Riverside, Bangkok
Riverside

Bangkok's riverside district offers an oasis of calm in the middle of this hectic metropolis. Here, the Chaoya Phaya River slowly drifts by the old and the new. Old temples, churches and palaces adorn the riverbank well mixed with some of the best hotels in the world, as well as restaurants, markets and the occasional mall.With convenient riverboats offering numerous stops around the river, and the hotels having scuttle boats available, transportation here is actually a pleasant experience, unlike most places in Bangkok.

Among the most famous sights along the river is the famed Oriental Hotel, whose alumni include the likes of Joseph Conrad, John Le Carre and Somerset Maugham (thus the hotels authors wing), as well as more recent visitors like Princess Diana, Neil Armstrong, Sophia Loren and many, many more. Situated around the Oriental are other luxurious properties like the Shangri-la Hotel, the Peninsula Hotel, the Royal Orchid Sheraton and the Marriott Resort & Spa.

In addition to the luxury accommodation offered by these hotels, what they also bring are numerous highly acclaimed dining options and bars, from equally famed Le Normandie to Threesixty.

However, riverside living goes well beyond the hotels. On the river, dinner cruises offer culinary excellence (or adequate, depending on the price of your cruise), while on shore, numerous other restaurants also dot the landscape, like Supatra River House, as well as countless historic buildings, small markets and other. It is a taste of the historic orient of old, of colonial living and of the merger of old and new. It is not where you go for partying, but for living, it is ideal.