The Riverside is one of the most popular areas in Bangkok, packed with iconic sights and luxury hotels. Many of the city’s top 5-star hotels, attractions, and malls are located along Chao Phraya River.
When visiting Bangkok, you’ll likely find yourself at least once searching for the way to the riverside area to visit popular points of interest such as Wat Arun, Wat Pho, Grand Palace, Icon Siam, or Asiatique.
I love taking boat rides along the Chao Phraya River, exploring different temples and malls, experiencing local life, and enjoying stunning views. This is one of the many best things to do in Bangkok Riverside.
In this article, I will share with you popular ways to get to the Riverside area of Bangkok from various locations in the city like Suvarnabhumi Airport, Siam, and Sukhumvit. Whether you are finding the way to your hotel or visiting one of these riverside’s iconic landmarks, I hope this guide is useful.
If you want to stay in the Bangkok Riverside area, you can check this article Where to Stay in Riverside Bangkok to know more about the advantages, disadvantages, and some of the best places to stay along the Chao Phraya River.
4 Popular Ways to get to Riverside Bangkok
The most popular area along the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok stretches around 10 km from Bangkok Old Town to the area around Asiatique. This is where all the major tourist attractions and hotels are located; you will be likely to visit this stretch when exploring the riverside.
Depending on where your destination is on the riverside, you can get to the riverside by using MRT subway trains, BTS skytrains, boats, or taxis.
1. By BTS skytrain (Silom Line)
You can use BTS skytrain on Silom Line to get to Saphan Taksin BTS station along the riverside. From this station, you can walk for a few minutes to Sathorn Pier to get ferries and hop on hop on off boat to all the famous sights along the river like Icon Siam, Wat Arun, Old Town, Chinatown, and Asiatique.
There are a cluster of high-end hotels near Saphan Taksin BTS station including Shangri-La, Lebua at State Tower, and Centre Point Plus Hotel. Further away, you have Capella, Chatrium, or Ramada.
If you are staying in this Silom Riverside area, you can use Saphan Taksin station as a transit point to public transportation.
The BTS Silom line will directly connect the Riverside with famous sights like the Patpong night market, Lumphini Park, and a range of shopping malls in Siam like Siam Square, Siam Paragon, and CentralWorld.
You can combine the Silom line with the Sukhumvit line and the MRT blue line to explore all other parts of Bangkok.
2. By MRT underground train (Blue Line)
The MRT blue line passes a part of the Riverside area in Bangkok Old Town. You can use this direct train to get to the Old Town River area from Chinatown, Silom, and Sukhumvit. Sanam Chai MRT Station is the closest MRT station to the riverside.
From Sanam Chai, you can walk to iconic landmarks like Wat Pho, Gland Palace, and Pak Khlong Talat (Flower Market). Lots of beautiful boutique hotels with stunning views of Wat Arun and the river are also located within walking distance from Sanam Chai Station.
From Sanam Chai Station, you can also transfer to boat services by walking to Wat Pho or Tah Tian Pier. You can take cross ferries to Wat Arun and to get to other major sights along the river.
3. By Boats
There are dozens of piers along the banks of Chao Phraya River and near iconic sights. You can easily go to the piers, by the ticket (either local boats or hop on hop off boats) to travel along the river.
Some popular piers along the river are the Tha Chang Pier, Tah Tian Pier, Phra Athit Pier, Wat Arun Pier, Icon Siam Pier, and Asiatique Pier.
4. By private taxi, Grab, Bolt
All attractions and hotels along the river are reachable by road, so you can use a private taxi, Grab, or Bolt to get to your destination on the riverside area. I didn’t have any taxi scam in Bangkok, and always agreed on the price before getting in the car.
You can use metered taxi and riding share services like Grab, Bolt, and Indriver. InDrive is my favorite transport app in Thailand, as it is usually cheaper than Bolt and Grab.
From Suvarnabhumi Airport
It is around 30-40 km from Suvarnabhumi Airport to the Riverside area of Bangkok. The ride is around 1 hour. It will take longer in the rush hour from 7am to 8.30am and from 5pm to 7.30pm. You can easily order a taxi at the airport at the taxi area. The public metered taxi is around 400-500 baht.
