One Week in Bangkok

What You Should Know Before Going On A Bangkok Tour

Bangkok Weather & Best Time to Visit

Between November and February is typically stated as the best time to visit Bangkok. This is because this is the driest season of the year, and you won’t have to worry about getting caught in a monsoon, or overpowering humidity.

If you are looking to save money (not a futile objective in Thailand, where affordable travel is very possible!), consider traveling between April and October. This is the hottest and rainiest time of the year, with temperatures reaching the mid-90’s Fahrenheit on average.

Traveling at this time means you also miss the tourist crowds, and when temperatures are 90 on average the rest of the year, the change in temperature isn’t that dramatic. Just pack a raincoat and some waterproof shoes!

There are also several festivals and key events during each of these times that you may want to plan your travel around. If this is something that interests you, consider a Thailand festival tour. 

Between the “off-season” of April to October, some of the key events include:

• Visakha Bucha: this is a day in April that is the most important Buddhist holiday in Thailand. It celebrates the three main events of Buddha’s life by processing to the temple with flowers, incense sticks, and listening to recitations of the Dhamma teaching.
• Songkran: This is the Thai water festival, where people flood the streets and shoot each other with water guns and celebrate together and wash away bad luck. Outside of the city center, more traditional celebrations with floating images of the Buddha take place.
• International Festival of Dance and Music: as the name suggests, this is a massive cultural exposition of Thai dance and music, as well as art forms from other parts of the world.
• Moon Festival: This is time of year when Thai families gather to say thank you to their ancestors as well as celebrate the harvest season. They gift and indulge in mooncakes made of lotus, red bean, sesame, salted egg, and durian.

And between the prime traveler season of November to February, several of Bangkok’s main events are:

• Makha Bucha: This is one of the four most important Buddhist festivals, and celebrates the month when Buddha delivered his core teachings. Besides giving food to monks, people meditate en masse in white robes, and process to certain significant sites (In Bangkok, these places include the Golden Mountain and Marble Temple).
• Chinese New Year: Also known as the Spring Festival in Thailand, this holiday celebrates the New Year. To celebrate this, a Lantern Festival occurs for two weeks, and on the main three days of the festival, there are exciting parades led by fire breathing characters and dragons, and people drink, eat, celebrate, and light off firecrackers to scare away evil spirits.
• Loy Krathong: This Siamese festival takes place on the final full moon in the last month of the year, and means “to float”. This comes from the practice of floating both floral bouquets, bits of Thai food, and candles down the river. The festival originates from paying homage to the water spirits, but is now practiced in the spirit of tradition, and is now sometimes accompanied by fireworks and a beauty contest.
• Golden Mount Temple Fair: This fair encircles the famous Golden Mount of Bangkok, and begins when a red cloth is used to cover the temple. People gather at the site to enjoy cultural shows, traditional music and games, market food, as well as martial arts performances.

Bangkok Safety

Bangkok is known to be a safe city, though of course you should always be on alert when you are in an unfamiliar place. Your biggest threat in Bangkok will be petty theft, the risk of which increases if you choose to enjoy the city’s rambunctious nightlife. Here are a few things to be mindful of:

Minor scams: Getting overcharged by taxis and tuktuks occasionally happens, but be easily avoided if you ask the driver to turn his meter on, or agree to a price beforehand. If you are particularly worried about getting overcharged, hold a map so you can ensure your driver takes the shortest possible route. If you ask for a taxi service recommended by your hotel, however, you will likely be able to completely avoid this issue

Pickpocketing: at the main tourist attractions, there is always a chance someone may try to pick your pockets. Never carry all of your belongings, remain aware of yourself, and keep things in interior pockets. If you are a woman, consider ditching the purse, which makes it easier for bag snatching to occur.

Fakes: If you are buying brand-name items or jewels off the street, know that these are almost guaranteed to be fakes. This may seem obvious, but some tourists end up getting persuaded by a particularly clever dealer!