185 places, 9 rides

Explore Bangkok's hidden layer by scooter

Tourist Bangkok is one temple, one mall and one rooftop bar. The real city is the layer underneath, and every pin on this map is a place we actually rode to.

TempleCafeViewpointPlaceHidden gemSunset spotFood

Sorted into rides

Execution-site murals, canal shrines, 80-year curry alleys, roasters hidden in shophouses, and bridges where the sunset belongs to locals. Pick a collection and ride it in an afternoon.

Hidden Bangkok Temples

Lesser-known temples of Bangkok and Thonburi. Strange histories, murals, and quiet courtyards far from the tour buses.

18 places

Bangkok Cafes and Sweets

Specialty roasters, hidden shophouse cafes, and dessert stops worth riding across town for.

36 places

Bangkok Eats

Old-town food worth riding for. 80-year curry alleys, dawn markets, crab fried rice, and dinner terraces facing Wat Arun.

28 places

Bangkok Sunsets

Bridges, riverside parks, rooftops and coastal viewpoints for ending a ride with the best light in the city.

25 places

Streets and Markets

Old quarters, markets, shrines and creative spaces of the real Bangkok, heavy on hidden gems.

23 places

Green Bangkok

Parks, canals and green escapes inside and around the city.

13 places

Design and Garden Cafes

Cafes worth riding to for the building or the greenery: flower-swallowed shophouses, a 101-year-old Chinatown coffee room, glass-house townhouses and tropical garden rooms.

10 places

Temples Beyond the City

Short rides out of Bangkok. Mon river communities, a leaning prang, a Buddha in sunglasses, and coastal heritage reached through mangroves.

14 places

Day Trips from Bangkok

Destinations beyond the city. Historical parks, beaches and temples that make a full day's ride.

14 places

Sorted into loops

Five orders we actually ride these stops in, with the distance between each one. Park once and walk a coffee street, or take half a day down the west bank.

Old Town Morning Loop

Rattanakosin before the tour buses: a dawn market, a 60-year breakfast counter, the marble-and-mosaic temple most visitors ride straight past, and the flower market while it still smells of jasmine.

Morning, 8 stops, 5.6 km

Chinatown Food Loop

Talat Noi at golden hour, then the Yaowarat food block: roll noodles, a curry stall under a bridge, fried oysters, and a rooftop over the river to finish.

Evening, 8 stops, 2.7 km

Song Wat Coffee Crawl

The densest coffee street in Bangkok: seven roasters, a 101-year-old bakery and a street-art wall, all on one riverside lane.

Morning, 9 stops, 1.5 km

Thonburi Riverside Temples

The west bank end to end: a porcelain prang, the bell temple, a mural hall older than the city's grid, a floating market in a canal, and the glass stupa at Wat Paknam.

Half day, 9 stops, 10 km

Green Lung Sunset Loop

Bang Kachao's raised jungle paths, a botanical garden, the weekend floating market, and two bridges that hold the last of the light over the river.

Afternoon, 7 stops, 12 km

Sorted into neighbourhoods

The same pins grouped by where they are, because the question on the bike is not which collection a place belongs to, it is what else is within five minutes of here.

Chinatown and Talat Noi

Two blocks that reward a scooter more than anywhere else in Bangkok.

26 places

Thonburi and the West Bank

Cross a bridge and the city drops a gear.

15 places

Rattanakosin Old Town

The royal island, Grand Palace to Thewet, with the flower market at one end and Khao San at the other.

32 places

Bang Rak and the Riverside

Charoen Krung and the Chao Phraya, from the Bang Rak congee counters down to the Rama III bridges.

12 places

Silom, Lumphini and Siam

The business spine, from Silom up through Lumphini and Ratchadamri to Siam Square.

13 places

Sukhumvit and the Parks

Sukhumvit gets written off as expat Bangkok, which misses the two biggest parks in the centre and some of the most serious coffee in the country.

17 places

Phra Pradaeng and Bang Kachao

The green lung: a jungle peninsula inside the Chao Phraya's biggest bend, twenty minutes from Sathorn and about forty years behind it.

12 places

Samut Prakan and the River Mouth

Where the Chao Phraya finally reaches the sea, an hour south of the old town.

13 places

East Bangkok

Srinagarindra out to Bang Kapi and Lat Krabang, the half of the city visitors never see and residents ride through daily.

11 places

Why there are no stars on this map

Every other map ranks a place by a star average that a bored crowd, a review farm and one bad Tuesday all get a vote in. This map ranks nothing. A pin is here because a rider rode to it and checked in, and the lists come from riders you can actually name. No star ratings to game, no sponsored pins, ever.

Ride it, do not just read it

A scooter turns this map into the best week of your trip. The whole Bangkok layer is in RiderLog: every pin with its story and exact location, check-ins with photos, and the lists riders you follow are building. Record the ride there and back, and it turns into a card worth sending. Free on the App Store.

Made by one person

Aivars Meijers. I am from Latvia, I live in Bangkok, and I build apps on my own as SleepyBytes. RiderLog is the app I use myself every time I take the scooter out, and I share how it is going, numbers and all, on YouTube.

Also by me: Apnea · Box Breathing · Bike Identifier · Ramen Number · Earn Your Scroll · aivarsmeijers.com