A short list of personal recommendations for good cheap hotels in Bangkok, located near the backpacker area of Khao San Road
While I live in Bangkok these days, for the 18 months I was travelling during 2003 and 2004 I passed continually through the city on my way to somewhere else. Over those numerous visits I saw a lot of backpacker places and hotels – some good and some not so good.
You can book Khao San hotels online through the list of links to the right. It’s handy to have a room booked for at least one night if you are arriving in Bangkok directly after a long haul flight. You can always treat yourself to a decent room the first night and then find cheaper digs the next day. Agoda has a continually updated list of Bangkok Hotel Special Offers where you can get steep discounts and other freebies. Boonsiri Place and Phra-Nakorn Norn-Len are both quite posh without being outrageously expensive. Bhiman Inn gets rave reviews from travellers. Sawadee Khao San is cheaper and more basic but the Bangkok Airport Bus stops directly outside it – ideal if you just want to collapse into your bed after a long haul flight without any hassle locating the hotel. (you can also get a taxi from Bangkok Airport to Khao San Road – almost as cheap and a lot quicker if there’s two of you).
Map
Here’s my attempt at using Google Maps to show the locations of the different hotels I’ve mentioned here. It might be easier to go direct to the Google Maps page and use the list of links to different hotels on the left of the page to find the location of the ones you’re interested in.
View Larger Map
To Book Or Not To Book
Many guesthouses around Khao San Road don’t have online booking. You simply turn up and see what you can find. Here’s my shortlist of my favourite cheap backpacker hotels in Bangkok:
Khao San Road area
I’m not fond of staying on Khao San Road itself – the rooms tend to be overpriced and shabby and you’re right in the middle of the endless noise of the party zone. Far better to walk for 5 minutes to the beautiful Pa Athit area by the river – just walk out of Khao San Road at the Gulliver’s Bar end and cross over the road. Walk through the temple there and you’ll come out on Rambutree Road, which is a thriving leafy street of guest houses and travel agents. Along here is a cluster of good places to stay:
Mango Lagoon, my favourite flashpacker hotel. It only opened a year ago so feels brand new. For around 600 baht a night, you get a spacious en suite double room with A/C and cable television. Mango Lagoon doesn’t have a website, but the address is 30 Soi Rambutri, Bangkok and the telephone number is 02 281 4783.
Wild Orchid, just round the corner in the tiny little Soi Chana Songkhram, was the original flashpacker hostel in this area. WO boasts a lovely restaurant and reception area decorated in Thai style that is ideal for lounging around while you’re making plans for the day or winding down after exploring the city. It’s also the sort of place that’s conducive to meeting other travellers and having a chat over a few beers.
They have a mix of rooms – the most expensive are ensuite doubles at around 700 baht which have A/C but no TV, going down to very basic single rooms for an unbeatable 200 baht a night. These single rooms are like little cells, but because they are brightly painted and clean they are OK for a couple of nights stay. There’s enough room for your backpack and the bed and that’s it.
Wild Orchid doesn’t have a website. The address is 8 Soi Chana Songkhram, Bangkok and the telephone number is 02 629 4378.
Literally next door to Wild Orchid and opposite are two brand new hostels that have opened up that are clearly modelled on Wild Orchid’s success. I can’t vouch for whether they are any good, but they’d be worth investigating if Mango Lagoon and WO are both full. Similarly, the New Siam Guest House directly opposite Wild Orchid is a bit shabby but good enough if you’ve got nowhere else to go. It’s worth phoning in advance to Mango and WO as they are both pretty popular.
Getting There:
The easiest way to get to Wild Orchid and Mango Lagoon is to get a taxi to Pa Athit. (Tip: Say to the taxi driver "Pa Ah-TIT" – if you say it how it’s written he won’t have a clue what you mean). You’ll recognise Pa Athit when you arrive on the road because you’ll see the great big white Phra Sumen fort at the corner of the road. Once you’ve turned that corner and gone past the white fort, you’ll see a 7-11 about another 100 metres down the road. It sits on the corner of Pa Athit and a small soi. Stop at the 7-11 and walk up the soi – that is Soi Chana Songkhram and Wild Orchid is 5 seconds up it.
Alternatively, if you are already on Khao San Road, simply walk to the Gulliver’s Bar end, go straight across the road, walk through the temple and you will find yourself directly opposite Soi Chana Songkhram when you come out of the temple grounds. Mango Lagoon is to your left and Wild Orchid is down the soi in front of you.
More hotels
You can browse a big list of all types of Bangkok hotels you can book online at Travelhappy’s Thailand Hotel Deals, ranging from 2 star through to 5 star. Look in the Location column for "Khao San Road area" if you want a hotel specifically around Khao San.
Agoda.com also has a large selection of cheap Khao San Road hotels – the link will take you to their Bangkok page and from there, choose "Chinatown / Khaosan" from the middle drop down menu. Agoda have Instant Online Confirmation for some of their Bangkok hotels – this means that you can get instant confirmation of whether or not a room is available at the time of booking, rather than having to wait for a day or more for the website to email you and confirm availability. This is a really handy feature, although your choice is limited to the hotels that offer it.
Cheap Bangkok Hotels In Sukhumvit and Silom Areas
There are literally hundreds of cheap hotels all over Bangkok, so if you want to stay somewhere else besides the Khao San Road area, take a look at this list of Bangkok hotels. You can sort them by location and price to make it easier to browse. You can also book online with some super cheap Bangkok hostels around Sukhumvit, Silom and the other side of the river at Hostelbookers. Refill Now! Hostel on Sukhumvit 71 is a good example of a new, boutique-style hostel specifically aimed at backpackers that’s in the heart of the city. If you’re looking for a cheap place to stay near Bangkok Airport, try5 Rama-nine 54 which provides fan rooms for $5 a night!
Bangkok Boutique Hotels – if you want to splash out
If you don’t mind splashing some cash, you might want to investigate the growing number of Bangkok boutique hotels – these are unique properties in the city that will give you a wholly different perspective on Bangkok. I’ve written up a guide to my favourite Bangkok boutique hotels here on Travelhappy – several of them are great to visit for a drink if you can’t afford to stay.
I’ve also written up some info on Bangkok hotels with free internet wifi access.
You can also browse other travellers opinions about Khao San Road and get more useful info about Bangkok.
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