Dragon Temple, River Market & Co: 5 exciting Bangkok insider tips near the capital of Thailand

Bangkok in Thailand is a city with an incredible amount to experience and discover. You'll need several days just to visit all the classic sights in the sprawling city centre. Countless golden temples, rooftop bars with stunning panoramic views and colourful markets provide you with unforgettable memories that will always put a happy smile on your face after your trip. To make sure you don't get bored in the City of Angels, I would like to introduce you to some real Bangkok insider tips, namely 5 very exciting and really beautiful places in the capital's immediate surroundings. I wish you a lot of wanderlust while reading!

Wat Samphran: the dragon temple of Bangkok

A huge highlight for me is the trip to the Buddhist Wat Samphran, the Dragon Temple of Bangkok, which is still quite unknown to many travellers to Thailand. Visible from afar, Wat Samphran towers over the crowns of the trees and over the roofs of the simple houses of the locals about 40 kilometres west of the capital in the province of Nakhon Pathom.

Perhaps you've seen pictures of the distinctive pink round tower, with the scaly body of a dragon winding around it all the way to the top? Despite its ever-increasing popularity on Instagram, the Dragon Temple is still a real Bangkok insider tip and one of the most bizarre temples I've ever visited!

The head of the mythical creature towers far above the 17th floor, its open mouth pointed at the horizon. The big feature: in the dragon's belly, you can climb a spiral tunnel to the very top at a height of almost 80 metres. Several small pagodas and temples await you at the top of Wat Samphran, decorated with small mini dragons in shining gold and colour. You can stick small pieces of gold leaf on the gnarled tree trunk in the prayer hall for good luck.

On the roof of the Dragon Temple you have a beautiful panoramic view of Nakhon Pathom province and the other temples in the complex!

By the way, the Dragon Temple is not the only very special temple in the complex with an unusual shape. Right next door is another Buddhist house of faith, this time in the shape of a giant turtle. Here, too, you can enter the sacred entrails of the animal through the wide-open maw. I admit, you feel a bit like you're in Disneyland, but in a pleasantly surprising way.

By the way, very few tourists still come to Wat Samphran. The majority of visitors are actually guest workers from neighbouring Burma who pray here and make their offerings.

My tip: Unfortunately, it is not at all easy to get to the dragon temple by public transport. A private taxi, for example, would be a - comparatively expensive - option. Instead, I would like to recommend the really great excursion by Green Mango Bangkok Tours, which you can book in a small group or as a private tour.

Your guide will tell you so many heartfelt anecdotes, interesting details and funny stories about the places you visit during the tour - on your own, you would really miss a lot of what gives such an excursion its depth. Plus, during the tour, you get to sample many traditional Thai specialties and treats that you might never have had the chance to enjoy on your own. I highly recommend Green Mango Tours Bangkok, especially if you don't speak English well or at all. All excursions are conducted entirely in German.

As part of the tour to the Dragon Temple, you will also visit some more great places and Bangkok insider tips, so be sure to read on!

Bangkok insider tips: Phra Pathom Chedi, the highest Chedi in the world

As already mentioned: If you book the day trip to the Dragon Temple with Green Mango Tours Bangkok, then a stop at the also very spectacular Phra Pathom Chedi is on the programme, which holds a world record with its impressive height of 127 metres. According to Wikipedia, it is the tallest Buddhist Chedi in the world. Other websites rank it as the second highest stupa in the world. But world record or not, the majestic building is really absolutely impressive and more than worth a visit.

The temple's magnificent interior also houses the oldest Buddha statue in all of Thailand!

The name Phra Pathom Chedi translates as "Sacred Chedi of the Beginning" and adds a touch of magic to the building, which is visible from afar and shines magically golden in the sun. Records of the time of its construction actually date back to the 4th century. Amazing, isn't it?

The temple is one of the most important religious sites in the country, which is why the locals visit the Phra Pathom Chedi so often. I found it really super exciting to observe the believers in their rituals and to somehow be a part of the community in these rare moments - also thanks to my great guide!

A smoothie stop at the After the Rain Coffee & Gallery

While the After the Rain Coffee & Gallery café is not an official stop on the Green Mango Tours excursion, it is very close to the Dragon Temple. And because it's both an insider tip and a little hype on Instagram, I'd like to introduce it briefly here.

The location is very unusual and really picturesque, directly on a network of narrow rivers in the middle of a coconut plantation, on which you can travel in small boats. The tables are also right on the water, which makes for a great tropical atmosphere. Swings and various platforms provide a nice setting for souvenir photos. The mango-passion fruit smoothie is very, very tasty!

Theonly criticism: all drinks are served in disposable plastic containers, which unfortunately makes for a huge mountain of rubbish. That really shouldn't be the case. At least not if you sip your smoothie etc. directly on the spot.

