Park & outdoor

If you’d like to be surrounded by oases wherever you go, you’re in luck – Ad Lib Bangkok is just a stone’s throw from two of Bangkok’s biggest parks, each with activities where you can while the time away in the lushness of the tropics. Just a 25-minute jog or 7-minute drive, or even a 12 minute bicycle ride if you’re up to it, Lumpini Park and Benjakitti Forest Park are very easily accessible.

Lumpini Park, or Suan Lum as it is known locally, is a green lung in Bangkok’s city center. It boasts trees that are over 50 years old, along with ample, interconnected lakes, through which you can paddle boat or even row, in cutesy boats decorated like swans and ducks. You might find public aerobics sessions in full swing, along with Tai Chi enthusiasts, if you visit in the mornings and evenings. These are open to all. The Bangkok Symphony Orchestra also holds concerts in parks every now and then.

Suan Lum also has an extensive Sports and Recreational Center with indoor and outdoor gyms, pool, a hall where dance classes and even taekwondo are taught, amongst other things. Pop on over to find out more about the full array of services on offer.

Suan Lum connects to the newly opened Benjakitti Forest Park via a walkway that takes you over some of Bangkok’s busiest roads, along with old Thai communities and klongs, or Thai canals. The Forest Park is made up of three park sections, one of which encircles a huge lake, with a bicycle and walking track around the lake. The second park is filled with trees and plants, and conducive for a stroll through. The main part of the park, from where the forest gets its name, has elevated walkways snaking through lotus ponds, ancient (and large) trees, and swamplike surrounds, where nature thrives. This walkway is a popular Instagram spot for locals, especially at sunset.