The Siam

Character and identity

Set on a riverside plot in the wide-laned Dusit district, away from downtown Bangkok's grind, The Siam is a 38-suite Art Deco fantasy by Bill Bensley, commissioned by the actor-musician scion of the Sukosol family to double as a gallery for his antiques collection. Vintage cameras, Rama V military uniforms and Ming porcelain line the hallways. Two restaurants anchor the food: Chon, in a century-old teakwood house, for Thai classics, and Story House, a plant-filled greenhouse turning out global comfort cooking. The Opium Spa occupies the basement with five marble treatment rooms and a working Muay Thai ring. Service runs in the textbook Thai register: butlered, gracious, quietly thorough.

Who's it for

Bottom line

What you're buying here is a small, gallery-like riverside retreat with serious design pedigree and old-school Thai service, not a sightseeing base. Book a Riverside Pool Villa to get the private courtyard, black-tiled plunge pool and rooftop deck that justify the rate; standard suites are handsome but the villas are the reason to come. Arrive by the hotel's barge.