Lumpini Park is a great family-friendly spot to visit while in Bangkok. Photo: Ronan O'Connell
Lumpini Park is a great family-friendly spot to visit while in Bangkok. Photo: Ronan O'Connell
Lumpini Park is a great family-friendly spot to visit while in Bangkok. Photo: Ronan O'Connell
Lumpini Park is a great family-friendly spot to visit while in Bangkok. Photo: Ronan O'Connell

How to have fun in Bangkok while travelling with young children


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Bangkok is widely perceived as an adults’ playground, due to its booming nightlife, terrific shopping, elite spa scene and magnificent temples.

But over the past decade, while living in the Thai capital on and off, I’ve watched it evolve to become far more amenable to travelling families.

Granted, it still suffers from the traffic, pollution and crowds associated with being a gargantuan city of 12 million people. But my wife, four-year-old son and I have found plenty to do on recent visits. Here are a few of our favourites.

Indoor play centres galore

Playmondo is in Bangkok's tourist shopping district of Central World. Photo: Playmondo
Playmondo is in Bangkok's tourist shopping district of Central World. Photo: Playmondo

When I moved to Bangkok in 2013, friends bemoaned the city’s lack of indoor play centres where their children could shed energy, sheltered from Thailand’s sweltering heat.

Yet now I can take my boy to more than 20 such centres, including several that are far larger than any in our home city of Perth, Australia.

HarborLand alone has 14 branches across Bangkok, each charging between 390 baht ($11) and 684 baht for two-and-a-half hours.

These modern, air-conditioned play centres brim with slides, swings, climbing frames, zip lines, ball pits, go karts, basketball courts and rollerblading rinks.

All venues have a cafe for adults who are supervising, tight security and are based inside malls, which means one parent can go shopping, get a massage or have a meal while the other watches their child.

There are branches in the city's most popular malls, including Iconsiam, EmQuartier, Gateway Ekamai, Central Rama 9 and Mega Bangna.

At EmQuartier, our boy bounced on trampolines, swung from ropes, played indoor soccer and tried a digital Ninja game.

But he still raves about Mega HarborLand in Future Park Rangsit Mall, which covers 6,500 square metres and includes a massive playground, trampoline park, roller rink, inflatable world, mini race track and digital interactive playground.

Elsewhere, in another tourist shopping district of Central World, is Playmondo. This indoor centre, which has a second branch at Central EastVille mall, blends slides, trampolines and climbing walls with games and interactive exhibits that encourage learning.

Following a similar template is Kidzoona, with branches at Gateway Ekamai and Mega Bangna.

A family-friendly resort by the river

A family suite at Anantara Riverside Bangkok, which is a great spot for parents with young children. Photo: Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas
A family suite at Anantara Riverside Bangkok, which is a great spot for parents with young children. Photo: Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas

Many of Bangkok’s finest hotels have surprisingly limited facilities and space for children.

Parents who have holidayed overseas with their children will know the biggest challenge often is not ensuring they’re entertained during day trips, but preventing them from getting bored at your hotel.

This is why families will enjoy Anantara Riverside, a sprawling, resort-style property on the western bank of the Chao Phraya River.

This five-star resort has vast gardens and a huge swimming pool, and regularly hosts traditional music concerts, cooking classes, kickboxing lessons, dance exhibitions, river boat cruises and a daily monk ceremony.

Children can also play with toys and watch cartoons at Anantara Riverside’s supervised Chiang Noi Kids Club, while parents sneak away for a massage or healing therapy at the luxurious Anantara Spa.

Room rates start from about 11,000 baht a night for family suites, which are roomy, at 46 square metres, with king and queen beds, a Nespresso machine and a Nintendo Wii video game system. The rate includes a daily buffet breakfast.

Theme parks

Dream World has a water park that's popular with children, but also rides for grown-ups. Getty Images
Dream World has a water park that's popular with children, but also rides for grown-ups. Getty Images

In northern Bangkok there are two large theme parks – Dream World and Siam Amazing Park.

My son was delighted by Dream World’s water park, which is perfect for children aged two to 12 and shaped like a giant playground in the middle of a pool.

I was hot on my son's tail as he splashed about, before his mum took over supervising and I went to try Dream World’s more grown-up attractions.

While children will cherish the water park, animal zone and indoor snow simulator, parents can get an adrenalin rush from the sky coaster, hurricane roller coaster, haunted house and Alien invasion experience.

Dream World tickets start from 244 baht up to 977 baht for unlimited access to all rides.

Siam Amazing Park, meanwhile, offers a similarly appealing array of child-friendly attractions, thrill rides and a water park. Its unlimited rides tickets cost 977 baht for adults and 879 baht for children under 130cm tall.

