Bangkok

Bangkok is one of the world's great cities — a place of relentless, joyful contradiction where a street vendor selling 40-baht pad thai sets up directly beneath a luxury hotel charging 15,000 baht a night, and where monks in saffron robes commute on the same Skytrain as office workers scrolling Instagram. The city's official name is the longest place name in the world (168 characters in Thai), and Bangkok itself has the same maximalist ambition: it does everything at full volume. There are over 400 temples within city limits, more Michelin-starred restaurants than most European capitals, one of Southeast Asia's best contemporary art scenes, and a nightlife ecosystem that ranges from rooftop cocktail bars to underground techno clubs to the neon-lit chaos of Khao San Road.

The key to Bangkok is understanding that it is not one city but many layered on top of each other. The old royal city around Rattanakosin Island — the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun — is one of the densest concentrations of genuine historical and artistic treasure in Southeast Asia. Cross the river to Thonburi and you enter a quieter Bangkok of canal communities, temple gardens, and the extraordinary Wat Pho massage school. Head east past Silom and Sukhumvit and the city transforms into a gleaming commercial metropolis of designer malls, sky-scraping condos, and international restaurants. The Chao Phraya River is the connective tissue, and taking the express boat from the old city northward on a clear morning — watching the spires slip by — is one of the genuine pleasures of Southeast Asian travel.

Practically speaking, Bangkok is an outstanding base. The transport network — BTS Skytrain, MRT subway, river ferries, and the city-wide reach of Grab — makes navigation straightforward once you understand the logic. Accommodation ranges from 300-baht dormitories to 50,000-baht-a-night Mandarin Oriental river suites, with exceptional mid-range options in every neighbourhood. The city is safe, the people are genuinely welcoming, and the food — whether a bowl of boat noodles from a canal-side vendor or a multi-course tasting menu at Gaggan — is consistently world-class.