Bangkok Canals Cruise including Grand Palace and Wat Arun

Bangkok, Thailand

On this sightseeing tour of Bangkok's canals (or khlongs, as they are known locally) you will travel by a motorized boat on the Chao Phraya River to see the serene family homes and temples dotted along the waterways which inspired Bangkok's reference as the "Venice of the East". The canals around Bangkok serve as a natural highway for many local Thai people going about their everyday business, such as transporting their merchandise, in particular rice, to and from the rice fields.

You'll be picked up from your centrally located Bangkok hotel and cruise along the canals of Bangkok. Your cruising tour will stop at the Temple of Dawn, or Wat Arun, which is one of the Bangkok's most iconic landmarks and the most famous of the more than 400 Buddhist temples and monasteries in the city.

It is then onto the Grand Palace complex. This Grand Palace complex includes the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) which is unquestionably one of the wonders of the world today. Within its enormous grounds is the most exotic Buddhist temple and at the heart of the temple itself is a fabulous Buddha image, carved from one piece of Jade, which is the holiest and most revered of religious objects in Thailand today.

USD $74.00

Review by:   larcy,    February 2018
OUR EXPERIENCE IN BANGKOK WAS MAGNIFICENT!! FROM THE CANAL CRUISE TOUR TO THE GRAND PALACE and WAT ARUN TOUR IS A MUST EXPERIENCE WHEN VISITING BANGKOK, THAILAND. WE HAVE ENJOYED IT VERY MUCH. THE TOUR GUIDE WAS VERY INFORMATIVE and PROFESSIONAL.

Review by:   Reilly N,    December 2016
Great trip with a fantastic tour guide. Khun Yelly was very knowledgable and incredibly sweet. She knew all of the good spots for photos, and even took time to teach our kids about everything, to include folding the lotus flowers for offerings. This tour included all of the highlights, and Yelly's expertise helped us navigate the temple entrances with ease. So much better than trying to do it ourselves. And glad we went in the morning, before it got too hot.

Review by:   Michael S,    December 2016
This was a great tour. Was picked up on time and taken to the dock for boat cruise. The cruise was interesting in the sense that it showed me the reality of the day-to-day lives that people in Bangkok live. My tour guide was nice and I saw the Temple of the Emerald Buddha as well as the most important rooms in the Grand Palace. Wat Arun was a little steep to climb especially for a person with size 13 shoes going up was fine, but coming down I had to slide down on my butt since that was the most effective way. The tour guide was great at relaying to me the history of Bangkok and the cultural significance of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Overall, not to be missed!

Review by:   Darryl r,    September 2016
This tour was amazing!

Review by:   Charles D,    June 2016
Have taken the tours with Viator while in Italy and this one was as expected, great guide and pickup and dropoff was easy. It was nice to have a personal guide going through the Grand Palace. He stood in line to purchase both tickets to each venue and was very informative. The canal cruise was a nice added touch to arriving at each of the venues. I would definitely recommend this tour. For the Grand Palace, check to make sure that there is no holiday the day after your tour, because they close the palace where the Emerald Buddha is located and we missed seeing it,

Review by:   Ken P,    June 2016
This tour was fantastic the canal trip was great our guide was very knowledgeable, about _br/_ bangkok and the palace. A must if it is your first time in Bangkok

Review by:   DAVID K,    March 2016
The palace was great, but we had a real problem understanding our guide's English. The canal cruise part of the tour was OK, but nothing special.

Review by:   KARTHIKEYAN J,    February 2016
The guide made us all to wait for half an hour in the Palace before taking the entry tickets which he could have arranged earlier to avoid the waiting.

Review by:   Kenneth O,    January 2016
An exhilarating trip on the canal with some interesting sights. The temples were wonderful, but very crowded although our guide did exceptionally well

Review by:   Savannah` E,    January 2016
Very good.

Review by:   Stephen G,    August 2015
Excellent historical/cultural trip highlighting the way things used to be. Our guide was excellent. We were a tour of 5 our family so it ended up being a private tour. _br/_ Highly recommended tour - value was excellent.

Review by:   Albert W,    June 2015
Very well organised and adapted well to the terriable weather. Unfortunatly due to the weather we could not vist the Wat Arun, this was no big deal as we were soaked and just wanted to get back to the hotel. Other then that we were picked up on time and dropped back to the hotel.

