There are lists and lists.

For example, the other day I saw a comprehensive survey and list of the 'safest' cities in the world, drawn from tourist's experiences and stats on pickpockets etc.

As I recall, Bangkok didn't feature and the top one was York in the UK.

I suppose it depends on what tourists regard as important. (Couldn't have been the weather, that's for sure).

Tripadvisor makes hiself redicoulus with this top 25, and Thaivisa dus the same to publice this with a headline.

For god sake, i know a hundred places that are better. Just pure nonsens.

what an embarrassment this must be for the soldier government when they discover that there are better places to visit than Bangkok

Rubbish. No numbers to support these ridiculous claims. The most visisted destination in the World is the Las Vegas strip with close to 40 million visitors a year followed by New York's Times Square (39.2 million)

Edited March 26, 201511 yr by Alwyn

Do these people ever visit these places? The second on the list is Siem Reap, Cambodia. Chosen from the whole world. The first five:

Marrakech, Morocco

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Istanbul, Turkey

Hanoi, Vietnam

Prague, Czech Republic

Is this for a family? Is this all there is in the world? I wouldn't even choose New York as #1 in the US much less in the top group in the world.

I shake my head when I see these lists and think of all of the great places I've seen which aren't on it.

Oh well.

The list seems to focus on "stuff to do" and being a center of activity.

All I can say is WHAT A LOAD OF RUBBISH It may be ok for tourists but the minute you want to stay here for a longer time you have got to jump through a LOT of hoops and I have accepted that up until just

recently when it has become just about impossible for my son (farang) to get a visa. I am looking at other asian alternatives.

For those traveling to Northern Thailand, the wrong image was posted in the article. This is more like it:

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I ask the same question. If you are being scammed in this, according to you dangerous, stinking city, why not go back to whichever hole wherever you come from? Be safe.

This is a worrying fall for Bangkok! It's normally ranked no. 1 in the world for the past decade. Instant drop of 18 places on the list... What on earth happened? Did people realize it's a chaotic, stinking, dirty, dangerous, noisy place full of people who don't really like foreigners but are happy to try to scam them at every opportunity?

Utter nonsense. if you are being scammed at every turn, I might suggest you are visiting the wrong places. Stay away from tourist traps because you will get scammed in every city in the world there. Stay away from establishments catering to Westerners because you are asking to be a sucker. Stay away from the sex trade because scamming is what they do. If you live in a nice residential area you will not get scammed everyday. Years in BKK and the worst that has happened to me is 1) paying too much for a Tuk Tuk ride but it was hot and I was lost. 2) having someone over weigh a Dragon fruit and charge me an extra 20 baht.

More often than not, local Thais will always make the correct change and in several cases I have had them chase after me when I gave them an amount that I thought was correct and walked away but change was owed. You are really a cynical, old expat apparently who came to BKK to live as a Westerner. if you hate it here so much...why are you staying ?

Let me see. I have been scammed, more than once by these: Immigration, Electrical Dept, Water Department, Boys in Brown, Temple Admission, Highway Police, Cable Company, TOT, CATV, pretty well 80% of the tradesmen used to date, Taxi's (Motorbike and Regular.) Now if you wish to go on about the bars, yes, but not as often as the above listed.

This is a worrying fall for Bangkok! It's normally ranked no. 1 in the world for the past decade. Instant drop of 18 places on the list... What on earth happened? Did people realize it's a chaotic, stinking, dirty, dangerous, noisy place full of people who don't really like foreigners but are happy to try to scam them at every opportunity?

Wow a capital city 'noisy' that's a scandal. I know loads of people in Bangkok that like me and in 15+ years I've never been scammed ONCE !!! Perhaps you're just one of life's victims !

Bet you take a ice cold shower each morning and run 25 klicks.

I expect most everyone who went to Athens, Greece was just to withdraw money they had in Greek bank accounts they had opened on earlier visits.

_{Simply ridiculous! Typically TripAdvisor. I will block this stupid website with useless information.}

Bangkok should not be on place 18, but on place 798.

Bangkok has done better some time ago. Wonder why.

I wouldn't put much weight in what TripAdvisor says,

Gone are the days when "tripadvisor" was a shabby leaflet about LSD handed out in San Fran's Disco.

Edited March 27, 201511 yr by Morakot

I've been to 9 places on that list. I like them all, but live in the kok

The illegal side of the nightlife aside, what has Bangkok got to offer any visitor? Really two days is enough to see what little there is to see, and that's hardly world class anyway. Trip on the river, wat Po and Royal palace, JIm Thompson house and that's about it. Throw in a shopping trip anywhere, as that's all the same, and move on.

