How is Bangkok? Should I book a hotel before I go or wait till I get there?

Bangkok ...first thing that comes to mind is : friendly. They are very friendly down there. There's lots to see and do, so plan ahead. You should definitely book a hotel BEFORE you get there.

Just know that traffic is horrible in Bangkok, and I believe they have the longest red lights on this planet. So getting a hotel near the area where you plan to spend the most time is recommended.

When I went there last year (for 7 days), I stayed near the shopping area for 3 days, then moved to a hotel near he river for some R&R.

I stayed at the DAVIS which was closer to downtown, and I loved the location because it had a starbucks, quite a few good restaurants, a market, spas, all within 100 meters. The hotel room was bigger than your average hotel.

Then we moved on to the Peninsula right next to the river. This one is a bit far away from downtown, but it does have a train station nearby. This hotel has EXCELLENT service, and the food there is the BEST so far from all the hotels I have ever been to. (and I have traveled quite extensively)

Hope this helps.

Bangkok is city that never sleep.I am Thai but I moved from my hometown to live and work in Bangkok for a year.Bangkok is full of fun and beautiful in culture.I think you should book the hotel before you go there try in tripadvisor ,there are many hotels ,chose the one that closed to BTS or subway. I suggest Ibis siam near victory monument ,same rate as guest house but stay like hotel. Be careful taxi driver rip you off the price .
Good luck

If this is your first time to Thailand I would book a hotel ahead of time. There is a hotel service that you can use at the airport but most of the time these hotels are in areas not convenient to where you might like to visit.

You could book a hotel for a couple days and look around for something different or cheaper. I would choose a hotel near the Skytrain route so you can use that cheap transportation to get around town. Meter taxi cabs are pretty cheap in Bangkok if you only pay the meter price and don't bargain!

Bangkok is the capital city, of course it is worth a visit. Some tourists arrive at Suvarnabhumi Airport and try to immediately fly out to another destination. Keep in mind if you are trying to avoid Bangkok that there are two airports serving the city - they are on opposite sides of the city and you have to plan ahead of time for connections. Suvarnabhumi is BKK and Don Muang (lots of local flights leave here) is DMK.

You could take a few days in Bangkok at the beginning of your trip and a final night there just before you fly out. This way you won't have to worry about connecting flights.

Good luck.

It's fairly easy to get a hotel once you're here, but I think booking ahead of time will get you better prices on websites like asiarooms.com, hoteltravel.com and sawadee.com. I had a friend here in Bangkok last week who waited until he got here and he paid much more than the rates on the above websites and a couple of the hotels he wanted were fully booked. Compare the prices on the above websites to the prices on the individual hotel websites and I think you'll find a big difference in price for many of the hotels. Good luck.