Looking for a lush place to stay during a Bangkok city break? The award-winning 5* Salil Hotel Riverside is my top pick, here’s a detailed and honest review of my stay.
I recently had a quick solo trip to Bangkok to finish up the Southeast Asia portion of my 2024 round the world trip, and I spent my time staying at the beautiful Salil Hotel Riverside Bangkok.
Since it opened in November 2022 it’s collected multiple awards, recently being named Asia’s Leading Riverfront Hotel as well as Thailand’s Best City Hotel at the 2024 World Travel Awards. The accolades are well-deserved too, my stay was genuinely almost perfect.
Here’s a full review of The Salil Hotel Riverside Bangkok. with lots of photos to show you exactly what to expect. And if you have any questions that I haven’t answered, let me know in the comments and I’ll get back to you 🙂
Disclosure: I was hosted at The Salil Hotel Riverside during my time in Bangkok, but the hotel has no editorial control over my content and (as always) my review is based on my personal experience.
All about The Salil Hotel Riverside
What to expect at The Salil Hotel Riverside
The Salil Hotel Riverside is a waterfront luxury hotel on the banks of the Chao Phraya River, with 235 rooms and suites across a few buildings.
The service level is impeccable, from the moment your taxi door is opened to your final goodbye, The Salil Riverside’s staff are on hand to help. The rooms are equally as welcoming, with lots of space and a much more homely vibe than I’d expect in a city hotel, and the hotel grounds are well looked after, making it an absolute haven away from Bangkok’s madness.
Expect a supremely comfortable stay, a good night’s sleep, fantastic food if you choose to dine on site, and easy access to some of Bangkok’s best shopping spots.
Where is The Salil Hotel Riverside?
The hotel is located on the east side of the Chao Phraya River, in the Bang Kho Laem district, across the river from the Thon Buri district.
The hotel is tucked down a side street away from the busy roads, but within a short walk you can reach local markets and countless top-rated restaurants. You can also catch the hotel’s free shuttle boat to the ICONSIAM mega-mall across the river, as well as the buzzing Asiatique Riverfront Market in the evening.
One of the very few downsides of the hotel is that it’s not close to a BTS Skytrain station, but the river shuttle runs from 10am until 9pm and services the Sathorn Pier (which is connected to Saphan Taksin BTS Station), which is only 10 minutes from the hotel.
You can see the boat shuttle timetable here.
What facilities does The Salil Hotel Riverside have?
Lots! The Salil Riverside is brilliantly equipped with everything you’d expect (and more) from a 5* hotel, including:
- A huge swimming pool
- A fully equipped gym
- HARNN Heritage Spa for massages and beauty treatments
- Boutique retailers selling clothing, homewares and perfume
- A complimentary shuttle boat to ICONSIAM and Sathorn Pier / BTS from 10am until 9pm, and a stop at Asiatique Riverfront Market is added in the evenings
- A wide range of dining and drinking options
What are the rooms like at The Salil Hotel Riverside?
I stayed in a deluxe room with a river view, it was elegant, modern and very comfortable.
There was plenty of space, with a huge bed, couch, an open wardrobe/luggage area, a kitchenette with a microwave and fridge, a bathroom with a bathtub, and a view out to the river.
They have two room categories that are a little cheaper than my one, the deluxe room with a pool view (similar layout but slightly smaller) or the deluxe atelier (no bathtub).
And if you’re looking for something fancier or with more space, they’ve got grand deluxe rooms with balconies, family rooms, or one or two bedroom suites.
What are the food options at The Salil Hotel Riverside?
Bangkok is one of the best food cities in the world so I wouldn’t recommend you only eat at hotel restaurants, but there are a bunch of top-rated options if you do get hungry and need something close to home.
The eateries at Salil Riverside are:
- NAVA: This is where the hotel breakfast is served, with a mix of Thai, other Asian and Western dishes. It’s fantastic! You can also grab lunch or dinner here, their menu showcases the best of Thai cuisine.
- BRIX: Poolside café serving up sweet treats like jiggly pancakes and tasty pastries, plus colourful cocktails, iced coffee and other refreshing drinks
- Jumbo Lobster Riverside: Speciality seafood restaurant with a hearty menu of lobster, prawns, crab and more.
- Taproom by the River: Casual craft beer bar with more than 100 beer options from brewers around the globe.
- Rintaro: Japanese ice cream parlour with 18 seasonal flavours using natural ingredients. DIVINE.
- Pacific Cigar Divan: A rooftop lounge and bar with an impressive menu of Cuban and non-Cuban cigars. Worth a visit even if you don’t indulge, you can grab a cocktail and just enjoy the view of the river.
- Ray Cocktail & Bite: Elevated and innovative Japanese-inspired cocktail bar, with small plates to match.
- MARS Wine Space: Cosy wine bar for vino-lovers, choose from a multitude of international wines and pair them with a charcuterie board.
- Sushi ITTO: Salil Riverside’s newest offering, an upscale sushi experience from the legendary Chef Ronnie Kakizaki
- The S Bangkok: Italian, French & Japanese-influenced high end dining
What is the hotel spa like?
