Hiring A Private Tour Guide In Bangkok: What To Expect

We hired a private guide for our last day in Thailand to show us the sights in Bangkok. This private tour is a great experience if you have time. We learned so much more than we could have learned by ourselves about the rich history of this wonderful city. She showed us how to use public transport (which can be confusing for first-time visitors) and took us to a floating market where we tried some delicious street food.

Cost Breakdown For Private Tour

Our tour guide cost $110 and lasted 8 hours. We also paid $80 for transportation (cabs, express ferries, buses, tuk-tuks, etc.). $30 was spent on 2 tickets to the Grand Palace and $128 on our dinner cruise, for a total of $348. You decide what you would like to see and do, while your guide will take care of the rest. Your Thai Guide lets us book our guide in advance with a credit card. The rest of the affordable Sydney private tours was paid for in cash.

Our Itinerary

We flew from Krabi Airport near Railay Beach in the morning to Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok. We booked a hotel near the airport to allow us to shower and rest after our tour before we embark on our long trip back to Maryland. The itinerary we selected for our Bangkok tour with a local is shown below.

Local Floating Market
The Grand Palace
China Town
Dinner Cruise

1: Local Floating Market

Our first stop was the floating market, which is located an hour outside of Bangkok. Our guide introduced to us all kinds of street foods that we would not have tried otherwise. Without her, we wouldn’t have found the floating market.

The Floating Market

The market was adorned with colorful decor and boats. I took a few quick pictures as we walked along the canal path, across the bridge, to the area where the vendors had set up their stalls with food, drinks, and other merchandise.

The Floating Market

The food and shopping were all inside the market, not on a canal boat. Our guide said that the market on the canal, where you can buy goods from a boat, was more crowded and touristy and that this market had better local food. Inside, there were posters and antiques from old movies.

It was amazing how many different food vendors there were. You could order anything from coffee to squid or fried insects!

Try The Street Food

The food we tried was all delicious. Our guide introduced us to boat noodles, fried potatoes, dumplings, and pork satay. Our guide told us to save space because the dinner would be very filling. She was right.

The Floating Market Also Offers Other Foods.

As we walked around the market, I snapped a few pictures to give you a better idea of what Thai street food is like.

We are now on our way to the Grand Palace, which is our second stop. The cab costs between $30 and $40.

2. The Grand Palace

We arrived just after 3 pm. This was right before the ticket sales stopped. Our guide took us on a tour of the grounds, explaining all the ancient stories and the history for an hour and a half.

Ornate Decorations & Landscaping

Grand Palace Buildings

The Grand Palace consists of a number of buildings, halls, and pavilions that are arranged around gardens, lawns, and courtyards. Each temple is a work of art with beautiful mosaics that are hand painted and sculpted.

Grand Palace Landscaping

The Grand Palace grounds are equally well designed and maintained.

Thailand: Stories & History

Grand Palace Murals

You will see many murals as you walk the wall surrounding the palace. They tell the story of King Rama and his wife, Sita, who is kidnapped by Ravana. Rama and brother save her with monkey warriors. Each mural shows a different scene from the story. Plaques are located on each pillar, next to the murals that give the written version.

We are now on our way to China Town, our third destination! The Grand Palace is a 10-baht city bus ride away. It’s much cheaper than taking a Tuk Tuk or taxi.

China Town can be reached by boat (Chao Phraya River Express). You can also get to China Town by boat (Chao Phraya River Express). It costs around 20 baht for each person. The boat, like the bus, only stops at a rolling halt. So, jump on and sit down. Someone will collect your money.

Cash is required as credit cards are not accepted. You can get off the boat by going to the back and waiting for the boat to slow down.

3. China Town

Bangkok is home to one of the biggest China Towns on the planet, and it’s definitely worth a trip. We want to visit this China Town on our next trip to Thailand and spend a minimum of half a day there, tasting all the exotic and delicious food.

We weren’t able to taste any of the food because we were too full from our trip to the floating markets and also had a dinner planned later that evening. Below are some pictures I took to give you a better idea of the experience.

It was great that our guide took photos of the two of you together. This can be difficult when there are only two of you traveling.

China Town Street Food

China Town has a huge variety of foods. The variety of food in China Town was astounding. You could find everything from insects to fruits and vegetables to chicken & duck.

Insects

Does anyone for fried insects? The most common insects include silkworms and grasshoppers. Other popular insects include water beetles and crickets. Our guide said that she regularly eats silkworms. We weren’t adventurous enough to eat any of the bugs…maybe next trip, or maybe not?

China Town has a wide variety of seafood, including crab and lobster. Street vendors offer everything from lobster to crab.

Seafood

China Town is a seafood paradise! There are vendors lining the streets with crabs, squids, shrimps, and clams.

Fresh fish, squid, and lobster are caught every day!

Produce

You can also try a variety of fruits and veggies!

Durian: The Stinky Fruit

Durian is a fruit that you can find all over Asia. It smells so bad it has been banned in Singapore’s mass transit system. It smells like an onion, but it tastes sweet, savory, and creamy at the same time. Some say it tastes like caramelized diced garlic poured over whipped cream. When we return to Thailand, durian will definitely be on our list.

We finished the day with a dinner cruise on a riverboat along the canal of Bangkok. The dinner included a four-course meal accompanied by traditional Thai music and dance. It was incredible! The cruise cost 2,000 Baht per person ($64), which is expensive for Thailand but well worth it.

4: River Boat Dinner Cruise

Loy Nava has been operating dinner cruises in Thailand since over 40 years. It is the only operator that uses an antique rice barge. The evening included traditional Thai dancing and music. We were the only couple on the boat due to travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Dinner On A River Boat

We enjoyed a variety of delicious dishes on our dinner cruise, including fresh fish, coconut shrimp, lobster, and chicken & pork curry. The chef prepared traditional Thai desserts.