Make the most of your weekend with our suggestions on how to spend a Saturday in Bangkok.
Who doesn’t love Saturdays?
A bit of a lie-in, a steaming mug of delicious coffee and, if you’re particularly blessed in the other half department, the smell of sizzling sausages being grilled up for your breakfast delectation.
Or, for those blessed with offspring, startled awake at 6.30am by hyperactive children before shoving a bowl of milky Coco Pops into your gob.
Gotta love Saturdays.
If you’re wondering how to take advantage of Bangkok this Saturday, here’s a few ideas to inspire you…
Farmers’ Market
Bangkokians love a good farmers’ market. So much so, that you’ll be able to find at least one every Saturday in the city.
Whatever you’re looking for — food, clothes, arts and crafts, jewellery, beauty products and even kittens up for adoption — you’ll be able to find it at a farmers’ market on a Saturday in Bangkok. Stalls are staffed by the producers and products are usually handmade, organic and/or artisan.
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They often hand out little tasters too, so make sure you go hungry!
Follow the Bangkok Farmers’ Market on Facebook to check their schedule for the weeks ahead. Their venues include such hotspots as Gateway Ekkamai, The Jam Factory, W District, Anantara Riverside and the Crystal Design Center.
K Village on Sukhumvit Soi 26 also holds regular markets most weekends. You can check their events calendar here.
Cross The River
Why not go crazy this Saturday and actually cross the Chao Phraya River? Literally, see how the other half of Bangkok lives.
Depending on where you want to go, you’ll need to take the orange-flag express boat or no-flag local boat (the latter stops at every pier) from Central Pier, until you can change onto a (very cheap!) cross-river ferry to reach the other side, unless your ferry from Central already stops there.
A few of the places worth exploring on ‘The Other Side’ include:
- Wang Lang: an incredible street food market and women’s clothing market near this pier of the same name. Siriraj Hospital & Museum (more on that later!) is also nearby. Take the cross-river ferry from Phra Athit or the orange-flag express boat.
- Royal Barges Museum: a quirky museum that explores the peculiarities and ornate designs of this Thai naval tradition. Take the express boat to Phra Pin Klao Bridge pier.
- Wat Arun: the iconic Temple of the Dawn is on the other side of the river. Take a cross-river ferry from Tha Thien pier.
- Santa Cruz Church: a large Catholic church, dating back to the original European settlers, on the banks of the Chao Phraya. Take the express ferry to Memorial Bridge and cross the river.
- Bangkok Noi Museum: a museum to commemorate and understand Bangkok Noi from its beginnings as a village. Take the cross-river ferry to Thonburi Railway.
- Thonburi canals: some tour operators offer long-tail canal boat tours of Thonburi, which should also show you the local floating markets in the area. Take a tour from Si Phraya pier in Silom.
Visit a Contender for the World’s Creepiest Museum
Hey, there. (By Bobby under Licence CC BY 2.0)
The Siriraj Medical Museum, given the ‘fun’ nickname of the Museum of Death, is definitely worth a visit if you’re on the other side of the river and looking for something a little creepy to do.
It’s actually composed of five smaller, self contained museums:
- Parasitology Museum: parasites
- Sood Sangvichien Prehistoric Museum and Laboratory: tools from 3 different prehistoric ages
- Congdon Anatomical Museum: home to over 2,000 human organs, various body systems, muscles and multiple birth dissections
- Ellis the Pathological Museum: explores heart disease and cancer
- Songkran Niyomsane Forensic Medicine Museum: unnatural deaths and their causes
The Forensic Medicine Museum is famously home to the mummified first known serial killer of Thailand — Si Ouey Sae Urng, a cannibal child killer.
Stuff Yourself at Brunch
If there’s one thing that Bangkok’s hotels do well, it’s brunch.
When you’re feeling peckish in Bangkok on a Saturday, a hotel brunch is the perfect way to while away the rest of the morning (and probably the afternoon too).
Brunch is served ???????? #Bangkok #Thailand – Takeover: @marcforne
A photo posted by The Peninsula Bangkok (@thepeninsulabangkok) on
These are lavish affairs, with the best hotels offering various drinks packages as well as luxury extras like lobster Thermidor. It’s Saturday brunch, darling!
Here are a few of the best to test out:
- The Peninsula, Riverside
- Pullman Grande Sukhumvit, Asok
- Le Meridien, Silom
- Siam Kempinski, Siam
Be Cute at an Animal Cafe
If you’re not willing to splash the cash on a decadent brunch, why not opt for a dose of cute instead at one of Bangkok’s many animal cafes?
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Most of these places offer up coffee, cakes and snacks before inviting you in to play with the animals.
Do your research before you go to make sure that the cafe’s practices are humane and the animals happy and comfortable in their environment.
Here’s a few animal cafes perfect for spending a Saturday in Bangkok:
- Neverland Siberians, Ari — huskies galore!
- Caturday, Ratchathewi — hello, kitty
- Lucky Bunny Cafe, Ladprao — rabbits
- Purr Cat Cafe Club, Thonglor — HiSo cats
- Little Zoo Cafe, Muangthong Thani — er, foxes, a meerkat and a raccoon
Chill out at the Mall
Yeah, we said it: we love the mall.
By Mark Fischer (Licence CC BY-SA 3.0)
Scratch that: we love Bangkok’s malls. There’s so much to do in them that it’s pretty easy to spend more than just a few hours rolling around in the air-conditioned luxury.
Hell, the WoS editorial team accidentally found themselves spending 8 hours at EmQuartier a few weeks ago. You know how it goes — lunch to coffee, an impromptu happy hour, cinema, dinner, and then a quick, late night stop-in to Gourmet Market for dog food and craft beer.
Sure, these malls can get pretty busy — Siam Paragon on a weekend can be eye-watering — but there’s no denying their appeal when it comes to spending a Saturday in Bangkok.
What’s your recommendations for a Saturday in Bangkok?
Featured image is a photoshop of a photo by Mark Fischer (CC BY-SA 2.0 licence) and an extra dog
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