The best things to do in Bangkok weekend (May 7-10)

Specialty coffee takes centre stage here, riding a global wave that shows no sign of slowing. This exhibition gathers producers, roasters, baristas and industry voices from across the map, all under one roof to support the wider coffee scene. Expect a mix of tastings, conversations and hands-on moments, alongside plenty of chances to pick up high-quality beans and serious kit. For anyone even mildly obsessed with their morning cup, it’s a field day. Behind it all sits the Specialty Coffee Association, the force behind World of Coffee, working with the Barista Association of Thailand and Exporum Inc. to bring the scene together in one place.

May 7-9. B300-1,100 via here. BITEC. 10am-6pm

School gets a rethink at Asiatique The Riverfront Destination, where Better World Better Future treats sustainability less like homework and more like sensory overload. The standout is a surprisingly intense 9D cinema that throws wind, movement, sound and shifting weather patterns at you with unnerving realism. Across eight zones, climate change stops feeling abstract and starts landing somewhere closer to your nervous system. Crucially, it avoids the usual worthy tone – ideas come through storytelling and atmosphere rather than lectures. 

Everyday. B199 via here. Asiatique The Riverfront Destination, 11am-9pm

Bar Lookkrung Ari trades usual cafe-hopping energy for something slower and more nostalgic. The space rewinds Thai nightlife roughly six decades, pairing luk krung classics – satin vocals, aching lyrics, old-school romance – with a cocktail list built around local fruit. The ‘Jumjee Thai Fruits’ menu is worth lingering over: pomelo lands bright and layered, while the bottle gourd mix swings neatly between sweet and tart. Nightly live bands keep the room shifting in mood, and after a drink or two you may well end up taking the microphone yourself.

Everyday. Free entry. Bar Lookkrung Ari, 5pm-midnight

Bangkok Kunsthalle closes out Disco Hut with a softer kind of finale. Spencer Sweeney returns to the decks with selections pulled from his own shelves – loose, personal, and gloriously unconcerned with what an algorithm might recommend. Tawan Wattuya joins him for a run through 70s Thai funk, all warm basslines and sly rhythm changes. The temporary booth shifts away from full-throttle club energy and settles into something slower, stranger and more communal. People drift in, stay longer than expected and let the records take over. 

May 7. Free entry. Bangkok Kunsthalle. 7pm-11pm

Imprint Project gathers artists from Guatemala whose works carry a strong sense of place through intricate mark-making, texture and inherited symbolism. Hosted at Arun Amarin 23 Art Space, the show moves through daily rituals, spiritual references and fragments of memory without spelling everything out too neatly. The collaboration between ml3print studio and Santa Thekla Atelier de Grabado leaves room for interpretation, which suits the work better anyway. 

May 1-30. Free entry. Arun Amarin 23 Art Space. 11am-4pm

A new name lands in Bangkok carrying a suitcase full of characters. Raider makes his city debut at Chim Chim with The Guest That Never Left, an exhibition shaped by travel memories and the kind of fleeting encounters that somehow stick. At the centre sit his ‘Scoop’ figures – wide-eyed, slightly uncanny and immediately recognisable  – hovering somewhere between collectible toy and gallery piece. Each one feels loaded with its own quiet backstory, which is probably why they stay in your head longer than expected. 

May 7 onwards. Free entry. Chim Chim, Siam@Siam Design Hotel Bangkok. 7pm-11pm

Chula Museum stays open late for one of those low-key after-dark events that tends to pull a surprisingly mixed crowd. Galleries remain open with student-made keepsakes and small-batch finds spread through the space, making it dangerously easy to leave carrying more than planned. The night’s main draw land with Sea-nema Experience, a one-night immersive screening threading together environmental science, contemporary visuals and interactive storytelling around warming oceans and coral reef decline. Food stalls keep the energy up while Bangkok Ratri settles into an easy live set in the background. 

May 8. Free entry. Chula Museum. 3pm-9pm

TK Park kicks off its 2026 Contemporary World Film Series with a Nepalese hit already drawing strong word-of-mouth. Produced by Pant Productions, the film pulls together familiar faces from Nepal’s screen industry, led by veteran actor Santosh Pant alongside his son Sakar Pant, who directs. The story follows four families navigating migration, marriage pressure and the strange emotional maths of children leaving home for opportunities abroad. Humour lands dry and quick, musical moments keep things moving, and the family tension feels recognisable even when the setting shifts. Nepalese ambassador Dhan Bahadur Oli opens the screening before the series officially gets underway.

May 9. Free entry. Reserve via filmforum17@gmail.com. TK Park. 3.30pm

Dating apps take the night off for this one. OMG Matchmaking teams up with Shake Shack for an evening of speed dating paired with an early taste of a burger that has not officially landed on the menu yet.  Around 60 carefully selected singles rotate through more than ten quick-fire conversations, keeping things moving fast enough to dodge awkward pauses. The atmosphere leans more dinner party than networking event, with separate Thai and international group options keeping conversations easy-going rather than painfully forced. The burgers probably help too. 

May 9. B1,099 via here. Shake Shack, One Bangkok. 6pm-9pm

Few Bangkok evenings settle in quite as nicely as this. LHONG 1919 marks the birthday of the Mazu Goddess with three nights of free open-air screenings beside the Chao Phraya, where lanterns glow against old wooden facades and boats drift slowly past in the background. From 6pm onwards, two films screen back-to-back each night, giving people plenty of reason to linger in the courtyard with a drink. The line-up swings comfortably between blockbusters and local favourites: Superman and Mufasa: The Lion King on May 9, Jurassic World and Panda Plan on May 10, then Thai crowd-pleaser Nak Loves Mak Sooo Much! paired with The Stone on May 11. Easy, sociable, and worth building an evening around.

