- See Also: 15 Cheap (But Good) Hotels in Bangkok
Tip: Bangkok is a great place for getting good deals on top notch accommodations. Even the best hotels will have great specials that aren’t much more than a mid-range hotel.
The best website for Bangkok hotel deals is hotelscombined.com. It’s awesome and finds some incredible discounts.
*I try to update this article on a monthly basis and link to the website that has the best price for that hotel (usually HotelsCombined but it could be booking.com, Agoda, or any site that I trust).
Family friendly hotels in central Bangkok
Here’s a list of Bangkok’s top rated hotels for families with children – or any travelers looking for good value and a reliable place.
Pullman Bangkok King Power
This one gets great reviews from families with children of all ages – from babies and toddlers up to teenagers. A nice, if simple, swimming pool, fantastic service, very nice rooms and phenomenal breakfasts keep families coming back. Close to the Victory Monument Skytrain station and the shopping at Siam Center.
Millennium Hilton Bangkok
The Hilton gets rave reviews for its attentive staff, great breakfasts, superb pool and the many toys, trinkets and amenities for kids. The only drawback (for some) is the location. The Millennium is situated on the river and requires either a long taxi ride or a boat ride across the water to get to Bangkok’s attractions – though the boat ride is free and it might be an amusing for some kids. Spectacular views should entertain both kids and adults.
Legacy Suites Bangkok
The staff get raves at the Legacy hotel. The Legacy has a nice pool with small separate area for kids. And a good location: close to many attractions on Sukhumvit Road but down a quiet street that will be appealing to many families. Some rooms come with a small kitchen.
Mandarin Oriental
Everything is outstanding at the Oriental – but the price. Better value for money is definitely available at the other hotels, but if you’re looking for the absolute best in accommodations then the Mandarin Oriental is your hotel.
Marriott Bangkok Resort & Spa
If you’re looking for an oasis from the chaos of Bangkok this is a good choice. Located a short boat shuttle across from a skytrain station you can leave the city behind. The free kids club gets mixed reviews, but the pool and great amenities (if slightly dated) please most guests. The Japanese and Italian restaurants are not cheap but are highly recommended.
Sofitel Silom Bangkok
An elegant hotel with excellent breakfasts, a great location (near the Chong Nonsi skytrain and Silom underground station), this hotel really impresses its guests. The swimming pool is small but pleasant.
Lamphu Tree House
This hotel wins the great but cheap award hands down. Cozy, comfortable, family friendly and inexpensive are some of the most common adjectives to describe the Lamphu Tree House. A nice pool and good restaurant round out the picture. Very close to the Royal Palace and Khao San Road.
Grand Millennium Sukhumvit
Look for big discounts online and the Millennium Sukhumvit looks even better than its gold starred reviews. The swimming pool is small but this is made up for by its close proximity to the Asoke skytrain station.
Adelphi Suites Bangkok
The location (close to restaurants and Nana Skytrain station) and great swimming pool are the main draws here. The simple and limited breakfasts draw some travelers complaints.
Royal President Serviced Apartments
Another great deal. The Royal President has a nice pool and great location near Sukhumvit road and the Nana and Asoka skytrain stations. Most rooms have kitchenettes.
Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport
If you do need to find accommodations close to the Suvarnabhumi International Airport you can’t go wrong with the Novotel. Great restaurants, nice pool, exemplary service. It’s not connected to the airport, as some reviews suggest, but a free shuttle bus zips you to the airport in minutes.
Siam City Hotel Bangkok
A luxury hotel at bargain prices. The pool, the food, the staff all get great ratings with vacationers. The hotel isn’t exactly centrally located but it’s very near to the Phaya Thai skytrain station which makes getting around the city easy. They offer a kids cooking class to guests.
Hotels With Swimming Pools
Luxury
Most 4 and 5 star hotels in Bangkok have swimming pools so I’ve picked out my favorites.
- Pullman Bangkok King Power
- Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel & Towers
- Millennium Hilton Bangkok
- Shangri La Hotel Bangkok
- Grand Sukhumvit Hotel Bangkok (pool is largely in the shade if that works for you)
- The Peninsula Bangkok
- Shangri La Hotel Bangkok
- Amari Watergate Bangkok
- Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok
- Conrad Bangkok Hotel
- Dusit Thani Hotel Bangkok
- The Sukhothai Bangkok
Budget
- Hotel De Moc
- Viengtai Hotel
- Buddy Lodge Hotel
- Bangkok Centre Hotel
- Indra Regent Hotel
- Asia Hotel Bangkok
- Novotel Bangkok on Siam Square
- Pathumwan Princess Hotel (the best and biggest pool in the budget category)
- Malaysia Hotel (possibly the cheapest hotel in Bangkok with a pool)
- Miami Hotel (also very cheap)
- Bangkok Hotel Lotus Sukhumvit
- Davis Hotel Bangkok
- Bel-Aire Princess
And Near The Airport:
- Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport
- Miracle Suvarnabhumi Airport
- Best Western Premier Amaranth Hotel Suvarnabhumi Airport
Further Reading:
- Hotels In Thailand – tips for finding and booking hotels
- Discounted Hotels In Bangkok
- How To Rent Cheap Apartments In Bangkok
My Favorite Websites
I get lots of questions about booking hotels. These are my favorite sites.HotelsCombined.com – The absolute best for finding hotel deals and discounts.
