The Siam review: riverside seclusion in bustling Bangkok

With its tree-lined gardens and vintage teak houses, The Siam is the perfect retreat

The Siam hotel main building
Foliage bursts from every corner of The Siam hotel, an oasis in the heart of Bangkok

Even Bangkok’s most ardent admirers will admit that the city can be an intense experience. At times, all 11 million residents of the Thai capital seem to be on the streets at once, enjoying the boisterous markets and street cafes – or trying to get from one to another in cars, taxis and tuk-tuks.

In a place with this much going on, there’s value in retreat as well as immersion. Having toured the temples, feasted on Michelin-starred food and tried out the high-rise bars, you will be ready for a lazy cruise along the river to where your hotel awaits. Stately and secluded in its three-acre gardens, The Siam is the perfect sanctuary in this most energetic of destinations.

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Holden Frith is The Week’s digital director. He also makes regular appearances on “The Week Unwrapped”, speaking about subjects as diverse as vaccine development and bionic bomb-sniffing locusts. He joined The Week in 2013, spending five years editing the magazine’s website. Before that, he was deputy digital editor at The Sunday Times. He has also been TheTimes.co.uk’s technology editor and the launch editor of Wired magazine’s UK website. Holden has worked in journalism for nearly two decades, having started his professional career while completing an English literature degree at Cambridge University. He followed that with a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago. A keen photographer, he also writes travel features whenever he gets the chance.