A 5-day Bangkok plan for families (kids ~6 & 9)

Begun in 1782 by the river, the walled compound holds the Temple of the Emerald Buddha at its heart. It is crowded, unshaded and hot, so be at the gates when they open and treat it as a walk-and-point visit of an hour and a half. Cover shoulders and knees, carry water, and ignore anyone outside who says it is closed today.

The 46-metre gold-leaf Reclining Buddha is one enormous jaw-dropping thing to see rather than a compound to tour, and the tree-shaded courtyards behind it are quiet. If the palace queue looks brutal, come straight here.

Swan-shaped pedal boats, shaded paths, playgrounds, and towers ringing the treeline: Bangkok’s oldest public park, opened in the 1920s, is a proper green lung in the business district, and it costs almost nothing. Then there are the monitor lizards, crossing paths and swimming in the lake. They are harmless if left alone and, for most nine-year-olds, the best thing in Bangkok. Come early morning or late afternoon; midday is too hot for the boats to be fun.

A short ride east, Benjakitti Park wraps a big lake in wide, flat, car-free paths and elevated walkways over wetland, with skyline views across the water. It connects on foot to Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre MRT, so it is easy to reach and easy to leave.

Under Siam Paragon, the aquarium adds a rainforest zone, penguins, a ray-feeding session and a glass-bottom boat over the main tank. Give it two to three hours; lunch, a cinema and a toy shop are one escalator up. Tickets bought online are usually cheaper than at the door and skip the queue.

One Skytrain stop away at National Stadium, the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre is free, cool and calm: a spiralling white building of galleries, small shops and cafés, usually with something big and colourful on the walls. Its ramps make it unusually easy with a stroller.

Open-sided, breezy and cheap, the express boats work the Chao Phraya all day, and a few minutes on the cross-river ferry from Tha Tien lands you at Wat Arun, its porcelain-studded spire rising off the west bank. Kids can climb partway up for a view back over the river; hold hands, the steps are steep. End at ICONSIAM, via the free shuttle boat from Sathorn pier, and time dinner around the evening fountain show on the river terrace.

Museum Siam, a short walk from Wat Pho, tells the story of Thai identity through hands-on displays rather than glass cases. It is aimed squarely at families, set in a handsome old building with a lawn out front, and air-conditioned throughout.

Toys, plants, ceramics, art and endless street food across thousands of stalls: Chatuchak is a treasure hunt with snacks, and it runs mainly at weekends, so save it for a Saturday or Sunday morning. Go at opening, agree a meeting point straight away, and cap it at two hours before the narrow aisles turn hot and crowded. The numbered sections are your map. Give each child small cash and one thing to choose.

It is the pressure valve when the stalls get too much, and on a weekday, with the market closed, a perfectly good final morning on its own.