Agoda.com – A great resource for hotels in Asia.
If you could stay at any hotel which one would it be? For a strange coincidence of reasons money isn’t an issue for this next trip and I’m willing to splurge. Would like something 5 star but with character too. I’m with a group of 6 – 4 adults and 2 kids. We’ll be getting 2 rooms. Thanks for your valuable time and suggestions. All the best.
Probably either the The Peninsula or the Shangri-La. Both are world class luxury hotels. The Shangri-La has better restaurants.
hi david…
do you have any other recommendations or ideas for close to Khao San Road, on the more budget side but still a good place for a toddler…pool being the main goal. we REALLY don’t need anything fancy…just basic and a pool. saw the tree house which looks beautiful but still a bit above our desired price range. in the past we’ve stayed at mai kaidees which is fine and very cheap but would really like a pool for the little one. thanks for your help….
The Viengtai hotel is great: http://www.viengtai.co.th/en. It’s fairly cheap for a place with a pool and just one block from Khao San Road. Rooms include a breakfast buffet which is nothing special but saves you buying breakfast out. The pool has a very deep deep-end which is great for lifting the kids over your head and tossing them down into the water.
hi david,
i am just starting to plan our family trip to thailand for mid dec 2012 – early jan 2013…we will have about 3 1/2 weeks. we are looking for an experience, not a resort holiday, yet i do want clean and safe family accomodations.
i have been told that getting rooms is not a big problem without booking too far ahead, expect perhaps during the holidays when we are planning to travel. we are hoping to start in chiang mai and head to a few gulf islands then the western side near railey/koh phi phi…
do you think i need to book rooms for our entire trip? i did want some flexibility but am concerned that we will be ‘homeless’ if i dont plan ahead…also we are 2 adults and 2 children, but my son will be 16, my daughter 9 – most accomodations seem to be for 2 adults and children under 10 – do i have to book 2 rooms?
thx so much
melanie
Hi Melanie. As you probably know from reading my website, I’m very big on not booking in advance. You’ll often get the best hotel deal by looking around once you’re in a city or beach town, so I usually recommend booking the first night or two (and booking for places that you’ll only be in for a night or two) – and then looking about for a hotel you like at a competitive rate. Perhaps one thing I don’t mention as much as I should is that this process takes time – you’ll end up spending a couple mornings a week (depending how much you’re moving around) walking around the town, looking for hotels, asking about deals – when you could be out at the beach, taking a tour, or sitting by the pool. That said, I strangely enjoy hotel-hunting. It usually involves walking and exploring and meeting people, and the kids often like seeing each and every hotel they can. But, as I say, it does use time. So there’s that.
It can also cause some people some anxiety not knowing if they have a place. In all my years of traveling though I’ve never not found a place to sleep. There’s always some room, somewhere. (Admittedly this has involved sleeping in the personal quarters of the hotel owners but hey!)
Christmas and New Years are tough times to travel and find hotels – and it does seem like you’ve got a little concern about it, so I’d say go ahead and book some of those dates. But, there’s sort of a half-way flexibility that comes from booking after you arrive in the country but before you arrive at individual destinations. Even in Chiang Mai you’ll end up meeting people that just came from Krabi – and they’ll say, “Oh, you’ve got to stay here, you’ve got to go there.” – so then you can make your plans a few days before you get there so it still feels like a living breathing plan-as-you-go trip but you get some certainty of a place to stay as you pull into a new town.
As for the rooms and room size. Some places will have bigger rooms some places won’t. You’ll just have to see, ask, email.
Dear David,
Thank you for the information in your website. I am going to visit Thailand for 8 nights, and this will be our first trip going there.
Since we are arriving in Bangkok around 10 pm, I am thinking to stay closed to the airport for 1 night and fly the next day to Phuket for 2 nights. Then coming back to Bangkok and stay in Bangkok for 5 nights. Do you see any flaw in this plan??
Since I am coming with my 1 year old daughter who is still in the stroller, I dont think staying in Mandarin Oriental while we are in Bangkok will be a wise idea. I read if we stay over there, we need to take a boat anytime we want to go out. With a stroller, I think it will be a nuisance although I might be wrong. I will also be travelling with my husband and my 4 years old daughter.
My friend suggested me to stay in GrAnd Hyatt. But, if I am not wrong, Grand Hyatt’s bed is only a twin sharing which will be too small for us. That leaves me to stay in either Intercontinental (double queen bed) or Renaissance. Or perhaps you have a better idea??
Also, I dont know if asking about Phuket is out of context, but if not, do you have any recommendation which hotel should we stay?? I would love the white sandy beach by the place so we can take a walk.
Thank you so much for the help.
Sincerely,
Dianah
Hi Dianah. That sounds like a great plan (unless you wanted to spend more time on the beach and a few less days in Bangkok).
