HIGH-RISE romance IN BANGKOK – CENTARA GRAND AT CENTRALWORLD

finding accommodation in Bangkok isn’t difficult, but choosing where to stay is. You’re so spoilt for choice here. but if it’s comfort, benefit and luxury you’re after, the Centara Grand at Centralworld is the place for your Bangkok romance!

Bangkok – steamy, crazy, thrilling Bangkok. Mrs romance and I love this city. It’s an assault on your senses; the romance and mystery of every laneway and market. The smells, sights and vibrations of a metropolis heaving with life.

But when it all gets a bit too much, we also love having somewhere to retreat to. somewhere easy to get to and comfortable, yet somewhere that still allows some of Bangkok’s magic in too.

The Centara Grand at Centralworld is exactly the kind of place we mean. and there’s an added perk that its rooftop bar Red sky is one of our old favourites here in Bangkok.

The Centara Grand at Centralworld

Location

You can’t really get better than where the Centara Grand is. It sits atop a shopping centre with all the conveniences you can wish for – there’s even a world-class food court here if you’ve had enough local food.

But being best in the heart of the fashion district implies this hotel is easy to get to through public transport and taxi, and the elevated pedestrian skyway track goes best past the hotel.

Best of all, the BTS sky train’s main station Siam is just up the street. From here you can connect with so numerous other parts of the city without having to worry about the horrible traffic here.

Rooms

Rooms in the Centara are spacious and high-end with huge beds that are larger than they are long, and generous bathroom suites.

With over 500 rooms there’s a huge range of levels of rooms and suites here – and even the smallest rooms are large and have outstanding views out over the city.

As with all large Bangkok hotels, we recommend upgrading to the executive level too. The extras you get for a little much more cash make your stay so much better.

Things like totally free wifi, executive lounge access for private check in and check out, a separate breakfast buffet on the 51st floor (with a self-pour bloody mary station!), pleased hour drinks and snacks just put the polish on our stay.

Facilities

Along with all the typical things you’d expect to find in a large hotel, we really loved the pool complex on the 26th floor. The Infinity edge leads you to look out over the ever-expanding skyline of Bangkok, and the bar here serves some great cocktails and snacks.

The Centara Grand’s medspa – medspa Cenvaree – provides loads of different relaxation packages well worth looking into. After all, it’s not a trip to Thailand if you don’t get a massage! They also have couples’ massage treatments too, which implies you’re both in the same room. You can both get different treatments, which we liked.

Mrs romance had the spa’s 90 minute signature organic facial therapy and I had their remarkable signature salt pot muscle melter massage, which uses pots full of hot rock salt. Both treatments cost around the AU$100 mark each and were divine.

We were also amazed with the breakfast options here. The breakfast buffet in the executive lounge is pretty good, but it’s only a small sample of what you can find in the main breakfast hall in The world restaurant – though things get a bit crazy down there!

Dining

The food options at the Centara Grand practically make it hard to leave the hotel. You’ve got The world restaurant, which provides different specials each evening – like the dumpling yum cha we went to.

Across the hall in Ginger, you can find a blend of different Asian flavours – and an amazing aquarium under the bar full of tropical fish. This is a beautifully developed and decorated restaurant that people come to from all over the city.

Downstairs in the lobby near the main reception is Zing, a European style café that serves cakes and pastries all made onsite by bakers of the hotel. Amazing!

But it’s the top three levels of the hotel that really have our hearts.

We actually fell in love with this hotel years ago without even knowing it; at the top of the Centara Grand is Red sky – the rooftop bar that started our love affair with high-altitude cocktails.

From here, you’ve got some of the best views over the city. We love Red sky and come here each time we’re in Bangkok. There are quite a few rooftop bars in this city, but we’ve always liked this one the most.

It’s private yet comfortable, you’re not overlooked anywhere here, but you yourself neglect one of the world’s greatest cities with 360 degree views from the 55th floor.

Uno Mas restaurant on the 53rd and 54th floors of Centara Grand is not something you’d expect to find in Thailand. even much more of a surprise is to discover just how popular it is. With all the remarkable Thai food options you can possibly think of down in the city below, why would anybody choose Spanish?

Simply put: becauseit’s bloody magnificent.

The critically acclaimed and award-winning food is all the brainchild of Catalan-born Head chef Joan Tanya Dot. He and his team create some of the most amazing Spanish food we’ve ever tasted.

The beautiful food, coupled with the eye-melting views of the city at night, make for a very romantic and memorable evening.

The downsides

I think it’s pretty clear to see we delighted in our time here at the Centara Grand. It’s a beautiful hotel, well situated and well serviced. but we’d be at fault not to point out the negatives too. They’re by no implies deal breakers though – merely observations.

Finding your way in and out is tricky. There are three receptions here! and the ground floor is a separate convention centre, which makes things much more confusing.

Plus the hotel’s on top of a shopping centre ‘Centralworld’, so when you leave the hotel, you’re in another big building full of enticing shops.

There’s a big risk of you never needing to leave the hotel or Centralworld. Restaurants, shops, food courts, pools, spas… there’s everything here you need. You have to force yourself to go out into the humidity and the frantic mess of the city.

Because of its location, its size and the convention centre it’s attached to, the Centara Grand has a lot of people here on business. It’s not a criticism, but with so numerous people here for work implies the holiday vibe is diluted a bit.

The Centara Grand is a great hotel to start your journey in Thailand. For a place to have a city break and for a base to explore this amazing city, you can’t go wrong.

Do you have a preferred hotel in Bangkok? What do you look for in a city hotel? tell us in the comments!

Images by Mrs romance using an OM-D E-M5 mark II Olympus camera. We stayed as guests of Centara Grand.