Travel Adventures: Benjakiti Park, Bangkok

Sunday, 28 July 2013

Benjakiti Park, Bangkok

Benjakiti Park

Now that the weather is cooling here slightly in Bangkok it's much easier to do more physically active outdoor activities. This weekend I followed a recommendation on another travel blog to go rent a bicycle and do a few laps of Benjakiti Park in central Bangkok.

2km circular bike trail around the lake was excellent

Getting there

Benjakiti Park is centrally located in Bangkok. The nearest BTS Station is Asoke. Just come out of Asoke, turn so that Terminal 21 is behind you and walk down Rachadaphisek until you come to the park on your right.

Google Map Link

The Park

Having read some of the other blog postings on this park I learnt that this is one of the newest parks in Bangkok, built on the site of a former Tobacco factory. The new-ness definitely shows as the walkway around the lake is in excellent condition and makes it very popular for walking/running/riding around.

The lake itself is 800 Metres long and 200 Metres wide so a complete circuit is just under 2KM.

Hiring a bike

Once you are in the park you have to walk down the left hand side of the lake to find the bike rental place. So, you get a nice warm up walk before you can start cycling.

The Cost

The bikes aren't excellent Tour De France carbon types but they'll get you around the track all the princely sum of 40 Baht per hour (no deposit required).

Other stuff in the park

There are several other things to see in the park including a Water Garden, an outdoor Gym, and this fantastic small area where trees had been donated from several countries around the world. The British Embassy donated a Mahogany to the park. The tree is pretty small at the moment, but I'm sure it'll be v impressive in a few years. We also saw a couple of monitor lizards on the way around.

Travel Adventures