Don't waste your time when you're on holiday in Bangkok. Find out the over-hyped spots to avoid (and where to go instead).

Golden Buddha

At Wat Traimit, near Chinatown, sits the so-called Golden Buddha, a 5.5 tonne gold Buddha image. Said Buddha was "lost" under a veneer of concrete until a bit chipped off in the 1950s, revealing the solid-gold core. The story is pretty cool, as is the idea of seeing that much gold in one place without breaking into Fort Knox. But exactly because it sounds so unbelievable, it's almost guaranteed to be a disappointment. It is, after all, just a medium-sized Buddha image that happens to be made of gold. Throw in endless busloads of package tourists whose Buddhist ideals dissolve in a sea of sharp elbows, and Wat Traimit starts to feel more like a one-attraction zoo. So if you have to ditch something from your temple tour, this is it. (If you can't resist the lure of all that gold, come after 3pm). As an alternative, I suggest Wat Suthat, up the road in Banglamphu. Wat Suthat sees few tourist buses, boasts a huge bronze Buddha and is set in Thailand's largest, and one of its most beautifully decorated, wihaans (main chapels).

'Upstairs' at Patpong

Patpong is arguably the world's most notorious strip of GoGo bars. But in recent years, it has become something of a sex tourism theme park. The night market — full of fake everything — is worth wandering down for a bit of a shop, and for glancing into the pole-dancing bars and widening your eyes at the neon signs. But whatever you do, don't be tempted upstairs.

For starters, while the so-called "exotic" shows do, indeed, sound exotic, they are thoroughly un-erotic. The women on stage look totally uninterested, and the infamous "ping-pong" shows you've no doubt heard about are degrading both to the women and the audience. If that's not bad enough, consider that stepping into such an establishment is akin to stepping into a fishbowl full of piranhas. Before you've even had time to register that half the patrons are, ahem, otherwise occupied, or to note that the drink prices are outrageous, you'll have a dozen or so scantily clad girls (the real moneymakers) asking you to "buy me a Coke". Before you know it (and even after you've said "no" to the girls) you're facing a bill for thousands of baht and menacing-looking bouncers.

There is, however, a less seedy side to Patpong. The best way to impress your friends is to skip the exotica and head instead for Le Bouchon, an atmospheric French bistro-style restaurant on the parallel soi (phone +0 2234 9109, Soi Patpong 2).

Got any more places to avoid? Have your say using the comments form below.