The Best Sunrise in Bangkok

If you’re looking for the best sunrise in Bangkok, we think we may have found a winner at the Avani Riverside Hotel! If you’re lucky and you’re staying there, you might just get one of the most breathtaking urban sunrises we’ve ever seen.

Day one on our trip around Thailand also happened to be on Christmas eve.. and seeing as we were only spending one night in Bangkok before touring around the Thai islands, we figured we’ do Bangkok in style and splurge a little.

When booking a hotel this time, we only had a few things on our list; easy to get to, close to the major sights, great views, and a great outdoor pool. This really narrowed our list down to the strip of hotels along the Chao Phraya River, just downstream from the Grand Palace.

The Best Hotels for Sightseeing in Bangkok.

Being downstream from the major sights like the Grand Palace, What Pho and Wat Arun means that they’re all easily reachable with river taxis (we’ll be adding a post on how to do the taxi soon!), and it makes travelling around more of an experience than a chore. Incidentally, Wat Arun is currently having heavy maintenance – i.e. scaffolding covering the entire temple.. If you’re hoping to get good photos of it, bear in mind that it’s going to be a while before the work is finished).

There are tons of good hotels along the riverbank that would work if you’re looking to do sightseeing nearby (e.g. Mandarin Oriental, Ramada, Sheraton, Peninsula) , but we were pretty big fans of the Avani Riverside.

Finding the Hotel with the Best Views in Bangkok

So back to how we chose the hotel with the best pool and views.. Ok, we’ll be honest, this was a pretty easy decision…

The Avani Riverside has an infinite pool on the roof (26^th floor) that faces east for sunrise. Put that all together and you’ve got to be getting close to the best sunrise in Bangkok…. Please just take my money.

Getting to the Avani Riverside Hotel and Other Riverside Hotels

Most of the hotels along the river have free shuttle boats leaving from the Central pier (Saphan Taksin).

Getting to the Central Pier (Saphan Taksin) for the free boat shuttle to the hotel is pretty straightforward and takes approx. 49 minutes from the airport. Driving takes around an hour but can be way more unpredictable. Google makes this trip super easy on public transport, and gave us the following directions:

Take the airport express train from Suvarnabhumi to Phaya Thai, then at Phaya Thai, walk about 2 minutes to the BTS Sukhumvit line towards “Bearing”. You’ll need to buy another ticket here, and from this station it’ll cost you around 42 baht per person to get a ticket to Saphan Taksin. Coins are preferable but some machines take notes.

After 2 stops, you’ll reach “Siam”. Walk across the platform to the BTS Silom Line towards “Bang Wa” and then take 5 stops to Saphan Taksin. Once you’re here it’s a super short walk to the pier. Follow the signs to the Central Pier.

We’d just arrived in Bangkok after having travelled for about 25 hours straight, and honestly, this was the most painless and relaxing trip we’ve had on public transport in a long time. We felt completely safe the entire time, and all signs and announcements were made in English as well as Thai. I’d highly recommend taking public transport if you’re heading to this area and don’t want to waste money on an expensive transfer.

The alternative is to take an airport shuttle from the airport, but this can cost around $2000 baht, (approx. $80CAD) depending on which hotel you choose.

Click the following link for a better idea of rates for Avani and other hotels along the river.

Here are a few more photos of that incredible sunrise in Bangkok!

If you have any more questions, feel free to email us at [email protected]