Traditions of Bangkok
A capital of golden temples, royal ceremony and street food that is eaten at every hour.
Bangkok is the capital of Thailand, a city of canals, temples and giant markets. The Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha stand at its historic core. Thai royal ceremony, Buddhist merit-making and food traditions are all part of daily city life.
Rites and royal days
Monks collect alms at dawn, and residents kneel to put rice in their bowls. The Royal Ploughing Ceremony in May blesses the start of the rice season, and Makha Bucha and Visakha Bucha in the Buddhist calendar are marked with candle processions at temples. On the King's Birthday, citizens wear yellow and light candles.
At the table
Meals are shared plates around rice: tom yum soup, green curry, pad thai and som tam salad. Street carts sell grilled meat skewers and mango sticky rice. Fried chilli sauces are on every table, and Thai people say a meal is not finished without a fresh fruit plate.
Signature traditions of Bangkok
Also part of it, and being written: Makha Bucha (A Buddhist day of reflection.), Pad thai (The famed stir-fried noodle dish.), Wai (The traditional Thai greeting.).
A trail idea for Bangkok
- Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew Dress modestly, and expect crowds.
- Chinatown on Yaowarat Road Eat at stalls from dusk.
- Chatuchak weekend market Browse crafts and snacks.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, markets and festival dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
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Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Loy Krathong: John Shedrick, CC BY 2.0, source
- Royal Ploughing Ceremony: Xiengyod, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Thai funeral: Government of Thailand, CC BY 2.0, source
- Songkran: ผู้สร้างสรรค์ผลงาน/ส่งข้อมูลเก็บในคลังข้อมูลเสรีวิกิมีเดียคอมมอนส์ - เ, CC BY 3.0, source
- Coronation of the Thai monarch: Tris_T7, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Longyi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Songkran: Khunmoohan, CC BY-SA 4.0, source