The area along Silom Road, extending to Suriwong Road on one side and Sathorn on the other, is one of Bangkok's main business and financial districts. There's not much here to attract the tourist, aside from the red light district of Patpong and its associated night bazaar. However, it is centrally located and has a wealth of hotel offerings, so it's not a bad area to stay in.
Silom / Suriwong AreaClick on a sight for more information.
A number of the city's main tourist and business hotels are found along these roads. It is a relatively convenient location between the river and the main shopping area, with lots of options for food and entertainment in the evening. This convenience comes at a price, since most of the hotels are among the city's most expensive.
Here's a short run-down of the few sights of interest in the area:
At the lower end of Silom is the Silom Village center. This small collection of souvenir shops and restaurants can be an interesting place to poke around in, especially if you are staying in the area. In the evening, classical Thai music is played for guests of the restaurant in the open courtyard. Upstairs is a sort of dinner theater where you can enjoy a Thai meal along with an abbreviated display of Thai dancing.
Just up and across the street from Silom Village is the only purely Hindu temple in Bangkok. Built in the late 1860s by Tamil immigrants, the colorful temple now hosts the faithful of many nationalities.
Walk up Silom Soi 20 opposite the Hindu Temple. You'll pass a relatively new mosque near the middle of the alley. At the end of the alley is the Nelson-Hayes Library. The rather elegant library in a shady compound next to the British Club houses one of Southeast Asia's finest English-language collections. The library was built in 1921 to honor Jennie Neilson-Hayes by her husband. The rotunda serves as a gallery space with frequent exhibitions.
Silom Windmill
Chongnonsi Road bisects Silom roughly in the middle. This wide road has a canal running down the middle of it. Between Silom and Suriwong Roads, the canal has been covered with a plaza featuring a modern sculpture of a windmill. "Silom" means windmill in Thai, and the Silom area was once dotted with windmills. This was back when the area was mostly orchards.
Silom and Suriwong roads are home to many of Bangkok's oldest hotels, as well as a few of its newest. Staying around here gives you convenient access to the river and the main shopping area by Skytrain. The search box below will help you find the best rates for hotels in the area by comparing prices from dozens of booking sites at once.
The Silom Galleria shopping mall The Silom Galleria is a shopping mall in the base of the Jewellery Trade Center on Silom Road. It was meant to be Bangkok's premier shopping center for gems and jewellery, and while it does have a large number of shops selling these things, I wouldn't really recommend it as the best place to go if you're interested in buying some gems or jewellery. There's almost no way to know which shops are reputable.
The Silom Village Shopping Arcade Silom Village is one of Bangkok's oldest tourist-oriented shopping arcades. It was a going concern when I first visited Bangkok in 1987. There have been a few attempts to replicate it, but none of them have achieved the success of the original. The arcade combines several shops selling souvenirs of all kinds with an large array of restaurants, at least two of which also have shows of traditional dancing or other entertainments.
Sri Maha Mariamman temple on Bangkok's Silom Road Just up and across the street from Silom Village is one of the few purely Hindu temples in Bangkok. Built in the late 1860s by Tamil immigrants, the colorful temple now hosts the faithful of many nationalities.
Visitors are welcome to the temple, but you must take off your shoes and no photography is allowed inside the temple. Even taking pictures from outside can sometimes get you a mean look from one of the attending priests.
The main chapels of Wat Hua Lampong Not far from Bangkok's main business and entertainment district along Silom Road is the temple of Wat Hua Lampong. The temple serves a large community of those that live and work around upper Silom and Suriwong Roads, so although its not especially significant, the temple is a lively place to observe a 'real' working temple.
The altar of the main chapel of Wat Hua Lampong Wat Hua Lampong was extensively remodeled in honor of His Majesty the King's 50 anniversary on the throne.
