The Jim Thompson House
Six teak houses reassembled into one, and the collection of an American who vanished without trace.
Duration
1 hr – 1 hr 30 min
Best time
in the morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
250 THB
Jim Thompson was an American architect who arrived in Thailand at the end of the Second World War with the intelligence services. He stayed, single-handedly revived the Thai silk industry, and had this house built in 1959.
It is made of six traditional teak houses, bought in different provinces, taken apart and reassembled here by the old rules — raised on stilts, walls leaning inward, not a single nail. He installed his collection of South-East Asian art in it, and it is visited as he left it.
In 1967, walking alone in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia, he disappeared. No trace was ever found, and the case remains unsolved.
Getting there
BTS to National Stadium, exit 1, then three minutes on foot along the canal. It is one of the few Bangkok sites right next to a station.
Hours
10am – 5pm, last guided tour at 5pm
What the price covers
adult admission, compulsory guided tour included. 150 ฿ for ages 10 to 21 on production of ID, and for visitors with disabilities; free under 10. Tickets are sold at the ticket office only, never online.
What to bring
- Covering clothes
Rules on site
The visit is guided only, in groups leaving every twenty minutes: allow for the wait. Shoes off at the door of the house.
Checked on 3 September 2026 at Jim Thompson House Museum — Visit
Other places in Bangkok
- Grand Palace and Wat Phra KaewThe former royal residence and the Emerald Buddha, inside the same walls.
- Wat Pho, the Reclining BuddhaForty-six metres of reclining Buddha, and the country's oldest school of Thai massage.
- Wat Arun, the Temple of DawnThe porcelain spire on the west bank, at its best in the setting sun.
Chatuchak MarketThousands of stalls, weekends only. You come to get lost in it, not to tick off a list.