Heritage on the water: Bangkok’s grand riverside hotels, the back story

About Heritage on the water: Bangkok’s grand riverside hotels, the back story

By the ULTIMATE Bangkok Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Long before the expressways and skytrains, Bangkok was a city of water, and the Chao Phraya was its high street. The great hotels grew up on its banks: the Mandarin Oriental, the Peninsula across the water, and, more recently, Capella and the Four Seasons on Charoen Krung. Inland, a second constellation now circles Lumphini Park and Wireless Road.

The Oriental, 1887

The Mandarin Oriental’s own history begins with a rest house for foreign seafarers on the riverbank. The original building burned in 1865; the present structure dates from 1876, and the new hotel, designed by the Italian firm Cardu and Rossi, opened its doors on 14 May 1887. Joseph Conrad stayed the following year; Somerset Maugham, recovering from malaria in 1923, later wrote of his feverish days on the veranda; and Noël Coward found it “a lovely place” (the hotel’s history).

After the war, a group of six residents, Jim Thompson among them, bought and revived the hotel, and it reopened in 1947 with French cooking and The Bamboo Bar, which became the city’s first jazz bar. The original building survives today as the Authors’ Wing, where afternoon tea is served in The Authors’ Lounge.

Stay on the river for romance and the boats; stay by Lumphini for the skytrain, the malls and the park.

The new river hotels

Across the water, The Peninsula Bangkok faces the Oriental from the Thonburi bank. Downstream, on Charoen Krung, Capella Bangkok and the Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok at Chao Phraya River share a stretch of riverbank, with Côte by Mauro Colagreco (two MICHELIN stars) at Capella and Sushi Saito (one star) in the Four Seasons Private Residences. In the old city, sala rattanakosin and Chakrabongse Villas look straight across at Wat Arun.

Lumphini and Wireless Road

Inland, the grand addresses cluster around Lumphini Park and Wireless Road: Rosewood, Aman Nai Lert beside the private Nai Lert Park, Park Hyatt above Central Embassy, Sindhorn Kempinski and Kimpton Maa-Lai on Soi Ton Son, The Okura Prestige, and The Ritz-Carlton and Andaz in the new One Bangkok district. On Ratchadamri, The St. Regis, Waldorf Astoria and Anantara Siam face the Royal Bangkok Sports Club.

Sukhumvit and the boutique houses

Along Sukhumvit, the hotels are smaller and more residential: 137 Pillars, Fairmont Bangkok Sukhumvit, MUU in Thonglor and Volve on Soi 53, close to the street’s best restaurants. In Sathorn, The Sukhothai has been a quiet garden address for decades; the new Dusit Thani has reopened on Rama IV.

Choosing

The river hotels run their own boats to the BTS at Saphan Taksin and the piers, and the riverside is where you want to be at dusk. The Lumphini hotels put the skytrain, the Ratchaprasong malls and the park on your doorstep. Sukhumvit suits longer stays and evenings out.

Our advice: for a first visit, split your stay: three nights on the river, then three by Lumphini or in Sukhumvit.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Heritage on the water: Bangkok’s grand riverside hotels, the back story before you go.