Most of the guests at this eighty-year-old hotel hail from China, Malaysia, and Singapore, but there are some westerners here, too. The glass-walled reception on the ground level gives a wide-open view of Yaowarat Road, and there’s a restaurant and café. The staff is chatty and helpful. Upstairs the halls are dim, but not the rooms: they’re bright and a...

This luxury hotel in Silom across the road from Lumphini Park was built in the 1960s but later renovated into a sleek, modern Thai hotel, a tropical oasis of swaying palm trees, orchids, birds of paradise, and ginger flowers. The staff is very professional and accommodating; this is where celebrities and visiting dignitaries usually stay when in town. Thai art...

Its long, illustrious past and luxurious surroundings on the Chao Praya River make the Mandarin Oriental, formerly known as the Oriental, one of the most glamorous hotels in the world. Everyone from Neil Armstrong to Émile Zola has stayed here, but the Authors’ Wing is the only part of the hotel that still remains from the 1800s. Rooms here start...

Yaowarat Road is the heart of Chinatown in Bangkok and a must-see for anyone who wants to immerse him or herself in Chinese culture. It’s bustling all the time. The street is lined with traditional Chinese pharmacies that sell herbal and medicinal remedies, gold shops, and dim sum parlors. There are some good hotels here, including Shanghai Mansion, which used...