As well as sharing our favourite places to visit and things to do in Bangkok, we’d be remiss not to share some of the practical information we discovered! All of this is with kids and families in mind, to make visiting Bangkok with kids a breeze! We’re sharing the best places to eat with kids, how to navigate and get around the city and where we stayed which got a 10/10 from us all! There’s also a guide on how to spend 3 days in Bangkok. Read on for our practical recommendations when visiting Bangkok as a family.
Where to eat in Bangkok
Bangkok offers every cuisine you could desire! It’s mix of cultures, offers indian, western and of course Thai food en-mass! As vegetarian adults and slightly fussy kids, it can be hard to find something for everyone. So for anyone else in the same boat, we’re sharing our favourite restaurants in Bangkok suitable for families and vegetarians alike!
May Kaidee Vegan and Vegetarian restaurant
Located just 2 minutes from the end of Khao San Road, this is a budget friendly, kid friendly and vegetarian friendly restaurant. We ordered 4 main courses, 2 starters, sides and beers for £16 for us all. The pad thai and pineapple rice were especially delicious. The restaurant also offers cooking classes if that’s something you are looking to do!
Plantiful
Offering both child-friendly food and vegan meals, there are 2 branches of Plantiful in Bangkok. One is located not too far from Lumphini Park which is where we headed before lunch this day. A tuk tuk from Lumphini to Plantiful cost us 150 baht for the 10-15 minute drive. It’s also not too far from Centralworld mall and Siam square.
There are smoothie bowls which the kids devoured and it was so nice to be able to have such a wide variety of lunches to choose from for veggies. From salads, to Buddha bowls, to mushroom burgers and wraps there is a huge choice and very ‘different’ things to choose from. The cauliflower fries were incredible as well. This is pricier but well worth it for healthy and fresh food. We had 4 drinks, 4 mains and a side for £35.
Art Bar, Chatuchak Market
There are a lot of food choices in Chatuchak market but many of them are stalls with fast food rather than a sit down meal. In the arty corner of the market, you’ll find the Art Bar. This is a small veggie friendly thai restaurant that also services chicken dishes for around 90 baht / £2 a meal. They also do smoothies, juices and shakes – including some weird blue slush! The pad thai came with tofu rather than just veggies and the chicken fried rice was demolished by Nyle which is always a sign it was good! Just make sure you ask for no egg if you prefer it that way!
Spaghetti Factory
Sometimes you just need something other than Thai and a pasta place is a sure-fired winner with our family. We found ourselves in Centralworld mall and a quick scan of the food court wasn’t doing it for us. We stumbled across this place which is a nice half-way house between food court fast-food and posh restaurant. The food came quickly, and service was excellent. 4 main meals, 2 starters, 4 beers and 2 soft drinks was just under £40, so there’s plenty of cheaper places, but we found it good value for what we got. Alicia’s spaghetti was even served in a large cheese round which added to the effect. Portion sizes were great and we left 4 empty plates!
There’s several other branches located around Bangkok so worth checking other venues depending where you are!
IconSiam
We speak about this mall in our ‘things to do in Bangkok’ page, but for food it’s worth pointing out that there are masses of options. When we visited there was a floating market food court on the ground floor which offered every food type going – however getting a table was a bit of a challenge. There were fruit stalls, burgers, rotis, dim sum, hot pot, pho, ramen – everything you could want. As well as Thai food.
As with any malls there are also restaurants throughout the mall, and the terrace bar overlooking the river looked a great place for a sunset drink! Or any drink when playing tourist gets too much!
Buddy Beer, Khao San Road
Of course Khao San Road is full of places to eat, from bars and restaurants to street food stalls. A pad thai on Khao San road from a street food vendor is around 40-60 baht, with rotis around 50 baht!
Half way along Khao San road is Buddy Beer, which we fell into as it looked like it had a great atmosphere! There was live music and a nice vibe, and it was also away from the main street so a calmer environment for with kids. The menu offered thai food and pizzas, a little more expensive at around 220 baht for a main and 300 baht for a pizza. We didn’t end up eating here as veggie food was thin on the ground, but for non-veggies and to escape the bustle with kids, this would be a good place to head!