Review by:   Kieron S,    August 2014
Well organized tour and guide was friendly and helpful, although a little more history into the palace tour may have been appreciated as once there we were left on our own to walk around. Only negative as ever was the visit to a gem factory at the end - total waste of time and unnecessary for our group who were not interested. Would have preferred the reclining buddha temple to be incorporated into this instead to make it perfect.

Review by:   Linda,    August 2014
Really enjoyed the morning out on the canals of Bangkok. Unexpected bonus - it was a small tour with only 4 travelers. The great part of being a small tour - one-to-one conversations with a really good guide. A boat tour is so much more enjoyable than one on a bus. Would highly recommend it.

Review by:   elzed,    July 2014
I had ascertained proper dress for this tour the day before. I was told that my arms and knees had to be covered. I had previously visited many temples so I knew that it was OK to wear a tunic without sleeves provided that I had a shawl to cover my arms for the visit. For the bottom I was told to wear long pants so since I was wearing a tunic, I wore leggings. Instead of greeting us upon our arrival, our guide began giving me heck about the way I was dressed. She said a shawl and leggings were totally unacceptable for the visit to the Grand Palace. She then went to talk to her guide colleagues, pointing at me and complaining - everyone was looking at me. I got so upset I told her to forget the Palace Visit and to just do the canal cruise. We enjoyed the canal cruise, but the encounter with the guide had totally soured our tour. We are also completely disappointed that we never did get to visit the Palace.

Review by:   Barbara K,    July 2014
Well organised very informative tour. Not too long which was a bonus with very hot and humid weather. Rep mended to everyone

Review by:   Lais,    May 2014
Most things in the palace you can't go into but it was still good to see.

Review by:   David C,    April 2014
My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed this tour. There were only three persons on the tour and the guide was both knowledgeable and had a good sense of humour. This was our first introduction to Bangkok and along with the sights visited as described we had a tour of the city area as well. Cruising the canals was interesting as this is the side of a city you'd never normally experience. We would highly recommend this tour.

Review by:   Lisa Z,    March 2014
These were the must see sights of Bangkok. I enjoyed arriving via a wooden long boat that roger Moore had been in. Our guide was excellent and was very informative.

Review by:   Tabitha A G,    March 2014
The guide was very friendly and knew the subject matter. I am very glad I booked with this company and took this tour. I would recommend it.

Review by:   Milauna J,    February 2014
My friend and I purchased this tour and it was amazing. It was educational as well as scenic. We were able to experience areas on the canal where locals live and work. What an enlightening journey. My only wish was that we had a more time to spend at Wat Arun so that we could explore the entire premises. Nonetheless, our personal tour guide/ photographer voluntarily captured as many memories as requested. I am so glad to have booked this cruise.

Review by:   Damali D,    February 2014
I really enjoyed seeing the city another way on the tour. It was a nice small group and the guide was very friendly and knowledgeable.

Review by:   Agnes L,    December 2013
The cruise is very nice and the temple and palace are very interesting to see. However the last stop at the jewel store was pure waste of time and delayed stupidely our afternoon program

Review by:   vlevin13,    December 2013
The trip would of been awesome, if we weren't constantly treated as money bags: on the canal we had "unscheduled stop" for some lady trying to sell us things, noone cared about. Then after visiting Grand Palace we were taken to Gem factory, where sales person was trying to sell us very expensive jewelry and if that wasn't enough, after that we were supposed to go to tailor factory, where I am sure they would of try to sell us suits and so on. My recommendation: once you visit Grand Palace opt out of going to gem factory. Waste of our time!!!

Review by:   Robert,    December 2013
It was great to go by long boat down the river of Chao Praya, enjoy views and info on places, feed fish, visit temples and museums.

Review by:   Lisa V,    September 2013
Great tour, great guide- had a very enjoyable time.

Review by:   glen,    August 2013
Interesting way to see more of Bangkok

Review by:   ktank,    July 2013
Guide had good English. The canal ride was terrific. Wish it had been longer. The temples were over run with tour groups, which is to be expected. I was expecting to be returned to my hotel but was astounded to be taken to a gem factory/retailer. Forced to sit through a glitzy promo video, then marched through the gem store by a pushy salesperson even though I told her I had no intention of buying anything. Only then was I handed off to a van driver for transport. Had him drop me off at the nearest transit station. A terrible end to a not so bad tour.

