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

Southeastern Gathering 2026 returns for its third year, expanding to six days of bluegrass,  Irish and old-time music with players from Thailand, the US, Japan and Ireland. The line-up includes banjo player Tray Wellington, 2024 Steve Martin Banjo Prize recipient, Tokyo’s Bluegrass Police and Irish musicians Luke Coffey and Cameron Mather. Choose from a penthouse concert for 20 people, a welcome jam, a six-hour main gathering and a brunch with live music and stories. October 20-25. B999-3,299. Public House Bangkok. Programme starts at 7pm. Tickets here

French artist and illustrator Julie Stephen Chheng brings Fortune Teller to One Bangkok, with interactive projections and augmented reality that reward a little curiosity. Presented with Alliance Française Bangkok, the exhibition introduces eight nature spirits linked to water, fire, sky, earth, thunder, shadow, light and green leaf. Download the free Fortune Teller AR app to search for hidden characters around the complex, then explore creative workshops covering paper crafts, ceramic painting and DIY keychains. A book corner curated by The Independent Print Club rounds out the programme. Check the workshop schedule before visiting if you have a particular activity in mind.  October 2-November 15. Free exhibition entry. Second floor, The Storeys, One Bangkok. 10am-8pm.

Thai artist Nobbie Temeekul presents a new painting exhibition that challenges how we see the world and the stories we choose to believe. His oil paintings draw on the rich colours and dramatic brushwork of Western mythological art, but the figures at the centre are deities from Thai tradition. Rather than sticking to the usual images of divine perfection and purity, Nobbie depicts these gods in unexpected poses and situations. The exhibition asks visitors to look a little closer and consider how our own beliefs, as well as the stories we hear, shape what we see.October 17-November 22. Free entry. Trendy Gallery, Cloud 11. 10am-7pm

Illustration fans, make room in your calendar. Bangkok Illustration Fair (BKKIF) returns for 2026, bringing together artists from Thailand and overseas to showcase and sell their work, from character design to picture-book illustrations. The International Alliance zone connects visitors with illustration communities across Asia and beyond, while a new Taiwan Pavilion introduces four popular characters, including Bugcat Capoo and Miho Nyanko. There’s plenty for aspiring artists, too, with portfolio reviews, industry networking and hands-on workshops. Grade 12 students can also apply for free portfolio guidance through a special programme with Central Tham.October 22-25. B150 via here and B200 at the door. centralwOrld PULSE, centralwOrld. 11am-8pm

Moxy Bangkok Ratchaprasong takes Halloween across two floors from October 22-31. At Moxy Bar & Restaurant on 9/F, the Moxy Truck serves zombie chicken wings, blackout calamari, bloodbath nachos and zombie brain panna cotta, with cocktails including blood & ash, spice & xcream and T-virus mix at B350++ each. Upstairs, Sato San Rooftop Bar on 32/F turns to Japanese folklore with oni chicken wings, kappa cucumber roll, nekomata gyoza and yokai takoyaki. Its cocktails take their names from supernatural characters, including Oni the Demon, Kitsune the Fox Spirit, Yurei the Restless Spirit and Jorogumo the Spider Woman. Both floors have food from B190++.October 22-31. Food from B190++; Moxy Bar & Restaurant’s Halloween cocktails B350++ each. Moxy Bangkok Ratchaprasong. Moxy Truck on 9/F, 5pm-11pm; Sato San on 32/F, 6pm-1.30am. Check seating and reservation terms with the venues.

More than 50 years after Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader created them, three of his works arrive at Bangkok Kunsthalle for Bright at Midnight, a solo exhibition curated by Leonardo Orion Dal Colle. Created between 1970 and 1975, the works use simple materials and gestures to explore vulnerability, absence and uncertainty. Presented within the Kunsthalle’s unfinished architecture, they take on a new context in Bangkok, another ‘City of Angels’ thousands of miles from Los Angeles. The exhibition considers how these works speak to a different time and place, with gravity, light and darkness shaping the experience.October 14-January 10, 2027. Free entry. Bangkok Kunsthalle. 2pm-8pm

South Korean artist Jeon Gi-ok turns discarded cardboard into landscapes, architectural structures and thousands of hand-folded boats in this solo exhibition. Drawing on East Asian landscape painting, the works explore how people and things depend on one another to survive. Cardboard boxes, once used to transport and protect goods, retain marks of their previous lives, while paintings sit partly hidden inside them. Elsewhere, circular structures invite visitors to walk through the work, and folding screens reveal different views as they move. Look closely at the piles of tiny boats, each carrying traces of the artist’s studio practice. October 24-December 20. Free entry. Atelier 9. 1pm-8pm

Fangs, dark outfits and a little vampire drama are the brief for The Lovers’ Plan’s Sapphic Vampire Lair Halloween Party. Head to The Red Door on Sukhumvit Soi 24 for bloody drinks and three DJs, then find a partner for the Coffin for Two or gather your coven on the dance floor. DJ Ami opens with house and alternative music from 8.30pm-9.30pm, followed by nostalgic EDM from DJ Shane. DJ Yui Truluv takes over at 10.30pm with reggaeton, afrobeats and pop until late. The party welcomes sapphics and their friends. October 24. B450 online or B600 at the door, including one drink. Book via the registration form. The Red Door, Sukhumvit Soi 24. From 8pm.

Belgian photographer Alain Callebaut brings two bodies of work to Old Town Gallery. Bangkok Raw moves beyond familiar temple-and-skyline views into rain-soaked streets, narrow alleys, markets and bridges, catching everyday moments between the crowds. His second collection, Make Women Happy All Over the World, uses light and shadow to explore the human form, with the upstairs display of fine art nudes restricted to visitors aged 18 and over. A share of merchandise sales will support emerging local artists. Head to the October 4 opening from 3pm-6pm for a chance to meet Callebaut, or visit during the gallery hours throughout the month. October 4-31. Free entry. Old Town Gallery. 10am-6pm; opening October 4, 3pm-6pm

Small, personal and often made in limited numbers, zines reward a proper rummage.  The Basement Zine Fair brings more than 14 writers and artists to Arai Arai for handmade books, artwork and ideas you won’t necessarily find in a chain bookshop. An open call also invited creatives outside Bangkok to submit work for sale free of charge, widening the selection beyond the city. Talks, live music and DJ sets run alongside the stalls, while The Basement TH launches The Basement Magazine Vol. 3: Khao Yak Mak Paeng (‘The High Cost of Living’). It’s the collective’s first zine fair, with rising living costs giving the weekend its theme. October 23-25. Free entry. Arai Arai, Chinatown. 1pm-8pm