Lumpini Park, the first park in Thailand was created in the 1920s and is a well-kept 142-acre park in downtown Bangkok. 10-15k locals, families, and tourists alike visit each day, mainly to: run/walk the 2.5km of track, use children’s play areas, and visit multiple lakes and gardens hiding an abundance of wildlife.

Please be aware, that since the Covid-19 pandemic began you are supposed to wear a face mask in all public places, including, as ridiculous as it sounds, public parks. There are officers at the entrances who will ask you to wear one. It is best just to go along with this, no one monitors mask-wearing once in the park, hint hint.

Bear in mind that there is no smoking, dogs are not allowed and it is best not to show too much public affection, i.e. hugging and kissing as this may offend the locals. Other than that you are good to go!

Opening hours are 4.30 am until 9 pm at night, and guards will chase you out of the park if you try to sleep there!

How to get there

Any taxi, tuk-tuk or motorbike rider will know Lumpini Park but it is probably easiest to take a BTS or MRT to MRT Silom, or BTS Sala Daeng. In those stations you will find a large map either on a wall or on stilts on the main station concourse area which will show you the way to go, it is only a short walk from either station.

You could go by public bus for a real Thai experience. These bus numbers will get you there: Witthayu road buses 13, 17, 62, 76 and 106, the Sarasin Road buses 13, 76 and 106, Rama IV road buses 4, 14, 47, 67, 74, 76, 106, 109, 115 and Por Opr 7, and the Ratchadamri road buses 14, 15, 74, 77, 119, Por Opr 4, and Por Opr 5.

Personally, I would take a taxi though, buses are fun once but not really practical for most tourists, or families.

Do you need to book in advance to visit Lumpini Park?

You do not need to make any bookings to visit Lumpini Park. In fact, I would encourage you not to! Exploring the park for yourself at your own pace is far more interesting than being taken around in a tour group in my opinion.

Strangely, I noticed that when I googled this question Tripadvisor was implying you needed to book a tour, this is not the case and I think most people would prefer to do this independently, not least because it is free and easy to get to.

What’s the best way to see Lumpini Park?

The best way to look around Lumpini Park is to simply take a leisurely stroll around the park. It is often very sunny and hot though, so do make sure you take a drink bottle, sun cream, and hat.

Bicycles are allowed but there aren’t any to hire easily nearby so walking is your best shot at it. There are lots of runners in the evening after nearby office blocks close for the day and workers pour out into the park for a bit of relief from office life.

What to do in Lumpini Park? 

Depending on your time restraints, your tolerance of the heat, and time of day, you can enjoy the following activities at Lumpini Park, Thailand:

1. Stroll around

By far my favorite activity, you don’t need to plan a route, I suggest simply walking the full perimeter of the park if it is your first time. This will take an hour or so on flat tarmaced walkways. Use Google maps to track your progress, or to take any shortcuts.

If you can’t quite manage an entire lap then you can also just leave the park at one of the many exits and grab a taxi back home, or to your hotel. 

Personally, I enjoy finding a viewpoint where you can see the incredible contrast of the lakes and plants in the foreground and the towering concrete jungle behind it all set against a deep blue sky.

The evening is a favorite time of mine to stroll around Lumpini. Bats come out to play, the weather isn’t so hot and you get to enjoy some glorious sunsets too.

2. Use the children’s play area

There is a large children’s play area containing at least two sets of sturdy swings, and three separate climbing frames with slides attached to them. 

My two boys thoroughly enjoy running around and exploring these as well as climbing on the large boulders that are not far away from the play area also.

Of course, there are plenty of benches nearby for us older folks to rest whilst the kids rush around. 

3. Bike around

Some people bring bikes to the park and have a good cycle around. The park is big enough to accommodate cyclists and walkers. However, I have not seen a cycle hire shop in the park, like the one at Suan Rot Fai Park. So, if you are keen to cycle then head to Suan Rot Fai Park.

4. Spot the famous Thailand monitor lizards (Lumpini Park Lizards)

These lizards take many a visitor by surprise by their sheer size. You will almost definitely see monitor lizards in a variety of sizes from a foot long right up to 7 feet long! They really do look like quite a sight as they amble around the fringes of the lakes searching for prey, typically fish and birds.

Don’t worry though, monitor lizards are not dangerous and they will generally turn tail and run if you march towards them. 

The only time I have felt threatened in twenty years of visiting Thai parks is when three larger lizards emerged from a lake fighting over a dead fish. They seemed oblivious to us but did come much closer than I would have liked seeing as though they were clawing at each other. 