Review by:   Diane R,    June 2013
Cruise was good. Was a hot day and there were many people at the grand palace which made hearing our guide difficult.

Review by:   Linda B,    May 2013
Our guide was very knowledgeable. We highly recommend this canal tour. Riding in the long tail boat was a highlight of our trip to Bangkok.

Review by:   Lynne J,    February 2013
Great tour guide. Very knowledgeable and passionate about his country and its history. Tour was terrific and as we were the only passengers, we had time to go past the uni and other govt buildings. Would recommend the tour, the long boat was a great way to see Bangkok. Palace beautiful.

Review by:   Marilou R,    December 2012
The Canal ride was much too long w/out nothing to see but the 2 temples were really spectacular.Wished they cut short the ride so we have more time visiting the temples.

Review by:   Zsolt J,    November 2012
It was OK, good canal cruise, pleasent time at Wat Arun, bit rush at Grand Palace.

Review by:   Salman P,    August 2012
An interesting tour, unfortunately it was too hot for us to enjoy the tour which was mainly outdoors....pinching heat and very high humidity

Review by:   Angela B,    April 2012
The tour company was really punctual in picking us up at the hotel and this was probably my favorite tour in Bangkok, the canals tour was great and the two temples we visited were spectacular. I will totally recommend it to a first time visitor of Bangkok. The only down side was that at times it was difficult to understand the tour guide’s English given his thick accent, never the less great tour.

Review by:   Karen O,    April 2012
Thoroughly enjoyed it and definetly worth while.

Review by:   Miriam F,    April 2012
Tour was very good, but I have a complain regarding the turist guide: because at the end of visit of the Grand Palace he recused to take me back to my hotel without visiting the jelwery factory, so I got back to my hotel by my own.

Review by:   Helen W,    April 2012
Quite a rush thru'. At the end the local guide added a non-scheduled stop at a jewellery factory which we opted out however we were therefore refused to be dropped off at our hotels. He would take us back to our hotels only if we would agree to stop at the jewellery factory for at least 20 minutes. We had to make our own arrangements. The trip description clearly indicates hotel drop off are included.

Review by:   adele,    March 2012
Excellent tour, guide was very knowledgable

Review by:   Glyn E,    March 2012
Great trip our guide was very knowledgeable good value.

Review by:   Glyn E,    March 2012
Great trip our guide was very knowledgeable good value.

Review by:   Kate,    October 2011
We were the only people on this tour so had a really personal experience. The Guide was very friendly and knowledgeable but left us alone to wander around the attractions at our own pace so we never felt rushed. A very good value tour!!

Review by:   Eric D,    March 2011
Will recommend to others excellent tour. Thanks Viator.

Review by:   Kestutis G,    October 2010
The guide was professional and helped us in Grand palace. We were able to understand the meaning for various symbols, buildings and thai culture. He also did not rush us and provided ample of time to get photos and look and places of interest. Definitely recommend to have guide in Grand Palace. Otherwise, you will look at many buildings without knowing what they are

Review by:   David F,   United States of America, June 2010
We really had a Great tour. The Guide was Fantastic.

Review by:   Anonymous,   United States of America, March 2010
Guide very interesting. Outstanding itinerary.

Review by:   Clyde V,    March 2010
Guide very interesting. Outstanding itinerary.

Review by:   Leonard T,   United States of America, February 2010
Every part of this tour was excellent. An extremely knowledgeable tour guide. Couldn't have asked for any better everything!

Review by:   Katherine S,   United Arab Emirates, December 2009
I'm so glad that we booked this tour. Not only did it start early so we were able to enjoy Wat Arun with no other visitors, but everything was streamlined at the Grand Palace, which I was thankful for. The small tour of the waterways of old Bangkok was really enjoyable.

Review by:   Katie S,    December 2009
I'm so glad that we booked this tour. Not only did it start early so we were able to enjoy Wat Arun with no other visitors, but everything was streamlined at the Grand Palace, which I was thankful for. The small tour of the waterways of old Bangkok was really enjoyable.