Highly ornate, opulent relics and monuments, dripping in gold and absolutely rammed full of people, the Grand Palace is a highlight of Bangkok for most people

Obviously if your are Buddhist the Palace will have great religious significance for you, and it was indeed the only place in Bangkok with a strict dress code, legs and shoulders had to be covered, though strangely cleavage seemed to be OK. We were also asked to wear face masks though this didn’t seem to be enforced

I’d put a cardi over a long dress. In this pic it’s sadly slipped off my shoulders & so I put a button in, but I was never once challenged here – you’d not get away with that in the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi

There are a lot of crowds, there’s no photography allowed at the Emerald Buddha, which is quite small & another place where you need to remove your shoes. However there are still some beautiful, peaceful spots around and our guide was an expert at keeping us in the shade, out of the worst of the crowds and finding hidden gems.

You can’t park at the Grand Palace, the tour buses get you as close as possible but you still have to walk, in the heat to get in and out again. The underground entrance is blissfully air conditioned and well equipped with ‘proper’ toilets. Having the guide was definitely a bonus, we saw all the main attractions, no getting lost and he contacted the coach driver who was waiting for us on our return so no hanging around in the heat, there were tour options for Bangkok on your own and also an overnight option if you’re a confident traveller

We spent around 2 hours at the palace before walking back to the coach and heading to the shopping centre, there was no lunch included in this tour but there were plenty of places to buy something while shopping.

As I mentioned in the last post. We went to the chocolate cafe in the shopping centre for a very naughty lunch served with a very delicious chai tea!

I spent the last of my Thai Baht on a gorgeous silk cover up, as I mentioned on the other post it was cheaper than I thought, but 600 Baht sounds a lot, right!

I have to give a special shout out to my tour group. Even though we had lots of different abilities they stuck together, were always at meeting points at appropriate times and we didn’t have to search for anyone at all. In a crazy busy place, and in that heat, this was really appreciated by the guide & myself.

A very enjoyable trip to The Grand Palace