It’s all about going big in Bangkok, where ever-taller skyscrapers frequently pop up to puncture the skyline.
Enter the MahaNakhon — a 320m behemoth recently rebranded as the uber-cool Standard Hotel’s new Asia flagship. Following the boutique chain’s handful of outposts in New York, London and Miami Beach, Art Deco meets aspirational millennial chic in the Thai capital, where cool whites are mixed with plush velvet pops of colour, and floor-to-ceiling glass walls ensure a permanent 360-degree view of the city outside.
It’s also host to the Sky Beach — now the city’s highest al fresco rooftop bar — where you can get a glass-floored glimpse of the Bangkok lights below.
Where is it?
Si Lom is the city’s commercial hub, filled by turn with financiers, diners perusing the mango and sticky rice stalls at its night market, and a sprinkling of drag bars. It’s a good bet for Bangkok first-timers, with bus, tram and underground stations a few minutes’ walk from the hotel.
Style
An Art Deco dreamland, everywhere you turn. Think curved arches and hallways, a playful colour palette splashing mustards and corals and jades across the place, and bold geometry — an idea reaching its zenith at Tease, an afternoon teahouse covered in an eye-bending black-and-white diamond design. The whole place is pure whimsy — an antidote to the city’s typically minimalist high-end offerings. And you can take a little piece of it home with you, via an in-hotel shop selling the likes of footstools, vases and bags, plus custom designs for guests made on request.
Facilities
A rooftop pool that makes Soho House’s look like a pond; a steam room, and a gym with a view that’ll actually make you want to work out. There’s a weekly gym class schedule (including HIIT and Eighties-style dancing), an on-hand personal trainer who can put you through your paces on the studio balcony, and a raft of Pelotons, if you prefer exercising solo.
Extracurricular
Visit the Grand Palace, where the Wat Arum and Wat Phra temples gleam gold; or walk the city streets, where you’ll come across plenty of beautiful shrines, too. Markets are one of Thailand’s best assets: the biggest night market is Chatuchak, which has some 15,000 stalls, while Damnoen Saduak and Amphawa are among favourite floating markets, located around an hour and a half out of the city.
Close to the hotel is Lumphini Park — the city’s first public green space — and Chinatown, the oldest district in Bangkok following the arrival of Chinese merchants in the early 1780s, is well worth a wander.
Food & drink
The hotel has four restaurants to choose from: Ojo, on the 76th floor, where Guadalajaran chef Francisco Paco Ruano dishes up beef short rib, whole grilled fish slathered in coriander adobo and slow cooked suckling pig with habanero. Quail and whiskey pie or cranberry spiced scones are on offer at Tease, along with a cuppa (there are nine varieties to choose from); Mott 32, a Cantonese import from Hong Kong and the American Brasserie complete the line-up. Drinks-wise, you’d be hard pressed to find a better view of the city at night than at the Sky Beach. Take the glass lift up from Ojo to the 78th floor, pose for photos in its yellow phone booth, and dance the night away in the open air.
Which room?
There are 155, ranging in size from a 40sqm double to more than three times that in the penthouse. All have panoramic views, and come with rain showers or tubs, Nespresso machines and coral bathrobes, so you can sip in style.
Best for...
Couples, pals, or solo travellers looking for a slice of entirely un-Bangkok chill in the heart of the city. Expect to see a lot of phones out - the Instagrammable decor is catnip for influencers.
Price
Rooms start from £248 per night, including breakfast. standardhotels.com