Taste of India
One evening we opted for take-out in our hostel, and Indian was the kids choice. This place was so delicious and such great value. We had a vegetable thali which was enough to feed 2, the kids had chicken korma and we indulged in pan purri, poppadums, rotis and naans for £16 in total. Can’t recommend this place enough if you are looking for an Indian take away!
Getting around Bangkok
Bangkok is huge, but getting around is so easy! There are several options to help you navigate the city, all of which are kid-friendly.
Grab
The uber-equivalent, Grab, is available across the city, but be aware that wait times can be longer than in other parts of Asia that we experienced. A 20 minute journey is around 200 baht, and of course the cars have aircon which is welcome! We took a Grab from the airport and to the station, and on both occasions the driver offered for us to take the expressway for just 50 baht more. If you get this as an option, it’s definitely worth taking them up on it!
Tuk Tuk
The other options for travelling by road is Tuk Tuk. Nothing is more fun than zooming through the streets of Bangkok in a tuk tuk. They are everywhere, but be prepared to both haggle and still pay over the odds compared to grab. A 15 minute journey will be around 200 baht (but they will start at 400 baht!). Hold on to little ones as there are no seat belts and they are open enclosures, but exciting none-the-less!!
The Sky Train
To miss all the traffic, consider using the sky-train where possible. The skytrain network has really expanded over the years but for a family of four, the fare isn’t that much cheaper than a grab or tuk tuk. It’s 188 baht for a single journey (for four)! The carriages are cold due to the air con and they can be busy, but you will get from A to B in the fastest route possible. Maps are easy to navigate and the ticket counters are each station have very helpful staff to help you buy tickets and understand where to go.
There are also lifts at all the major stations so very pushchair friendly too! And you get some cracking traffic views from the sky train bridges!
Water taxi
The other way to travel around the city is on boat – this is for up and down the river, and also across it. Wat Arun and Icon Siam are both on the west of the river, whereas most other sites are on the east so chances are you will have to head over at some point! There is a hop on hop off tourist boat where a single fair is 40 baht / 85p. The boat has a set route and there is no audio guide. It’s a large ‘ferry style’ boat, and not the traditional Thai long boat but it serves a purpose. There are also smaller boats that head directly across the river for around 10-20 baht per person. Look out for all the piers on google maps!
Where to stay in Bangkok
We obviously haven’t tried a multitude of hotels in Bangkok, but we were so impressed with our ‘posh-tel’ that we couldn’t not share it with you. Located near Lan Luang which is a major street in the city, our hostel ‘Better Letter Home‘ was a bargain of a place. At only £30 per night for a private room and private bathroom, we had 2 double bunkbeds and plenty of space for all our stuff. There was also a kitchen for making breakfast or enjoying take away in the dining area! And the kids loved the free games machine in the reception!
The best thing about this place however was the location – not the convenience to sites, but how it was in the middle of the locals. We heard them betting in the Muay Thai fights and got waves and smiles from the kids as we walked the 50 metres from the main road. There was a 7-eleven within 5 minutes walk as well.
Suggested itinerary for 3 days in Bangkok with kids
For full details on prices and reviews, head to our favourite things to do in Bangkok blog. But following this itinerary for 3 days in Bangkok with kids to get a good flavour of this incredible city.
Day 1 – Head straight to the Reclining Buddha Temple, ideally getting there for 9 or 10 to allow a couple of hours exploring. Then walk or tuk tuk along the river to the Wat Pho pier or The Maharaj pier and take a boat down the river to get your bearings.
Get off the boat at IconSiam for food and an explore in this huge new mall – if shopping is your thing you’ll spend hours here! If shopping isn’t your thing then get off the boat and head to the flower market or China Town.
Day 2 – Hopefully you can tie this in on a Wednesday – Sunday and visit the Chatuchak weekend market. Again head early and spend a few hours mooching around the stalls and grab some lunch in either the Chatuchak mall or in the market itself. After lunch, cross the road to the Children’s Discovery Museum – this place closes at 4pm so you’ll need to be sure to leave 3 hours to really enjoy it, so you may wish to do the museum in the morning and the market in the afternoon.
Day 3 – Head straight to the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre for some free art installations and exhibitions. After lunch in the nearby mall, take a tuk tuk to Lumphini Park to spot monitor lizards. Again, you could opt to do these the other way around if hitting the park before the midday heat sounds more appealing!
