khao san road

Taken on: 10th February, 2012. Copyright: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License - See Roslyn in Starfish Island's page of Flickr

Read more about Khao San Road

Despite it being one of the least Thai-like places in the kingdom, the vast majority of Bangkok's independent travellers head straight into neon-lit, pumping and thumping Khao San Road to find a room. It's a backpacker ghetto of Disneyesque proportions, originally projected into fame by pot-smoking hippies ambling their way along the four Ks of Kabul, Kathmandu, KSR and Kuta. Despite its complete transformation since then, it has stayed alive in traveller imaginations, fired partly due to Leonardo DiCaprio and his role in the rather lacklustre film The Beach.

Situated in the heart of Bangkok on the northern edge of Ko Rattanakosin, Bangkok's Old City, Khao San is a hub of somewhat crazed activity. It's home to budget guesthouses rubbing shoulders with new, brashly upmarket hotels, dusty silvershops, stalls selling fisherman's pants and compasses, pad thai vendors, a fastfood joint or two and the occasional ... Read our complete Khao San Road travel guide

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