With one of the world’s longest streets, Sukhumvit is an enchanting piece of Bangkok, studded with international brand hotels, exciting shopping malls, and vibrant nightlife establishments. Beyond the bright, neon-lit go-go bars of this swanky business and leisure district, family attractions, museums, and green pockets await. And, of course, you can find plenty of shopping complexes and a globetrotting selection of restaurants near our Sukhumvit family hotel. Use Floral Court Hotel & Residence Sukhumvit Soi 13 as your base, and the top things to do in this exclusive part of Bangkok are all a short stroll away.
At Total VR, the first VR arcade in Bangkok, you can dive into a thrilling virtual world. Whether you like to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco or enjoy the views from the top of Australia’s Uluru, also known as Ayer’s Rock, both children and adults get their money’s worth. But be warned your little ones will not want to leave once they got a taste of the Fruit ninja game, slicing fruits that jump into the screen. Total VR is situated at Gateway Ekkamai, a Japanese-themed community mall.
Not the usual museum you’d expect in a lively district in Bangkok, the Museum of Thai Pharmacy is all about traditional Thai medicines and treatments. Visiting this special interest museum near Soi 38’s night market, you can familiarize yourself with earlier illustrations of the human anatomy and how Thai people use herbal medication as natural remedies.
A teak house turned into a pretty little museum, Kamthieng House is a peaceful sanctuary amid Sukhumvit’s sky-brushing business towers. Offering a glimpse into the past, it originally opened to highlight the Lanna culture. Tools used in agriculture epitomize the former life in rural Thailand. And you can marvel at artifacts, weaving equipment, and household items from the northern region of the Thai kingdom. In short, the Kamthieng House Museum in the Watthana district is well worth visiting.
A green oasis in an urban jungle, Benchasiri isn’t just a leafy park but also an exhibition of sculptures, including a centerpiece fountain lit when twilight falls, and a pyramidal monument built in honor of Queen Sirikit. Situated next to the Emporium shopping mall, Benchasiri Park is a good place to wind down after a day spent shopping.
Framed by high-rise buildings, Benjakiti Park is another great green space in the Sukhumvit area. With its walking and cycling paths around a large lake, it’s a terrific place to go to if you need some respite from Bangkok’s hectic urban environment.
Designed in the vein of an airport, Terminal 21 gives you a taste of various cities across the planet. Step onto the escalator, and you’re taken from Tokyo and London to Paris, Istanbul, and San Francisco. Run into sumo wrestlers on one story and a double-decker bus on the next. You can also take pictures of replicas of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Eiffel Tower. With over 600 shops, restaurants and leisure facilities, this shopping mall near the BTS Station Asok is one of Bangkok’s coolest travel-themed shopping complexes.
Be sure to bring your credit card as Emporium is arguably one of Bangkok’s swankiest shopping centers. It features designer fashions galore and hosts an array of local brands and high street names. Aside from quality goods, Emporium also boasts a food court and countless restaurants to stave off your hunger pangs.
With a plethora of clothes shops and beauty and health stores that aren’t heavy on your pocket, Gateway Ekkamai is one of the best places to go shopping near Floral Court Hotel & Residence, a Sukhumvit Soi 13 hotel. You can also find lots of affordable restaurants, plus an IT zone and edutainment center with the latest computer games that are both entertaining and educational.
Perfect for snapping family pictures, plenty of décor is pleasing to the eye, such as lanterns, Japanese daruma doll talismans for good luck, and cherry tree replicas. Getting to Gateway Ekkamai is super easy as a skywalk links it with the BTS Skytrain station of Ekkamai.
If you happen to be near Thong Lor Yatai Street, check out Bo.Lan Restaurant for a crisp and tender beef curry dish. The bowl of juicy beef curry with hot, fluffy rice comes with a ton of flavor that’s hard to beat. After all, it’s not for nothing that Bo.Lan keeps appearing on round-ups of the best restaurants in Thailand and Asia. Set in an old but renovated house on 24 Sukhumvit 53 alley, it offers a modern twist of Thai cuisine.
Bo.Lan also scores with its low carbon footprint approach. The Thai-western couple that runs the restaurant grows their own veggies, purifies their groundwater, and recycles organic waste. Enjoy!
There are Italian pizzerias and then there is Bella Napoli. Opened in 2001, one of Bangkok’s oldest restaurants has made a name for itself with good reason. Bella Napoli was the first pizzeria to offer pizza baked traditionally in a wood-fired oven. The originality doesn’t stop here. At Bella Napoli, a name that derives from the Italian city where the pizza dish was born, you can order a Pizza Venice. To resemble the canal waters of Venice, this pizza is topped with soft mozzarella and a bridge made of thinly-sliced, dry-cured Parma ham that gives it a salty taste.
See moreYou can watch the pizzaiolo, or pizza maker, rolling the thin, crispy dough into sheets because the oven is visible in a brick corner of Bella Napoli. The master of pizza deftly applies tomato sauce, cheese and a sprinkle of oregano, creating the “Parma bridge” before baking it at high temperature in the wood-fired oven. This ensures you get a perfect pizza with a crispy, golden crust and beautifully charred toppings. Aside from unique pizzas, Bella Napoli offers clay pot-baked pasta dishes.
To get to Bella Napoli, a restaurant with an old-world charm epitomized by timber doors and old newspaper reviews framed on the wall, ride the rumbling BTS SkyTrain and get off at Phrom Phong. The restaurant is a short walk from the BTS station and is clearly signposted.
Do you crave authentic South Asian food from India? Then Chowpati on Sukhumvit Soi 13 is the spot to hit. Specializing in traditional Punjabi Indian food, it offers all the best Indian fast-food options. Need a teaser? You can get spicy cashew dishes and Papdi Chaat – small, deep-fried flour crackers laced with carom seeds. The staff goes above and beyond for their customers, and the paintings on the wall add ambience to the sizzling sounds from the kitchen. Chowpati is centrally located on Sukhumvit Soi 13.
You can also feast on your favorite meals at one of the many street markets along Sukhumvit Road. Street vendors offer anything from Thai food and clothes to sunglasses and trinkets. For an authentic Thai market, make a beeline for the expansive Khlong Toei market. There, you can get fresh fish, dried products, cuts of meat as well as exotic fruits and veggies straight from the farm.
Arguably one of the most well-known red-light districts in Bangkok, Soi Cowboy isn’t just for single men attracted to skinny females and third genders but also for traveling groups and even couples. You can have a drink on the terrace as many brightly lit go-go bars offer outdoor seating.
Nocturnal attractions are also available at Nana Plaza. For pumping tunes in a nightclub, go to RCA, or Royal City Avenue. It’s a street well-liked by locals, tourists, and expats.
Sukhumvit is also home to luxury spas and massage parlors galore. While the former often require a pre-booking as they’re popular, you can walk in at any massage parlor in the Sukhumvit area. As you probably have guessed, Sukhumvit isn’t for temple lovers. But there’s plenty to do to unleash your holiday spirit.