There are two parts of the hotel’s wellness area, a massage and beauty spa, and a rooftop aquatherapy pool.
HARNN Heritage Spa Riverside
HARNN Heritage Spa is a trusted spa operator in Bangkok and this Riverside location at The Salil has a perfect 5/5 rating on Google Maps from 130+ reviews.
You can choose from a range of ultra-relaxing treatments guided by traditional Asian medicine, from body scrubs and wraps, to different types of massages, to facials and more.
Rabbit Moon Aquatherapy
The hotel is also home to Bangkok’s first rooftop aquatherapy pool, with epic views of the skyline along the river. A very unique experience and the ultimate way to relax after a long journey to get here. Or for me, before an overnight flight to London to kick off three months in Europe!
The pool has nine stations with different jets, and you’ll be guided through them in a particular order during your 45 minute session. It massages and soothes your muscles, improves circulation, and you’ll feel all your stress washing away.
Sessions are private so you need to book in advance, and I highly recommend going just before or after sunset so you can enjoy the outlook.
And a quick tip, wear swimwear with coverage! Don’t wear anything too skimpy or that won’t be able to withstand the force of heavy water jets 🙃
Why I loved The Salil Hotel Riverside
If you’ve seen any of my content or read any of my blogs before, you’ll know that I’m all about finding travel experiences that take your trip to the next level. It might be an unforgettable meal, a bucket list activity, or a magical place to stay. The Salil Riverside certainly counts, for a number of reason.
Service & hospitality
A 5* hotel is always going to have kind and helpful staff, but The Salil Riverside go one step further. Every guest is greeted by every hotel employee, from restaurant front of house and reception to housekeepers and gardeners, and you feel welcomed and valued as a visitor. This level of hospitality makes such a difference, especially as a solo female traveller.
The quality of service was faultless too. Pristine cleaning, quick and delicious room service, helpful local info, everyone was super attentive. 10/10 from me!
Food at NAVA
I unfortunately couldn’t sample most of the eateries because I was short on time (and had many other dining experiences on my list) but I did have a breakfast and a lunch at NAVA, and both were excellent.
The breakfast buffet is huge and varied, with option from Thai, other Asian, and Western cuisine. The kind of breakfast you want to set aside a decent chunk of time for, so you can try lots of different things! Fresh tropical fruits, pastries, eggs, stir-fries, pancakes, cured meats, cheeses, cereals, porridge, noodle soup, and more.
I also managed to squeeze in a lunch at NAVA on my last day, I had a Northern Thailand yellow curry which was hearty and fragrant. Definitely not the cheapest Thai cuisine you’ll find in Bangkok, but it was fantastic.
Free shuttle to ICONSIAM
I LOVED the easy access to ICONSIAM, the shuttle boat ran every hour and took 20 minutes to get to the pier in front of the mall. Should I be embarrassed to say that I visited at least once a day 🤔
Even if you’re not tempting to shop, the food court on the ground floor of the mall is insane and worth a visit. There are endless stalls cooking delicacies from all regions of Thailand, along with cute souvenirs and lots of photo spots.
The spa and aquatherapy
I really savoured every minute of my treatment at HARNN Heritage Spa, it was complete bliss from the moment I stepped into the peaceful waiting area.
I want to give a special shout out to the robes at the spa because omg I am obsessed, so silky smooth. You can buy one to take home too! Unfortunately it was out of my budget, and I live out of a suitcase for ten months of the year so it’s not reeeeally a practical addition to my wardrobe, but one day I’ll go back and get it.
The Rabbit Moon aquatherapy pool was so cool too, this is something I’ve never done before and haven’t really heard of outside of injury rehabilitation, so it was fascinating to see hydrojets being used for relaxation and rejuvenation in a luxe rooftop setting. Don’t visit The Salil Riverside without booking an aquatherapy session!
The not-so-great things about The Salil Hotel Riverside
I try to give a balanced review of everywhere I stay, but honestly it is hard to find anything negative about this place. My few days here were pretty much perfect.
One thing that is a positive for some people and a negative for others (but is just something to be aware of) is that there are a lot of families with children here, it’s a kid-friendly hotel with fun activities and family rooms. The pool had kids splashing around every time I went for a swim, but that’s unavoidable in Bangkok unless you’re staying at an adults-only hotel.
The only other thing that wasn’t ideal was the distance from public transport, the boat shuttle services Sathorn Pier & the BTS Skytrain station next to it only 10 minutes from the hotel, but the shuttle only runs once an hour and from 10am-9pm. If you’re looking to travel outside of these hours, or need to go now rather than wait for the boat, that station is a 25 minute walk away.
The good news is that Grab (the Southeast Asia version of Uber) is super super cheap and convenient, so you can just use that to get around, and because the hotel is away from the typical tourist areas it does feel much more peaceful.
How to book The Salil Hotel Riverside
PLANNING A SOUTHEAST ASIA TRIP? YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ THESE OTHER POSTS:
- A solo travel guide to Bangkok, Thailand
- A solo travel guide to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- How to spend three weeks in Vietnam
- How to spend three weeks in Malaysia
- How to spend two weeks in Malaysian Borneo
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