Old Town (Rattanakosin & Chinatown)

Rattanakosin Island is where Bangkok began. The Chakri dynasty founded the city here in 1782, laying out a network of canals and building the Grand Palace complex, Wat Pho, and the royal field (Sanam Luang) in deliberate imitation of Ayutthaya's layout. The result is the most concentrated assembly of pre-modern Thai art and architecture anywhere in the country — and arguably in Southeast Asia. Wat Phra Kaew (the Temple of the Emerald Buddha), Wat Pho (with its enormous reclining Buddha and the birthplace of Thai massage), and Wat Arun across the river are within 30 minutes' walk of each other.

Immediately east of Rattanakosin, Yaowarat Road is Bangkok's Chinatown — one of the largest and most vibrant in Asia, continuously inhabited by Teochew Chinese merchants since the late 18th century. By day it is a working commercial district of gold shops, herbal medicine vendors, and fabric wholesalers. After dark it transforms into one of Bangkok's finest dining experiences: the pavements narrow under an explosion of seafood grills, dim sum carts, and dessert stalls. The street food here — crab omelette, braised goose, mango sticky rice at Jay Fai — is some of the most acclaimed in the city.

Connecting the two neighbourhoods is a loose network of lanes and the elevated train station at Hua Lamphong (Bangkok's main railway terminal until the opening of Bang Sue Grand Station). The MRT now serves Sanam Chai station directly below the Grand Palace area, ending decades of transport isolation for Rattanakosin. The neighbourhood is best explored on foot and by river ferry, and rewards visitors who allow two full days rather than rushing through on a half-day temple tour.