Patpong
Two private streets — not city property — built by a single Hainanese immigrant family in 1946, now home to Bangkok's oldest red-light strip and a busy tourist night market in one.
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Bangkok's oldest and smallest red-light district carries a layered history: it started as ordinary commerce, became a Vietnam War R&R stop for US military officers by 1968, and has run a busy tourist night market since the early 1990s. Patpong 1 and 2 are still private roads owned by the Patpongpanich family, not the city.
What to look for
- The parallel private streets of Patpong 1 and 2, built by the Patpongpanich family and still not city property
- The tourist night market running through Patpong, a fixture since the early 1990s
- Silom Soi 4 (Soi Jaruwan, sometimes called Patpong 3), the adjacent street long known for its gay bars
Reach it on foot from BTS Sala Daeng (Silom Line) or MRT Si Lom Station; the market runs in the evenings.
Patpong is one of 38 sights worth the detour in Bangkok, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Bangkok pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Bangkok
- Grand PalaceIn 1782 a king moved his entire capital from Thonburi to Bangkok and built this walled city — Thailand's seat of power for the next 143 years.
- Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha)Every Thai king since 1783 has personally added to this temple — and the reigning king still presides over state ceremonies here today.
- Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn)Named for Aruna — the Hindu charioteer who drives the sun at dawn — this riverside spire was built to face the light it honors.
- Baiyoke Tower IIBangkok's tallest hotel stacks an observatory, a bar, and a revolving roof deck across three floors at 309 metres.
- BTS SkytrainBangkok sits in chronic gridlock — three elevated lines run above it on 70 kilometers of track connecting the city end to end.
- Rajamangala National StadiumThailand's largest stadium swells like a concrete wave — narrow at each end, rising steeply until the stands crest exactly at the halfway line.