Rattanakosin & the old townรัตนโกสินทร์
Beautiful, cheap, hot to walk and barely served by rail
In short
The original city: the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun across the water, and the low-rise streets of Phra Nakhon and Banglamphu around them. Rents are the lowest in central Bangkok and the atmosphere is unmatched, but there is one MRT station, almost no modern housing stock, and very little reason to live here unless the history is the reason.
- 1-bed rent
- ฿6,000–฿18,000
- per month
- Transit
- MRT Sanam Chai, MRT Sam Yot, MRT Itsaraphap, Chao Phraya Express Boat (Tha Chang, Tha Tien, Phra Arthit piers)
- Best for
- People who want to live in the historic city and will organise around it, Students, researchers and anyone attached to Thammasat or Silpakorn
How it scores
- Character10/10
The Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Sanam Luang, the canals of Banglamphu and Wat Arun across the water. This is the only part of Bangkok where the city's history is legible at street level.
- Value8/10
Apartments from ฿6,000 and decent rooms at ฿10,000–15,000 make this the cheapest central address in the city. You are paying a fifth of Thonglor to live beside the Grand Palace.
- Transit3/10
MRT Sanam Chai opened in 2019 and is the only rail station inside the old city. Everything else is a boat, a bus, or a taxi through streets that were laid out before cars. The Orange Line's western leg is not due until around 2030.
- Food9/10
Some of the oldest and best kitchens in Thailand — the Thewet and Nang Loeng markets, the Banglamphu boat-noodle and khao kha mu stalls, and the Michelin-listed shophouses around Tanao and Phraeng Phuthon.
Suits you if
- People who want to live in the historic city and will organise around it
- Students, researchers and anyone attached to Thammasat or Silpakorn
- Very tight budgets that still want to be central
- Walkers and cyclists — early morning here is the best in Bangkok
Think twice if
- One MRT station (Sanam Chai) serves the entire district
- Almost no condo stock; you are renting apartments or shophouse rooms
- Tourist volume around the Grand Palace and Khao San is heavy and constant
- Buildings are old — expect basic fittings, weak water pressure and no gym
Rattanakosin is the island the city was founded on in 1782, ringed by two canals and the Chao Phraya. It contains the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Sanam Luang, the National Museum, Thammasat and Silpakorn universities, and the shophouse streets of Banglamphu and Phra Nakhon. It is the most beautiful part of Bangkok by a wide margin, and it is also the least practical place in the city to actually live.
What living here means#
Start with the housing. There is essentially no modern condominium stock inside the old city — height restrictions around the palace and the conservation zoning saw to that. What exists instead is apartment blocks from the 1980s and 1990s, converted shophouses, and rooms above businesses. Listings in Phra Nakhon and Banglamphu start around ฿6,000 a month for a basic studio and run to ฿12,000–18,000 for something renovated with air-conditioning and reliable hot water. Expect no pool, no gym, no keycard lobby and, frequently, no lift.
Then the transit. MRT Sanam Chai opened with the Blue Line extension in 2019 and is genuinely useful — it puts Silom twelve minutes away — but it is one station, at the southern edge, and everything north of Sanam Luang is a fifteen- to thirty-minute walk from it. Sam Yot and Itsaraphap clip the edges. The rest of the district runs on buses, boats, the Phra Arthit and Tha Chang piers, and taxis crawling through streets designed for handcarts.
And the heat. This matters more here than anywhere else because the old town is where you would most want to walk. Ten in the morning in April, crossing Sanam Luang with no shade, is a genuinely unpleasant experience. Residents adapt by living early — the district at 6am, with the monks out and the markets opening, is the best hour Bangkok offers — and retreating indoors from eleven until four.
The compensations#
- The food. Thewet market, Nang Loeng market, the Tanao Road shophouses and the Phraeng Phuthon square hold kitchens that have been running for three and four generations, at ฿50–150 a dish.
- The river. Phra Arthit and Tha Chang piers put you on the express boat, which reaches Sathorn in about twenty-five minutes and is the pleasantest transport in the city.
- Space and light. Low-rise, wide skies, and the only part of central Bangkok where you can see more than a hundred metres.
- Cost. ฿10,000 a month here buys a life that ฿30,000 does not buy on Sukhumvit, provided your definition of that life does not include a gym.
- Khao San, whatever your view of it, is a genuinely convenient strip for cheap laundry, visa photos, travel agents and late-night food.
Who should not live here#
If you work in an office in Sathorn or Sukhumvit, this is a bad decision — the commute is 45 to 70 minutes each way and mostly by road. If you have children in an international school, none of them are here. If you want a modern building with facilities, the stock does not exist. And if you do not speak any Thai, daily life in Phra Nakhon will be considerably harder than it is in Asoke. The people who thrive here are the ones for whom the old city is the point, not a bonus.
Common questions
Is it realistic to live in the old town as a foreigner?
Realistic, but self-selecting. A small number of long-term residents — academics, writers, people attached to the universities, and Thai families who never left — make it work. It requires accepting basic housing, organising your life around the boat and one MRT station, and having enough Thai to manage a landlord who speaks none.
How much does it cost to rent in Phra Nakhon?
Budget apartments in Phra Nakhon and Banglamphu list from roughly ฿3,500–8,000 for very basic rooms, with ฿10,000–18,000 buying something renovated and comfortable. There is essentially nothing above ฿20,000 because the modern stock does not exist.
Will the transit situation improve?
Slowly. The MRT Blue Line extension in 2019 was the first real improvement in the district's history. The Orange Line's western section, which would serve the area properly, is scheduled for around 2030 and Thai rail projects routinely slip. Do not move here on the basis of a future station.