There’s a certain charm to a park that comes with its own resident dinosaurs. Or at least, that’s what they look like when you’re half-asleep and jogging past the lake at 7am. Lumphini Park, Bangkok’s first public park and an oddly thrilling microcosm of the city’s contradictions, has turned 100 this year. And frankly, it’s aged more gracefully than most of us.
In 1925, King Rama VI generously gifted 360 rais of royal land to the public, marking a rare gesture of leisure-focused governance. However, it would take nearly two decades for the park to fully take shape and flourish into its final form.Completed in 1942 and now home to a monument of the King standing rather regally at the Rama IV entrance, Lumpini feels like it exists in a slightly alternate Bangkok. One where things move just a bit slower, the air is thick with birdsong not honking traffic, and the most pressing threat is a monitor lizard giving you side-eye.
Let’s address the lizard in the room (everybody talks about them). The water monitors of Lumpini Park are not subtle. They’re massive, they roam freely, and yes, they look like they’ve been lifted straight from the Jurassic era. Tourists squeal, locals barely flinch. These semi-aquatic reptiles have become a kind of unofficial mascot – wholly unbothered by your presence. They sunbathe like retirees and occasionally startle a yoga class. It’s their park too, after all.
Sprawling across central Bangkok, Lumphini is a rare thing: green space without pretence. No manicured topiary. Instead, you get earnest joggers making their fourth lap of the 2.5km circuit, uncles playing Chinese chess beneath the trees, and couples attempting to row boats across stubbornly still water. The lakes glimmer, the lawns invite and the smell of grilled squid occasionally drifts in from nearby vendors. It's serene, yes, but never dull.
Open daily from 4.30am to 9pm, the park draws up to 20,000 people a day. And not just fitness types or nostalgic aunties. There’s a whole ecosystem of early risers, tai chi enthusiasts, pigeon whisperers, dog walkers and quiet lovers reclaiming their city from the roar of motorcycles and the tyranny of concrete.
A century on, Lumphini is no longer just a park – it’s a living, breathing piece of Bangkok’s psyche. A place that holds the weight of history while being delightfully unserious about it. So the next time you're nearby – maybe just a short walk from Time Out Bangkok’s HQ – drop in. Watch the lizards. Run a lap. Pretend you’re in White Lotus Season 4: Bangkok. Just remember: the park may be old, but it's still very much alive.