During my two-week tour of Southeast Asia, I only had two nights to spend in Bangkok. I wasn’t crazy about visiting a city with more than 8 million people, so I only stopped here to get a tattoo at Wat Bang Phra, outside the city. Since I definitely did not have time to learn my way around, joining a Bangkok tour was my best bet. I also knew I would not be up for schlepping around in the heat of the day, so I set out to find a Bangkok night tour amongst the many Bangkok food tours available.
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Bangkok Night Tour
I chose Bangkok by Night: Temples, Markets and Food by Tuk Tuk tour. For a very reasonable 1850 Thai Baht (about $55) we basically had a 4-hour Bangkok street food tour by tuk-tuk. While not specifically advertised as a food tours, this Bangkok night tour definitely centers around food! I was quite full by the end of the night.
The Bangkok night tour begins at the Krong Thonburi train station, where we were met by our tour guide, Natt and the owner of the tour company, Simon. Our international group totaled 9 tourists – 3 couples (Italy, Austria, Germany) and 3 solo ladies (US, Puerto Rico, Australia.) We were divided into 5 tuk-tuks for the evening and were each given a small pamphlet with a map showing the places we’d visit, as well as a few key phrases and random facts.
Bangkok Night Market
Our first stop was the Klong San Market, where our local food sampling began. I really liked the fish balls, which were little fried dough balls sprinkled with a spicy red sauce.
We then stopped by Wat Prayoon on the banks of the Chao Praya river. It was really beautiful lit up at night.
Best Pad Thai in Bangkok
Mid-tour, we had a sit-down dinner at Thipsamai, supposedly the best pad thai in Bangkok. I have no real reference point, as my only previous pad thai experience was at Uwajimaya in Seattle, and I was not a fan. We were whisked past a long line out the door and given menus to select our entree and tall glasses of cold tangerine juice. (I love OJ and tangerine juice is like orange juice plus! I didn’t even mind the pulp!) I went with the guide’s recommendation, shrimp pad thai, which was super tasty and, interestingly, wrapped in a cooked egg. (Eggs show up in strange places in Thailand, like on every club sandwich – yes, I had more than one club sandwich in Thailand!)
Bangkok Temples at Night
With full bellies, it was back to the tuk-tuk for more adventure. Next up was Wat Pho, famously known as the home of the Reclining Buddha (which, sadly, I did not see as it was closed earlier in the day when I tried to visit) With no crowds of tourists, we were free to roam around the exterior of the temples. Our guide explained how all the tiles were porcelain from China, originally used as ballast to weigh down the ships coming back.
Bangkok Flower Market
We then moved on to the flower market. It is amazing how many street markets I saw in Thailand and Cambodia – all of them rolled out and rolled up every day. The flower market was huge, stall after stall filled with fragrant flowers, and women making Buddha offerings with flower buds. Such a treat for the senses!
Chinatown Bangkok
Our last stop is in Bangkok’s Chinatown, where we again entered a restaurant and enjoyed some sweet treats. We had white bread cubes which we dipped in a delicious bright green custard sauce. And I finally got to try mango sticky rice with coconut milk…so good that I was recently searching Yelp to see where I can find it in Chicago!
At this time, it was nearing 11 pm, and we had the option of retaining our tuk-tuk drivers for a ride back to our hotels. I gladly chose this option and enjoyed a breezy ride back to the Aloft hotel, arriving way past my usual bedtime!
I can’t recommend this Bangkok tuk tuk tour enough – it is reasonably priced and very well organized. Throughout the tour, we were given cold bottled water, and even cold washcloths to cool down – an extra nice touch in the crazy heat and humidity! I would highly recommend this tour, especially if you are looking for things to do in Bangkok at night.
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Enjoyed your tour Leigh. Interesting about the eggs ! Just love the food descriptions!
The Tuk Tuk looks great! What a trip
Food Tours are such a great way to get to know a city and it would be a bit of an added novelty to do one in a Tuk Tuk! I think I’d really appreciate some local advice on what to try at the markets too as I found them pretty overwhelming in Thailand. Mango rice with coconut milk sounds like a great finish!
Yeah, I am not the most adventurous eater, so it helps to have someone else picking the food – I will try a small bite of almost anything! (except all the bugs on my Siem Reap food tour!)
What a great way to see the city and I love that it has a food focus. I just love Thai food and took some cooking classes while I was there.
Cooking classes seem to be very popular as well – I just didn’t have time to squeeze one in. I guess I’d rather eat than cook 😉
I never knew about Thipsamai but I LOVE pad thai so will definitely have to add that to my list of places to visit in Bangkok! Also – how good is mango sticky rice? A tuk tuk tour sounds like so much fun!
Mango sticky rice is so good! Which reminds me, I haven’t had it in a while…maybe I need to go find some around here!
Bangkok is a crazy city so I think exploring via a tuk tuk tour was a really good idea! I’ve never done a fold tour but have always wanted to!! Maybe next time I’m in Bangkok!
Food tours are my favorite thing to do, especially when I don’t know the cuisine and would be afraid to order stuff on my own!
Bangkok is a city that never sleeps 🙂 This tuk tuk tour really explores Bangkok’s markets, temples & food, under the night lights ! Seeing the sites at night brings out the beauty and mystery of the city. Thank you for sharing.
I’m headed to Bangkok next month so thanks for sharing, I’ll definitely try and do something similar to this!
Awesome – have a great time!
I love Bangkok. Such a vibrant and electric city. The food is amazing and I think that was a great idea. I also loved seeing the Mango sticky rice because it brought back such such great memories. Yum!
What a great night out! And I agree the price does sound reasonable. I was in Bangkok a year ago and wish I had known about this.
I did something similar in Dubai on an overnight layover. It was a blast and I’d love to do the same other cities as well! Saving this for my next trip!
Cool! I think tours like this are great when you have a super short time in a place.
I would love to take a tour like this! Food and sightseeing? Perfect combo! I’d love to try that pad thai…looks yummy!
This is so cool, wish I’d known about it when I was in Bangkok! Were the meals included in the price of the tour?
Yes! The price included transportation, meals and the guide.
Oh man I miss Thai food so much! My hostel was right across the road from that pad thai place so I ate there a few times. The tour sounds like an interesting and different way to see the city.
I love food tours! That’s a great price for a tour like that. Giving a little info before the tour with phrases and facts is a genius way to sneak in just a bit more learning/culture!
To be honest, I’m not a fan of tours. Was it $55 each or between two people? But to be fair, this tour looks really good because you get to go round in a group and tuk tuks are usually ridiculously expensive anyway! So that’s a good deal if they’re bringing you round for 4 hours and telling you facts about Bangkok etc. I loved Chinatown when I went!
This was a solo trip – $55 was per person. Pricy for Thailand, but when I only have a short time in a huge city like Bangkok, I find it best to do tours for a lay of the land. (Even if I’m staying longer, I usually do a tour on the first day to get a sense of the place) I thought it was a great deal, given all that we received!
This tuk tuk tour sounds awesome! I’d especially love it for the food because it looks amazing! I bet it all smelled so delicious too!
This looks like such a great experience! What a cool idea for seeing the city [and trying a lot of tasty eats!] Bangkok was one of the first overseas I took way back when I was like, 6–don’t remember much but I’d love to go back someday!
How cool – I’m planning a trip to Bangkok in October and will definitely bookmark this! The tour sounds great – I just hope they can somehow accommodate vegan or veggie diet… 🙂 Thanks for sharing your experience!
Okay this is definitely a bit of me! Out of the heat and during the night, something to remember for sure! Thanks for sharing 😀
This looks so much fun, just what we are looking for for our upcoming trip!