If you are staying somewhere in the Old Town Riverside area or Silom Riverside area that is close to Saphan Taksin BTS station or Sanam Chai MRT Station, you can consider using multiple public train rides.
I recommend using Google Maps for the best direction. You can take the Airport Rail Link train from the airport to either Makkan Station for transferring to MRT trains or to Phaya Thai Station for transferring to BTS skytrain.
From Old Town/ Chinatown
Old Town and Chinatown are located right on the eastern bank of Chao Phraya River. If you are staying in the Bangkok Old Town or Chinatown area, you can easily walk or take a short tuk tuk ride to the riverside area.
There are several piers along Old Town and Chinatown where you can take a boat to visit all attractions along the riverside. In the Old Town, you can use Tha Chang Pier (close to Grand Palace), Phra Athit Pier (close to Khao San Road) and Wat Pho Pier (close to Wat Pho).
In Chinatown, you can use Ratchawong Pier (close to Yaowarat Road, Sampeng Market) and Marine Department Pier (close to Talat Noi and Wat Tramit).
From Siam
Lots of visitors choose to stay in Siam for shopping and its central location. From major shopping malls in Siam like Siam Paragon, Siam Quare, and CentralWorld, you can get to Riversider by using the Silom BTS skytrain line, or the combination of BTS skytrain and MRT subway.
It is also possible to use the boat ride from San Saep canal to get all the way to the riverside in the Old Town area. The boat ride will pass some major sights like the Jim Thompson House Museum and Golden Motun (Wat Saket).
From Sukhumvit
Sukhumvit is very well-connected to BTS skytrain and MRT subway train. If you stay somewhere near Asok, Terminal 21, and Soi Cowboy, you can walk to Sukhumvit MRT Station, to get a direct MRT train to the Old Town Riverside area.
To get to the Silom Riverside area, you can get off at Silom MRT station, then transfer to Silom BTS skytrain line at Sala Daeng BTS Station. Silom Station and Sala Daeng are located just a few minutes walk from each other.
From Pratunam
Many visitors to Bangkok choose to stay in Pratunam due to its close proximity to Bangkok Airport. This area is also known as the wholesale shopping district with major sites like the Pratunam Market and Platinum Fashion Mall.
From Pratunam, you can use a public train to get to the Riverside. These will include the combination of BTS Skhumvit line and Silom line. Another way is to use the boat along San Saep canal to get to the Old Town Riverside area.
From Silom
Silom is quite larger area that is located right next to Riverside and Chinatown. The Silom line BTS skytrain will take you directly to Saphan Taksin in the riverside area. Several hotels in Bangrak, along the riverside, were marked in Silom because this area is more popular for tourists.
Hop On Hop Off Boats Along Chao Phraya River
You can easily catch the boat along the river at major malls and attractions. This is one of the best things to do in Bangkok and many visitors put these boat tours on their Bangkok itinerary. You can consider buying a All-day pass ticket for THB 150 to take unlimited rides throughout the day.
If you just visit a few major sights along the river like me, you can just buy separate tickets at each pier. I used a boat to get from Tha Chang Pier to Wat Arun, from Wat Arun to Icon Siam, and from Icon Siam to Asiatique. Each ticket was around 30 baht.
The Chao Phraya Tourist Boat services several key piers, including:
- N13: Phra Arthit Pier (near Khao San Road)
- N9: Tha Chang Pier (near the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew)
- W: Wat Arun Pier (for Wat Arun)
- N5: Ratchawong Pier (in Chinatown)
- I: ICONSIAM Pier (for ICONSIAM shopping mall)
- Sathorn Pier: Central Pier (near BTS Saphan Taksin)
- A: Asiatique Pier
See more: Best places to Stay in Bangkok.
I hope my short guide on the transportation along the riverside will help you to navigate around this area. It is a scenic and peaceful area to explore with lots of 5-star hotels and iconic attractions and malls like Wat Arun, Icon Siam, Asiatique, Wat Pho, and Grand Palace.