One of Bangkok’s best museums, and certainly its most interactive, the Museum of Siam is small and well laid out with a focus on how Thai identity has been formed over the years, with different rooms looking at different aspects of Thai history, going from Buddhism to the Ayutthaya age through to modern day Thailand. There are old cafes where you...

The buildings that house this art center on the campus of Silpakorn are worth a visit alone. The first red-roofed structure dates to 1782, when Bangkok was founded; it was originally built to hold an image of Buddha that was moved here from Sukothai. Tha Phra Palace, as it is called in Thai, became an art gallery in 1979. The...

BACC opened its doors in 2010 in the Siam neighborhood, and since then, small galleries, arts organizations, designer shops, and cafés have filled the storefronts of this swirling, multi-level structure. BKK Art House curates installations and talks by Thai contemporary artists that attract students and creative types. The established nonprofit Thai Film Foundation also has a shop where they sell...

Genius designer and artist Khun Sakul, whose medium happens to be flowers, opened this one-of-a-kind museum in August of 2012. Located in an old teak house tucked away just north of Dusit, it focuses on sacred floral arranging in the Buddhist world. Outside the house, scores of potted orchids, their roots artfully drooping down to the ground, hang from the...

This museum is very well designed and informative. The exhibits are engaging and interactive, and adults as much as children like playing the animated educational games, handling traditional toys made of reeds, and sitting in the post-WWII Thai diner. Texts are all in Thai and English. Exhibits begin with the Suvarnabhumi era 5,000 years ago and run up to the...

In what once was the Royal Mint, the National Gallery shows a mixed bag of Thai and Siamese art from the 1500s to present. The front gabled building’s galleries have the best stuff; visit them first and then wander around the grounds and peek into the temporary exhibitions, which may or may not be as engaging. Up the stairs just...

This text-heavy historic and anthropological museum with a nationalistic bent is ready for a renovation. It’s one of those field-trip destinations that become too didactic. The best approach here is to look at the artifacts and not read too much. Don’t miss the musical instruments, the terracotta Buddhas, the wood carvings, the royal palanquins. Be sure to wander the grounds...

Queen Sirikit supports traditional embroidery, but she also gives money to other arts, and in 2003 this five-story building became the Queen’s Gallery. Shows are a curious mix of staid pastel portraits and interesting group exhibition by emerging Thai artists that offer a view of what the next creative generation is concocting. Sansaeb Canal Boat: Phan Fah Stop Hours: 10am...

This huge boathouse on the Chao Phraya River has eight ornately carved Royal Barges and other artifacts and documentation. The tradition of members of royalty sailing on the river in ornate, carved golden boats dates back to the Ayutthaya Period. The boats have carved figureheads on the bows that often depict stars from the Hindu pantheon such as Hanuman the...

Thailand Creative & Design Center has become a vital cultural center in the city. There are permanent and changing exhibitions here, like the traveling Essential Eames show or another on the bamboo craft tradition in Beppu, Japan. There is a resource center with thousands of books, magazines and other materials on art and design, many of them in English. It’s...

King Chulalongkorn and his family lived in this carved golden teak structure during the early 20th century. Its East-meets-West luxurious domesticity and modern advancements, like the kingdom’s first indoor bathtub, reflect key interests of its royal owner. Surprising to learn, then, that Rama V only resided here five years. To see the mansion and all of the antiques and royal...