The best things to do in Bangkok this October

Koktail Magazine and Time Out Bangkok are teaming up for a weekend where fine dining collides with street food, and Bangkok will never taste quite the same. Across three days, 25 restaurants – from Nila Amari Bangkok to Blue Elephant, Sorsi and Morsi to Dolcetto – serve up dishes that balance craft and casual, all priced between B100-200. Thai craft beers, inventive cocktails and local spirits line the stalls, while live music threads the space together, turning bites into a full-on experience. It’s not about tablecloths or formality; it’s about wandering, sampling and letting the unexpected combinations hit just right. Entry is free, so come early, stroll from stall to stall, and let your palate follow wherever the city’s culinary storytelling takes it. By the end, the weekend feels less like an event and more like a feast you won’t forget.

October 30-November 1. Free. G/F, Forum, Gaysorn Amarin, 10am-8pm

Bangkok is about to get a dose of grunge time travel. The Smashing Pumpkins are coming back, almost thirty years after their last Thai show in 1996 – a night when ‘1979’ still sounded like prophecy rather than nostalgia. This time, expect a set that slips between eras: the drama of ‘Tonight, Tonight’, the venom of ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’, plus newer material from Agohori Mhori Mei and Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts. It’s a reminder that Billy Corgan and co never really fit neatly into one decade – too pretty for punk, too weird for pop, too theatrical for grunge. Tickets are on sale, so the city’s about to learn what three decades of bottled chaos feels like live.

October 1. B4,000-6,000 via here. Union Hall, 7pm

Bangkok Climate Action Week kicks off with a mix of free talks, exhibitions and live music, turning the city into a festival of ideas. Across more than a week, BKKCAW unfolds as a space where citizens, communities and institutions collide, experimenting with fresh ways to imagine a greener, fairer future. It’s not about lectures or jargon – it’s about connection, creativity and action, with local creatives, youth, scientists, policymakers and activists all finding common ground. From pop-up discussions to immersive exhibits, each moment invites participation and sparks conversation, while performances add rhythm to reflection. By the end, the city feels alive with possibility, a reminder that tackling climate change can be as inventive, collaborative and unexpectedly joyous as the people striving to make it happen.

September 28-October 4. Free. City-wide.

Bangkok once held a name in cinema that slipped quietly from memory. The International Film Festival, which for years drew attention alongside Osaka and Busan, disappeared after 2008, leaving only whispers of screenings and red carpets in the city’s imagination. Now it returns, 16 years later, not with nostalgia but with ambition. Curated by the Thailand Creative Culture Agency in collaboration with the Department of Cultural Promotion and local cinemas, the festival opens on September 29 with Tee Yod 3 (Death Whisperer 3), a Thai production that anchors the program. Over 200 films from around the globe will fill screens across the city, offering a pulse of contemporary storytelling. For Bangkok, it is both a revival and a reminder that the world’s cinema can still converge in unexpected, exhilarating ways.

September 27-October 15. Cinemas across Bangkok.

October in Bangkok isn’t subtle. It doesn’t creep, it pounces – all neon shadows, borrowed ghosts and too much noise to ignore. Over in Thonburi, Chang Chui Creative Park is throwing the kind of Halloween bash that feels like a ‘possessed warehouse rave’. Free entry means your only real commitment is how many drinks you can get through, with more than 150 labels and 300 odd concoctions waiting to blur the line between thrill and terrible decision. Food stalls are stacked, 50-plus vendors slinging dishes to distract even the hungriest spirit. Then there’s the ghost story zone, where local storytellers spin tales that get under your skin. The whole thing is rowdy, eerie, ridiculous and somehow still manages to feel like Bangkok at its best.

October 3-5. Free. Chang Chui Creative Park, 3pm-midnight

27 years is a long time in Bangkok years. Long enough to watch clubs rise and collapse, galleries open then vanish, governments reshuffle on repeat. Yet the Bangkok International Festival of Dance and Music keeps turning up, unbothered by the noise, with another season that feels more like a marathon than a sprint. 14 productions unfold over six weeks, running the spectrum from Cuban contemporary to Russian opera, stitched together with the kind of programming that makes sense only when you’re in the middle of it. Headliners include China’s National Acrobatic Troupe, nicknamed the country’s ‘dream team’, a company that’s been racking up gold medals since the 1950s. They’ll land in September, twisting physics at the Thailand Cultural Centre, and probably making you rethink the limits of a human spine.

Until October 15. Starts at B3,000 via here. Thailand Cultural Centre. 

Bangkok’s drink scene gets another moment in the spotlight. The Bangkok Bar Show 2025 lands at the Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel, turning the ballroom into a playground for anyone who thinks cocktails are an art form. Expect the city’s top brands to rub shoulders with bartenders from across the globe, each shaking, stirring and scheming their way to something unforgettable. Daytime panels and seminars in Montathip Room 1 offer a peek behind the scenes, spilling secrets about trends, techniques and the occasional scandal. It’s less about suits and more about curiosity – the kind that makes you linger over a glass, watch a twist of citrus catch the light, and realise that Bangkok’s bar world is a little chaotic, a little dazzling and entirely worth getting lost in.

