While planning our trip to Thailand in January, I was excited to stay in a hotel in Bangkok. As Meagan has mentioned before, we met as roommates in Thailand and lived about an hour north of Bangkok. Because of that fact, I’d never stayed in Bangkok overnight. After getting a few ideas from guidebooks, I also looked on TripAdvisor to see what was ranked highly. I was pleasantly surprised to see a charming, small hotel near the top. I immediately looked into it and then booked it. It’s called Phranakorn Nornlen, and it’s one of the most adorable places I’ve ever stayed! Read ahead for my Bangkok Hotel Review:

Phranakorn Nornlen is located in the heart of Old Bangkok and is truly an oasis in the middle of a hectic city. Their motto is about embracing “slow life,” and it’s certainly easy to do when you’re in the compound. The building itself is a beautiful, old teak mansion, and there’s plenty of space for lounging on pillows in the open air first floor. The surrounding area is not touristy so you get a taste of authenticity in how people live in communities in Bangkok. But it is within walking distance to the Thewet Pier river shuttle stop where you can take a leisurely boat ride to get to the Grand Palace and the Reclining Buddha. It’s also just a taxi or scary tuktuk ride away from the BTS Skytrain.

The hotel has a rooftop restaurant that serves basic Thai dishes, including pineapple fried rice. We ate there upon arrival because we’d been traveling that day and were famished. Breakfast is included in the room rate and is quite the spread. There’s also a tea service during the day if you’re in your room and want afternoon tea. What more do you need in life?

The décor of the hotel matches the antique building it’s housed in. There are cute, vintage displays everywhere you turn. Plus, there’s amazing art from a local artist painted on the walls. The style of the rooms are consistent with the rest of the hotel. The bedding uses batik cloth that you can find in the market and… If you like the style of the décor, they have a shop on the first floor where you can buy similar goods.

If you’re not already sold on booking the Phranakorn Nornlen while in Bangkok, we found the extra services the hotel made available extremely thoughtful and useful. For example, we had a late flight out so were able to store our luggage in the baggage deposit for free while exploring Chatuchak Weekend Market for last minute shopping. Additionally, showers on the first floor were available for use to freshen up before heading to the airport even though we’d checked out in the morning. There’s also a service to help with transportation needs, such as calling us a taxi to airport. The staff also went above and beyond. Our final memory of leaving Phranakorn Nornlen is that four staff members were leaving at the same time so they helped us with our luggage and saw us off in our taxi.

Hope you’ll consider staying in this lovely guesthouse if you’re traveling to Bangkok soon! What’s one of your favorite accommodations ever and why?

Stephanie at A Friend Afar

Stephanie grew up road-tripping across the U.S., but her first flight was to Australia, and she’s been hooked ever since. She lived abroad in Thailand, where she met Meagan, and in Ghana with Peace Corps and has been to over 30 countries on 6 continents. She travels for the adventure, the stories, and nature.