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There are hotels in Bangkok with better views and hotels with taller towers, but there is only one that opened in April 1983 to a George Wimberley design and has spent the years since collecting the city’s weddings, deals and anniversaries. Anantara Siam Bangkok is the grande dame of Ratchadamri, and it has just come through the most significant reinvention of its life: a USD 50 million transformation delivered in two phases under three words, Transformed. Timeless. Thai.
The first phase, completed through late 2025, took the rooms and suites of Montathip and Kannika Court, the Garden Terrace Rooms, the Kasara Lounge, the pool and the fitness centre. The second, running through this year, has reached the parts guests notice first and last — the grand lobby, the ballroom, the Spice Market restaurant and the garden pool villas, along with six new garden suites, each with its own plunge pool.
What has not moved is the reason people loved it in the first place. The hand-painted mural above the grand staircase is exactly where it always was. The frescoed ceiling still runs the length of the lobby. The renovation was an argument for keeping those things, not a plan to replace them — and it lands in the year Anantara itself turns 25.
Day 1: Arrive, then stop
Come in from Suvarnabhumi — about an hour by car, or 45 minutes from Don Mueang — and resist the urge to go anywhere. The hotel sits directly beside BTS Ratchadamri, with the Erawan Shrine three minutes away on foot and CentralwOrld eight. Knowing the city is that close is the point. Not going is the luxury.
Check into one of the refreshed suites, where teak panelling and silk sit against a lighter, calmer palette, and hand-painted murals answer the great one downstairs. Ask for a room facing the Royal Bangkok Sports Club: the racecourse and golf course make one of the last long green horizons in central Bangkok, and it is startling the first time you draw the curtains on it.
Then do very little. Order afternoon tea in The Lobby, where Mariage Frères is poured beneath the frescoed ceiling from two o’clock, or run the deep marble tub and lose an hour to it. If you have booked into the Kasara tier, the redesigned Kasara Executive Lounge handles breakfast, afternoon tea and an evening hour of free-flowing drinks, which removes most of the remaining reasons to leave the building.
For dinner, stay in. Biscotti has held its place in the MICHELIN Guide with an open kitchen and a chef’s table; Madison Steak Avenue does a New York steakhouse properly, down to the Snake River Farms beef; Shintaro puts a sushi counter and tatami rooms within walking distance of your lift. Finish beside the koi pond at AQUA, where the New Orleans jazz has been playing for more than twenty years and the Thai botanical cocktails are worth staying out for.
Day 2: Water, heat and a very long afternoon
Start before the city does. Lumpini Park is ten minutes on foot and belongs to runners, tai chi groups and monitor lizards until about eight; the hotel runs morning wellness sessions there if you would rather be led than wander. Walk back through a garden where white geese take the stepping stones at their own pace, which tells you most of what you need to know about the tempo here.
The 25-metre terrace pool reopened in the first phase with new cabanas, and it is the rare city pool long enough to actually swim in. Above it, the wellness floor is the clearest evidence of where the money went: a Pilates studio, Technogym equipment, an infrared sauna, a steam room, an ice plunge pool, an ice fountain and an experience shower, which together make a convincing case for a morning spent entirely indoors.
Book Anantara Spa for the middle of the day. The Anantara Signature Massage combines eastern and western technique and does the useful thing of leaving you able to walk afterwards; the Biologique Recherche facials are the draw for anyone who tracks these things. Suites come with a private Roman-style bathtub or steam room, and there are couple’s rooms if you are travelling in pairs.
Then surface slowly. Order something cold at The Terrace overlooking the garden, or take a Spice Spoons cooking class and learn the sauces you have been eating since you landed — the market walk first, the wok second, lunch as the reward.
Day 3: Silk, spice and the city on your own terms
Give the last day to the things the renovation was really about. The Jim Thompson Explorer Suite — 198 square metres shaped like a Thai summer house, with polished teak floors, panelled walls, a private library and artwork drawn from the world of Thailand’s Silk King — came out of a partnership with the brand Thompson founded. Even if you are not staying in it, it explains the thinking behind the whole project better than any press release.
For context, the Jim Thompson House is twenty minutes away by car, and the Grand Palace about the same. This is the day to use the location you have been deliberately ignoring: Gaysorn Village is a five-minute walk, Siam Paragon fifteen, and the Erawan Shrine sits at the corner with its incense and its dancers whenever you want the city back at full volume.
Come home for dinner at Spice Market, reopened with the final phase and built to look like an old Thai apothecary — jars to the ceiling, terracotta underfoot, a menu that travels the kingdom, and Thai wines and craft beers to go with it. If you have timed the trip to end on a Sunday, the hotel’s Sunday Brunch runs from noon in a leafy courtyard with live Latin music, ceviche, mezze, tandoor and a great deal of Champagne.
For the last night, ask about Designer Dining: a table set wherever you want it — poolside, in a private sala — with a menu built with the chef and a butler who materialises exactly as often as you need. It is the most extravagant thing on the property and the easiest to justify.
The details
The hotel holds 335 rooms and suites across a spread that runs from a 42-square-metre Deluxe Room to the 810-square-metre Anantara Pool Residence, which has six bedrooms and five pools and comes with a private butler. For three slow days, the sweet spot is a Garden Pool Suite or one of the new garden suites with a plunge pool; for a first visit on a budget, a Kasara Executive Room buys you the lounge and the golf course view.
Getting there: Suvarnabhumi International is roughly an hour by car, Don Mueang about 45 minutes, and BTS Ratchadamri is at the door. November to February is the dry season and the easiest weather to walk in.
Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel, 155 Rajadamri Road, Lumphini, Pathum Wan, Bangkok. Reservations on +66 2 365 9110 or siam@anantara.com. Book at anantara.com.
Images courtesy of Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel, except the grand staircase mural and Spice Market, photographed for FirstClasse.
Anantara Siam Bangkok: your questions answered
How much did the Anantara Siam Bangkok renovation cost, and what did it cover?
USD 50 million, delivered in two phases. The first covered the rooms and suites of Montathip and Kannika Court, the Garden Terrace Rooms, the Kasara Lounge, the pool and the fitness centre. The second covered the grand lobby, the ballroom, Spice Market, the garden pool villas, and six new garden suites with private plunge pools.
How far is Anantara Siam Bangkok from the BTS and the Erawan Shrine?
BTS Ratchadamri is at the door. The Erawan Shrine is three minutes on foot, Gaysorn Village five, CentralwOrld eight and Lumpini Park ten. Suvarnabhumi airport is about an hour by car; Don Mueang about 45 minutes.
What is the Jim Thompson suite at Anantara Siam Bangkok?
The Two Bedroom Jim Thompson Explorer Suite: 198 square metres created with the Thai silk house Jim Thompson, with polished teak floors, panelled walls, a private library and artwork drawn from the world of Thailand’s Silk King.
How long is the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok?
Roughly two hours direct.
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