Bangkok is a unique city that lives with passion all the extremes, from the beauty of its impressive temples and the deep faith of the believers to the vibrant tropical night in a great capital that never goes out.
The contrast with any western city from which you may come makes Bangkok attractive as a first stage. The second reason to start here is that you make the city tours and excursions when you have a lot of energy, so will be happily busy from dawn to dusk and beyond. There will be time later to rest laying on the beach.
If possible, we recommend that your flight arrives in Bangkok around noon to be able to go through immigration and collect your luggage (1 roughly hour), and move to the hotel (approx. 1 more hour) with time enough to rest, shower and take a walk in daylight.
It will help you to acclimatize more easily to the heat and humidity of Bangkok, as well as the new time zone. Varying a little during the year, it starts to get dark after 6 pm. Around June daylight extends a little longer.
In our opinion, the sights not to be missed are:
– The Grand Palace with the Wat Phra Kaew.
– The Royal monastery Wat Pho, which houses the reclined big Buddha.
– The monastery Wat Arun, next to the Chao Phraya River, on the opposite shore.
We have to include in the list Chinatown as well, an authentic bit of China, exotic and bustling.
If you want to attend an evening of Thai boxing, we suggest watching this video about this traditional sport. It has been made to be watched just before attending the event and then understanding what happens in the ring.
Beyond the essential visits, the capital of Thailand has many tourist attractions, so it is advisable to spend at least 2 or 3 full days.