Benjakitti Forest Park

The Thailand Tobacco Monopoly factory occupied this site beside Sukhumvit for decades. The first phase of parkland opened around a lake in the 2000s, and a much larger second phase completed in 2022 converted the remaining industrial ground into a constructed wetland - about forty hectares of marsh, islands and channels designed to treat water and hold stormwater, with raised walkways and bridges running over it at several levels so you look down into reed beds rather than across a lawn. Some factory buildings were kept and adapted. It has drawn birds quickly: herons, egrets, kingfishers and a growing list of migrants use the water, in the middle of one of Asia's densest cities. A steel skybridge crosses Ratchadaphisek to connect it with Lumphini Park, so the two can be walked as one. The elevated walkways are exposed with no shade, which matters enormously in the middle of a Bangkok day.

History

The park grew out of the old pond of the Tobacco Authority's land beside Sukhumvit, dug and reshaped into a lake about 200 by 800 metres. It has been in use since 1992, the year Queen Sirikit turned 60 - the name means "five cycles" of her life - and was officially opened in 2004. In 2006 more of the tobacco monopoly's land was granted for a forest park, a 652-million-baht project that made it Bangkok's first park with a forest and brought it to 72 hectares; the expansion fully opened in 2022, and the Green Bridge, a 1.3-kilometre elevated path, links it to Lumphini Park (Wikipedia, Benjakitti Park).

What you'll find

• The constructed wetland - forty hectares of marsh and channels over a factory site.
• The elevated walkways - bridges at several levels above the reed beds.
• The birds - herons, egrets and kingfishers established in the centre of the city.
• The skybridge - the crossing linking the park to Lumphini.

When to go

November to February. Early morning and evening only in practice - the walkways have no shade and midday sun on them is punishing. It closes overnight.

Before you go

Almost no shade on the elevated sections, which makes midday visits unpleasant. Some areas are still maturing and planting is young. The park closes in the evening and gates shut earlier than people expect.

Nearby

Lumphini Park is across the skybridge; the Queen Sirikit Convention Centre is at the northern entrance.

Key facts