Commute by Water
Explore · Easy · 100 points · 1 hr
Use a public river or canal boat instead of a taxi for one journey.
The catch: No private longtail charter.
Bonus +50: Take a canal boat as well as a river boat.
Free travel game
Side Quest
Turn Bangkok into an adventure.
Tell us where you are. Pick your kind of adventure. We'll give you something unexpected to do. No account. No app. Just go.
Start a side questPlay anywhere · Complete quests · Earn points · Screenshot your wins · Challenge your friends
Step 1
Pick your place
Tell us what city you're exploring.
Step 2
Get your quest
Choose a category or let us surprise you.
Step 3
Complete + share
Finish the challenge, earn points and screenshot your achievement.
Playing Side Quest in Bangkok
Bangkok is a water city that grew a skyline. The pack puts you on public boats, plastic stools and inside neighbourhood temples where the etiquette actually matters.
- Best time to play
- Dawn for markets and temples, after dark for street food. Skip the middle of the day.
- Local rule
- Cover shoulders and knees in temples, step over thresholds, and never point your feet at a Buddha image.
- Honest note
- The morning fresh markets are more interesting than the night markets everyone photographs.
Where are you right now?
No location access needed — just tell us the city.
What kind of side quest?
How far do you want to go?
Your side quest score today
0 points
0 all-time
100 points to Explorer
Scores are saved in this browser on this device only. No account, no email, nothing sent anywhere. Clearing your browser data clears your score.
Side quests written for Bangkok
These challenges only work here. Play them in any order — the game will mix them with quests that work anywhere in Thailand.
The Plastic Stool Rule
Food & Drink · Quick · 50 points · 30 min
Eat a meal sitting on a plastic stool on the pavement.
The catch: No air conditioning, no table cloth.
Bonus +25: Add one condiment from the caddy you have never used.
Enter It Properly
Local Culture · Easy · 100 points · 45 min
Visit a neighbourhood temple and observe every custom correctly.
The catch: Not one of the ticketed headline temples.
Bonus +25: Stay for a few minutes of chanting if any is happening.
Morning Market, Not Night Market
Hidden Gems · Adventure · 200 points · 1–2 hrs
Visit a fresh market at dawn instead of a night market.
The catch: No night markets today.
Bonus +50: Try a fruit you cannot name.
One Stall, One Dish
Food & Drink · Quick · 50 points · 20 min
Eat from a street stall that cooks one dish only.
The catch: One-dish stalls only.
Bonus +25: Add the chilli they offer you.
Take The Boat
Explore · Easy · 100 points · 1 hr
Cross Bangkok by river or canal boat instead of road.
The catch: No tourist longtail charters.
Bonus +50: Get off at a pier you cannot pronounce.
Before The Heat
Food & Drink · Easy · 100 points · 1 hr
Shop a Bangkok fresh market before 8am.
The catch: No air-conditioned malls.
Bonus +50: Eat breakfast where the traders eat.
The Quiet Wat
Local Culture · Easy · 100 points · 45 min
Visit a neighbourhood temple with no tour groups in it.
The catch: No temple that sells tickets.
Bonus +50: Learn what the temple is named after.
Down The Soi
Hidden Gems · Easy · 100 points · 1 hr
Walk a numbered soi from the main road until it stops.
The catch: No turning back at the first junction.
Bonus +50: Eat whatever the last stall sells.
The Cable Sky
Photo Quest · Quick · 50 points · 20 min
Photograph Bangkok's overhead cables as the main subject.
The catch: Cables must dominate the shot.
Bonus +25: Find a bird sitting on them.
Green In The Grey
Outdoors · Easy · 100 points · 1 hr
Find a Bangkok park and stay long enough to cool down.
The catch: No air conditioning for the whole hour.
Bonus +25: Join in with whatever is happening.
Order In Thai
Local Culture · Bold · 300 points · 45 min
Order food using Thai numbers and phrases only.
The catch: No English and no pointing.
Bonus +75: Ask for it less spicy, in Thai.
