★★★Must-see·Backpacker strip
Khao San Road
ถนนข้าวสาร
The world's most famous backpacker street — buckets, pad thai carts, hair braids and all. Love it or flee it, you have to see it once.
The backpacker mothership — a single street that has launched a million Southeast Asia trips. Buckets and pad thai, hair braids and bootleg everything, hostels stacked on bars stacked on tattoo studios. It's louder and more polished than its legend, and still a rite of passage. The quieter parallel world of Soi Rambuttri is one lane away.
Mr Bullitt CC BY 2.5 · Random username 083794703875938 CC0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized · tap to enlarge
Visiting
- Open
- daily (busiest evenings)
- Entry
- Free
- Allow
- 1–2 h
No official opening hours published — check on the day.
Checked 10 Oct 2026 against en.thairath.co.th, nationthailand.com, openstreetmap.org, commons.wikimedia.org. Things change: closures for royal ceremonies and holidays are common.
A night out here
- These streets are at their busiest from about 21:00 onwards.
- Agree a price before anything starts, keep your belongings close, and treat any drink you didn't watch being poured with suspicion.
- Metered taxis and ride apps are the reliable way home late; tuk-tuk quotes at closing time are theatre.
Getting there
- Phra Arthit·Chao Phraya Express Boat~11 min walk
- Phra Arthit·Cross-river ferries~11 min walk
- Phra Arthit·Chao Phraya Tourist Boat~11 min walk
- Maharaj pier·Cross-river ferries~15 min walk
Typical times, not a timetable · rail, boat and BRT routing runs right in the atlas.
While you're here
- Bangkok City Library·Public library~3 min walk
- Wat Bowonniwet·Royal monastery~4 min walk
- Wat Chana Songkhram·Monastery~5 min walk
- National Theatre·Theatre (khon)~9 min walk
The neighbourhood
Khao San Road sits in Old Town · Rattanakosin — Where Bangkok began.