Thailand: Bangkok: Where to Eat: Cocktails: Dome at State Tower

Dome at State Tower

The three bars on top of the State Tower—Distil, Sky and Ocean 52—may be overpriced and their ambience a bit too-cool-for-school, but their views are so spectacular that a cocktail here is a must for anyone, especially the first-time visitor. Sky and Distil are on the sixty-fourth floor. Don’t be surprised when, once out of the elevator, you find yourself accosted by staff asking to escort you to either venue (the staff-to-guest ratio seems to be 5:1). Distil, to the right of the elevator bank, is relaxed and chill: it is lined with wide, cushy seating areas where you can lounge as Bangkok twinkles in the background. Sky is the more aggressively hip and arguably more breathtaking place: a stand-only bar-in-the-round, lined with lit glass, that looks as if it hung suspended over the city (you can actually see it from the river). The newest addition, Breeze, on the fifty-second floor, offers a more traditional bar; the ambience is more tranquil and intimate. The Dome has four restaurants as well (read an Indagare member’s review of Sirocco, on the sixty-fourth floor), but most come here for cocktails and the view.

TIP: To get to the Dome, you can use the main entrance to the State Tower (walk through the strange, mall-like space and use the back left exit to get to the elevators leading to the Dome), but it’s easier to look for the signs leading to Lebua, a hotel located in the multi-use tower.