Our picks for the best things to do in Bangkok this weekend

Every week the space reshuffles itself, hosting something unexpected: a khon dancer framed by candlelight one evening, a jazz quartet improvising beside a wall of canvases the next. It’s a small creative pocket where traditional Thai instruments meet electric guitars, and conversation hums somewhere between art talk and after-hours gossip. The adjoining flower shop spills colour and scent across the room, softening the edges of the gallery’s concrete walls. It’s the sort of spot that doesn’t shout about itself – you stumble in for a drink, stay for the performance, and leave feeling like you’ve witnessed Bangkok breathe in real time. Until November 7. Free. L’On Bangkok, 6pm onwards

Oysters have long been one of the ocean’s most prized treasures, celebrated for their delicate flavour and luxurious appeal. This November, Chatrium Grand Bangkok invites you to savour the very best of the sea. Oyster Month: A Symphony of the Sea is a month-long culinary event spotlighting international masters, from Michelin-starred chefs to oyster-shucking champions. Highlights include Abby Zhang (China), Oyster Shucking Champion; Daniel Notkin (Canada), the renowned ‘Oyster King’; and Alvin Leung (Hong Kong), the two-Michelin-star ‘Demon Chef’, alongside expert mixologists pairing champagnes with oysters. Activities not to miss include a bubble and oyster party by the pool, complete with DJ beats and hosted by Vranken; a special bar takeover by Andrew Whibley on November 1 and an evening of Michelin-star excellence with a curated dinner set by Chef Alvin on November 2.   November 1-30. Chatrium Grand Bangkok, Open daily 6.30am-10pm

The magic’s back, and this time it comes with a live orchestra. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban returns to the big screen, only this isn’t your usual rewatch. ALCOPOP and Five Four Live are teaming up with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra to bring the film’s third chapter to life – quite literally. As the story unfolds on a 40-foot screen, every sweep of John Williams’ score will be performed live, conducted by Timothy Henty. Expect the trembling strings when the Dementors arrive, the brass that lifts the broomsticks and the haunting melodies that made growing up at Hogwarts feel monumental. It’s nostalgia, sharpened and reimagined, where cinema meets symphony and you remember exactly why the magic never really left. November 8-9. B1,200-4,000 via here. Prince Mahidol Hall, Mahidol University.

Whether it’s the city’s endless appetite for omakase or simply a desire to change the pace of dining, Bangkok offers plenty of experiences for adventurous eaters. One standout destination is Yellow Tail Sushi Bar at Vie Hotel Bangkok, where expert chefs craft 10 multi-course omakase-style creations each night. Diners savour curated dishes that showcase seasonal ingredients and culinary precision, including rare Kuromame Wagyu from Okayama, prized for its rich marbling and delicate taste. Each course is thoughtfully paired with sake to enhance the flavours and elevate the experience, highlighting the balance, texture and presentation that make omakase dining a true culinary journey.  Until December 23. Starts at B2,999. Reserve via 020-983-888.  Yellow Tail Sushi Bar, Vie Hotel Bangkok, 6pm-8pm 

What began as a modest night has stretched its limbs across two evenings, morphing into something between a fairground and a fever dream. Over 100 vendors will set up camp – cannabis growers beside kratom brewers, wellness gurus beside people who just really like loud guitars. It’s less a market, more a conversation about what ‘sustainable’ looks like when fun is part of the brief. ChangChui’s grounds split neatly into three worlds: healing, battle and stoner. One offers herbal workshops and massages, another swaps gloves for guitars, and the last hums with smoke and basslines. Expect headliners like Srirajah Rockers, Desktop Error, Bomb at Track and Rejizz, but the real intrigue sits with Nudkinpuk’s next act – a carnival with dirt under its nails. November 8-9. B150 via here. ChangChui Creative Park, 4pm-midnight

Buckle turns ten this year. The exhibition charts a decade of the Buckle collection, tracing the spark of its rebellious beginnings and its evolution into a streetwear staple. Each corner of the space tells a story, from early sketches that defied convention to bold pieces that carved their own rulebook. The archives invite a closer look at the textures, cuts and unexpected details that made Buckle a fixture in fashion capitals, while moments of the collection are frozen in display, like snapshots of style history. Walking through feels like wandering through someone else’s diary, only one filled with attitude, creativity and a knack for making the ordinary feel unapologetically iconic. Until November 16. G/F, Central Embassy, 10am-10pm

Jiajia Qi arrives in Bangkok with her first solo exhibition in Thailand, but this isn’t a simple retrospective or a neat display of greatest hits. Supported by Mondriaan Fonds, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Thailand, the show stretches across her past works and new experiments, each piece circling back to her obsession with place and the slippery ways it shapes us. The framework leans into Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s idea of ‘nomadic thought’ where history isn’t pinned down and geography refuses to play by institutional rules. It’s less about tidy narratives and more about movement, flux and the sensation of being caught in between. Expect to leave with the feeling you’ve wandered somewhere unfamiliar, yet strangely close. September 25-November 8. Free. SAC Gallery, 10am-6pm

Shereif Eldesouky’s new exhibition is a meditation on how we break apart and find our way back. The Egyptian mixed-media artist, now based in Bangkok, draws on memory and sibling love, framing both as fragile yet astonishingly resilient. His chosen metaphor is the reef: sometimes bleached, sometimes reborn, always in flux. The pieces trace cycles of sorrow and repair, suggesting that the same emotional currents that pull us away can, in time, return us to one another. Eldesouky mirrors this in his process, painting, dismantling, then reassembling fragments into forms that speak of survival and renewal. It’s at once personal and planetary, asking us to see our own bonds in the same light as coral – vulnerable, but never beyond revival. September 20-November 15. Free. Bangkok 1899, 11am-6pm

Ploenchan ‘Mook’ Vinyaratn has turned Bangkok Kunsthalle into a space where weaving isn’t just craft, it’s conversation. Her most ambitious institutional installation to date reimagines fragments of past textile works, letting textures, colours and forms collide in ways that feel both deliberate and accidental. The building itself – once the Thai Wattana Panich printing house – anchors the work, with 399 circular fabric pieces echoing its original logo, each stamped with words from children’s books once produced on-site. Collaborating with other Thai women, Vinyaratn deconstructs looms and rebuilds them into monumental forms, creating works that pulse with collective memory, resilience and quiet audacity. By the time you leave, the fragments have stitched themselves into a living narrative, a reminder that history, imagination and community can fold seamlessly into one. September 26-November 30. Free. Bangkok Kunsthalle, 2pm-8pm  

Bangkok doesn’t really need another rooftop, but it does need a pool party worth ditching your Saturday plans for. Sunset Splash x Innerbloom is angling for that spot – set high above the city with the skyline as its backdrop. The dates are scattered across the year (September 13, October 4, November 8 and December 6) like seasonal markers for when you should probably bring your swimsuit. Expect the Innerbloom DJ crew working the decks, joined by live sax and percussion, plus dancers who make the whole thing feel more festival than hotel amenity. Drinks are dialled up with bubbles and cocktails – free-flow for women between 2pm and 4pm – and the food is just as curated as the soundtrack.  September 13, October 4, November 8 and December 6. B500 via here. W Bangkok, 2pm-9pm