Bangkok is not a cycling city, but it has three or four genuinely good places to ride a bicycle and they are worth going out of your way for. What does not work is treating the bicycle as transport: Bangkok's arterial roads are eight lanes of fast traffic with no shoulder, its painted cycle lanes are largely parked in, and the distances are far greater than the map suggests. What does work is riding somewhere deliberately traffic-free and enjoying it.
This is written for the visitor, not the commuter. If you live here and want to ride to work, you already know more about it than this page can tell you. If you have three days in Bangkok and would like to spend one of them on a bicycle, this is the guide.
- Best rideBang Krachao, the river loop
- Best traffic-free circuitThe Sky Lane at Suvarnabhumi
- Ride timeBefore 08:00, or Sunday morning
- What does not workCycling as A-to-B transport
Bang Krachao: the green lung
This is the reason to bring cycling shoes to Bangkok. Bang Krachao is a teardrop of land wrapped by a loop of the Chao Phraya river, in Phra Pradaeng district on the Samut Prakan side, and it has somehow survived as roughly 16 square kilometres of mangrove, coconut groves and stilt houses while the city built itself up all around it.
Most of it is threaded by narrow elevated concrete paths, raised a metre or two above ground that floods, running through jungle and between houses. Cars cannot use them. The main circuit is around 12 kilometres and takes an unhurried hour or two; at the centre is Sri Nakhon Khuean Khan Park, with its own short cycle path, a lake and wooden bridges. On a weekday morning you will pass more monitor lizards than people.
Getting there is part of it. Cross by longtail boat from Klong Toey or Bang Na piers — the boatmen take bicycles as a matter of routine — and hire from one of the shops clustered around the landing on the other side for a few tens of baht for the day. The bikes are basic and entirely adequate for the pace.
The elevated paths are narrower than they look and have no edge protection. A metre or two of drop onto marsh or concrete is a real fall. Ride slowly, do not overtake on the narrow sections, and think carefully before putting a nervous child or an inexperienced adult on them — see cycling with children in Thailand.
The Sky Lane
If what you want is to ride a bicycle at speed with no traffic at all, the closed circuit around Suvarnabhumi airport is the answer, and it is one of the more remarkable pieces of cycling infrastructure anywhere. A 23.5-kilometre asphalt loop around the airport perimeter, separate lanes for general riders and for fast riders, rest stops, toilets, bike hire and a medical post. It has its own article — the Sky Lane guide — because access has conditions worth knowing about before you make the journey out there.
The riverside and the old city
Bangkok has been building riverside paths and cycle lanes in fits and starts for years, with mixed results. The stretches that work are around Rattanakosin — the old royal island — where the streets are narrower, the traffic is slower and there is enough to look at that riding at walking pace is the point.
Early morning is essential. Before about 07:30 on a weekday, and for much of Sunday morning, the old city is genuinely pleasant on a bicycle: quiet lanes behind Wat Pho, the flower market, the canal-side streets in Thonburi across the river. By nine o'clock it is unrideable.
This is also the model most guided bike tours in Bangkok use, and they are worth considering rather than dismissing. A local guide takes you through alleys and along canal paths you would never find, crosses the river by ferry, and handles the two or three genuinely awkward road crossings for you.
Parks
Bangkok's parks allow cycling and several have marked loops, though none of them offer much distance:
| Park | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Lumphini | Central, a short loop, busy with runners; bike hire at the gate at times |
| Suan Rot Fai (Wachirabenchathat) | The best of them — a longer loop, dedicated cycle track, bikes for hire, north of the centre near Chatuchak |
| Benjakitti | Elevated walk-and-cycle structure over the old tobacco land, striking to ride at dusk |
| Sri Nakhon Khuean Khan | Inside Bang Krachao; short path, but the surrounding area is the point |
The roads in between
It has to be said plainly. Bangkok's main roads are among the worst cycling environments in Thailand. There is generally no hard shoulder, because the left lane is used by motorbikes, buses and parked vehicles, and the volume of motorbike traffic filtering at speed is extraordinary. Add a great deal of construction, unfinished road surfaces, storm drains with missing covers, and a monsoon flood pattern that turns some streets into canals for hours.
Cycle lanes exist on paper and in blue paint in several districts. In practice they are used for parking, are interrupted by bus stops and vendor stalls, and end abruptly. Do not build a route around them.
The elevated tolled expressways that carry the through traffic are closed to bicycles, which is a mercy but also means the traffic they would otherwise carry is on the surface streets with you. What the network looks like is set out in Thailand's expressways and motorways explained, and the reality of the city's traffic in driving in Bangkok.
Use public transport for the transit and the bicycle for the destination. The BTS Skytrain and MRT do not generally accept full-size bicycles, but a folding bike in a bag travels on both without difficulty, and taxis will take a bicycle if you fold the rear seats — an increasing number of visitors here ride a folder for exactly this reason.
If you do ride on the road
- Ride at dawn or on a Sunday morning; nothing else changes the experience as much
- Two rear lights, on, day and night — the visual clutter here swallows a single light
- Stay out of the left-most metre where drain covers, broken surface and parked vehicles live
- Expect motorbikes to pass on both sides, including on the pavement
- Treat every steel plate, painted line and drain cover as slippery when wet
- Plan U-turns and major junction crossings as pedestrian manoeuvres — get off and walk
- Lock the bike properly if you leave it; bicycle theft is real in the city
The general road habits that matter are in how to cycle safely in Thai traffic, and the specific business of Bangkok's one-way soi system in one-way streets, sois and how Thai towns are laid out.
Hiring and buying in Bangkok
Bangkok has the best bike shops in Thailand — proper workshops, brand dealerships, and stock you would recognise from home. It is the place to sort out a mechanical problem before heading up-country, and it is where a bicycle bought for a long trip is most likely to be the bike you actually wanted. See bike shops and repairs in Thailand.
Day hire is straightforward at Bang Krachao, the Sky Lane and several parks; hiring a good bicycle for a week is more of a project and usually goes through a tour operator. What to check at the handover is in renting a bicycle in Thailand.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to cycle in Bangkok?
In Bang Krachao, the parks and the Sky Lane, yes — those are effectively traffic-free. On the main roads it is one of the more hostile cycling environments in the country, with no shoulder, heavy motorbike traffic and poor surfaces. The safe answer is to choose your riding rather than commuting.
Where is the best place to cycle in Bangkok?
Bang Krachao, without much argument — the elevated paths through the mangrove on the river loop, reached by longtail boat, with cheap bike hire at the landing. The Sky Lane at Suvarnabhumi is the answer if you want to ride fast rather than slowly.
Can I take a bicycle on the BTS or MRT?
Not a full-size one, as a rule. Folding bicycles carried in a bag travel without trouble, which is why folders are popular with Bangkok cyclists. Taxis will usually take a bicycle with the rear seats folded down.
Are there bike lanes in Bangkok?
There are painted lanes in several districts, and in practice they are parked in, blocked by stalls and interrupted by bus stops. Do not plan a route on the assumption that a lane on the map exists on the ground.
Can I hire a bicycle in Bangkok for a day?
Easily, at Bang Krachao, at Suan Rot Fai and at the Sky Lane, for very little money. Hiring a quality bicycle for several days is harder and usually goes through a specialist operator or a tour company.
What time of day should I ride?
Between first light and about 08:00, or on a Sunday morning. Bangkok's traffic and heat both make anything later unpleasant — the heat argument is set out in cycling in Thailand's heat and humidity.