May 9-11. Free entry. LHONG 1919. 6pm onwards

After 55 years, Kraftwerk finally lands in Bangkok. The Düsseldorf group writes the rulebook for electronic music, shaping everything from techno to EDM, with traces heard across synth-pop, electro, industrial and house. Any genre built on a drum machine carries their imprint. What sets them apart sits in restraint: stripped-back structures, looping patterns, a precision that borders on the mathematical. Catching a name this influential in the city rarely happens, especially one that treats a live show as a full multimedia installation. Expect ‘Autobahn’ and ‘The Model’ paired with stark visuals and tightly controlled sound. 

May 10. B3,300-5,500 via here. Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. 8.30pm

Bangkok gets its first proper look at Hanumankind as he lands for a debut solo show in Thailand. The rapper sits firmly in that rising-star lane, building international attention as an Indian artist making serious noise on the global stage. Early buzz arrives with ‘Big Dawgs’, before Monsoon Season follows and pushes things further. Then ‘Victory Lap Three’, a link-up with Fred again.., sharpens the spotlight. This Bangkok date forms part of his Asia tour, with stops across Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. If you keep an eye on what’s next in hip-hop, this one demands attention.

May 10. B2,000 via here. Ambience Space. 8pm

Thailand AeroPress Championship returns to crown the country’s top brewer, with the winner heading to the World Championship in Mexico. Organised by The Coffee Calling, this one carries a reputation as the original ‘coffee party’, where baristas and caffeine devotees gather from morning through to the final round. Expect a steady mix of competition and good company. A DJ line-up keeps things moving, while drinks come via Dripp. Food lands from Jee Kia with Isan-style Japanese plates, stir-fried sukiyaki by Suki Phonsiri and special dishes created for the day by Electric Sheep. 

May 10. Free. The Warehouse Bangkok. 10am-9pm

Picture a Bangkok street where artists work in front of you, jazz drifts through the air and conversation comes easily between stalls. That’s the mood as the fourth Bangkok Art Walk returns to Chakraphong Road and Lan Luang Road, bringing art, collectibles, home decor, music and playful activities together across six weekends. It starts on April 25-26 and May 2-3 with art, books, vinyl and cassette shops, ideal for a slow browse and a few well-chosen finds. On May 16-17 and May 23-24, street art takes focus alongside fashion stalls and wellness activities such as city running and cycling. The final weekends, June 13-14 and June 20-21, close with an art market, plus plant shops and pet goods for a softer finish.

Until June 21. Free. L’On Bangkok, Chakkaphatdi Phong Road and Lan Luang Road. 4pm-10pm

Colour takes the lead in CHROMATIC: A Journey Through Neighborhood Color, a photography exhibition tracing people, culture and daily life across three central Bangkok districts: Song Wat, Pak Khlong Talat and Phahurat. Here, colour works as more than surface detail, linking identity, memory and place across each frame. The images capture movement across streets shaped by trade, vendors and long-standing routines, where community life unfolds in steady rhythm. Expect scenes that shift between quiet observation and busier moments, each grounded in everyday experience. The exhibition forms part of WALKK: Bangkok Re-Birth, a wider programme inviting visitors to trace stories shaped by time, changing ways of life and the city’s historic quarters.

Until May 31. Free. TAY Songwat. 9.30am-5.30pm

Coffee in Italy rarely stands alone. It arrives with ritual, design and a certain sense of theatre, and Passione Italiana: L’Arte dell’Espresso leans fully into that idea. Curated by Elisabetta Pisu with Distortion Studio, the exhibition brings historic espresso machines together with sculptural objects that trace how coffee shapes daily life. Alessandro Mendini’s playful designs sit alongside rare pieces from the Mumac museum, each carrying its own story of craft and innovation. Talksopen up conversations around culture, sustainability and ritual, with speakers including Tomaso Mannu and Massimiliano Marchesi. In the evenings, the mood softens into Jazz & Coffee sessions, where Bruno Brugnano joins the Bangkok New Trio for sets that pair sound with aroma in a quietly absorbing way.

April 24-May 12. Free. Nextopia, Siam Paragon. 10am-7pm

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

sits firmly in the category of places you keep having to return to. But this time, it feels different. The concept leans on the ocean after dark, when sunlight disappears and whole ecosystems carry on unseen. You wander through shifting light, sometimes above the waterline, sometimes beneath it, with bioluminescent creatures flickering softly around you. Details keep catching your eye. A neon wall answers your touch with imagined marine life. Seahorses glow under tinted light, rainforest corners bloom with luminous flora, and a quiet full moon hangs over goldfish. In the shark tunnel, silver ripples mimic night tides, while Gentoo penguins stand beneath drifting northern lights. Even the familiar route feels refreshed, with a small stamp trail guiding the way.

Until September 20. Starts at B449 via here. SEA LIFE Bangkok

Bangkok does not always demand skyscraper gazing. Sometimes it hands you a pocket-sized booklet and suggests a long walk. The BAC Passport returns with its Winter Edition 2026, turning the city into a living sketchbook where each stamp is an achievement. You pick up the passport, roam between art spaces, collect marks and trade them for souvenirs created by actual artists. It plays out like a cultural scavenger hunt, only with better stories to tell afterwards. This season gathers 27 destinations and splits them across four routes, from Old Town corners to riverbank hideouts. Pick up your passport at one of seven locations, including Ratchadamnoen Contemporary Art Center, Bangkok City Library, Chula Museum, River City Bangkok, Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music, Asvin or Numthong Art Space. You have until May 31 to complete the journey.

 Until May 31. Free. Art spaces across Bangkok.