had a view on an alley rather than on the river. The room was rather plain but in perfect condition, probably because the hotel is so new. When we first arrived, as is my habit, I checked that the bed had a lamp on either side of it. It did, but then we noticed that neither lamp was plugged in, and we just could not find anywhere to plug them in.

We went down to the lobby and the very nice young woman who worked there called someone in to take a look. By the time we got back from lunch, it had been fixed, or rather an extension cord had been added. It turned out that the room had been intended for twin beds but a queen-size bed had been installed. So that meant that the outlet was hidden behind the bed board in the center. In other words, this was a very new hotel. This also meant only being able to charge devices on one side of the bed.

Another thing that was again, I think, a matter of the newness of the place was that, while the room was supplied with a hot water kettle and cups, it did not have anything to make with the kettle: no tea or sugar or spoons. In other words, they hadn’t quite thought it through yet. On the other hand, the shower was good, with plenty of hot water, and the towels were thicker and bigger than at most 3-star places.   

This hotel has some fancier rooms: some with river views and/or jacuzzis. It also offers family rooms. On one of the nights we were there, an event in the building next door meant some very loud music, and the windows here did not have great soundproofing. Fortunately it was only that one night.

The outdoor bar upstairs is a great place to enjoy a drink while the sun goes down and the air cools in the evening. There’s always something to watch on the river or below in the outdoor restaurant.

Reserve a room at Norn Riverside Hotel.

Hansa Bangkok House

Hansa Bangkok House is a boutique bed & breakfast on the western side of the river, like Norn Riverside. I liked its aesthetic, with lots of plants in the tiny lobby, on the stairs and in the breakfast room.

I’m not sure what this hotel’s rating is; I’m guessing it’s a 2½-star. But that’s just a guess based on the fact that it doesn’t seem to have an elevator.

I had a room with a bathroom to myself and air conditioning, which worked well. The room was clean and certainly sufficient, but had a couple of problems. It didn’t have enough outlets in convenient spots and, more importantly, the bed was very hard, so I had real trouble sleeping. There was also pretty constant noise from the traffic outside, though that soon became something I could ignore.

With no desk in my room, I set up my laptop in the breakfast room. That was fine after breakfast, but the space isn’t air-conditioned once breakfast is over, so it got too warm by midday. It wasn’t ideal.

On the other hand, the breakfast room was pleasant at breakfast time: very zen with plants and wood furniture. The food, while limited in choice, was good and sometimes quite interesting: little dishes that were not your usual breakfast food and one special dish, made to order, each morning. It was a distinctly better breakfast than at any of the 3-star hotels above.

As an aside, there was also some excellent street food just a block away at dinner time. On a street corner, I ate some of the best pad thai I’ve ever had.

The location of Hansa Bangkok House is not the best for sightseeing. It’s on a very busy street quite a bit north of the sights and on the western side of the river. That means it isn’t anywhere near a metro or BTS line, which in turn means you end up taking taxis. The manager of the hotel is quite willing to flag a taxi for you and do the negotiating for you – ALWAYS insist that the driver turns on the meter! – but it’s a bit of a pain to depend on taxis, especially because the traffic jams can be awful. I far preferred the metro, ferries or BTS train, all of which are cheaper than taxis as well.  

Another option, though, is to catch one of the ferries that plies the river. At the time I stayed there, I didn’t explore this possibility, so I’m not sure where the nearest place is to catch a ferry. I know you can walk over the elegant and busy Rama VIII bridge to a ferry pier on the other end. Certainly taking a ferry is more fun and cheaper than a taxi and traffic.

Reserve a room at the Hansa Bangkok House.

2 stars

Bangkok Cozy Home

Like the Hansa Bangkok House above, I’m not sure of this hotel’s rating, but I’m guessing it’s a two-star.

