One of the most interesting things to me about living in Bangkok, Thailand is how wonderful many of the public toilets are. In fact, so clean are many of them that on my last visit to the US, I was disgusted by the nasty condition of many of the public bathrooms, and desperate to get back to my nice clean Bangkok.
Yes, even though many westerners equate Thailand with dirty toilets that are little more than a hole in the ground, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to Bangkok’s best bathrooms.
Siam Discovery – One of Bangkok’s less popular malls, Siam Discovery has some of the best bathrooms in Bangkok. There is at least one public toilet facility on every floor of the mall, with 10-12 toilets in each. The facilities are sparkling clean, with an on-duty maid in each bathroom that cleans as soon as you’ve finished. The sinks and floors are marble and tile and, again, spotlessly clean.
Soap is in abundance and you get to dry your hands on paper towels, instead of the nasty cloth towels used by 500 people already, that you often find in European public toilets.
Siam Discovery is the shopping mall next to Siam Center mall – both located right next to Siam sky train station.
MBK – One of the most popular malls in Bangkok is Mahboonkrong (MBK) mall. It’s also home to one of downtown’s best public toilets. Every floor has at least two public toilet facilities, sometimes more, and almost every facility has upwards of 20 toilets, so you never have to wait long.
At MBK, you do have to pay 2 baht (6 cents) to use the public toilets, but this ensures they’re always clean and there’s plenty of toilet paper.
Expect MBK to be a bit crowded on the weekends, so if you really need to go, head up to the floor with all the furniture shops as, while that bathroom is smaller, it’s always less crowded so you won’t have to wait.
MBK is next to National Stadium sky train station.
D’Sens Restaurant – Located in the Dusit Thani Hotel, D’Sens restaurant has one of the loveliest bathrooms in Bangkok. Sparkling clean, all tile work and marble and with copious amounts of soap and individual proper towels.
A male friend also tells me the men’s bathroom there is amazing, as the urinals were built next to the windows so, while you pee, you get an incredible view all over the city – but the city doesn’t get a view of you.
The bathrooms in the rest of the Dusit Thani Hotel are lovely too and, as they seem to be cleaned every hour on the hour, they’re spotless.
The Dusit Thani Hotel is next to the Silom underground train station.
Crepes and Company – One of the prettiest bathrooms in Bangkok is the one at Crepes and Company, an incredible Mediterranean restaurant on Sukhumvit Soi 12. Not only is Crepes and Company one of my favorite Bangkok restaurants, it’s also housed in an old wooden Thai house, which comes complete with antique bathrooms that look out over a gorgeous garden full of luscious foliage and flowers.
The owners have renovated the bathrooms so that they’re stylishly designed to fit in with the old Thai style. Painted wooden walls, lovely artwork on the walls, vases of flowers and a frequent clean all make this toilet one of the prettiest, and nicest smelling in Bangkok.
Unless you go to a Thai-style public toilet, which is a squat toilet with a plastic bowl to scoop water in the toilet bowl to ‘flush’ it, you’ll find many of Bangkok’s public toilets are sparkling clean – much cleaner than most of their western counterparts.
If you find yourself caught short somewhere in Bangkok though, and are not sure where the best public toilets are, try one of the above recommendations or head to any of the many Bangkok malls, hotels or cafes. You’ll find clean public toilets that always have toilet paper, soap and a hovering cleaner that’s disinfecting each stall as fast as you use it.
