Mandarin Oriental Bangkok

Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok has stood on the banks of the Chao Phraya River since 1876, when it opened as Thailand's first luxury hotel. Its original Victorian building, now called the Authors' Wing, is the only surviving part of the first hotel, and its lounges are named after the writers who stayed here, including Joseph Conrad and Somerset Maugham. Afternoon tea at the Authors' Lounge has been a Bangkok tradition for more than a century. The hotel's teakwood boats cross the river to The Oriental Spa, set in a century-old teak building, to the Oriental Thai Cooking School, and to Sala Rim Naam, where dinner comes with traditional Thai dance and music each night. The same boats link the hotel to the Skytrain in minutes, avoiding Bangkok's traffic, and longtail boat tours explore the river and the city's old canals.