Bangkok is not a city that reveals itself all at once.
Between the temples and tower blocks, old shophouses and new cocktail bars, street-side lunches and white-tablecloth dinners, Bangkok is a city of contrasts. Three days will never be enough to see everything — but it is enough to get a very good introduction.
For those visiting for a long weekend or stopping in Bangkok on business, here is our guide to spending 72 hours in the city — the Der Herr way.
DAY ONE — START WITH THE CLASSICS
8:00 AM — Coffee First
Bangkok takes coffee seriously.
Start the morning with a good cup before the heat and traffic properly set in. If you are staying centrally, Factory Coffee near Phaya Thai is one of the city’s established specialty-coffee names and an easy starting point before heading towards Bangkok’s historic centre.
Then make your way towards the river.
10:00 AM — Old Bangkok
No first visit to Bangkok is complete without seeing some of the city that existed long before the skyscrapers.
Start around the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, home to the Reclining Buddha and one of Bangkok’s most important temple complexes.
Give yourself time to walk rather than simply ticking landmarks off a list. Around the river and the surrounding streets, Bangkok moves at a very different pace from Sukhumvit and Sathorn.
The gentleman’s note: Dress accordingly. Temples are places of worship, not simply tourist attractions. Lightweight trousers and a linen or cotton shirt will keep you comfortable while remaining respectful. Wat Pho asks visitors to dress politely and restricts inappropriate shorts.
12:30 PM — Lunch, Thai Style
For your first lunch, resist the temptation to search for Bangkok’s most elaborate tasting menu.
Some of the best meals in the city are the simplest.
Find somewhere busy, order several dishes for the table and share. A good pad kra pao, grilled pork, som tam or bowl of noodles tells you as much about Bangkok as any fine-dining restaurant will.
Save the tasting menus for later.
2:30 PM — Have Something Made
Bangkok has been associated with tailoring for generations, and for many international visitors, having something made remains part of the Bangkok experience.
The important thing is not to leave it until your final afternoon.
At Der Herr Bespoke, we recommend beginning your commission early in your stay. Your first appointment is about more than taking measurements: it is the opportunity to discuss how you dress, where the garment will be worn, the climate you live in, the cut you prefer and the fabrics that make sense for you.
For a first commission, allowing time for subsequent fittings is always preferable to rushing the process.
And if Bangkok’s weather has taught us anything after decades of dressing clients here, it is that a good garment starts with the right cloth.
Lightweight wool, linen, wool-linen blends and breathable cottons are your friends.
6:30 PM — See Bangkok From Above
As the temperature drops, go upwards.
Bangkok’s skyline is best appreciated around sunset, when the city changes from concrete and glass into seemingly endless lights.
A rooftop drink is admittedly a Bangkok cliché.
Some clichés exist for good reason.
Keep things simple: lightweight trousers, an open-collar shirt and, if the venue calls for it, an unstructured jacket. Bangkok is relaxed, but many of its better bars and restaurants still reward making an effort.
8:30 PM — Dinner
Now you can bring out the tasting menu.
Bangkok’s contemporary Thai restaurants are doing some fascinating things with regional ingredients and recipes. Rather than trying to reproduce traditional Thai cooking, many reinterpret it.
If you want something more considered, restaurants such as KHAAN offer a contemporary fine-dining interpretation of Thai cuisine.
And don’t rush back to the hotel afterwards.
Bangkok is only getting started.
DAY TWO — THE OTHER BANGKOK
9:00 AM — Take the Morning Slowly
You have already done the temples.
Today is about seeing how Bangkok actually lives.
Have breakfast, get a proper coffee and leave the itinerary slightly loose. Bangkok rewards wandering more than scheduling every 30 minutes of your day.
Then head towards Charoen Krung.
11:00 AM — Charoen Krung, Talat Noi & the River
This is one of our favourite sides of Bangkok.
Charoen Krung was Bangkok’s first major paved road, but today the neighbourhood around it has become a mixture of old shophouses, galleries, restaurants, cafés, hotels and creative spaces.
It is exactly the kind of contradiction Bangkok does best: old without being frozen in time and modern without completely erasing what came before.
Walk through Talat Noi, where old car-parts workshops sit beside cafés and street art, before continuing through the surrounding lanes towards the river.
Don’t over-plan this part.
Walk.
Stop when somewhere looks interesting.
Have another coffee.
1:00 PM — Lunch Without Ceremony
After last night’s dinner, go in the opposite direction.
Find somewhere local.
Bangkok is a city where an exceptional lunch can still arrive on a plastic plate, and part of enjoying the city is accepting that price and experience do not necessarily have much to do with each other.
The rule is simple: if a small restaurant is packed with people who appear to eat there regularly, that’s usually a good sign.
