I'm trying to identify the best luxury hotel that is close to the river and the skytrain and by close I mean a short walk. My research indicates that the Shangra La may be the best bet. Is this true? How much of a walk is it to both? Also do you know if it will be near the new subway that5 is scheduled to open next year? Please respond to my e-mail- [email protected]

Bill, I hope you don't mind that I am not responding to you via e-mail. It is my belief that the purpose of a forum is to share information with all visitors. I also don't like to give out my e-mail address to anyone for fear of spam. Anyway...you are correct. The Shangri La is the closest. However, you can take a River Express boat from the Oriental almost directly to the Sky Train entrance. It is almost as quick as walking, maybe quicker. Also, I believe the Peninsula shuttle goes right to the Sky Train entrance. Both the River Express and the Peninsula shuttle operate frequently.

The Shangri-La is on the river. It is about 1/3 mile down the river from the skytrain stop on the river, but due to highway overpasses it might be inconvenient to walk there. However, the hotel runs a shuttle boat that will drop you at the skytrain. All the hotels on the river, (Shang, Oriental, Peninsula, Sheraton and Marriott Riverside) run shuttle boats to various points on the river, including the skytrain stop on the river. Don’t' know anything about the locations of the stops for the new subway, did you check websites for the tourism authority of Bangkok or Thailand?<BR><BR>Definitely stay on the river, as besides being more convenient you will see the lifeblood of Thailand pass by you in this incredible river. While the consensus on this site is that staying on the river is best, there are varying opinions about the river hotels. Run a search. IMHO, my order of preference would be the Peninsula (for total luxury), the Marriott Riverside (for the best pool in Bangkok and possibly SE Asia), the Shang and Oriental in a tie. I am not a fan of the Sheraton. If you choose the Shangri-La, be careful of the rooms in the garden wing, as many of them look right out or have windows over a major highway bridge over the river. They would be noisy and the view is not much.<BR>

I have stayed at the Oriental and the shuttle boat takes you right to the Skytrain station on the Chao Phraya. It comes by every 15 minutes during the day to retrieve you also. All the rooms at the Oriental have a view of the river, and the windows are soundproofed. One does not walk to the Skytrain station because, as the previous poster stated, you have to walk across a highway via a crosswalk then walk across train tracks and pools of grease and tar. It will ruin your Tods.

We stayed at the ShangriLa. The skytrain is right there, just across a lane (I wouldn't call it a street). Go into the Shang through the Garden wing whose door is right there. We also stayed at Oriental. The River Express comes often but you can hit a wait. I don't think it runs that late in the evening, but I'm not sure about that. We like the Club floor of the Shang better than the Oriental. The Oriental pool is small and crowded and Bangkok is hot, hot, hot, so the pool was important to us. Also many more of the rooms at the Shang directly face the river. Haven't tried the Pen yet.

Elainee, you stayed at the Oriental? Then you would know they have TWO pools and ALL of the rooms face the river. I think you just walked through. I had dinner at the Shangri-la, at Angelini, which faces the pool area. The pool did not look much larger than the pool at the Oriental, although it had an kidney-shaped design. I don't know where this path is that leads to the Skytrain station, but there is DEFINITELY a major highway between the Shangri-la and the station.

try the penn (penninsula)...we like it the best over-all---the shangra-la is so huge and you might end up with a room overlooking the highway or the ugly buildings in the rear of the hotel....<BR>each room at the penn overlooks the water and their shuttle will take you directly to the skytrain in 5 minutes or less....they run continually...look at their web site for great deals...

Did stay at Oriental for 4 days, Shang for 5 days in January, two trips separated by 4 days at Angkor Wat. You get side view of river from all the Oriental rooms except the ones with balcony on the end which face the river. The pools at Shang are much, much larger than the pools at Oriental. In fact the pool at the River wing of S is very big rectangle and the kidney pool is huge. Oriental pools are both small for hotel pools. Also bad smell at the Oriental pool closest to lobby. While we were there the manager admitted that they have been unable to find solution for the smell problem. I agree that the Shang is very large, but the Club floor has just been redone and the rooms are very very nice. The Club itself has the best service and fab food. Our room at Oriental was the best decorated hotel room we have ever had, but for us the pool at the Shang was so pleasant that we liked that hotel better.

Search this board for info on luxury hotels on the river. There are lots of posts, lots of opinions, lots of good info.

without a doubt the best pool area in bkk is the one at the marriott resort and spa...while the hotel is not as lux, we prefer it overall

We love the Peninsula - it is a little dearer than the Shangri-la but we think its worth it. The Shangri-la is a short walk from the skytrain - under the traffic so there is no problem getting to it. The Pen has a ferry boat that leaves every 5 minutes or so to go to the skytrain jetty and then its just up the steps the same as from the Shangri-la. Actually we find this few minutes on the ferry a very relaxing time. The Pen staff are very helpful and friendly and the hotel and pool are lovely. We are staying at the Shangri-la for a couple of days this year (on frequent flyer points) but then later going back to the Pen - can't resist it.