Mandarin Oriental Bangkok

Mandarin Oriental sits on one of Bangkok's most historic streets. Oriental Avenue is home to the colonial-era Assumption Cathedral, the old East Asiatic Company building and the antique and art shops of O.P. Place. The Grand Palace, Wat Arun and Chinatown are all within easy reach by river; the hotel's free shuttle boat runs to ICONSIAM, and Saphan Taksin BTS is about a 12-minute walk.

The hotel opened as The Oriental in 1876, and for 150 years it has welcomed royalty, writers, artists and travellers from around the world. Its literary past lives on in the Authors' Wing and The Authors' Lounge, where traditional afternoon tea is served beneath twin staircases and a glass-roofed atrium.

Most rooms and suites have floor-to-ceiling windows framing the river or the skyline, and the River Wing, reimagined by designer Jeffrey Wilkes, blends refined Thai aesthetics with contemporary comfort. Every room includes private butler service, silk bathrobes, and goose-down bedding.

With twelve restaurants and bars, you could eat here every night for a week and still not try them all. Anne-Sophie Pic at Le Normandie holds two Michelin stars for classic French cuisine, with a menu that runs from Cantonese and Chaoshan cooking to refined Thai and Italian on a riverside terrace, plus a traditional Thai evening with dance across the water. End the night at The Bamboo Bar, a legend in Thailand's jazz scene, with live music every night.

The Oriental Spa sits in a traditional Thai residence across the river, a short boat ride away. Treatments draw on traditional Thai healing and Chinese medicine alongside contemporary therapies. Back at the hotel, two outdoor pools, tennis courts, a yoga house, a Muay Thai studio, and a recovery studio with a cold plunge and infrared sauna.