Obviously, we just backed off and left them to it but spotting monitoring lizards does give walking around the parks a nice tropical, and even edgy feel at times. I have never known anyone to be bit by them or felt threatened by them.

The Thai National Parks website has plenty more info on the lizards of Thailand.

5. Run around

This is best reserved for early morning or evening times. There is a small changing facility with lockers for valuable should you need a couple of minutes walk to the left as you enter from the Silom road end of the park.

There are plenty of runners in the evenings but it never really feels overly crowded and it is a great way to stay fit on your trave

6. Have a picnic

There are usually ladies wandering around who will hire you out a picnic/square mat which you can fold out and use as a picnic mat. The going rate seems to be 20 baht although don’t be surprised if you are asked for more. Be kind though, a little extra can go a long way for some people!

I suggest bringing your own food, or at least picking something up from a nearby shop before you get into the park prepare as there is not much food available. There is a drinks stall on the way in but no food.

7. Sit on a bench and relax

There are some nice shady spots all around the park with benches to sit on. The sloping banks of the lake make a nice spot to sit on the grass too just be careful of fire ants. They can be anywhere in the grass and their bites do sting.

8. Join an exercise class

In the evenings there are usually a couple of aerobic/step classes taking place outdoors in full public view that anyone can join in and enjoy. It is quite a scene to see a couple of hundred people all dancing in time to load music.

Thai people seem very open and secure in themselves and think nothing of exercising in public regardless of how athletic they do or don’t look, ot how in time with the music they are, or aren’t! Quite a spectacle indeed.

9. Feed the fish

Lookout at the entrance to the park for fish food. There is normally a vendor selling bags of bread pieces, small round granules of fish food, or very brightly colored popcorn type fish food.

All of the lakes have a plethora of fish in them and my kids particularly enjoy watching the fish competing to eat the handfuls they throw-in.

And if you have kids that like feeding animals then consider taking a trip to Dubua Cafe which is a great low-cost alternative for younger kids.

10. Go on a pedal boat

It is quite a serene experience and nice for the kids if you make the effort to take a pedal boat out on the lakes. You can quietly drift along and get close up with swimming monitor lizards, fish, and enjoy a different perspective on the park. 

The last time I did this I paid 20 baht for 20 minutes though this was provide so it could be more but either way it is a nice option.

11. Watch or do Tai Chi

It seems to be somewhat of a tradition for small groups of mainly elderly people to gather at certain locations and times of the day to practice Tai Chi together. These gatherings don’t seem to be organised as such and some people were  just doing it whilst following a youtube channel.

The last time I went there was an old lady wielding a rather ferocious-looking sword which scared my sons somewhat. Not quite my cup of tea but if you want to give it a go then why not.

12. Concerts

If you get lucky you might just stumble across a concert in process. These used to take place on a Sunday afternoon pre-pandemic. There is a specific stage and outdoor area allocated for the audience and it is a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

The Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra used to be the main drawcard but they have since moved their offering to Chulalongkorn University Centenary Park.

13. Lift weights

Inside most public parks in Thailand, you will find multiple areas where there is a range of free weights, benches, and a few old machines available for the public to use.

I used to go to one of these regularly and the Thai people seemed to enjoy the novelty of a foreigner working out with them and were very accommodating. In fact, I would even recommend going for a workout in one of these areas just to experience the welcoming nature of Thai people.

Simply wander into the weight lifting area, smile at everyone, and get on with your workout, just be careful with some of the equipment. It can be quite dated so I wouldn’t go crazy with the heavyweights in case something breaks.

14. A combination of all of the above

So long as you have got the time and don’t mind the heat then you will almost inevitably be able to pick and choose from the above list

Hopefully, I have given you a solid rundown of what you can do and see at Lumpini Park. It really is a lovely oasis for city dwellers and visitors to enjoy and offers a fine insight into Thai nature and wildlife without leaving Bangkok.

If you liked this rundown on Lumpini Park then you might also be interested in my take on Suan Luang Park, another great park to visit.

Suan Luang Rama 9 park is a government-owned park a short taxi ride away from downtown Bangkok. It covers an area of 2000 acres and features a children’s playground, Chinese, Japanese and English gardens as well as a tricky maze garden, a large lake, several ponds, and a thicker jungle area.

Named after King Bhumibol Adulyadej,  the revered ninth, King of Thailand, this park is a wonderful addition to Bangkok’s public gardens. It is great for a leisurely stroll, a picnic, kids’ play, vigorous exercise, or wildlife and bird watching. You could literally spend the whole day here.