October 10-12. B360-1,399 via here. Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel, 1pm onwards

Since its velvet curtains first swished open in 2015, Sing Sing has played the part of fever dream as much as nightclub. The interiors alone feel like a set piece from a film Baz Luhrmann might have directed after a long night in Bangkok – lacquered cages, glowing lanterns, shadows thick enough to lose your friends in. But it’s the music that has carried its legend. Gilles Peterson baptised the decks in its first year, and since then Dixon, DJ Tennis, Âme and Henrik Schwarz have left their signatures behind, threaded with Bangkok’s own restless talent. ‘A Decade of Decadence’ isn’t just a neat anniversary, it’s a salute to the community who’ve blurred the line between spectacle and sanctuary, keeping the club alive as both playground and temple of sound.

October 11. Reservation via 063-225-1331. Sing Sing Theater, 11pm onwards

If you’ve ever tumbled into a Junji Ito spiral at 2am, you’ll know his horror isn’t about sudden shocks. It’s the kind that worms under your skin and refuses to leave, lingering long after the page is closed. Think cursed beauties that regenerate no matter how many times they’re destroyed, balloon-headed predators dangling from nooses, and entire towns spiralling into obsession. The Junji Ito Collection Horror House brings those worlds to Bangkok, a walk-through that turns manga dread into something physical, sprawling over 1,500 square metres. Tomie’s ruinous charm and Souichi’s nail-chewing mischief are ready to greet visitors. The real kicker? Ito himself lands on October 11 at SF Cinema, MBK, a chance to meet the mind behind the nightmares and feel, just a little, like fiction is bleeding into life.

October 10-January 5. B300-1,000 via here. MBK Centre, 11am-8pm

Bangkok’s literary scene is tuning up again, this year under the playful theme ‘Melody of Books’ with the question: ‘Have you read? Have you listened?’ The fair stretches across aisles packed with titles from every imaginable genre, a mix of publishers old and new, while corners hum with workshops, talks and interactive sessions. It’s less a market and more a symphony, where pages turn like notes and voices carry stories beyond the spine. Visitors wander between author meet-and-greets, live readings and unexpected performances, discovering that books aren’t just for reading but for experiencing, hearing and feeling. By the time you leave, your bag is heavier, your mind noisier and your appreciation for narrative a little more… orchestral.

October 9-19. Free. Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, 10am-9pm

Bangkok gets a whole lot of sparklers. Mariah Carey is back, hair flips, high notes and all, bringing her signature diva energy to the city for the first time in seven years. The tour marks two decades since The Emancipation of Mimi reshaped pop in 2005, a reminder of why her runs, riffs and whistle tones still feel untouchable. For fans old enough to remember belting along in 2005 or younger listeners discovering her through playlists and viral clips, this is a rare chance to hear the voice behind the legend. Expect glamour, theatrics and those moments that make you cheer so hard you forget your own air guitar routine. Bangkok is ready, Mariah just has to land.

October 11. B3,500-20,000 via here. IMPACT Challenger Hall, 7pm onwards

You probably first heard him at a school disco, when the bassline of ‘Get Busy’ shook the floor, or during that sticky summer when ‘Temperature’ played on repeat. Sean Paul wasn’t just on the radio, he was the atmosphere – his voice folded into every party, every club, every car ride with the windows down. Born in Kingston in 1973, he grew up where riddim is less genre, more religion. By the millennium, he had gone from local airwaves to Grammy wins and global charts, carrying dancehall far beyond Jamaica’s borders without shedding the accent or the conviction that it belongs everywhere. Now, two decades later, Bangkok finally gets him in the flesh. One night in October, and a city’s long rehearsal becomes the real dance.

October 14. B2,500-4,500 via here. UOB Live, 8.30pm

Think of it as a collision rather than a merger. Gamescom Asia, usually the buttoned-up business end of the industry, meets Thailand Game Show, Bangkok’s annual carnival of controllers, cosplay and chaotic fandom. The result: Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show, an event so big it needs more than 30,000 square metres to breathe – a footprint closer to a small airport than a convention. Inside, billion-baht negotiations meet neon fandom and the mood swings between suited seriousness and euphoric chaos. Expect appearances from Glen Schofield, the mind behind Dead Space and Call of Duty, alongside developers showing prototypes with the nerves of first-time performers. It’s a world of gaming: messy, ambitious and impossible to keep in one genre.

October 16-19. B200 via here. Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, 9am-8pm

This isn’t just an exhibition, it’s a collision of worlds on paper. Picture illustrators from across generations and borders swapping sketches, trading stories and trying to map out futures that don’t always follow straight lines. The physical fair buzzes with shortlisted artists showing and selling their work, but even those who don’t make the floor find space online at BangkokIllustrationFair.com, a kind of digital sketchbook open to all. Over 50 reviewers – curators, publishers, agencies – move through the fair like treasure hunters, each expected to pick at least one artist for future collaboration. Rewards here aren’t trophies but chances, opportunities that might stretch well beyond Bangkok. The whole thing is stitched together by a community determined to prove illustration isn’t niche, it’s necessary.