Trampolines and picnics

Lumpini Park has plenty to offer children, including vast spaces for them to run around. Photo: Ronan O'Connell
Lumpini Park has plenty to offer children, including vast spaces for them to run around. Photo: Ronan O'Connell

A squeal pierced our hotel room when my son learnt there was a branch of Bounce trampoline centre in Bangkok, something he's familiar with from back home. It perfectly matches his ceaseless energy and daredevil attitude.

He had a deliriously fun time at the Thai capital's venue, which is on the fourth floor of ritzy EmQuartier mall.

This spacious centre has more than a dozen trampolines, which range in elasticity to suit everyone from adults to toddlers.

My son shot hoops at its two basketball rings, watched bigger boys scaling its free running wall and made daring leaps from a trampoline on to the soft landing area of a huge inflatable bag. A two-hour session costs 508 baht.

For fresh air, meanwhile, visit Bangkok’s biggest park, Lumpini.

Sandwiched between tourist districts Silom, Sukhumvit and Siam, this shady green space has walking trails, lush lawns for picnics and a large outdoor playground.

Visit in the early morning or evening for the most pleasant weather.

Most wanted allegations
  • Benjamin Macann, 32: involvement in cocaine smuggling gang.
  • Jack Mayle, 30: sold drugs from a phone line called the Flavour Quest.
  • Callum Halpin, 27: over the 2018 murder of a rival drug dealer. 
  • Asim Naveed, 29: accused of being the leader of a gang that imported cocaine.
  • Calvin Parris, 32: accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it on.
  • John James Jones, 31: allegedly stabbed two people causing serious injuries.
  • Callum Michael Allan, 23: alleged drug dealing and assaulting an emergency worker.
  • Dean Garforth, 29: part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns.
  • Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30: accused of trafficking heroin and crack cocain. 
  • Mark Francis Roberts, 28: grievous bodily harm after a bungled attempt to steal a £60,000 watch.
  • James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson, 56: for arson and over the seizure of a tonne of cocaine.
  • Nana Oppong, 41: shot a man eight times in a suspected gangland reprisal attack. 
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Bert van Marwijk factfile

Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder

Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia

Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands

Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut

Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”

Profile

Company: Justmop.com

Date started: December 2015

Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan

Sector: Technology and home services

Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai

Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month

Funding:  The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups. 

Seven tips from Emirates NBD

1. Never respond to e-mails, calls or messages asking for account, card or internet banking details

2. Never store a card PIN (personal identification number) in your mobile or in your wallet

3. Ensure online shopping websites are secure and verified before providing card details

4. Change passwords periodically as a precautionary measure

5. Never share authentication data such as passwords, card PINs and OTPs  (one-time passwords) with third parties

6. Track bank notifications regarding transaction discrepancies

7. Report lost or stolen debit and credit cards immediately

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sav%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Purvi%20Munot%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24750%2C000%20as%20of%20March%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Angel%20investors%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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GIANT REVIEW

Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan

Director: Athale

Rating: 4/5

Other must-tries

Tomato and walnut salad

A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.

Badrijani nigvzit

A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.

Pkhali

This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.

RESULT

Uruguay 3 Russia 0
Uruguay:
 Suárez (10'), Cheryshev (23' og), Cavani (90')
Russia: Smolnikov (Red card: 36')

Man of the match: Diego Godin (Uruguay)

Kill%20
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EMIRATES'S%20REVISED%20A350%20DEPLOYMENT%20SCHEDULE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEdinburgh%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20November%204%20%3Cem%3E(unchanged)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBahrain%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20November%2015%20%3Cem%3E(from%20September%2015)%3C%2Fem%3E%3B%20second%20daily%20service%20from%20January%201%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EKuwait%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20November%2015%20%3Cem%3E(from%20September%2016)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMumbai%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%201%20%3Cem%3E(from%20October%2027)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAhmedabad%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%201%20%3Cem%3E(from%20October%2027)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EColombo%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%202%20%3Cem%3E(from%20January%201)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMuscat%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cem%3E%20%3C%2Fem%3EMarch%201%3Cem%3E%20(from%20December%201)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ELyon%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20March%201%20%3Cem%3E(from%20December%201)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBologna%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20March%201%20%3Cem%3E(from%20December%201)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3ESource%3A%20Emirates%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Wicked: For Good

Director: Jon M Chu

Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater

Rating: 4/5

UAE v Gibraltar

What: International friendly

When: 7pm kick off

Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City

Admission: Free

Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page

UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)

WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?

1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull

2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight

3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge

4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own

5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

Groom and Two Brides

Director: Elie Semaan

Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla

Rating: 3/5

Tamkeen's offering
  • Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
  • Option 2: 50% across three years
  • Option 3: 30% across five years 
Famous left-handers

- Marie Curie

- Jimi Hendrix

- Leonardo Di Vinci

- David Bowie

- Paul McCartney

- Albert Einstein

- Jack the Ripper

- Barack Obama

- Helen Keller

- Joan of Arc

Singham Again

Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3/5

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher:  Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5

Updated: February 29, 2024, 7:01 AM