Plaza Athénée Bangkok

Bangkok

The Plaza Athénée is a 374 room luxury high-rise hotel in downtown Bangkok, close to the city’s main shopping areas and the Skytrain. This classically elegant edifice features a large rooftop pool and five restaurants, and strikes a good balance between chain hotel feel and local colour.

Style and Character

The Plaza Athénée has strong royal connections. The palace of Princess Valaya Alongkorn once stood on the property and a shrine to her daughter is found in the rooftop garden. The hotel’s classic Thai design is inspired by the princess and features many Thai ‘colonial’ style aspects, such as rich tapestries, sumptuous carpets and early 20th century-style furnishings. There are plenty of quiet corners on the ground and mezzanine floors where guests can sink into deep armchairs.

Service and Facilities

Service is friendly, formal and switched on. The 28 metre freeform pool on a fourth floor rooftop is great for a good swim and there’s an adjacent children's pool. The garden next to the pool offers fantastic views of downtown Bangkok’s jumble of skyscrapers.

The gym, on the same floor, is large and well-equipped. Guests may join free Muay Thai boxing classes and Corepower fitness sessions. The spa has seven treatment rooms, two for couples, and while a little plain, it also offers great views and gracious service.

Rooms

The 270 entry-level Athénée rooms all offer great views over Bangkok’s downtown area. The rooms are bright, spacious, carpeted and kept in the same colonial era design as the common areas. Furnishings, including comfortable Issan style couches, are flawless. The small but neat bathrooms with marble floors are elegant, spotless and well lit. All rooms feature TV, a well-stocked minibar, a coffee machine and tea-making facilities, and free Wi-Fi.

Food and Drink

The Plaza Athénée spoils its guests with five in-house restaurants. Utage serves Japanese cuisine. Silk Road has excellent dim sum and classic Chinese dishes on its menu. The Reflections is a good French diner, complete with French pianist, while Smooth Curry has a great menu of classic Thai dishes from the country’s four regions. The salmon mousse dumplings are rather excellent, as is the Massaman chicken curry. International breakfast, lunch and dinner is served at the sprawling Raintree Cafe which opens onto Wireless Road.

Breakfast is buffet style with myriad choices – Thai, Japanese, Indian and Continental – along with great health juices and smoothies. The Bakery, also on the ground floor has an excellent selection of fine chocolates and tarts. The best place for a pre-dinner drink is the Glaz Bar in the lobby with its colonial era glitz, though the View Bar by the pool is a close contender as it offers great outdoor ambience at sunset.