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Chinatown, Bangkok — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Chinatown is Bangkok's old Chinese quarter, a dense riverside district beside the Chao Phraya in Thailand.
About Chinatown
Where to stay in Chinatown
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
Chinatown suits travellers who want the older, denser side of Bangkok. Rooms cluster in the shophouse blocks near Talat Noi and along the Chao Phraya riverfront, with the district's night-market lanes and the calmer royal quarter of Rattanakosin both within easy reach on foot or by river boat. Book a shophouse room along the Chao Phraya for the shortest reach to it all.
The lanes stay lively after dark.
About Chinatown
What are the main landmarks in Chinatown?
Chinatown keeps its own riverside landmarks. The Wanglee House survives as a Chinese merchant mansion at Talat Noi, while Holy Rosary Church and Santa Cruz Church mark the old Catholic settlements along the Chao Phraya, and the grand royal sights of the Grand Palace and the Bangkok National Museum sit a short way upstream in Rattanakosin rather than in the district itself. The temples ground the streets.
Its draw is the lanes.
What is the history of Chinatown?
Chinatown dates to the founding of Bangkok in 1782. When the new capital rose at Rattanakosin, the Chinese traders already settled on that ground were moved downstream along the Chao Phraya, and the quarter they built grew into the merchant heart of the city, its warehouses and shophouses crowding the riverbank at Talat Noi. Commerce built this riverside quarter.
The Wanglee House still recalls those shipping dynasties.
Where is Chinatown?
Chinatown packs into a bend of the Chao Phraya. The district spreads across low, tightly built ground on the eastern bank of the river, its lanes running back from the water toward the older royal quarter of Rattanakosin just upstream, with the riverside pocket of Talat Noi folded into its southern edge. The river bounds it west.
Bangkok closes in around every side.
Good for
More areas in Bangkok
Updated July 2026