Best Photo Spots in Bangkok
8 photo spots in Bangkok, each with the hour it actually works and the angle worth walking to. The difference between a good frame and a queue of people in front of one is usually timing rather than gear.
Jim Thompson House and The Grand Palace & Wat Phra Kaew are best at morning; Lumphini Park and Wat Saket & the Golden Mount are best at golden hour; Wat Arun and Wat Pho are best at sunrise; Yaowarat — Chinatown is best at after dark.
Chatuchak Weekend Market, The Grand Palace & Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Arun get genuinely crowded — arrive at opening or accept people in the frame.
On light: old stone blows out under midday sun — the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset are when it has colour in it, many temples ban cameras inside entirely, so plan the shot for the exterior and the approach and open water and open sky mean the sky blows out before the land does; expose for the highlights and let the foreground come up afterwards.
A general rule that holds across Bangkok: ask before photographing people, skip anything that looks like a religious rite in progress, and expect a tripod to need permission at ticketed monuments even where a phone is fine.
High crowdEntry Free
Chatuchak Weekend Market
- Best timeThe first hour after it opens, before the aisles fill and while the light still reaches down between the tarpaulins — by noon it is a crowd in a tunnel
- ColorsWhiteDenim blueRust
Medium crowdEntry Around ฿200 for adults, with a discount for students
Jim Thompson House
- Best timeLate morning, when the light comes through the garden onto the dark teak — the interiors are dim and the contrast between the shaded verandas and the green outside is the shot
- ColorsJadeCreamIndigo
Medium crowdEntry Free
Lumphini Park
- Best timeFirst light, when the mist is on the lake and the exercise groups are out under the towers — and again at the hour before sunset, when the skyline goes gold behind the trees
- ColorsWhiteSageLilac
High crowdEntry Around ฿500 for foreign visitors, including Wat Phra Kaew
The Grand Palace & Wat Phra Kaew
- Best timeThe first entry of the morning, at half past eight — the gold takes low light beautifully and the compound is genuinely walkable before the coaches arrive around ten
- ColorsWhiteCreamDeep blue
High crowdEntry Around ฿200 for foreign visitors
Wat Arun
- Best timeSunset from the opposite bank, when the prang is lit from behind and then floodlit after dark — the name says dawn and the photograph is the evening, which is the joke of the place
- ColorsWhiteCoralSky blue
High crowdEntry Around ฿300 for foreign visitors, which includes a bottle of water
Wat Pho
- Best timeEarly morning, before the Grand Palace crowd walks down — and late afternoon, when the chedi field goes warm and half of it is in shadow
- ColorsSaffronWhiteTerracotta
Medium crowdEntry A small charge for the climb, around ฿50–100
Wat Saket & the Golden Mount
- Best timeThe hour before sunset from the top terrace, looking west over the old city towards the river — and just after, when the stupa is lit and the city switches on beneath it
- ColorsWhiteSaffronOlive
High crowdEntry Free
Yaowarat — Chinatown
- Best timeAfter dark, when the Chinese and Thai neon signs are all lit over the traffic — this is a night street and photographs of it in daylight are of a traffic jam
- ColorsRedBlackGold