7 Reasons not to visit Bangkok in Thailand

Are you looking to visit Bangkok on holiday? Or maybe you’re backpacking in Bangkok or on a travel couple breakaway to Bangkok? Whatever type of visit you on to Bangkok, I am going to give you 7 reasons not to visit Bangkok in Thailand. In this post, you will get my honest opinion on visit Bangkok in Thailand. I only stayed in this most visit city in the world for just 2 days, however this is more than enough time to see the best and worst places in Bangkok. Chiang Mai is a really cool place! You can check out my post on how to get the Bangkok to Chiang Mai train.

I am a big fan of cities and I love exploring county capitols to discover the culture, lifestyle, shops, bars, restaurants and everything else that capital has to offer. However, Bangkok is a letdown and in this post, you will find out why! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExpG_bKISC8

1. The smell is one of the reasons not to visit Bangkok Thailand

The smell in Bangkok is not a pleasant one at all. I mean expected bad smells, due to the number of restaurants in Bangkok chopping up fish and meat. But the smell of stale garbage and waste in Bangkok is something else! 

Don’t get me wrong, Bangkok is a very big place to visit and get around, obviously, you don’t get the stench everywhere. However, there is a grim smell in a lot of places! 

It’s not as bad as the smell in Phnom Penh though, this is one place in Cambodia that I won’t be visiting again! 

I understand that with it being a crazy busy city, there is going to be lots of waste and other smelly garbage. But I just thought I would prepare you for one of the reasons not to visit Bangkok. In addition to Bangkok being a mad busy city. Did you know Bangkok is the most visited capital in the world, with more than 100 million tourists a year visit Thailand’s capital! Damm that is a lot of people in one place. Get me to an island.

If you are travelling, see my trip from Koh Lipe to Bangkok.

2. Bangkok points of interest and just about everything else is always crazy busy 

If you’re the type of person that gets anxious in crowded places, you need to read this.

Like I mentioned Bangkok is crazy busy and there’s not many places that you will find in the city that provide a tranquil minute. I do love exploring cities, London is my best city to visit in the world so far and I’ve not been to New York yet so that might be number uno. 

Back to the point, Bangkok is uncomfortable busy. London gets busy but I expected it and I handled it like a boss. However, in every corner of Bangkok, there are stupidly busy restaurants, bars and whatever else people in the city like to crowd around. 

I walked into A food court in the centre of Bangkok and I’m not kidding, I have never seen so many people in one place eating food. Every table was jam-packed and the cues were even busier. I got a headache just watching where I was stepping, to avoid knocking the food tray out of some poor Thai girl’s hands.  

The streets of Bangkok are stupidly busy too and don’t even think about running across the road. Nope, there are manned areas for guiding us tourists across the streets of Bangkok.

Check how to get to from Bangkok to Koh Tao or the Bangkok to Koh Samui overnight train

Need ideas for your backpacking list? See the backpacking essential item list for Asia

3. Everyone’s loud in all the places in Bangkok 

Before we got into this one. I’m not a miserable lad who likes silence, I love festivals, concerts and football matches. However, the noise of the tourists and locals in Bangkok is on another level.

I walked through one of the markets in Bangkok and a girl did the most random-longest-high-pitched-scream. I’ve never heard anything like it and she was one of the workers on that market stall. Even her workmates looked at her like, what the f**k are you doing.

Visiting Bangkok you should know, there is a constant sound flow of horns beeping, people shouting and Chinese tourists going wild overtaking ‘selfies’ at any opportunity.

On one of the days we cued for an easy ride on the Bangkok riverboat cruise. It turned out to be an absolute nightmare! We were left huddled up in lines like farm animals while waiting for the boat. I asked the staff of the Bangkok boat cruise “can you tell me when our boat is due?”. She just screamed at me in Thai and looked fuming. This was one moment I felt the urge to tell her what I was thinking of her. But I just wanted to get on the boat. 

