Filed under
Travel / Bangkok / Best Of
Published
September 22, 2026
Best by Lauren may earn a commission when you shop through certain links. Every product here was bought with my own money or tested for at least six weeks. No brand has paid to be included, and nothing is ranked higher because it pays more.
Bangkok at two in the afternoon is not a walking city. Bangkok at five is one of the best cities in the world to be outdoors in, and the parks are where that happens.
It is free, it is the most local hour of the day, and it is the thing I miss most about living there.
The five o’clock hour
The heat breaks around five and the parks fill with people running, walking, and joining the free outdoor aerobics classes that run in the open spaces. Anyone can join and nobody minds that you do not know the routine.
By seven it is dark and still busy. This is the single most Bangkok hour I know and it costs nothing.
The lizards
There are monitor lizards in the lakes, some of them well over a metre. They are harmless, they are startling the first time, and they are a genuine reason to go.
Running in Bangkok
Before seven in the morning or after six in the evening, and not in between. The park loops are the only realistic place — pavements elsewhere are interrupted constantly and the air on a main road is not worth it.
The hotel gardens
Several of the riverside hotels have gardens that function as small parks, and the walk from lobby to room through one is its own reason to book. Not public, but worth knowing about if you are choosing a hotel.
