Where to stay in Bangkok: Ibis Bangkok Riverside Hotel

Photos taken from Ibis Website

The rooms, the lounge, the dinner deck and the view from up top. 

We were so very pleased with our choice to stay at the Ibis Bangkok Riverside Hotel. It was comfortable & relaxing all for a great price!

This photo of ibis Bangkok Riverside is courtesy of TripAdvisor 

This photo of ibis Bangkok Riverside is courtesy of TripAdvisor

This photo of ibis Bangkok Riverside is courtesy of TripAdvisor

 We stayed 9 spectacular days and have nothing but good things to say about this property & its location.

The view from our chairs at the Ibis. 

We loved lounging pool & riverside every night and afternoon. At night we lounged with dessert & the afternoon we lounged with books and drinks. So relaxing! I love that the Ibis has this resort like feel with the space they have. It's not huge like a resort but it definitely offers some cozy places, infinity pool, massages pool side, and a great view. 

We loved these huge rattan lounge chairs. There were tons of nice outdoor furniture lining the riverside for relaxing. While this picture looks very busy because of a wedding party they had on the deck that day, most days it  was quiet and not too busy and we could always find a chair. 

This photo of ibis Bangkok Riverside is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The Deets

The Rooms Ibis' rooms are decorated simply and comfortably. The rooms are small, as most Bangkok rooms are, but the perfect size for a single or couple. They also have joined rooms for families. The walls were painted with a deep red and held simple, World Market style artwork. The bed was incredibly comfortable! Ohhh man. We loved this bed. I hope we can go back even if just for that bed! It was the perfect firm/soft for us and for some reason it promoted/induced snuggling. It's usually difficult for us to snuggle, but on this bed, perhaps since it was SO comfortable, we snuggled all night. :) The room comes with a shower, white clean towels and linens, shampoo & body wash, a flat screen TV with English channels, a refrigerator, an electric tea pot, tea and coffee and 2 water bottles which are replenished daily.  This photo of ibis Bangkok Riverside is courtesy of TripAdvisor The Location The location was fantastic. We would not have wanted to stay anywhere else. It's directly on the river, with riverside views, and 5 minutes from public transportation boat piers. Via boat you can get to most major Bangkok attractions on the River, avoiding traffic and taxi fees.  The BTS station is a 15 minute walk, or short hotel shuttle ride, away. From the BTS you can go all across Bangkok. It's location is also great for when there are protests in Bangkok. Its a safe area, away from government buildings & as I said, most major attractions can be reached by the river. The Ibis is placed in a very peaceful area of town and down a quiet alleyway. We never once felt uncomfortable or unsafe in this area and we never saw any of the things you could often see in the seedier areas of Bangkok, like beggers, prostitution, an excess of bars, etc. It was peaceful, safe and quiet. We loved the street outside of the hotel (in which the alleyway is, leading to the hotel is off of) and the restaurant/street cart owners on it. They were incrdibly kind and of course, they all served delicious food. There are several Thai restaurants, street vendors and a 7-11 in front of the hotel, as well as an international shopping center, with a Starbucks, grocery store and some international restaurants across the street. Don't be fooled by the big Texas sign advertising a restaurant there at the shopping center. Don't think you're getting Tex Mex or a big juicy steak. We have absolutely no idea why it was called Texas except to make us salivate and then be let down by a weird Asian morph of hot pot, french fries & chicken feet. 

This photo of ibis Bangkok Riverside is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The Environment This was one of my favorite parts of the Ibis, the hotel environment. It's nice and has a classy feel to it as soon as you walk in but the best part awaits you out the back doors, where there is a huge, infinity pool placed directly beside the riverside. Even better there are 20+ pool lounge chairs around the pool, a place to receive masages riverside, and sets of cozy outdoor furniture where you can order drinks and food. I was in heaven reading my book in a huge outdoor sofa chair, wine in hand, riverside view ahead. It was lovely! Ah man, when can we go back. Ibis, if you are reading this, please note that I am writing this without any compensation but would love if you sent a week free my way so the Hubbs and I can come visit you again soon. A free hotel room would likely sway him to swing the plane ticket fees. Please, and thank you.  This photo of ibis Bangkok Riverside is courtesy of TripAdvisor

This photo of ibis Bangkok Riverside is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The Food We only tried a few things while we were there. We had a burger and fries, a salad, paninis and Thai iced coffee. As is expected at any hotel the food & alcohol was expensive, but absolutely delicious. The buffet was crowded every night by what appeared to be happy, laughing customers. I walked through it one time at lunch and it looked great. Lots of variety & it appeared fresh. The restaurant also has outdoor seating, again, riverside.  Do you see a theme here with the Ibis Riverside hotel? The hotel did a great job utilizing  it's asset, the River. There is a bar in the lobby where you can order food and drinks 24/7.

