What to see in Bangkok: routes for one, two and three days

Bangkok is big and cannot be covered in three days, so below is a plan built from places whose hours and prices we could confirm on an official page on 19 October 2026. The main temples stand on the old bank of the Chao Phraya River and combine well into one day. The rest is added day by day.

What to see and what it costs

The three temples together cost 1,000 baht per person, 1,100 baht with Museum Siam (our sum from the table).

Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew

The 500 baht ticket includes Wat Phra Kaew (the Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles inside the palace grounds. The palace is open daily 08:30-16:30 and tickets are sold 08:30-15:30, so it is best to arrive at opening. Children under 120 cm enter free. An online ticket can be bought a month ahead but cannot be refunded or changed. An audio guide in eight languages, including Russian, costs 200 baht, and a passport or credit card is required to rent it.

The dress code is strict. Sleeveless shirts, vests, short and see-through tops, shorts, torn, tight and cycling trousers, mini skirts and pyjamas are not admitted. Flying drones over the grounds is banned. The palace site has a Schedules calendar by day: for 19 October it shows “open all day”. Dates in the calendar can change, so check your own.

Wat Pho

Wat Pho is next to the palace, at Sanam Chai and Maharaj roads. According to the temple website it is open daily 08:00-19:30, the ticket is 300 baht and children under 120 cm are free. Visitors are asked to dress modestly: no shorts, trousers are fine, and shoes come off before temple buildings. The Wat Pho school of traditional Thai medicine offers Thai massage and foot massage for 30, 60 and 120 minutes at 340, 520 and 1,040 baht, with the same hours, 08:00-19:30.

Wat Arun

Wat Arun stands on the west bank of the Chao Phraya on Arun Amarin Road, opposite Wat Pho. The official TAT page lists a ticket of 200 baht for a foreign adult and gives no opening hours, so ask the temple for the day of your visit. The temple dates from the Ayutthaya period, and TAT writes that it once housed the Emerald Buddha brought from Vientiane.

Museum Siam

Museum Siam is open Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00 and closed on Mondays. A foreign adult pays 100 baht and a student aged 15 or over 50 baht. Children under 15 and visitors aged 60 and over enter free. The museum site says to walk from Sanam Chai MRT station, exit 1.

BACC art centre

The Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) is open Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-20:00 with free entry. It stands by BTS National Stadium station. In the exhibition list on its site on 19 October 2026 the main exhibition is Bangkok Art Biennale 2026, from 29 October 2026 to 28 February 2027.

Getting around

• Express boat. The palace site suggests taking the boat to Tha Chang (N9) or Tha Tien (N8) pier on the Chao Phraya. The operator publishes a schedule from 6 October 2026 and says Oriental Pier (N1) is closed for renovation
• BTS. A single journey costs 17-47 baht depending on the station, the One-Day Pass is 150 baht, valid on the day of issue and only on the Green Line, with time in the paid area limited to 300 minutes
• MRT. The nearest station to Wat Pho and Museum Siam is Sanam Chai, exit 1
• Tuk-tuks. The palace site warns that over short distances a tuk-tuk can cost more than a taxi and advises agreeing the price in advance. Common tricks are in our guide to scams in Thailand

A route for one day

This is our plan from opening hours, not source data.

1. Arrive at the palace at 08:30: tickets are sold until 15:30
2. Then walk to Wat Pho, which is open until 19:30
3. In the afternoon, Wat Arun on the other bank of the river: check its hours in advance

A route for two days

• Day 1. Palace and Wat Pho
• Day 2. Wat Arun and Museum Siam (not on a Monday)

A route for three days

• Day 1. Palace and Wat Pho
• Day 2. Wat Arun and Museum Siam (not on a Monday)
• Day 3. BACC and rides on the BTS: the centre is open until 20:00, so the day can start late

Museum Siam and BACC are closed on Mondays, so do not put days 2 and 3 on a Monday. The palace and temples are open daily.

Chatuchak, Lumphini Park, the Jim Thompson House, Wat Saket and Chinatown are not in the plan: we found no official pages with hours and prices for them and do not state figures. Check them on their official pages before you go.

Good to know

If you go on from Bangkok to the sea, see the answers on getting from Bangkok to Pattaya, to Phuket and to Krabi. For children and Thai rules read Thailand with kids.

Found an error or outdated fact? Tell the editors, we will fix it and update the check date.