A word of caution though, it is a hot park. Whilst there are lots of trees and shady areas, there are also some long stretches of walking (5-10 minutes) that are completely uncovered and that is not much fun if it is midday in 35-degree heat. Early mornings or late afternoons are preferable, although we are normally there from about 11 am until 2 pm, and it does not kill us.

There is no easy place to get air-con nearby, so please be well prepared with hats, suncream, and cold drinks. There is one very limited drinks outlet in the center of the park which has little choice beyond fizzy drinks so I recommend you bring your own.

The Grand Tour

This is a quick tour of the park the way we like to do it:

After parking in the main car park, the first point of interest is immediately between the car park and the walkway around the lake. this is where the large children’s play area is located. Some families will simply arrive and go no further than here, set up a picnic, and let their children play in this traditional Thai outdoor play area.

Play area

The play area includes a wooden castle (closed at the time of print), a couple of small roundabouts,  swings, those springy animal things that kids can sit on, and a few other items. 20-20 minutes is usually enough for my kids.

Be careful though some of the equipment is ageing and there is always a chance of injury on some of the last well-maintained equipment. 

When I go with my family we always walk around the park in an anti-clockwise direction. We walk around the large lake, in the center of the park, on a paved road and we follow this until a right turn in the road leads you to a wooded tree area on the left with a small stream to cross and a pond surrounded by trees.

There is a small seating area projecting out onto the lake which is a great place to feed fish. You will often see tortoises swimming around in the lake which often comes over to be fed as well.

Chinese Gardens

The next point of Interest we always visit is the Chinese Garden. This has some very ornate Chinese buildings and a small garden surrounding it all manicured into delicate Chinese style.

The Chinese gardens are also an ideal place for a quick game of hide-and-seek as there are plenty of bushes, trees and rocks for the kids to hide behind. It also makes for a good place for a spot of lunch or refreshment as there are covered spaces to sit in.

Jungle

From here, we walk on to a jungle area which is ideal for small kids as it gives them the feeling of being enclosed in a jungle without all the hassle of going to a national park. We make our way up the undulating rocky, yet well-worn path to a rock pool at the top of a small hill.

We often see larger monitor lizards, and interesting insects and see and hear an array of different birds here.

We normally retrace our steps back down to the bottom where there are numerous rocks that the kids enjoy climbing on and jumping off. The more energy they can use up the better I say!

From here we are a couple of minutes walk from getting back onto the main paved road going around the lake and a further wooden bridge going across a river to a small island with a large ‘Sara’ in the middle. Again another great spot for a stop.

Feed the fish

This river here has plenty of fish in it so if you have bought some bread with you then you can enjoy feeding the fish here. 

From here, we cut across the top of the lake past a small drinks shop. This could really be made into something much more, like a small coffee shop, or something. At the moment it is bottles of water and fizzy drinks only.

If you have kids that like feeding animals then check out Dubua cafe for a great day trip.

Japanese gardens

Past here you can turn right to visit the Japanese gardens which are really just a strip of Japanese-type trees and shrubs with some large boulders sitting among them.

There is a sign saying no climbing on the rocks but I let my lads climb all over them and jump around. It is a bit of a highlight of the trip for them really. Climbing rocks bigger than themselves and jumping from one to the other is what its all about.

Lake side picnic

Next, we head down the side of the lake which will ultimately bring us back to the car park, but first, there are great spots to sit under the trees and relax or picnic for a while as well as a large plant center on the right-hand side.

Cactus plant center

The plant center (there must be a better name) houses all types of cactus and similar plants that thrive in arid conditions. It is worth a quick look but I have not been back inside since I was told off for allowing my children to scrape the sand with their feet. Honestly, some people just have nothing better to do!

After making it this far it has usually taken us two to three hours and so the kids and I are normally quite hot and sweaty at this point. So, it is back to the roasting hot car and onto the nearest Seven-Eleven in order to get ice cream to keep the children happy on the journey home. 

There are other points of interest I have not mentioned, such as the garden maze which is close to the car park but we normally avoid it as it can get quite confusing and annoying with young children. Older kids would probably love it. 

Lots more to see…

There is also an English garden, lots of others ponds and lakes to explore as well as swan-shaped pedal boats which you can hire to go out on the main lake.

My overall verdict is that it is a great half or whole-day trip out for anyone with an interest in the outdoors, nature, and animals. It is free to get in and there is no need to book an organized tour as I see Trip Advisor wants you to do.