Some of those in the queue seemed to get a little more privilege, I had to watch at least 5 boats set off when my position at the front of the queue surely meant I should have been on the first boat. Crazy!   After a day of walking around Bangkok, you can expect to feel like you have spent the day inside a washing machine. Headache, dizzy, ears ringing and stressed. Damm, you need the luxury of visiting the Thai islands. If you are not a big fan of constant loud noise, then this is one of the reasons not to visit Bangkok!

4. All of the things to do in Bangkok are very expensive 

Although Bangkok is the capitol of Thailand, I didn’t expect it to be expensive. That’s right a visit to Bangkok is expensive! The price of everything is inflated compared to other places to visit in Thailand.

Looking for places to eat in Bangkok? Expect to pay more than the Thai average. By the time I got to Bangkok, I had just been to Bali, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Therefore, I was used to the prices of a restaurant in Asia and Bangkok is well up there with the most expensive. If not the most expensive.

Even the cost of water in the shops is inflated! Also, if you looking for things to do in Bangkok, then expect to pay a price as you would pay for an excursion in an expensive European city. 

In addition to taking part in the best things to do in Bangkok, it’s going to cost you a lot in taxi, boats and buses for transportation around Bangkok. This leads me to my next point on the reasons not to visit Bangkok.

You will love the Phi Phi islands though and Maya bay!

5. Hard work to get around the top things to see in Bangkok

Backpacking in Asia, I am used to spending my days travelling around the towns, cities, beaches and islands. Therefore, I understand travelling around is the biggest part of backpacking in Thailand and the rest of Asia. However, getting around Bangkok is an absolute nightmare.

I’m completely happy hiking from place to place, but there is no chance you can walk to the few best things to do in Bangkok. There’s also no great system for getting from place to place in Bangkok. For example, London has a mega underground tube system for getting around the city. Bangkok is nothing like this.

We visited the tourist trap Koh San Street (I’ll get into this in a min) and then visited the blind dialogue. What a joke, we got a boat and then still had to walk for roughly 5 Miles. Then if you visit another Bangkok excursion, you will have to trek and pay out a small fortune. 

 6. A visit to Khao San Road is a letdown

I was excited to see this street, I love the film hangover and I expected to see something like of the movie. It wasn’t, it was a shambles and it’s a tourist trap.

We got tea on there and mid food the staff pulled out a Dj box, shifted all the tables and left just us sat there with our food on this now a restaurant turned dance floor. We then headed out side, looked at the tacky bars, expensive Koh San restaurant, overpriced market stalls and then got the hell out of there. S**t place to visit and is one of the reasons not to visit Bangkok.

have you thought about visiting the Khao Sok Lake floating bungalows?

7. Bangkok’s China town is a shambles

I expected a booming atmosphere, tasty Chinese food and plenty of mega China goods in Bangkok’s China town. I didn’t see anything about this? Did I take a few wrong turns? It was a complete waste of time. When you think of a usual China town, you vision a good time tasting great food and taking pics of the amazing culture. The China town in Bangkok did not provide anything of the sort, I couldn’t understand what all they hype is about on the internet. Also, there are not many things to see in around Bangkok’s China Town. There is a few market stalls scattered around, but not something to great to rave about.

I made my way through the streets and river of Bangkok to reach one of Bangkok’s top places to visit, China town. It was such a disappointment. We left after 15 minutes, it looked the locals had already left before us as there wasn’t much going on at all!

Summary 

I know this is quite a controversial post, but I just thought I would share with you my experience in Bangkok. Everyone’s different and you might think Bangkok is the best thing since sliced bread, but I think you will find at least one of these reasons not to visit Bangkok relates to you. 

If you a staying in a five-star hotel in Bangkok you may experience a different side of Bangkok. If you’re just staying the hotels luxury walls, however, you will soon discover what I’ve said is true.

Let me know about your experiences on a visit to Bangkok.