Bangkok, Thailand – Bang Kachao, An Island Escape in the City

I have been to Bangkok so many times over the past 6 years with Emirates, and it’s a destination I’m always happy to return to. Delicious Thai food, amazing cheap massages, and a short-ish flight makes it a popular destination for almost everyone!

However, as with every destination that you’ve been to more times than you can count, you end up getting into your routine there. (See above – Thai food and a great massage!). So when I was there recently and one of our crew suggested visiting a small island in the city for a day out, I jumped at the chance!

Bang Kachao, known as “Bangkok’s Green Lung” is the perfect escape from the busy city – a forested island with cycling trails, cafés and a nature park just waiting to be explored.

We took a taxi from our hotel to the river and jumped on a tiny boat to take us across to the island. The boat cost about 10 Baht each!

Once we arrived, we got out right at the bike hire place, and for 80 Baht found ourselves a bike each to hire for the day. The island isn’t completely car-free, but almost everyone gets around on bikes or little scooters.

We set off around the island, with a very basic map and no real plan of where we were heading!

There are lots of pretty places to stop at along the way, with plenty to see. It was a very hot day so we stopped off for a cool drink in the shade after a while, before continuing along the bike paths.

Some of the paths are pretty narrow, and you have to watch out for scooters.

Eventually we started to get hungry, and one of the crew knew of a hotel and restaurant on the island called Bangkok Tree House, so we cycled on towards it for some lunch.

It’s a calm oasis in the middle of the island, and although the food was delicious it was quite a bit more expensive than the cheap street food meals you get used to in Bangkok!

After lunch (and some much needed air-con!) we continued our cycle along the paths, eventually arriving at a lovely park.

After a while it was time to head back towards the bike hire to drop our bikes back off and take the boat back to the city.

Bang Kachao was such a fun day out, and while I have no idea how many kilometres we cycled, it was certainly enough to deserve a nice Pad Thai for dinner!

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3 Comments

  1. December 3, 2018 / 1:28 pm

    Hello,
    I really like reading your blog.

    I will be 3 days in Bangkok with a friend end of January (btw, i will be flying with Emirates for the 1st time).
    What are the most important thing to do in Bangkok in 3 days?
    We will first visit a tailor because we both needs suits but we do not have many plans for the remaining time there.
    We will stop in Bangkok after a business trip in Asia. We are interested in having good time (relax, drink and eat 🙂

    Thanks for your suggestions.

    • Brian
      January 9, 2019 / 10:14 pm

      I would suggest -:
      Wat Arun (on banks of Chao Phraya River)
      Wat Pho (Reclining Buddha)
      Grand Palace & Wat Phra Kaew (Emerald Buddha)
      Wat Traimit (Golden Buddha) in Chinatown area
      Floating Market at Damnoen about 1 hour away from Bangkok
      Jim Thompson House

    • thedubaidiaries
      Author
      January 11, 2019 / 5:00 pm

      Hi Patrick! Thanks for reading 🙂 Honestly there’s so much to do and see in Bangkok! Make sure you go and see the Grand Palace and some temples, there are so many beautiful ones to visit. If you’re there over a weekend visit the Chatuchak Weekend Market, make sure you eat lots of delicious street food and go for some amazing cheap massages! I guess you can use the search function on my blog to see what I’ve done in Bangkok as well, enjoy! 🙂

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