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Rooftop Lounges
One of the best ways to see the city is by sipping an expensive mojito at a rooftop lounge.
Bangkok is a beautiful city with an amazing skyline, especially when lit up at night. To take it all in, and maybe get a buzz going while you do it, we recommend two not-so-expensive bars that offer both.
Nest, at the Le Fenix hotel, has 360degree panoramic views of the city. Sofas and patches of grass are scattered around creating a trendy green oasis in the middle of the city. Even though Nest is a dress-to-impress kind of place, if all the lounge chairs are taken it's perfectly acceptable (and comfortable if you're not in a skin-tight mini-dress) to sit in the grass. Yeah, it's only eight stories high, but unlike many rooftop lounges, there's nothing obstructing the view.
For a less pretentious rooftop experience, there's Gazebo on Khao Sarn road. Gazebo is full of people on their way out for a night on the town, coming back from one, or all the Khao Sarn 'locals' who spend the entire night there. Although there is pretty much no view to be had (it is in Khao Sarn after all), it makes up for it in atmosphere. The club is divided in two. The rooftop portion has a live band and looks like a Moroccan tearoom with a bar, scattered cushions, floor-to-ceiling drapes, Moroccan lamps and people huddled around their hookahs smoking flavoured shisha, a specialty. Inside there is a club playing open format music where everyone is too drunk to care how small the dance floor actually is and no one can see what it looks like anyway because they're packed-in like sardines.
If these two places aren't expensive or exclusive enough for you, there is always The Dome at the top of State Tower. It's 64 stories up and there can be a fierce breeze. Another place to try is Vertigo at the top of the Banyan Tree Hotel where the name fits the place more than most.
30/06/2011 - 14:19
