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Khao San Road is the mecca of backpacker streets in Southeast Asia. It all started when a little book called The Beach was published. This later became a hit movie. During the filming of this movie, supposedly a lot of cheap rooms where rented out to cast and crew. This along with other visitors to Bangkok, shaped the famous backpackers street to what it is today.

A place where just about anything goes. Buckets of alcohol are always flowing, weird insects on a stick are plentiful, and a variety of different languages are spoken.

This is all going to soon change with plans on revamping the street into a designated walking street and tourist attraction costing 48 million Thai baht. Some of the changes include repaving the roads and sidewalks, cracking down on vendors, and favoring Chinese tourists over Westerners.

Khao San Road

Khao San Road is relatively short at a length of 410 meters. The famous street is packed with vendors, shops, hotels, bars, and restaurants. All these businesses have only been around for about 50 years. Before being the backpacker hub, Khao San Road was actually part of a rice market or rice mill. Hence name ‘khao’ which mean rice in Thai and ‘san’ is mill.

In my opinion Khao San Road is inconveniently located from the rest of Bangkok. In order to get there, the easiest way is to take a taxi or tuk tuk. If you want to take the long way you can take a water taxi from Saphan Taksin. Once you get there, you stay for a while or contemplate battling traffic to get somewhere else in Bangkok. It’s not walking distance to anything else close by.

Is it Worth it?

It really just depends on how you like to travel. If the goal on vacation is to drink and meet other backpackers to party, then by all means, check out Khao San Road. I on the other hand like to explore the city by day, and treat myself to ‘luxury’ experiences that I normally wouldn’t do at home like spa day, massages, afternoon tea, and trying the local cuisine from top restaurants.

Plus there is SO much more to Bangkok than Khao San Road. I really can’t stand how some people only come for just this one street.

Alternative Areas from Khao San Road

Chinatown

Chinatown is amazing for street food. It comes to life after 5pm and you can walk up and down the street eating everything. The best way to get to Chinatown is via the MRT station Hua Lamphong. Once exiting the station, you can either walk for find a motorbike taxi to go to Yaowarat Rd. I recommend not taking a car taxi because there is a lot of traffic. Motorbikes can easily zip around cars and arrive in no time.

If you haven’t heard of Jay Fai’s shop, definitely head over for her famous crab omelette. She was awarded a Michelin Star for her dishes.

Other food items to try are:

• Toasted bread which looks like a toasted bun filled with different flavored creme.
• Pomegranate juice
• Seafood: There are two rival shops across the street from each other, differentiated by red shirts vs green shirts. Or R&L Seafood and T&K Seafood. With almost identical menus, eat at both shops to decide who comes out on top.

Chao Phraya River

The Chao Phraya River is the main river in Bangkok and easily accessible by water taxis. The major chain hotels have free boat shuttles to and from the central pier. This pier is connected to the BTS sky train system. There are loads of activities to do and see on the Chao Phraya River which I have listed in my top recommendations.

Sukhumvit Road

Sukhumvit Road is the main road that runs through Bangkok. There are different areas of Sukhumvit based on Soi numbers which are the small side streets branching off from the main street. Depending on the Soi number you’ll come across local hangouts, expat bars, rooftop bars, shopping, and little hubs of speciality niches.

Each stop along the BTS line through Sukhumvit is its own small neighborhood. Soi roads 1 to 65 are all located within the Nana, Thong Lor, Asoke, Ekkamai, and Phrom Phong stations. For a in depth guide check out What’s on Sukhumvit.