Name the most exciting restaurants, bars and galleries to have opened in the past couple years, and you’ll find many are in Sathorn. They’re attracted to the leafy side-alleys which coexist with a compact business district that has all the polish of Singapore. Soaring walkways suspended over eight-lane avenues, the BTS and BRT connections, a sprinkling of embassy compounds and the gleaming headquarters of regional banks all make for a neighborhood that perfectly balances residential streets and blue-chip corporations. Sathorn wasn’t always this exciting, though. Here’s how the area went from sleepy to sexy:

Robuchon Reshaped Dining in Bangkok

The embassies and tree-lined alleys are nothing new. Nor are the luxury hotels (Sukhothai, Banyan Tree, Shangri-La) and discreet fine-dining venues like Sensi or Opus. But a new energy has infused the area in recent years. Openings like L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon and The House on Sathorn have redefined haute cuisine for the whole city. When the Michelin Guide finally comes to Bangkok, Sathorn will definitely be their first stop. Nahm, J’Aime by Jean-Michel Lorain, Bunker, Le Du and Supanniga are all here.

The Most Ambitious Galleries Opened Here

On the art front, the capital’s most exciting new galleries now call Sathorn home. Bangkok CityCity is an impressive white box of a space large enough for both ambitious performances and monumental artworks. Further down Sathorn Soi 1, Yenakart Villa Gallery is an equally impressive modernist building, whose soaring white walls have served as a backdrop to majors artists from France, Korea and the USA. These newcomers are joining a tight-knit art community that spans H Gallery in Sathorn Soi 12 and Kathmandu Gallery in Soi Pan, both of them veritable institutions.

Nightlife for Grownups was Invented

Sathorn and nightlife used to be antonyms, until suddenly it became the favored destination of the beautiful people who had tired of Thonglor. Take in 360-degree views of the city at Ce La Vi, the famous bar with ties to Bali and Singapore. Sip the creations from Bangkok’s top mixology crew at UNCLE. Or bump into Hollywood celebrities at the instantly legendary Smalls bar. Granted, this isn’t clubbing for millennials, but Gen-X and Y will find life after dark in Sathorn much to their liking.

Coffee Culture Loves it Here

Although it all sounds a bit overwhelming, Sathorn is anything but. Days are spend walking on the large, tree-line sidewalks, rather than grabbing taxis. A massage at Health Land, a coffee at at the Scandinavian chic Rocket, an olive-oil brownie at Luka--you can do it all by foot, in your own time. Speaking of Rocket, they were really the first venue of their kind in Sathorn Soi 12, and deserve credit for kick-starting Sathorn’s fantastic ascent. Now joined by Luka in Soi Pan, the local coffee culture just keeps on getting stronger and stronger.

A New Generation Calls it Home

Bangkok’s well-heeled families have always been privy to the charms of Sathorn Soi 1 and Soi Yen Akart, and the many stately homes in those streets are there to prove it. But Sathorn has really become much more than a quiet, residential areas for embassies and banks. Today, it is also a hotbed for Bangkok’s hottest trends in dining and the arts. That is a development no one could have predicted five years ago, although a look at Bangkok’s transportation map could have made it obvious Sathorn was destined for a bright future.

Indeed, Sathorn is perhaps Bangkok’s most connected neighborhood. Sathorn Road starts with MRT Lumphini at Rama IV Road, runs through Srinakarin Narathiwat Road where it connects with both the BTS (also known as the skytrain) and the BRT (a clean, efficient, tram-like bus system with dedicated lanes and stations that opened in 2010). It continues along two more BTS stops before ending at the Taksin Bridge, from which all river ferries depart. Sathorn is also bookended by ramps to both the Sirat and the Chalerm Maha Nakhon expressways.

That connectivity, and the venues that have landed here in the past couple years, have turned what was once a sleepy den of offices, embassies and hotels into a hotbed of dining, drinking and art.

Ready to move in? Rythm Sathorn is in the heart of the neighborhood

Within walking distance of BTS Surasak and BTS Saphan Taksin, Rhythm Sathorn allows for a superlative quality of life in one of Bangkok’s most charming and vibrant neighborhoods. Composed of two towers of 41 and 37 stories, the project offers the same high level of finishing and facilities across both buildings. Each has its own infinity pool, which appears to seamlessly connect with the wide loops of the Chao Praya as it flows through a cityscape punctuated by five-star hotels and luxury condominiums. Each towers’ fitness facilities also offer the same panoramic views of Sathorn and the riverside, an awe-inspiring backdrop for your morning jog. Behind closed doors, cleverly designed floor plans bring natural light into the master bathrooms of the impeccably finish one- and two-star bedrooms. For more information, visit www.apthai.com.

Brought to you by