Bangkok insider tips: the Don Wai Floating Market on the river

The Don Wai Floating Market is still so unknown to tourists that I hardly encountered any others during my visit. Nevertheless, it was crowded on this sunny Sunday at the lively market, because at the weekend there is apparently nothing better for the inhabitants of Bangkok than to go out to the more rural areas and really celebrate the theme of food. And where better to do that than at a traditional market, where all the delicacies that the fields, the land, the rivers and the seas offer are presented in all imaginable variations, in an exuberant abundance!

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After strolling along the colourful market stalls, the excursion boat is already waiting for you. Amidst loudly chattering Thai families who have stocked up on delicious smelling food for the one-hour tour on the Tha Chin River, you enjoy the lovely river landscape that slowly passes you by.

Traditional houses on stilts, fields full of water spinach and temples with shiny gold roofs - sit back, relax and soak up the unique atmosphere along the river!

Before you head back to Bangkok, you should definitely try one - or more - of the delicious dishes in one of the restaurants right by the river. Since very few tourists come here to the Don Wai Floating Market, you can enjoy truly authentic food that hasn't been modified for the tourist palate. So be a little careful when you're asked about the spiciness of your order.

Discover Bangkok's insider tips with Green Mango Tours

Except for the Café After the Rain Coffee & Gallery, all the places I have described so far - i.e. the Dragon Temple Wat Samphran, the Phra Pathom Chedi and also the Don Wai Floating Market - are part of the day tour "Trip to the Dragon Temple & Co" by Green Mango Tours. It would be a real hassle to drive to the individual stations on your own by taxi and, as I wrote at the beginning, you would simply not learn many exciting stories and anecdotes about the various places, which would be a total shame, wouldn't it?

But now I have another place for you that is still completely unknown to travellers to Thailand and that you can visit as part of the Green Mango Tour Adventure Maeklong Train Market. We're talking about the swimming monkeys of Samut Songkhram and a boat trip to a scenically very special oyster and cockle farm.

Samut Songkhram: swimming monkeys & surreal landscapes

In a small, enchantingly colourful village in Samut Songkhram province, you board a rattling boat for an entertaining ride through the region's dense mangrove forests. A bag full of corn on the cob is also on board, because the attraction today are the many monkeys that live here in the mangroves right next to the water.

At the beginning of the trip, the animals are still sitting at the edge of the narrow channels and eyeing our boat curiously. This changes abruptly, however, when our captain starts throwing the corn cobs onto the shore and into the water. It's hard to believe, but some of the monkeys actually jump into the brown water without hesitation and even swim to our boat to receive the treats personally. Absolutely crazy!

After the monkey spectacle, a somewhat quieter boat trip is on the agenda, namely through the surreally beautiful landscape of a huge oyster and cockle farm!

Here at this special place, the fresh water of the river mixes with the salt water of the Gulf of Thailand and thus offers the perfect conditions for the breeding of oysters and cockles. The seemingly endless expanse of the landscape is only interrupted by the traditional stilt houses in which the farmers even spend some nights.

A real highlight is the incredibly delicious food served in just such a stilt house. Freshly caught fish prepared on the spot, fried rice with chicken and seafood, crispy salad and sweet ripe fruit for dessert - a trip really couldn't end more perfectly!

Note: I've cheekily withheld the first part of this great Green Mango Bangkok day trip to the famous Maeklong Railway Market because it's really no longer an insider tip and therefore doesn't fit thematically into this article. Nevertheless, the perhaps craziest market in Thailand is of course a very cool experience, which you can read more about in my article about the most beautiful Bangkok sights!

My hotel recommendation for Bangkok

For your city trip to Bangkok, I can recommend two very different locations for relaxing nights. The absolute hit is the Bangkok Marriott Hotel The Surawongse with perhaps the most beautiful ski pool in the entire city (even more spectacular is the pool at the 137 Pillars Suites & Residences, but unfortunately they are super expensive). The huge breakfast buffet is also amazing, serving everything from mango sticky rice to fresh coconuts and Belgian waffles to get your day off to a great start.

If the Marriott is too expensive for you and you're looking for a hostel, I can recommend the small Happy Station Hostel BKK. The central location right next to the old Hua Lamphong main station and the metro is unbeatable. Chinatown, the hip Talat Noi district and the beautiful Wallflowers Café are only a few minutes' walk away. By the way, the Happy Station Hostel is known for its super comfortable beds, which I can confirm without batting an eyelid!

Well, what do you think of my Bangkok insider tips aside from the well-known sights? Would one or the other destination be something for you or do you perhaps already know some of the places? Is the Dragon Temple also on your bucket list? I would be very happy if you share your thoughts with me in the form of a comment here on my travel blog!