Where should I stay in Bangkok?

Sukhumvit is the right call for a first visit, and I'll be specific about where. Between Soi 1 and Soi 31, you're stacked on top of three BTS Skytrain stations — Nana, Asok, Phrom Phong — which matters more than you'd think when it's 37°C outside and the humidity hits you like a wet towel. Soi 11 has the densest cluster of four-star hotels in the $70–110 range: places like the Aloft or the Citadine. Soi 22 runs a touch quieter but still drops you at Phrom Phong station in four minutes. Terminal 21 mall at Asok has a food court where pad kra pao costs 45 baht (about $1.40) and the air conditioning alone is worth the visit by mid-afternoon. Walk east from Phrom Phong and you're in Thonglor, where the dinner scene actually gets interesting — grilled pork neck at Baan Somtum Rajprasong, green curry at Supanniga Eating Room, that sort of thing. The trade-off: Sukhumvit between Soi 3 and Soi 15 has a red-light district presence. It's not dangerous, but it shapes the street atmosphere at night.

If you've been to Bangkok before, or you want the quieter, older city, book around Phra Nakhon — the area behind the Grand Palace along Phra Athit Road. Boutique guesthouses here run $40–70 a night. The pace is different. You can walk to Wat Pho before the tour buses arrive at 8am, catch the Pak Khlong Talat flower market while it still smells like jasmine garlands in the pre-dawn cool, and eat boat noodles at a shophouse where the broth has been simmering since before sunrise. The walls of the old buildings along these sois carry decades of faded paint and temple gold leaf. Mind you, the downside is real: no BTS, no MRT. After 10pm you're looking at a 200–350 baht taxi or a Grab car to get back from dinner across town. The Chao Phraya Express Boat helps during the day, but the last boat runs around 7pm depending on the line.

The riverside hotels — Mandarin Oriental, Capella, Shangri-La — sit in a different category entirely. Budget $200–400 a night, and what you get is the river breeze at sunset, long-tail boats puttering past your balcony, and a staff-to-guest ratio that feels almost excessive. The Mandarin Oriental's breakfast terrace, right on the water, is the kind of thing people remember ten years later. That said, you're somewhat isolated from the street-level Bangkok that makes the city interesting. Getting to Chatuchak or Thonglor means a boat plus a BTS transfer or a 40-minute taxi depending on traffic. Worth it for a special occasion or a second trip when you've already done the walking-around version.

Silom and Sathorn work if you're here partly for business or want a neighborhood that empties out after 6pm. The BTS runs right through on Sala Daeng and Chong Nonsi stations. Hotels in the $80–140 range line Sathorn Road — the Eastin Grand and Mode Sathorn are solid mid-range picks. Lumphini Park is a ten-minute walk, and at 6am it's full of people doing tai chi and monitor lizards the size of your arm sliding through the lake. The MRT connects you to Chinatown (Wat Mangkon station), which currently has some of the best street food access in the city — roast duck at Prachak on Charoen Krung, or the rolled noodle carts along Yaowarat Road after dark when the neon signs turn on and the whole street smells like wok hei and charcoal.

A few areas to skip on a first trip. Khao San Road sounds like a budget traveler's default, and the $15-a-night dorm prices are real, but so is the bass thumping through your floor until 3am and the persistent smell of cheap beer and pad thai cooked in the same oil since Tuesday. Ratchada has night markets worth visiting but the hotels there feel stranded — you're a long taxi ride from anything else. Don Mueang area hotels serve a purpose if you have an early flight from the old airport, but there's nothing to walk to. And Pratunam, despite being central on the map, is a wholesale clothing market district where sidewalks barely exist and crossing Ratchaprarop Road at rush hour feels like a contact sport.