As for the Mandarin Oriental, no you don’t not have to take the boat everywhere though if you want to use the free shuttle boat then yes, of course, you would. It’s not far to the Skytrain station which can zip you all over the city. Taxis are abundant too, so you needn’t use the shuttle boat.
I love the Amari Watergate and I’m sure they’d have some bigger sized beds at a very good rate: http://hotelscombined.com/Bangkok/Amari-Watergate.
In Phuket, I’d go for the http://hotelscombined.com/phuket/kata-Beach-Resort. Beautiful pool and beach.
I hope that helps. Good luck.
Bangkok is a tough one. For budget hotels then yes, the best way to get them is to window shop from one to the next until you get a great deal. Outside of mid-December to early January you’ll have no trouble getting a great deal. However, if you have a little more money to spend some of the online deals are just amazing. I’ve stayed at 5 star hotels for $70 bucks (with breakfast). It’s an awesome city for living in luxury. A lot of people skip through Bangkok and don’t give it a chance but for me, if I had 3 weeks in Thailand, I’d do 1 week in Bangkok, 1 in the north, and 1 on Koh Phangan, Koh Lanta, or Koh Samui. (Koh Chang and Koh Samet are killer too.) And it all depends on the weather and if you can get cheap flights or have to take the bus or train. But regardless, don skimp on Bangkok!
Hi David, me and my husband are going to Thailand and flying into Bangkok in September for 1 week. We will have our 9 month old daughter. We would like to stay in a nice family hotel/motel, preferably somewhere with a pool and the room with a kitchen, needs to be extremely clean as my daughter will be crawling. Have you any suggestions on where to stay please?
The Aspen Suites Bangkok has kitchenettes, a good location, and is great value.
David,
I am 69. I want to travel in Thailand from Sep21, 2012 for 10 days and continue to Cambodia for 3 or 4 days before returning to home in NY. Please recommend accomodation and flight, NY to Bangkok, Bangok to Cambodia and back and return to NY. Are there challenges in my travel considering my age. Also, tips on what to sight see in Thailand and Cambodia. thanks and appreciate. any idea of much the whole trip would cost considering I am an average spender.
You should be able to do the whole trip for under $3000. For flights from New York to Bangkok search Kayak.com for the best fares. For flights within SE Asia use AirAsia.com. For finding hotels the best site is . For senior travelers to Thailand I would say travel insurance is highly highly recommended (World Nomads is good for travel insurance).
The best way to keep costs down is to stay flexible. Meaning flexibility on where you stay, when you travel, where to go. Search for options then choose the cheapest flights, hotels, destinations.
Good luck.
Hi David
Would like to visit Bangkok with wife and kids,
5 yr and 1 yr old.
Plan to be there for 6 nights
Can you plan an itenary for me .would like to cover Bangkok and pattaya.
Also recommend 4-5 star accommodation at. Both places
Amari Watergate is great. Nice pool and good location.
For Pattaya try the Nova Platinum or take a look at this page as it will get you some great discounts: Pattaya Hotels.
For itinerary, I would spend 3 nights in Bangkok seeing the sights. It’s easy to fill a couple days there. The zoo, the parks, boat rides on the canals, the big malls and markets, an aquarium. Then 3 more nights in Pattaya hanging at the beach and swimming pool. Have fun.
thanx so much for ur reply.This is very helpful.
I was zeroeing on Centara grand mirage pattaya or sheraton pattaya for 3 nights and hansar bangkok for 2 nights.
Kindly advise.
Anand
The Sheraton is nicer, the Centara is cheaper. I suppose it’s just what is more important to you. Both are good choices.
I think we’ll stay at the Viengtai in Khao San. It sounds fun and I’ve always wanted to hang out on KS road but will we be too far removed from the sights? Is it easy to get around by skytrain? thanks.
Actually Khao San is pretty close to a lot of the most interesting attractions in Bangkok (including the Grand Palace and the Chao Phraya river). However, it is not near to the SkyTrain so you will end up taking lots of buses, tuk tuks, or taxis. It’s loaded with places to eat and has a high-density of street food stalls. The Viengtai is a great choice. One of the few places in Khao San with a pool and just a little removed from the hub-bub of Khao San to afford a bit of quiet while still be steps from the action. Have fun.
We are going to Bangkok in September,We have been to Phuket twice and loved it. We have 2 boys 12 and 14 and we love the food. We wanted to see some new things and thought we better do Bangkok. We want to see death railway, floating markets,tigers, etc etc. We love to shop but we also love to relax and visit beaches. Should we go to chiang mai. hua hun and not go back to Phuket for end of trip.We like to sight see one day and veg out the next, Not sure what we should do. We have up to 2 weeks. Thanx, all advice is appreciated.
You’ll love Chiang Mai and I’d recommend doing the overnight train trip from Bangkok – your kids will love the experience. September is rainy season for Hua Hin but the heavy rains are in October and November so it shouldn’t be too bad. It usually rains in the afternoon and then clears up again after a good 30 minute downpour. It will likely be better weather than on the west coast at that time of year. There’s lots to do in Bangkok and you could easily be busy for 4 or 5 days there.