The Whole of Us

Bangkok was a total surprise. Everyone told us it would be so overwhelming with all the noise and traffic, and yes its a big city, but there is SO much to like about Bangkok, especially with kids. Our main reason for visiting Bangkok was to spend time with the children and staff of House of Blessing (HOB). This foundation works with prisoners, ex-prisoners, youths and children of prisoners. To learn more about our time at HOB click HERE. When we weren’t at HOB we were out exploring the incredible city of Bangkok

Things to do with kids in Bangkok

Terminal 21

Fancy some shopping in different cities around the world? Well take the kids to Terminal 21, a shopping centre designed as if it was an airport terminal. There are 9 floors, each floor transporting you to a different country. At the top of the centre is an enormous food court serving Thai and international food. We happily enjoyed a few hours exploring the themed floors and eating from the food court. It’s right on the BTS sky train line, so super easy to travel to.

Lumpini Park

You’d never know you are in the heart of Bangkok while walking around the lake and enjoying the tranquil setting of Lumpini Park. We were very fortunate to happen upon a dance aerobic class running for free; each of us were willing participants until we were so sweaty and red in the face we could dance no longer. There is a playground and toilets at the park too. Keep your eyes out for the monitor lizards and turtles. The size of the lizards was a huge surprise!

Get Growing Community Farm (the best playground EVER)

Ok, this one isn’t free, but it made the list because its hands down one of the best playgrounds we have ever been to! It was fairly unknown when we went, with very little reviews. It was a brilliant find by Tom, although be prepared, your kids will get dirty. The playground is an outdoor nature park with mud slides, pulley systems, and obstacles using cause and effect. The girls had the BEST time.

Access to the park costs 200 baht per child and is 100% worth it. The staff are incredibly kind and helpful. There are toilets, showers to wash the kids off, and a cafe serving food and drinks. To get there we took a small boat from Wat Khlong Toei Nok Pier for 40 baht return, then walked 10 minutes through quiet tree lined streets to get to the park. If you wanted to spend longer in the area you can hire bikes from the pier to explore further.

Childrens Discovery Museum

You could easily spend half a day here exploring the different exhibits that allow children to learn through interactive activities. It’s a little old and worn down in places, but totally free and the girls had a wonderful time! There are free workshops running throughout the day too, which the girls had great fun in despite our very limited thai. Outside there are a number of play areas including a dinosaur and water park. Don’t forget to bring your passport as you’ll need to show it to gain entry.

Directly opposite the museum is the Chatuchak Weekend Markets, so a great idea to combine the two activities while you’re in the area.

Chatuchak Weekend Market

The weekend market is a must-see cultural experience of different smells, sights and sounds. Chatuchak is the largest market in Thailand and I can’t imagine having to naviagate it on our own. We were thrilled to have a guide, a dear friend from House of Blessing show us around. Anything and everything can be bought at these markets. It was a total explosion of the senses. The amount of animals being sold though was a big shock. We’d never heard of, or seen, many of them up close, and while fascinating, I don’t imagine its very kind on the animals. The rest of the market is incredible though and while we didn’t buy anything other than food, we had a brilliant time wandering around taking it all in.

Where we stayed

The Pathum Wan district is a great central location with easy access to public transport. We stayed in a two bedroom apartment at Urbana Langsuan that we booked through booking.com. In a busy city, knowing the days would be long and hot, having a pool to come home to was a welcome relief. I will say though, that despite the heat, the pool was a little too cold so we didn’t really use it. The apartment itself was great with everything you could possibly need for your stay.

How to get around

Getting around Bangkok is easy with their brilliant public train system. We mostly used trains to get around or booked a GRAB (Thailand version of UBER). Traffic in Bangkok can obviously be intense so we did have a number of ‘heated’ moments where we either couldn’t find a GRAB or it was delayed and we were left waiting in the hot sun for some time.

Tips and tricks

• Dont get in a taxi without agreeing on a price. We got ripped off too many times, usually at airports or train stations when we opted to go with a taxi rather than use the GRAB app.
• Download the GRAB app before heading to Bangkok. It’s similar to UBER.
• In big cities or places that we know could be a bit overwhelming (especially if staying more than a couple of nights) booking something with a bit more space, aircon and a pool has made a huge difference. It gives everyone a break and a safe place to unwind.
• Good coffee can be found! Don’t be sucked in by expensive Starbucks.

Want to know how we traveled to Bangkok from Surat Thani? Read about our night train experience HERE.

Have you been to Bangkok with kids? What would you add?