This hotel – a sponsored stay – is very basic and plain. Again, it was very clean and comfortable, and it’s certainly the cheapest hotel of all these places to stay in Bangkok. We had a double room with an en-suite bathroom, and I think the room was newly renovated, just judging by how clean the white paint was. The bed was comfortable, with good-quality sheets. However, there were no bedside tables or lights, and there was an outlet on only one side. On the other hand, there was a decent little workspace – really just a shelf at desk height, attached to the wall – with easily-accessible outlets. The air conditioner worked well and quietly, and there was also a wall fan.

Our room had two windows on an alley – not a good thing at three in the morning when an Italian decides to stand outside in the alley and have a very loud and long conversation with her friend right under your window. But that wasn’t the hotel’s fault.

It’s not uncommon in Southeast Asia to find bathrooms where the toilet, sink and shower are all in one space. Because there’s no separation between the shower and the rest of the room, everything tends to get wet. At Bangkok Cozy Home, our bathroom was of this type, with the additional difficulty of being very small, so it was hard not to end up trailing water out into the room. Also the bathroom doesn’t have a fan or even an openable window, so you have to leave the door to the room open to get it all to dry out.

This hotel also offers “family rooms” with a double bed and a bunk bed or with four bunks.

Bangkok Cozy Home has a small lobby, and the breakfast room is behind it. There’s no elevator, and the stairway is steep. The staff was very kind and helped us carry our luggage.

The free breakfast is the most minimal of any of the hotels in this list: just white bread toast, margarine, jam, corn flakes and milk. There’s “orange juice” (really orange drink), coffee and tea too, and that’s about it.

The location, on the other hand, is good: the Khao San area, with lots of places to eat nearby. It’s walking distance to some of the main temples and other tourist sights, but you’ll need to take a tuktuk or taxi to others.

Book a room at Bangkok Cozy Home.

My recommendations

I’ve sorted the 10 places to stay in Bangkok listed above into categories. This should help you narrow down your choices based on your own priorities.

Luxury

If you can afford it, stay at the Carlton or the Holiday Inn Bangkok Sukhumvit. They’re not in the best location, but they’re great hotels and if you can afford them, you can afford a taxi now and then. (By the way, when I say they’re expensive, they won’t seem expensive at all if you compare them to similar hotels in the US or Europe. In that case, these are quite cheap!) Make sure to try out their restaurants as well, especially the Indian restaurant at the top of the Holiday Inn and the Cantonese restaurant in the Carlton. 

Budget

If you’re on a tight budget (but don’t want a hostel), choose Bangkok Cozy Home; it’s very cheap and clean and well-located. Tara Place is the next least expensive, followed by Sitara, Norn and then Hansa. On the other hand, if you want to spend as little money as possible, a hostel might be just what your looking for: use the Hostelworld website.

Good sleep

You’ll sleep well at any of the Holiday Inns – Sukhumvit, Express Sukhumvit 11, Express Siam, or Express Sathorn – because of their reliable standard of bedding and sound-proofing. The Carlton is extremely comfortable too.

Longer-term

If you’re looking to stay a while, choose Sitara Place because then you’ll have a bit more autonomy in terms of food. Street food is so cheap you won’t need to cook, but it’s nice to be able to assemble your own breakfast. And the wifi is excellent.

Location

I liked both Tara Place and Norn Riverside for their locations in the heart of Bangkok. Cozy Home is also in a central location. Especially if you splurged for a river view at the Norn Riverside Hotel you’d enjoy that prime location the most of all the places to stay in Bangkok that I’ve listed.

For accessing Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), probably the three Sukhumvit Hotels – the Carlton, the Holiday Inn Sukhumvit or the Holiday Inn Express Sukhumvit 11 – are best because they’re on the airport side of town. If you’re lucky, you’ll avoid the worst of the traffic that way. Or ask at your hotel how to get there via public transport.

Limited mobility

Only Bangkok Cozy Home and Hansa Bangkok House don’t have elevators, so choose any of the others.

Of course, there are lots of other hotels in Bangkok of all levels of quality and price. I just can’t vouch for any of them! Here’s a map you can use to book your accommodations in Bangkok:

Have you been to Bangkok? Where did you stay? Add a comment below with the name of where you stayed and what you thought of it!