October 23-26. Free. Central World, 11am-8pm

Connan Mockasin has never quite belonged to this planet. He drifts in like a character half-written, guitar dangling, melodies spilling out as if borrowed from someone else’s dream. The last time Bangkok saw him was 2019, a brief encounter that felt more apparition than concert. This October he returns stripped of frills – just voice, guitar and a catalogue that slips from syrupy funk to lullabies that dissolve before you’ve grasped them. Born Connan Tant Hosford in New Zealand, he’s built a decade-long career out of refusing to stay put. Forever Dolphin Love arrived in 2010 like a warped lounge transmission, followed by the woozy Caramel and the spectral Jassbusters albums. Along the way he’s drifted through collaborations with Charlotte Gainsbourg, Dev Hynes and even John Cale, treating genres less as borders than playthings.

October 23. B2,000-10,000 via here. Black Cabin, 6pm

Forget the tidy TikTok routines and synchronised joggers – Bad Vibes was born scrappy and refuses to clean up. What started in 2022 as a rough-and-ready battle has grown into a five-day storm of sweat, pride and noise, a place where dancers turn defiance into movement and the crowd feeds it right back. Now in its fourth year, it’s gone global: crews and soloists from Japan, China, Vietnam, India and Thailand tearing through HOSTBKK with footwork sharp enough to draw blood. Yes, there are categories – hip-hop, house, crew battles – and judges trying to keep order, but the real thrill is in the chaos. Dancers don’t just perform, they provoke, tease and dare each other to go harder.

October 23-27. B500-6,500 via here. HOSTBKK.

Thai BLINKs know the drill by now. Group chats go nocturnal, outfit plans spiral, hotel bookings vanish, and rumours breed like urban legends. Blackpink are coming back to Bangkok this October, three nights at Rajamangala National Stadium as part of their Deadline World Tour, and the city is already vibrating with anticipation. It’s not their first time here and won’t be their last, but the mood is different when Lalisa ‘Lisa’ Manobal touches down on home soil. Her presence alone has a way of tipping Bangkok into collective frenzy. The scale is staggering: their Born Pink tour pulled in 1.8 million fans worldwide, more cultural earthquake than concert run. Deadline looks set to top it, because Blackpink aren’t just performers anymore. They’re a mirror, a brand, a litmus test for pop itself.

October 24, 25 and 26. B2,800-8,800 via here. Rajamangala National Stadium, 7pm

October’s Contemporary World Film Series puts the spotlight on Something Like an Autobiography, a film that feels as personal as its title suggests. Directed by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Bangladesh’s pioneer of new-wave cinema, and starring his wife Nusrat Imrose Tisha – the country’s most recognisable screen presence – the project blurs the lines between art and lived reality. Written together during lockdown, the script folds their own marriage into fiction, with Farooki stepping in front of the camera for the first time opposite Tisha. The title itself nods to Akira Kurosawa’s memoir, a quiet homage to one of Farooki’s great influences. It’s a work born of confinement yet expansive in reach, a film about intimacy that has already started to ripple far beyond its origin.

October 25. B20 at the door for non-TK Park members. Reserve via filmforum17@gmail.com. TK Park, Central World, 4pm

The Filip Mozul Band play like they’ve been conspiring for decades, slipping between funk, jazz and global rhythms with the ease of people who know each other’s instincts inside out. Led by Mozul on drums, the group doesn’t treat percussion as backdrop but as heartbeat, a pulse that shapes everything around it. Their sound isn’t neatly labelled – one moment a brass riff struts like it belongs to the ‘70s, the next a sax solo unravels into something closer to a late-night jam session on another continent. On stage, that blend turns into a kind of communion: energy spilling over, improvisations stretching until they nearly snap, then snapping back in perfect time. What you get isn’t just a concert, it’s the thrill of watching borders melt into noise.

October 26. B500-2,500 via here. Sala Sudasiri Sobha, 4pm

Halloween doesn’t need much encouragement to go theatrical but Murder Box at Speakerbox leans straight into the drama. The venue that usually goes with live sets is shifting shape for one night only, trading sticky floors and stage lights for something darker. The team behind it, Madame Rouge, already notorious for twisting cabaret into something closer to fever dream, are promising their most unsettling creation yet. There’re two rooms rigged for chaos, three bands loud enough to rattle your spine, DJs lurking behind decks like villains, and performers sliding through the crowd as if they’d just stepped out of a nightmare. It’s not just a gig, not quite theatre either – more like walking headfirst into the film you were warned not to watch alone.

October 31. B444-666 via here and B999 at the door. Speakerbox, 8pm onwards