In fact, I could not think of anything worse than going here on an organized trip. The beauty of the place is just wandering around and exploring things for yourself. Anyway, that’s up to you but just know it is perfectly feasible to do it yourself with a little help from Google Maps and a decent set of footwear, enjoy!

Also check out: Our Guide To Lumpini Park Bangkok With Kids

Image Credits

Rachasak Ragkamnerd, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Ruslik0, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Dubua cafe is a family oriented combination of a farm park, street food, markets, plush cafes and large ponds filled with fish, ducks and geese. The overall vibe is relaxed and friendly and the prices are acceptable especially as there is no entrance fee.

Getting There

The only real option is to drive or take a taxi. The route to get there is quite windy and care needs to be taken on some narrower roads closer to Dubua. 

At one point I thought I must have the wrong address as we seemed to be driving around the edges of mud fields and on roads that were not of the best quality. Still we stuck with it and got there after about an hours drive.

On Arrival

There was plenty of parking available and the car park was just under half full at 11 o’clock in the morning on a Saturday. There were enough people there to make it feel busy but not enough to prevent you from enjoying the attractions and getting good service. 

Once you enter through the main entrance you turn left and walk towards the main farm park area. On this stretch of pathway and onwards you will find bicycles, and cute scooters which are free for adults and children to use.

You can literally just take them and use them and leave them wherever you want inside the park. Most people still seemed to walk around but this was another nice touch that made you feel as though your custom was valued. Thank you Dubua cafe!

The Grand Tour

There are a plethora of animals on display which require you to walk in a large loop alongside different animal pens. Most of the animals can be hand fed and the food is left outside each animal’s cage/pen.

You pay for the food on an honesty basis. There are large red boxes which you put twenty baht notes into before you can then take a packet of food you can then feed to the animals.

I guess you could simply not pay and take the food but no one was doing that and it would seem to be against the spirit of things seeing as though there is no entry fee.

We went around the park in an anti-clockwise direction and soon found ourselves hand feeding silky hens, geese and ducks in a nicely tendered garden area where the animals were wandering freely.

Our second stop was to feed reindeer! This one I didn’t expect, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them in Thailand before but there they were. Of course, the kids loved feeding these as well as the goats which were nearby as well.

We then passed a peacock which the boys had never seen before and were treated to a full display of the peacock’s tail being fanned creating quite a spectacle.

At this point we found some lovely wooden swings on a platform at the edge of one of the main ponds and we spent quite some time enjoying these as well as the general peace and quiet and sounds of the animals and nature, very relaxing.

At this point, the clouds rolled in and we made for one of the main cafes to sit out the rainstorm. Here we had some great value cake. This huge peace of cake was only 170b and was of surprisingly high quality, definitely recommended.

Coffee Time

The coffee I had was perfectly fine and a good price at 50b. I was impressed with the fair pricing throughout our visit but I guess if the prices were higher a lot of people might not make the effort to get there.

Once the worst of the rain had passed we had a great time feeding fish at the entrance to the rabbit pen and then feeding the rabbits in a very well kept rabbit pen. The rabbits were super cute and friendly and my kids loved handling the and feeding them. 

There was a vending machine buy selling rabbit food for this one, unlike the honesty boxes used elsewhere.

We also checked out cages of meerkats, racoons and parrots before hand feeing horses and water buffalo on our way around. This was a really fun experience for the kids. Everything was close together and the park was well signed and so easy to navigate.

We found this size of park and number of animals to see just right for us. Our boys are 2 and 4, and so two or three hours is enough for them. Sometimes the bigger attractions like Safari World can be a bit too tiring to walk around all day and of course they are much more expensive.

Food

We had mixed experience with the food, my wife had some delicious street food noodles but the chicken and rice (Khao man gai) we got for the boys was sadly below par. Still you can’t win them all and we finished the day off in a pedal boat for a quick tour of the main pond.

The pedal boats were free in the same way the bicycles were, again another nice touch which may well see us go back again at some point.

Best bits

According to my boys the pedal boat on the lake and feeding the rabbits and fish were the best parts of the day. 

For the adults, the ease of getting around, ample supply of toilets and fair prices for food and drinks made the visit a happy one.

Recommendation

If you have got young children then I absolutely recommend you make the effort to get there. There are plenty of opportunities to get up close and personal with animals of all shapes and sizes.

It is a largely relaxing place to visit with plenty of lush green plants, gardens, ponds and rivers around to make you feel as though you have had a break from big city living!