I just got back from a 10-day trip to Bangkok with my spouse. We travel to Thailand every year at Christmas and this was our sixth trip there overall. We weren’t there to see the sights but mostly to relax and eat so we didn’t do as many things as some people might. It was a great trip overall and I had nothing but good experiences once again, except for the traffic, which was atrocious the one time I had to take a taxi across town at 4:30 pm.

We divided our stay between the Sukhumvit area (the Athenee) and the Chao Praya River (the Shangri-La). With a few exceptions, we only did things that were walking distance from our hotel, although both these hotels are very close to subway stations. The Shangri-La is a great hotel with an amazing gym but the breakfast buffet can get extremely crowded later in the morning. It’s close to the older part of the city and of course has great views of the water. The Shangri-La was around US $300 per night while the Athenee was around $400.

In terms of food, we had a great afternoon tea at the Shangri-La, mookata (Thai-style barbecue) at Tuta Mookrata and Pakistani food around the corner from Tuta Mookrata at the modestly-named Curry & Kebab. The bar by the water in the Shangri-La is good for watching the sunset. I would recommend all these places. Elsewhere, we had a Christmas buffet at the Marriott on Sukhumvit that was quite good, Beijing duck at the Silk Road restaurant in the Athenee and amazing grilled shrimp at Laab Ubon Kontrakran, which was probably the best meal of the trip.

In terms of prices, we spent around $100 total at Silk Road and $250 for two people at the Marriott buffet, but Tuta Mookrata was around $20 for two people and Laab Ubon Kontrakran was around $30. We had massages at Thaan and the Plant Day Spa near Ploen Chit, both of which were great. If you’re near Ploen Chit and looking for a place to do laundry, I recommend Laundry And Dry Clean By Weepaa, though I think they’re closed for the next month.

Finally, I love running in Bangkok and both Lumphinin Park and Benjakitti Park are great for running, as is a loop combining these two (a raised bridge connects them at the north). However, Lumphini is under a lot of construction right now so it’s not as nice as it usually is.