Old Town On Foot
Hidden Gems · Adventure · 200 points · 2 hrs
Walk Bangkok's old town instead of taking a taxi between sights.
The catch: No taxis, no tuk-tuks.
Bonus +75: Find a shophouse still doing its original trade.
Fruit You Cannot Name
Food & Drink · Easy · 100 points · 30 min
Buy and eat three Thai fruits you have never had.
The catch: No fruit you already know.
Bonus +50: Ask the seller how to eat it properly.
One Old House
Museums · Easy · 100 points · 1 hr
Visit a preserved Bangkok house museum and sit in its garden.
The catch: You must stay for the garden.
Bonus +50: Find out who lived there and why it survived.
Bangkok End To End
Must-Do · Epic · 500 points · 5 hrs
Cross Bangkok using four different kinds of transport in one day.
The catch: No taxis or ride-hailing at all.
Bonus +150: Add a fifth mode.
Share your Side Quest
Bangkok Side Quest
Send Bangkok side quests to whoever you're travelling with. The link opens this city ready to play.
https://buybeforeyoufly.com/side-quest/bangkok
#BuyBeforeYouFly #SideQuestTravel #BangkokSideQuest
What is a travel side quest?
A side quest is a small, self-contained challenge you can complete wherever you happen to be standing. Side Quest is a free browser-based travel game from Buy Before You Fly: you tell it which city you are exploring, choose the kind of adventure you are in the mood for, and it hands you something unexpected to do. Every quest is built from an objective, a constraint that makes it interesting, and an optional bonus — so instead of another list of the same twenty attractions, you get a reason to walk down a different street, order something you cannot pronounce, or look at one painting for twenty minutes.
There is nothing to install and nothing to sign up for. It works on the phone in your pocket, in the gap between a late checkout and an evening flight, or on a full free day in a city you have never visited.
How Side Quest works
- Pick your place. Search for the city you are exploring. No location permission and no precise GPS required.
- Choose a category. Food, museums, landmarks, exploring, photography, culture, outdoors or hidden gems — or let the dice decide.
- Get your quest. Each one comes with a mission, a catch and a bonus objective worth extra points.
- Earn points. Quick quests are worth 50 points and epic ones 500, with bonuses from 25 to 100 on top.
- Screenshot and share. Completing a quest turns it into an achievement card built to fit a phone screenshot.
Side Quest ideas for travelers
Food & Drink
Markets, bakeries, street food and the dish locals order without looking at the menu.
Museums
One room, one object, one story — museum challenges that beat drifting past everything.
Must-Do
The landmark experiences, with a twist that stops them feeling like a checklist.
Explore
Neighbourhood walks, wrong turns on purpose and streets guidebooks skip.
Photo Quest
Small photo missions that train you to notice details other travellers walk past.
Local Culture
Language, music, craft, ritual and everyday life where you happen to be standing.
Outdoors
Parks, water, viewpoints and green detours between the busy bits.
Hidden Gems
The small, quiet, odd and overlooked corners of a city.
Play Side Quest with friends
Side Quest has no accounts, no friend lists and no leaderboards to join — which is exactly what makes it easy to play together. Everyone opens the page on their own phone, plays the same city, and compares screenshots at dinner. Agree on a target before you split up: first to 500 points, most quests completed before sunset, or one epic quest each. Points are kept in your own browser, so the only scoreboard is the one you keep between you.
- 100 — Explorer
- 500 — Wanderer
- 1,000 — Adventurer
- 2,500 — Globetrotter
- 5,000 — Side Quest Legend
Explore more with Buy Before You Fly
Side Quest is free and always will be. When you want the rest of the trip sorted, the same site covers it:
- Destination guides
Country-by-country guides, things to do and short itineraries.
- Airport guides
Arrivals, transport, wi-fi, food and connections for major hubs.
- Travel eSIMs
Mobile data in 200+ destinations, installed before you land.
- Personalized trip plans
A downloadable plan built around your pace, interests and budget.