On Nut Bangkok: a guide to On Nut and Phra Khanong

On Nut Bangkok is two stops past Ekkamai and a different city. The rents halve, the sois fill with student flats and family shophouses, and the food gets better and cheaper. On Nut and its neighbour Phra Khanong are where a lot of Bangkok's young Thais and long-term foreigners actually live, which is why the area has late markets, decent coffee and bars that do not need a dress code.

Phra Khanong: the quieter half

Phra Khanong station sits at the point where Sukhumvit Road crosses the Phra Khanong canal. On the north side, Sukhumvit Soi 71 (Pridi Banomyong) heads up towards Ramkhamhaeng past a long run of Thai-Chinese noodle shops and old bakeries. On the south side, Soi 69 leads to W District, an open-air courtyard of food stalls and bars under strings of lights, busiest from early evening. It is the easiest first stop in the area for someone who does not want to hunt.

Phra Khanong market, by the canal, is a daytime wet market with a food section worth a wander: grilled fish, fresh curry pastes, and fruit sold by the kilo.

On Nut Bangkok: Soi 77 and the markets

On Nut station is the busier one, with Tesco (now Lotus's) on one side and a tangle of market lanes on the other. The night market directly beside the station has changed form more than once over the years; some version of it generally runs, so look rather than plan around it.

On Nut road itself, Sukhumvit Soi 77, is the main artery: a long road of shophouse restaurants, massage shops, laundries and 24-hour convenience stores. Side sois off it hold the best eating. Look out for:

• Isaan grills with som tam, grilled chicken and sticky rice
• Boat noodle shops with the small, intense bowls that you order by the stack
• Roast duck and crispy pork rice houses that sell out by early afternoon
• Late-night khao tom (rice soup) places serving well past midnight

Prices are the lowest you will find on the BTS line this side of Bang Na.

Bars and coffee

Both sois have a small craft beer scene, a run of shophouse cocktail bars and a lot of coffee. The bars are usually on Soi 77 or in the lanes between the two stations rather than on Sukhumvit itself. Bangkok's craft brewers and the bars that pour them are covered in Bangkok craft beer bars. For coffee, the area has a cluster of small roasters serving the freelance crowd from mid-morning.

Nearby: Sukhumvit 101 and Punnawithi

One stop further out, Punnawithi has the True Digital Park co-working complex and its food court, and a knot of good Thai-Chinese restaurants in Soi 101. Keep going and you reach Bang Na and the ferry to Bang Krachao.

Getting there

• BTS Sukhumvit Line: Phra Khanong (E8) and On Nut (E9), five minutes apart on foot along Sukhumvit if you want to walk the strip.
• From Ekkamai, it is one stop or a long walk.
• Motorbike taxis wait at both station exits and are the way to reach anything deep in Soi 77 or Soi 71.
• Khlong Phra Khanong does not have a passenger boat service; the Thonglor and Ekkamai sois to the north are the nearest nightlife if the area feels too quiet.