Cycling, Walking or Jogging from Benjakitti Park to Lumpini Park

See Update 2021 at bottom of page.

This is the entrance to the walkway, linking Benjakitti park with Lumpini park, at the northwestern corner of Benjakitti park.

We have been going for exercise, both jogging and cycling, at Benjakitti Park, but only after many years of doing so, we discovered quite by accident, the entrance to a cycling and walking path, linking Benjakitti Park with the larger Lumpini Park, close to Silom road. The little road sign in the picture above, indicates 'Lumpini' and does not give any notice in English language. When you enter the path, pay attention to turn left before the wooden bridge you will notice in front (which brings you into a road parallel with Sukhumvit, but is not the way to go). Apparently, building of the walkway was started around the beginning of the millennium, inspired by then Bangkok's governor Bhichit Rattakul.

Jogging, it takes about 9-10 minutes to reach Witthayu road, which is adjacent to Lumpini Park. Walking will take a bit longer. You need to be a bit in good shape, certainly when cycling. On the way and at the end there are 3 'bridges' to negotiate, one pictured below. There is a slope in the middle to push your bike up or down. You can not possibly stay on your bike, it is way to steep to do so. So if you have a bit of luggage, or a child on your bike, it is not a recommended exercise. In total, there are about 120 stair steps to negotiate one way.

Once on the path, there are no possible mistakes. It is all straight going. Most of the time the path is rather wide (between 4 to 6 meters), and you will not see many users (at least not in the middle of a weekday, when we first adventured on it). We noticed lately (2021) that for some reason (word of mouth ?) the walkway can be rather busy from midway towards the Witthayu road end, especially on weekend days. Mostly young people eager to take pictures of themselves (standard pairing : slightly to clearly overweight male taking pictures of nicely dressed young lady). It makes jogging a bit difficult at times, so maybe some joggers can consider the morning hours. Cycling would be hardly possible towards sunset.

One of the 3 bridges you will have to negotiate on the walkway between Benjakitti park and Lumpini park. There is an incline in the middle so you can push a bike up and down. Notice the barriers on both sides, which are present from beginning to end of the cycling path (there are some exits on the way).

There are a few exits from the cycle path, mostly to local communities 'downstairs'. Some children from the local communities use the walkway to play on, especially towards sunset. On the way to Lumpini Park, we noticed a small mosque on the left side (when going to Lumpini).

The building of the cycling path must have cost quite a few baht, but is not exactly well advertised. The road has been built somewhere around 2012, we think, since we found some reports about it from that time, when searching online. It cuts somewhere right through the middle of the Tobacco Monopoly compound, then crosses a few roads and one major highway (!!!). (Chaloem Mahanakorn Highway, the one you pass when going from Sukhumvit road to Phloenchit road).

A litte surprise on the way : a small mosque in the middle of a local community. Picture taken at dusk.

On the other end, the cycle path ends somewhere in the middle of Witthayu road. You will see Sarasin road right in front of you and that is the road that will bring you most conveniently into Lumpini park. There are a few entrances into the park from Sarasin road. On foot you could also follow Witthayu road and enter from that side. Sarasin road itself has at least two interesting bicycle shops : Probike and Culture Cycliste.

Please be advised that while you can cycle all day around Benjakitti Park (that is : between opening and closing times), time to cycle is limited at Lumpini Park, and you will have to do it there at the hottest time of day between 10 A.M. and 3 P.M. Still, even if you do not take up the offer, it is a interesting experience to check out the walkway between Benjakitti park and Lumpini Park. Personally, it is especially good for jogging. It is not crowded as jogging around the lake at Benjakitti Park can be, and the many stairs on the way, make of a different kind of running exercise.