We’ve got you covered with the coolest things to do in Bangkok, from rooftop markets and riverside festivals to open-air cinema and orchestral concerts
Weekend still looking suspiciously empty? Don’t panic. Bangkok rewards last-minute plans, whether you fancy social chess, a film beneath the stars or something you didn't know was happening.
Start with Bangkok Chess Social, an afternoon of casual games where conversation matters more than competition. Prefer the pictures? Nang Loeng Cinema hosts two free Elvis screenings: Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis on August 15 and the sunnier Blue Hawaii on August 16, complete with ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’. Both begin at 4pm, with entry first come, first served.
At Lumpini Hall, Swing in the Park returns with a ‘'Swing Through Time’ theme, pairing live music with beginner-friendly dancing at one of the city’s oldest surviving venues. No partner or experience is needed: turn up solo, learn a few steps and join in.
Guitar fans, meanwhile, can catch Polish virtuoso Marcin Patrzałek on Saturday night, pulling rhythm, melody and percussion from a single acoustic guitar.
When plans run dry, browse our guides to Bangkok’s best bars, restaurants, parks, galleries and interviews, or work through our bucket list of the best things to do in Bangkok.
Plan the rest of August with our monthly guide, and keep checking our latest picks of Bangkok’s best things to do.
Subscribe to our free newsletter for the best of Bangkok, straight to your inbox.
Le Café des Stagiaires Bangkok turns an ordinary Thursday night into a laid-back chess social, with boards between players and DJs behind decks. The music keeps the room moving without distracting from the games, while the casual set-up makes it easy for concentration to turn into conversation. Test your strategy, meet a stranger or abandon the board for the dancefloor – nobody is keeping score for long.
August 13. Free entry. Le Café des Stagiaires Bangkok. From 7pm
Bangkok’s horror favourites leave the screen this August as Thai Content Experience 2026 (TCX) takes over Paragon Hall for four days – and entry is free. GTH, Girl From Nowhere and the Undertaker cinematic universe each get a walk-through zone, letting visitors explore recreated sets rather than simply watch the action.
The programme goes well beyond scares. Panna Stunt Team brings the high-energy Born to Fight Spectacular, while popular Thai dramas receive new stage adaptations. Cinematic Symphony: Heartbeat of Thai Film pairs a live orchestra with songs from classic Thai cinema, alongside exhibitions, creator talks and surprise performances.
August 13-16. Free entry. 5/F, Paragon Hall, Siam Paragon. 10am-9pm
JWD Art Space marks 100 years since the birth of poet-artist Angkarn Kallayanapong with Ash and Alteration, an exhibition shaped around his papers, sketches, letters and other surviving traces.Ashes, ruins and decay recur throughout Angkarn’s poetry – his name itself alludes to what remains after destruction – and here those fragments offer a way into both his work and the world around it.
Artists Chulayarnnon Siriphol and Tada Hengsapkul revisit the Buddhist ideas and natural imagery found in Angkarn’s work, while scholars Jirat Chalermsanyakorn, Prapan Jangkitchai and Artit Srijan consider his place in Thailand’s literary and visual-art history.
August 8-October 25. Free entry. JWD Art Space. 10am-7pm
Mooring examines how memories, beliefs and personal histories shift as they move between people, languages and generations. F four artists approach storytelling through their own experiences and practices, asking what happens to truth when a story changes with every retelling. The answer may depend as much on who speaks, who listens and what is remembered as on the facts themselves.
Until September 29. Free entry. Bangkok Kunsthalle. 2pm-8pm
Fancy a weekend of making things, browsing handmade goods and talking to people who know their way around a craft table? A Crafty Affair turns three days at Jim Thompson Art Center into a neighbourhood celebration of workshops, design, prints, homeware, food and live music.
The programme spreads across the Art Center, Jim Thompson House Museum and the surrounding Kasemsan neighbourhood, so expect to wander rather than settle in one place. Join a workshop, buy something from an independent maker or stop for a bite along the way – it’s an excuse to slow down and see the area differently.
August 14-16. Free entry. Jim Thompson Art Center. 11am-7pm
Dinosaurs have been stomping around the Chao Phraya for a year, and Jurassic World: The Experience at Asiatique The Riverfront is celebrating with free outdoor screenings throughout August. Each film plays twice nightly, at 6pm and 8pm: Jurassic World (August 8-9), Fallen Kingdom (August 15-16), Dominion (August 22-23) and Rebirth (August 29-30). Bring friends, pick up a drink nearby and watch prehistoric chaos unfold in the riverside breeze.
August 8-30. Free entry. Asiatique The Riverfront. 6pm and 8pm
Step back into 1930s Bangkok at Swing in the Park: Swing Through Time, a free dance night at historic Lumpini Hall. More than 70 years old, the venue beside Lumpini Park has hosted generations of dancers, making it a fitting setting for an evening of vintage swing.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and Bangkok Swing bring live sets from The Stumblrs and the Suntharaporn Orchestra, filling the hall with classic tunes and old-school footwork. New to swing? An open class gets beginners moving before the social dancing starts, with no partner or previous experience required. Come alone or bring friends and spend an evening inside a small piece of Bangkok history.