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Do these people ever visit these places? The second on the list is Siem Reap, Cambodia. Chosen from the whole world. The first five:

Marrakech, Morocco

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Istanbul, Turkey

Hanoi, Vietnam

Prague, Czech Republic

Is this for a family? Is this all there is in the world? I wouldn't even choose New York as #1 in the US much less in the top group in the world.

I shake my head when I see these lists and think of all of the great places I've seen which aren't on it.

Oh well.

Each to their own.

Marrakech - my ex-wife and daughter went there for a holiday. Cut it short and bought an expensive extra one way ticket home. They said the food was disgusting, everywhere dirty. hotel service poor, rip offs all over the markets, and they were constantly being groped, touched, leered at, and some very suggestive remarks. They travel a lot and are very well traveled. This is the only place they left early.

Prague - went there for a business conference several years ago. Seedy place. Early evening I went for a walk. Many long queues at bus stops, people on their way home. Surprisingly large amount of them were swigging from large bottles of beer - all ages and both sexes. Fine but when they wanted to relieve themselves they simply went in between 2 vehicles in the long lines of parked cars and pissed. Class place!

Best to stay home!

This is a worrying fall for Bangkok! It's normally ranked no. 1 in the world for the past decade. Instant drop of 18 places on the list... What on earth happened? Did people realize it's a chaotic, stinking, dirty, dangerous, noisy place full of people who don't really like foreigners but are happy to try to scam them at every opportunity?

Utter nonsense. if you are being scammed at every turn, I might suggest you are visiting the wrong places. Stay away from tourist traps because you will get scammed in every city in the world there. Stay away from establishments catering to Westerners because you are asking to be a sucker. Stay away from the sex trade because scamming is what they do. If you live in a nice residential area you will not get scammed everyday. Years in BKK and the worst that has happened to me is 1) paying too much for a Tuk Tuk ride but it was hot and I was lost. 2) having someone over weigh a Dragon fruit and charge me an extra 20 baht.

More often than not, local Thais will always make the correct change and in several cases I have had them chase after me when I gave them an amount that I thought was correct and walked away but change was owed. You are really a cynical, old expat apparently who came to BKK to live as a Westerner. if you hate it here so much...why are you staying ?

Fine, keep looking through your rose-tinted glasses at Bangkok if that's how you justify living there. I see it for what it is: A dirty, smelly, sweltering hot, poverty-riddled, completely unplanned, chaotic Third World city that increasingly charges First World prices. At least a couple of decades ago it was a Third World city that charged Third World prices. If I'm paying 1,000 baht for a buffet dinner, I prefer not to gaze the window of my 5-star hotel and see legless beggars crawling along the streets among rats the size of a small dog, surrounded by dozens of prostitutes selling their wares, and dozens of street stalls selling sex toys, fake sex drugs, knives, porn DVDs and ninja throwing stars. You see all these and much worse every single evening in Bangkok. Any civilized city (in Europe or Asia) would ban such things because it has to be concerned about its image and the rule of law. The hallmark of Third World cities is that such illegal activities are allowed to go unchecked on in full view. Bangkok, for all its shiny outer packaging in some areas, is still very much a Third World city.

This is a worrying fall for Bangkok! It's normally ranked no. 1 in the world for the past decade. Instant drop of 18 places on the list... What on earth happened? Did people realize it's a chaotic, stinking, dirty, dangerous, noisy place full of people who don't really like foreigners but are happy to try to scam them at every opportunity?

Utter nonsense. if you are being scammed at every turn, I might suggest you are visiting the wrong places. Stay away from tourist traps because you will get scammed in every city in the world there. Stay away from establishments catering to Westerners because you are asking to be a sucker. Stay away from the sex trade because scamming is what they do. If you live in a nice residential area you will not get scammed everyday. Years in BKK and the worst that has happened to me is 1) paying too much for a Tuk Tuk ride but it was hot and I was lost. 2) having someone over weigh a Dragon fruit and charge me an extra 20 baht.

More often than not, local Thais will always make the correct change and in several cases I have had them chase after me when I gave them an amount that I thought was correct and walked away but change was owed. You are really a cynical, old expat apparently who came to BKK to live as a Westerner. if you hate it here so much...why are you staying ?

Note to tourists: Stay away from tourist areas and avoid the nightlife.