Bangkok Trivia
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50 free Bangkok trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Bangkok's official name is 168 letters long and its real name is a matter of debate, which tells you something about the city. This quiz starts with the trading post that outlived Ayutthaya, King Taksin's Thonburi, Rama I's move across the river in 1782, the French expelled in 1688, the modernising kings Mongkut and Chulalongkorn, the end of absolute monarchy in 1932 and the boom decades that gave the city its traffic. The landmarks follow: the Grand Palace, the Emerald Buddha and its three sets of gold robes, Wat Arun's dawn god, Wat Pho's 46-metre reclining Buddha and its massage school, the Golden Mount, Vimanmek's teak, Chatuchak's 15,000 stalls, Khaosan Road, Yaowarat and Lumphini Park. There are questions on the Skytrain, tuk-tuks, numbered motorcycle-taxi vests, Suvarnabhumi, the Chao Phraya boats, Songkran, Muay Thai stadiums and the Big Mango nickname. Easy questions ask which country Bangkok leads and what a tuk-tuk is; hard ones want the year the French were driven out and how many express-boat stops line the river. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the city and its sites, and each question carries the sentence that supports it. Try our Thailand and Southeast Asia quizzes next.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Roughly what share of Thailand's entire population lives in the Bangkok urban area?
A quarter
Over 18 million people live in the urban area and 9.1 million in the city proper, making Bangkok an extreme primate city that dwarfs every other Thai town.
Q 02Bangkok's full ceremonial name, the longest place name per Guinness, has how many letters?
168
Many Thais can recite it thanks to a 1989 song by rock band Asanee–Wasan whose lyrics consist entirely of the name repeated.
Q 03The short Thai name Krung Thep is usually translated into English as what?
City of Angels
That is why the city is sometimes compared with Los Angeles; another nickname, the Big Mango, is a nod to New York's Big Apple.
Q 04Bangkok stands in the delta of which river?
The Chao Phraya
The river empties into the Gulf of Thailand about 25 km south of the centre, its course through the city altered by shortcut canals.
Q 05Because most people once lived on or beside its canals, 19th-century Bangkok earned which nickname?
Venice of the East
The canals, or khlongs, were the main transport network until roads arrived; many are now filled in but the Saen Saep boats still carry 28,000 people a day.
Q 06Which king founded the Rattanakosin Kingdom in 1782 by moving the capital across the river?
Rama I
The City Pillar erected on 21 April 1782 marks the official founding; his predecessor Taksin had ruled from across the water.
Q 07After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, King Taksin set up his capital at which west-bank town?
Thonburi
Thonburi and Phra Nakhon provinces were merged in 1971 to create the modern Bangkok Metropolitan Administration the following year.
Q 08Which foreign power was expelled from Siam after a siege at Bangkok in 1688?
France
The town was then a customs outpost with forts on both banks near the river mouth.
Q 09Siam abolished absolute monarchy and adopted constitutional rule in which year?
1932
Bangkok became the stage for power struggles between the military and political elite that continue in periodic coups and street protests.
Q 10Which two kings, Rama IV and Rama V, oversaw the arrival of railways and modern utilities in 19th-century Bangkok?
Mongkut and Chulalongkorn
Chulalongkorn also moved the royal household to the new Dusit Palace, and his brother Prince Naris painted the design behind the city seal.
Q 11Bangkok's city seal shows which Hindu god riding the divine white elephant Erawan?
Indra
He holds his vajra thunderbolt; the city's tree is Ficus benjamina and its aquatic animal is the giant barb.
Q 12Bangkok is divided into how many districts, or khet?
50
Most lie east of the river; the city's governor is directly elected, unlike in other provinces.
Q 13Sappaya-Sapasathan in Bangkok is described as the world's largest what?
Parliament building
Government House and the Supreme, Administrative and Constitutional Courts are all in the city too.
Q 14The king, his court and the royal government were based inside the Grand Palace until which year?
Q 21Wat Pho is regarded as the birthplace of which practice, still taught there today?
Traditional Thai massage
The temple is considered Thailand's first university and houses a school of Thai medicine.
Q 22Chatuchak Weekend Market, Thailand's largest, has roughly how many stalls?
15,000
Nicknamed JJ Market, it draws more than 200,000 visitors every weekend across 27 sections selling everything from pets to antiques.
Q 23Khaosan Road, the famous backpacker street, has a name that translates as what?
Milled rice
The 410-metre street was built in 1892 under Rama V and was once a rice market; writer Susan Orlean called it 'the place to disappear'.
1925
More than eight million people visit each year; the palace still hosts state ceremonies, though the king actually lives at Dusit Palace.
Q 15The Emerald Buddha in the Grand Palace's temple is actually carved from which material?
Jasper or jade
The 66-centimetre image is Thailand's sacred palladium and is dressed by the king in gold robes that change with the seasons.
Q 16Before reaching Bangkok, the Emerald Buddha spent 214 years in which city, capital of Laos?
Vientiane
King Setthathirath took it there in 1564; legend says it first surfaced in Chiang Rai in 1434 when lightning split a stucco-covered chedi.
Q 17How many sets of gold seasonal robes adorn the Emerald Buddha in rotation?
Three
The founding king made the summer and rainy-season sets and Rama III the cool-season one; the king presides over the changing ceremonies.
Q 18Wat Arun, on the west bank, takes its name from a Hindu deity associated with what?
The dawn
Aruna is charioteer of the sun god Surya; King Taksin is said to have vowed to restore the temple after passing it at dawn.
Q 19Wat Arun's distinctive central prang was raised during the reigns of which kings?
Rama II and III
Rama II planned to lift the pagoda to 70 metres; the temple was once called Wat Makok, after an olive-like fruit that may also lie behind the name Bangkok.
Q 20Wat Pho, south of the Grand Palace, is famous for a reclining Buddha roughly how long?
46 metres
It is one of the largest single Buddha images anywhere and the temple holds Thailand's biggest collection of Buddha figures.
Q 24Which airport replaced Don Mueang as Bangkok's main international gateway when it opened in 2006?
Suvarnabhumi
Its 563,000-square-metre terminal was the largest ever built in one phase, and Don Mueang reopened for low-cost carriers in 2012.
Q 25Bangkok's first rapid transit system, the elevated BTS, began running in which year?
1999
Trams had served the city from 1888 to 1968; the BTS now has the Sukhumvit, Silom and Gold lines and is nicknamed the Skytrain.
Q 26What is Bangkok's motorised auto-rickshaw taxi popularly called?
Tuk-tuk
Nearly 9,000 were registered in 2012; their fares are negotiated, whereas car taxis have needed meters since 1992.
Q 27Bangkok's motorcycle-taxi drivers are recognisable by what, required since 2003?
Numbered vests
The vest shows the district where they are registered and allowed to pick up passengers.
Q 28Which district is Bangkok's Chinatown, famed for its street food?
Yaowarat
Chinese New Year and the autumn Vegetarian Festival are celebrated most fervently there.
Q 29Vimanmek Mansion in Dusit Palace is famous as the world's largest building made of what?
Teak
The Jim Thompson House across town is another showcase of traditional Thai architecture.
Q 30Bangkok's only hill, Phu Khao Thong, began as a giant chedi at which temple?
Wat Saket
Rama III built it; the Golden Mount Fair accompanies the Loi Krathong festival there each November.