Bangkok for The Time Travellers: a Friday-to-Monday weekend

Founded in the 16th century and rebuilt by Rama I in 1788, the oldest and largest temple in the city, whose reclining Buddha is 46 metres long.

A Khmer-style prang begun under Ayutthaya and raised in the 19th century, studded with broken Chinese porcelain; climb it as the evening light turns the spire orange.

A restaurant in an old shophouse serving old Thai street dishes done well: pork-cheek curry, rice soaked in jasmine water; the pace is quick and the room is cool.

The royal complex of 1782, with the Temple of the Emerald Buddha at its centre; arrive at opening to see the murals without the crowds, and dress with covered knees and shoulders.

A good-natured museum in a neoclassical ministry building which tells the story of the Thai people through interactive rooms, from the Ayutthaya kingdom to the present day.

A tiny shophouse near the Giant Swing, serving old royal-court recipes: banana-blossom salad and fried morning glory with the flavour of the old city; book ahead.

A Portuguese-quarter church of 1913 with a Chinese-Muslim community beside it; follow the lanes to the old bakery and the khanom farang kudi chin sweets.

The guided tour is the one in this city worth following: Ayutthaya-era teak houses in a garden, collected by an OSS veteran who disappeared in Malaysia in 1967.

A teak and rattan jazz bar that has hosted writers, diplomats and spies since the 1950s; the gin cocktails are good and you may sit in a corner.

A man-made hill from the reign of Rama III, raised to mark the funeral of plague victims and topped with a gold chedi; go early before the heat.

A 1846 temple with 37 metal spires, the last of its kind in the world, with a spiral staircase inside; cheap, rarely crowded and a clear lesson in the pagoda's design.

A restaurant favoured by the royal family, with crab omelette and yellow curry with crab in the old palace tradition; a gentle lunch near the Giant Swing.