3:00 PM — A Different Kind of Shopping
Bangkok’s shopping goes far beyond malls.
Spend the afternoon looking through independent stores, antiques, eyewear, design objects, books or local brands around Charoen Krung and nearby neighbourhoods.
Or do absolutely nothing.
Find a café, order something cold and watch Bangkok go past.
In a city this busy, doing nothing for an hour can be surprisingly luxurious.
5:00 PM — Back to the Tailor
If you started a commission on your first day, this is a good time for a fitting.
This is where bespoke becomes tangible.
A fitting allows the tailor to assess things that measurements alone cannot fully communicate: posture, balance, shoulder line, jacket length, sleeve position, trouser drape and how the garment behaves when you move.
Small adjustments here are often what separate clothing that simply fits from clothing that feels natural to wear.
7:30 PM — Cocktails
Bangkok’s cocktail scene has become a destination in its own right.
Skip the hotel lobby tonight and try somewhere more intimate. Bar Us on Sukhumvit 26 is one option for a more contemporary cocktail experience, while Sathorn has developed an excellent collection of bars of its own.
Have one.
Perhaps two.
You still have dinner.
9:00 PM — Bangkok After Dark
Tonight, don’t make too many rules.
Have dinner somewhere you hadn’t planned to visit. Move to another bar. Find live music. Stay longer than intended.
For something with a little more character than a conventional nightclub, Bangkok has a surprisingly good live-music scene. Smalls in Sathorn has long been a late-night favourite, while venues around Charoen Krung offer everything from jazz to blues.
Bangkok after midnight feels like an entirely different city.
Enjoy it.
DAY THREE — SLOW IT DOWN
10:00 AM — A Late Start
If Day Two was done correctly, you shouldn’t be rushing anywhere this morning.
Have a late breakfast.
Order another coffee.
Take your time.
Then do something Thailand does particularly well.
11:30 AM — Thai Massage
A proper Thai massage is not necessarily the candlelit spa experience visitors imagine.
Traditional Thai massage involves pressure, stretching and movement and can feel closer to assisted stretching than a conventional massage.
Wat Pho itself is closely associated with traditional Thai medicine and massage, and massage services are still available within the temple complex.
After two days of walking around Bangkok, you’ll understand the appeal.
1:30 PM — One Last Thai Lunch
By now you probably have a favourite dish.
Go back for it.
One of the pleasures of a short stay in Bangkok is how quickly extravagant dining plans are abandoned because you can’t stop thinking about something you ate for 100 baht the day before.
That’s Bangkok.
3:00 PM — Final Fitting
If you have commissioned something during the trip, allow time for your final fitting rather than squeezing it between checking out and leaving for the airport.
Try everything on.
Move around.
Sit down.
Button the jacket.
Check the trouser length with the shoes you intend to wear.
A well-made garment shouldn’t only look right while you’re standing perfectly still in front of a mirror. It needs to work when you actually live in it.
5:00 PM — The Last Few Hours
Spend your final afternoon without an agenda.
Walk through Lumphini Park.
Sit somewhere beside the river.
Have a drink.
Buy the thing you decided you didn’t need yesterday.
Bangkok will still give you something you weren’t expecting.
8:00 PM — One Last Dinner
For your final evening, choose somewhere worth remembering.
That could mean a serious Thai restaurant, a counter seat at one of Bangkok’s increasingly ambitious kitchens or simply returning to the place you enjoyed most over the previous two days.
There is no definitive “best restaurant in Bangkok.”
That’s partly what makes eating here so good.
The city changes too quickly for definitive lists.
WHAT TO WEAR IN BANGKOK
Bangkok is hot, humid and often unpredictable, so dressing well here is less about formality and more about choosing intelligently.
During the day, breathable cotton and linen work particularly well. For trousers and tailoring, lightweight tropical wool offers breathability while retaining more structure than linen.
Evenings allow a little more freedom.
A lightweight jacket over an open-collar shirt or polo works for many of Bangkok’s better restaurants and bars without feeling overdressed.
And don’t underestimate footwear. You’ll probably walk considerably more than you expect.
The goal isn’t to dress for the heat by wearing as little as possible.
It’s to wear better fabrics.
72 HOURS LATER
Three days in Bangkok will barely scratch the surface.
You will have missed restaurants worth crossing the city for, streets you didn’t know existed and entire neighbourhoods you’ll promise yourself you’ll explore next time.
That’s fine.
Bangkok isn’t a city you finish.
Come for the food, the energy, the old and the new, the late nights and the organised chaos.
And perhaps leave with something made especially for you.
Der Herr Bespoke
Bangkok, Thailand
Established 1952.