August 15. Free entry. Lumphini Hall. 5pm-8pm
Opera gets a youthful reset this August as Bangkok Youth Opera stages three works in BACC’s fourth-floor black-box Studio. Running from August 15-22, the programme pairs Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with the reform ballet Don Juan and Donizetti’s comic opera Don Pasquale, all performed by young musicians and artists.
Jorn Yasavudhi conducts Orfeo ed Euridice and Don Juan, while Mickey Wongsathapornpat takes the podium for Don Pasquale. British director and choreographer Darren Royston gives all three works a contemporary dramatic frame. His staging sends Orpheus across time and dimensions through projection mapping, while Don Pasquale moves from nineteenth-century Rome to present-day Bangkok.
August 15-22. B600-1,200 via here for Orfeo ed Euridice and Don Juan, and here for Don Pasquale. Bangkok Art & Culture Centre.
Polish guitarist Marcin Patrzałek brings his one-man-band approach to Bangkok, using a single acoustic guitar for bass lines, percussion and melody. Known simply as Marcin, he combines flamenco techniques, percussive tapping and modern production until one instrument sounds like several musicians at once.
He won Must Be The Music in 2015 before reaching a much wider audience on America’s Got Talent, where his rapid, rhythmic playing earned millions of online views. Tom Morello, Paul Stanley and Steve Vai have all praised his work. If acoustic guitar suggests gentle strumming, prepare to have that idea dismantled.
August 15. B2,000-3,500 via here. MGI Hall, Bravo BKK. 7pm
Elvis Presley’s quiff, voice and hip shake need little introduction, almost 50 years after his death. This August, Bangkok marks the anniversary with two free screenings at Sala Chaloem Thani, better known as historic Nang Loeng Cinema.
The Thai Film Archive and Thai Film Foundation screen Elvis on August 15), Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biopic, followed on August 16 by the 1961 musical comedy Blue Hawaii, featuring ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’. Both begin at 4pm, with doors opening at 3pm for first-come, first-served entry. The cinema has 250 seats and no online booking, so arrive early – and take public transport, as there is no parking on site.
August 15-16. Free entry at the door from 3pm. Nang Loeng Cinema. 4pm
Road to Melt Festival brings two distinctive indie singer-songwriters, Matt Maltese and Phum Viphurit, together for an intimate night of live music in Bangkok.
British-Italian singer-songwriter Maltese has built a loyal following by turning everyday emotions into bittersweet, sharply observed songs, delivered with an easy charm that carries into his live shows.
Sharing the bill is Bangkok-born, New Zealand-raised Phum Viphurit, best known for ‘Lover Boy’ and ‘Long Gone’. His warm vocals, laid-back delivery and breezy songwriting have made him one of Thailand’s most recognisable indie artists, with listeners far beyond the country.
August 16. B2,500 via here. Cloud 11 Hall. 7pm
Long before ‘City Pop’ became shorthand for a nostalgic sound, Hiroshi Nagai was painting the bright skies, quiet coastlines and palm-lined streets that helped define its visual identity. This August, the celebrated Japanese artist brings Summer Dreaming to River City Bangkok for his first solo exhibition in Thailand. More than 30 original works span the early 1980s to the present, revealing textures, colours and hand-painted details often lost in reproduction. Four new paintings created especially for Thailand also offer Nagai’s sun-soaked take on Bangkok.
August 4-September 4. Free entry. Galleria 1, River City Bangkok. 10am-8pm
George Kongmark’s SUPERNOVA brings together more than 60 installations, videos, performances, paintings and collaborative works in the artist’s largest solo show to date. The body becomes a lens for exploring memory, identity, desire and self-acceptance, with each gallery approaching those ideas from a different angle. The title refers to a star’s life cycle, using dramatic change as a metaphor for personal transformation rather than pure spectacle. August’s accompanying programme includes artist talks, workshops, guided tours and life-drawing sessions, giving visitors more ways to engage with the work.
August 6-29. Free entry. 6060 Arts Space (White and Black Buildings)
Bangkok’s growing secondhand scene has another reason to gather as Use Loop Repeat 2026 returns to Open House at Central Embassy. Organised with Loopers, this year’s edition, ‘Designed by Her: Discover Stories Made to Matter’, celebrates women-led creativity through practical ideas rather than lofty statements. Opening day brings talks with Pancake Khemanit, Samich Petdee and Aim Phumipat, alongside workshops turning bottle caps, food waste and discarded packaging into everyday objects. More than 30 sustainable brands also set up shop. The three-week programme makes an easy stop whether you’re hunting for thoughtful design, browsing secondhand finds or escaping the afternoon heat.
August 3-23. Free entry. Open House at Central Embassy. 10am-9pm
Three decades after Detective Conan first arrives on television, the long-running mystery series gets its first Southeast Asian anniversary exhibition. The show traces the anime's history from early sketches and storyboards to voice recording, music and final animation, offering a closer look at the work behind one of Japan's biggest franchises. Highlights include life-sized recreations of memorable scenes, a storyboard wall spanning 30 years and a screening room showing an exclusive anniversary film. Pick up an assigned collectible ticket on arrival, then finish with a browse through exclusive merchandise made specially for the exhibition.
July 23-November 8. B250-900 via here. FreeAttraction Hall, ICONSIAM. 10am-9pm
Discover Time Out original video
