Bangkok

Bangkok is a city of movement, gold, water and flavour. Temples, river life, markets, contemporary hotels and one of Asia's great food cultures create an atmosphere that is vivid, generous and constantly changing.

Bangkok became the Thai capital in 1782, when King Rama I moved the court across the Chao Phraya to the island of Rattanakosin. The Grand Palace, Wat Pho and its reclining Buddha still stand there, with Wat Arun facing them from the Thonburi bank. Canals once made this a city of boats, and the river is still the most graceful way to travel between its old quarters.

Modern Bangkok spreads east in layers: the riverside trading district of Charoen Krung, Chinatown along Yaowarat Road, the business towers of Silom and Sathorn, and the long commercial spine of Sukhumvit, threaded by the Skytrain. Each has its own markets, shrines and street kitchens, and the distance between a palace ceremony and a plastic stool at a noodle stall is rarely more than a few streets.

The cool, dry season from November to February is the most comfortable time, with clear skies and evenings made for rooftops and the river. It is also the season of Loy Krathong, when candlelit offerings are floated on the water under the full moon of the twelfth lunar month, and of Chinese New Year celebrations in Yaowarat.

March to May is the hot season, ending with Songkran, the Thai New Year in mid-April, when the city empties of residents and fills with water fights. The rains arrive around June and last into October; showers tend to be short afternoon downpours, hotels are quieter, and the gardens of the temples are at their greenest.

Bangkok’s great hotels follow the river. Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok has received travellers on the east bank since 1876 and remains the city’s reference address; Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok at Chao Phraya River and Capella Bangkok stand a short way downstream, and The Peninsula Bangkok faces them from the Thonburi shore. Away from the water, The Sukhothai Bangkok offers a calmer, garden-set reading of Thai design on South Sathorn Road.

LVXVRY books Mandarin Oriental through the Mandarin Oriental Fan Club and Four Seasons through Four Seasons Preferred Partner — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges each programme attaches to the stay. For The Peninsula, Capella and The Sukhothai, LVXVRY advises on and arranges the stay directly, including river transfers by boat.