One night in Thonglor: a walkable bar crawl

Hidden inside the Salil Hotel complex on Thonglor Soi 1, Thaipioka is an easy first stop from the BTS and sets the tone early. Step through the unmarked wooden door and you’re into a warm, teak-heavy room with soft orange lighting and just enough greenery to soften the edges. Bartender Chanchai ‘Boyd’ Rodbamrung builds his menu around Thai ingredients – turmeric, black sesame, jackfruit, lemongrass – and the results land somewhere between kitchen craft and cocktail theatre. The Sesame Manhattan and Turmeric Thai Tea are standouts, and the space runs deeper than it first appears, often with a DJ easing things towards late-night energy. Weekends get busy after 9pm, so it’s worth checking ahead.

Salil Hotel, 44/7 Thonglor Soi 1. Open daily, 7pm-2am.

Walk: Return to the main road and continue north. Rabbit Hole is 5-6 minutes away.

Rabbit Hole sits right on Thonglor road, but you’d miss it if you weren’t looking – just a plain wooden door between Soi 5 and Soi 7. Inside, it opens into a three-storey space of copper, brass and polished marble, with a narrow ground floor that expands into quieter corners upstairs. This is where things turn serious: cocktails lean into herbal infusions, smoke and house-made elements, with a level of precision that’s kept it on Asia’s 50 Best Bars radar. It’s the kind of place you slow down in – or move upstairs if the ground floor fills up.

125 Sukhumvit Soi 55 (Thonglor), between Soi 5 and Soi 7. Open daily, 7pm-2am.

Walk: Continue north and turn into Soi 10 – BLU Thonglor is 6-8 minutes including the turn.

Turn into Soi 10 and BLU hits like a reset button – louder, brighter and built for movement. Where the earlier stops lean intimate, this one goes all in on energy: a packed, well-dressed crowd, rotating DJs across hip-hop, house and techno, plus regular live sets from Thai artists that tip the room into full party mode. It earns its reputation the straightforward way – strong music, solid cocktails and a crowd that actually wants to dance. After a couple of hours of speakeasy pacing, the switch feels earned. Weekends fill fast and the door can tighten, so groups should book ahead before 9pm.

308 Thonglor Soi 10, Sukhumvit 55. Open daily, 7pm-2am.

Walk: Back to the main road and continue north – No. 406 between Soi 12 and Soi 14 is 4-5 minutes away.

At No. 406 between Soi 12 and Soi 14, the address gets you close – the entrance is another story. Follow the unmarked corridor, then pick the right locker from a row of steel cabinets to get in. It’s a fitting intro for a bar created by a heavyweight lineup: Colin Chia (Nutmeg & Clove), Hidetsugu Ueno (Bar High Five), Nick Wu (East End) and Ronnaporn Neung Kanivichaporn (Backstage). The menu plays with a past-present-future structure, offering three versions of each classic – original, modernised and fully reimagined. It’s smart without being overworked, and still lands as a proper place to drink rather than just decode. Give yourself a few extra minutes to find it – that’s part of the fun.

406 Sukhumvit Soi 55 (Thonglor), between Soi 12 and Soi 14. Open daily, 7pm-2am.

Walk: Continue to Soi 13 – Another Round is a few minutes away.

Take the lift up from a parking garage on Soi 13 and you land somewhere that doesn’t quite match the address – a rooftop bar with warm brown tones, mirrored surfaces catching the skyline and a live singer most nights from around 8pm. It feels more like a regulars’ spot than a headline venue, the kind of place that fills through word of mouth rather than algorithms. After the precision of the earlier stops, this one loosens things up: good cocktails, genuinely strong food (the dry-aged beef and pad krapao both hold their own) and a pace that lets you settle in. Tables with a view go quickly before 9pm, so time your arrival if you want to end the night properly.

6/F, Thonglor Soi 13. Open daily, 6pm-1am.