Capella Bangkok

On 1 October 2020, in a year when almost nobody was flying to Thailand, Capella Bangkok opened its doors on Charoen Krung Road, the first paved street in the city, with the Chao Phraya River a few steps beyond its garden. The timing looked reckless. Within four years the hotel had been voted the best in the world.

History

The hotel is the work of Country Group, the Bangkok developer led by Ben Taechaubol, which assembled a long riverside parcel in the old trading district of Bang Rak and built two hotels on it side by side: Capella, the smaller and more private of the pair, and a Four Seasons next door. Capella Hotels and Resorts, the Singapore-based brand founded by Horst Schulze, took on management; the brand also runs Capella Singapore on Sentosa and Capella Hanoi.

In September 2024 the hotel was announced as number one on the World's 50 Best Hotels list in London, the first Asian property to take the top place since the awards began the previous year.

Architecture and design

Hamiltons International designed the building as a horizontal counterpoint to the Four Seasons' terraced blocks: a long, low structure that keeps every room on the river side and sets the villas directly on the lawn. The interiors are by BAMO, the San Francisco studio, in a palette of teak, Thai silk and pale stone. The lobby is small by Bangkok standards, and the garden rather than the atrium is the hotel's main public space.

Rooms and suites

There are 101 keys in all. Every room and suite faces the Chao Phraya, and the ground-floor villas open onto private plunge pools and the riverside lawn. Suites come with a butler, and the larger river suites have dining rooms for private entertaining. The building rises only a few storeys, so the upper rooms look across the water to the Thonburi shore and the lower ones onto the garden.

Dining

Côte by Mauro Colagreco, the Mediterranean restaurant run with the chef of Mirazur in Menton, holds a Michelin star in the Thailand guide. Phra Nakhon cooks regional Thai food in an open kitchen overlooking the garden, and Stella is the bar with a river terrace. The Tea Lounge serves afternoon tea in the lobby.

Wellness

Auriga Wellness is the spa, with treatment rooms, a hydrotherapy area and a gym. The main pool runs along the riverfront in front of the villas.

Weddings and events

The hotel keeps events small. Private dinners are held in the suite dining rooms and the restaurants' private rooms, and the riverside lawn is used for garden weddings and receptions with the Chao Phraya as the backdrop. Larger conferences and banquets are usually placed next door at the Four Seasons, which shares the same ownership and has the ballroom capacity the Capella does not.

Location

Bang Rak is the old port quarter of Bangkok, with the Oriental and the former East Asiatic Company buildings a short way upstream and the Charoen Krung creative district of galleries and shophouse cafés at the hotel's back. Saphan Taksin BTS station and the Sathorn pier for river boats are the closest public transport, and the hotel runs its own boat to IconSiam across the water. Suvarnabhumi Airport is about 45 minutes by car depending on traffic. For a luxury hotel in Bangkok, the unusual thing about Capella is scale: it has fewer rooms than most of its neighbours' suite floors.