This photo of ibis Bangkok Riverside is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The Service Every employee we interacted with was kind, smiling, friendly and helpful. Most of them also spoke English. Our rooms were cleaned every day perfectly. We always came back to crisp sheets & new towels. One of the awesome things about staying in a hotel, don't you think? There is a tourist deck in the lobby that can help you with booking tours. Also, if you need to go anywhere in Bangkok you can ask the front desk to write the address down for you & then they will call you a taxi from the street. Again, nothing but good things to say. Also, there are computers in the lobby available for guest use.  This photo of ibis Bangkok Riverside is courtesy of TripAdvisor  Massages avialable Riverside. If you're not into getting a massage in public or the hotel price, there are several legit massage places on the street directly infront of the hotel. We recommend the massage shop that is in front of the cross walk to get to SineFest (the shopping center). It has a picture of the human body with pressure points on the front window, sorry don't know the name! We went to a few massage places and this was our favorite and the most professional, in our opinion. If you're not into getting massages, for some crazy reason ;) please, please, for the love of your body & shoulders, get one in Thailand! And, if you don't get an oil massage, you keep all your clothes on or change into their outfit.

This photo of ibis Bangkok Riverside is courtesy of TripAdvisor 

The Price With all that goodness I explained above you would think it would come with a higher price tag than it does. Thankfully and generously, we were so blessed to receive all the above for a little over $40 a night. 

This photo of ibis Bangkok Riverside is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The Cons Really I have to dig my brain to think of anything we didn't like. There is no room service. You can order from the menu and the bar 24/7 but they won't deliver it to you. Which is really not a big deal, it's probably good that I had to burn a few calories in order to get our french fries, but still, sometimes it's nice to have things delivered. That's the only complaint I can think of. 

This photo of ibis Bangkok Riverside is courtesy of TripAdvisor

This photo of ibis Bangkok Riverside is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The Ibis is also available for parties. I heck-a want to get married all over again to Zachary and have our reception here. 
We will for sure be back to the Ibis Bangkok Riverside hotel on our next (hopefully) trip to Thailand. (Come on Ibis! Make it sooner!) Thank you Ibis for such a great experience! ***A big thank you to Trip Advisor and all those awesome reviewers who post fantastic photos with your review! You helped make this post more interesting! All photos were taken from Trip Advisor the way advised.***

Chao Phraya River Khlong Tour

If you ever find yourself in Bangkok we highly recommend doing a Khlong (canal) Tour (over the floating markets, for sure) off the Chao Phraya River. On our first day in Bangkok, we set off to the pier that was 5 minutes from our hotel (Ibis Hotel guys.. just do it) to take the public transportation boat across the river and down to the Grand Palace. But, oh don't you know, at the pier they had Canal tours to offer. Be forewarned Traveller there are literally a gajillion things to do in Thailand, and there will be no shortage of people making sure you know ALL the opportunities to you. 

Lucky for us, we just so happened to have "Canal Tour" on our list, so we were super happy to oblige the eager lady wanting to sell us a long boat. She started at 1200 baht and we talked her down to 850 baht and I think it could probably go lower but she wouldn't budge that day. So for $25 we took an hour Canal Tour and then were dropped off near the Grand Palace. 

We loved being the only ones on the boat. It was relaxing and the weather was perfect. I absolutely loved looking at all the houses built on the canals and spent most of my time daydreaming what it would be like to live there and of course, move to Thailand. It was just so peaceful! There were tons of people outside on their little "balconies" sleeping, reading the newspaper or playing checkers. Many still eagerly & so very joyfully waved at us. You'd think they'd get sick of their backyard being a tourist playground, but they were so sweet. I guess it would be hard to get worked up in such a peaceful setting. 

Though this is a popular tourist activity we didn't see too many other boats. We were never bothered or distracted by other long tail boat tours which was so nice compared to tourist attractions in China. Things are usually filled to the max, to where you can't even enjoy what you're doing. 

These little ladies were the "floating market" of the khlong. Ha. We saw on a map that there was a "floating market." We were bummed when we got to our drop off point and never saw a big bustling floating market. We asked our driver and he said, "Ya. We go. The ladies. You buy beer." Oh. Right. You mean the 3 lady market. Okay. Got it.

 

I have to admit it was pretty cool having someone boat up to you. She had tons of little trinkets and souvenirs to buy as well as cold drinks. Despite the 100 baht each price tag, I convinced Z we buy three beers. 2 for us, and upon this little clever money maker above, one for our driver, which we thought was a pretty nice idea. 

 

Our driver chose Leo so we chose Leo. I figured he'd know best. If I knew something about beer I might tell you how it tasted here but I don't know anything. So I will just say, it tasted good. 

The long tail boat tour was a great way to start our first day in Thailand! We recommend staying on the River as you can get to most tourist attractions via the river. You avoid traffic, it's super cheap (regular city boat fair is less than 10 baht), safe & a fun new way to experience traveling through a city.  If you're interested in a long tail boat tour there should be boats available at most major piers.