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

Before anything else, a bit of homegrown pride takes centre stage. Bangkok Pride Festival returns under the theme ‘Patch the World with Pride’, with a parade stretching 4.8 kilometres from Chong Nonsi to Rama I. Expect a 300-metre rainbow flag rolling across Silom Road, longer than any previous year and impossible to miss. At Suphachalasai Stadium, Rabiab Wathasin brings mor lam to the Pride Stage, grounding the celebration in local culture while reflecting LGBTQ+ stories of resilience. Alongside it, Drag Bangkok Festival and Thailand's Drag Star raise the stakes for the city’s drag scene. Dress up if you want to be seen, but keep the history in mind. May 31. Free. Chong Nonsi Canal Park (Silom Road). 3pm

MunMun Srinakarin opens MMAD Gallery with six exhibitions from the first artists selected through the MMADness is Calling project, giving emerging names space to experiment across installation, sculpture, sound and textiles. Psyche and Flesh turns suffering and memory into tactile forms, while Upper’s What Lies on Top of the Mountain pairs animation, towering canvases and atmospheric audio to unpack the awkward quiet after intimacy. Elsewhere, Jhanyar’s 24/7 Objects reframes Bangkok’s pavements and everyday clutter with a sharply observant eye for city life. Steam Stream drifts through water and rice fields, Sunburn The Kid reconstructs discarded fabric into new textile works and Fish Are Friends introduces scrap-metal fish puppets for anyone carrying around a little low-level loneliness. May 7-June 21. Free. MMAD GALLERY. 11am-7pm

Bangkok Kunsthalle welcomes Brooklyn-based Thai collective Elekhlekha as its latest artists-in-residence, turning the space into a constantly shifting laboratory for sound, storytelling and live visual experimentation. Running across two months, the residency unfolds through research sessions, performances and collaborative installations. One standout arrives with Lomwong, an open-studio collaboration featuring Thai musicians and artists working inside immersive surround sound, moving floor projections and a Yamaha Disklavier piano sitting directly at the centre of the room. May 23, 31, June 13 and 20. Free. Bangkok Kunsthalle. 1pm-4pm

First staged in Cheongju Craft Biennale, this group exhibition arrives in Bangkok following a debut as the Invited Country Pavilion in Cheongju, South Korea. The project grows from an ongoing exchange between Thailand and the Republic of Korea, setting craft alongside contemporary art across Southeast and East Asia. At its core sits ‘Elastic Time’, a curatorial thread that questions how time behaves across the region. Forget neat timelines. Here, past, present and future overlap, repeat and quietly reshape one another. The Cheongju edition sets the tone as a cross-cultural conversation, where material, process and memory carry equal weight. Artists approach craft not as something fixed, but as a way to consider what unfolds now, and what might come next. Until August 16. Free. Jim Thompson Art Center. 10am-6pm

As AI settles deeper into everyday routines and the shape of work keeps shifting, ThinkFest 2026 leans into a quieter question: what kind of life still feels worth building? Under the theme ‘Everybody Changes’, the festival turns Ari into a walkable circuit of talks, workshops, exhibitions and live performancves spread across neighbourhood venues. The format works best when you don’t overplan it. Start near Ari BTS Exit 3, follow whichever crowd of soundtrack catches your attention and let the day unfold from there. Collaborators including Loveis Entertainment, What The Duck and Pantang Artwork bring their own energy into the mix, keeping the route varied without feeling overly programmed. May 29-31. Free entry. Register via here. Across Ari. 1pm-10pm

Sapphic Pride Fest has dropped its entertainment line-up and suddenly cancelling plans seems sensible. Expect low lights, loud singalongs and a dance floor packed with people screaming every word to queer pop anthems all night long.  ZYMONE takes centre stage with a set full of teasing, flirting and crowd-working energy, while Drag Peppae – best known as Bangkok’s resident Chappell Roan superfan – commands the decks from 8pm to 9pm. Later on, DJ Yui Truluv keeps things moving with tracks from Fletcher, Charli XCX, Hayley Kiyoko and G Flip. Essential for anyone treating sapphic pop playlists like sacred text. May 30. Free entry. FV39. 9pm onwards

C.P.S. Coffee Roaster leans heavily into Thai nostalgia with new DIRTY and COLD BREW collections inspired by local desserts, fruit stalls and childhood sweets. The drinks move between creamy textures, soft sweetness and rich coffee notes without tipping too aggressively into sugar overload. Expect playful nods to familiar Thai flavours alongside chilled combinations built specifically for Bangkok afternoons where walking outdoors starts to feel like a tactical error. Now-May 31. All C.P.S. Coffee Roaster branches.

After winning over Thai fans at Summer Sonic 2024, Laufey confirms her first solo show here with Laufey: A Matter of Time Tour in Bangkok. A solid return, all things considered. She blends jazz, classical and contemporary pop with carefully arranged melodies and lyrics that stay with you long after the final note. The tour follows her win at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, where A Matter of Time takes Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Produced by Spencer Stewart and Aaron Dessner, the record refines her sound with a sharper emotional edge. With over 4.25 billion Spotify streams, Billboard chart highs, Forbes 30 Under 30 and TIME Women of the Year, she’s clearly operating well beyond niche status. May 31. B1,800-4,300 via here. Impact Arena. 7pm

Bangkok’s Pride Month celebrations head sky-high this June. Up on the 56th floor, Le Du Kaan swaps quiet dinners for a night of live music, voguing and rooftop revelry inspired by identity, self-expression and the many versions of who we become.  The city skyline sets the backdrop while LGBTQ+ members of the Le Du Kaan team take over performances alongside singers from The Voice Thailand. Thai-inspired voguing performances keep the energy moving well past sunset, while guest bartenders step behind the bar throughout the night. Expect immersive touches shaped around the restaurant’s bold, modern approach to Thai dining. May 30. Reserve via here. Le Du Kaan. 5pm onwards

Inner Spectrum slows things down considerably, gathering abstract and semi-abstract works from five artists interested less in explanation than emotional residue. Across layered textures, shifting compositions and large stretches of deliberate emptiness, the exhibition explores memory, anxiety and the mental static modern life leaves hanging around our heads. There’s no polished escapism here, thankfully. Just uncertainty, silence and room to sit with both. May 23-June 12. Free. Art Jewel Gallery, Siam Paragon. 10am-10pm