The best things to do in Bangkok this weekend (September 17-20)

Put on your dancing shoes and head to El Mercado for Spanish wine, free tapas and old-school hits. The DJ jumps from the ’70s and ’80s through to the ’90s and ’00s, while Cune wines from Rioja fill the glasses. The night marks Cune’s first arrival in Thailand, with the historic Rioja winery’s labels available at El Mercado from September 17. Come to dance or take a bar stool and let everyone else do the sweating .

September 17. Free entry. Reserve via 099-078-3444. El Mercado. 7.30pm onwards

More than four decades of Vivienne Westwood jewellery fill eight rooms at Central Chidlom. Vivienne Westwood & Jewellery moves from the designer’s punk beginnings and Do It Yourself years to her fascination with eighteenth-century jewellery and the house’s unmistakable Orb. Clothing, photography, video and full catwalk looks show how each piece works as part of an outfit. Bangkok is the tour’s fifth stop after Wellington, Shanghai, Chengdu and Macau. In the  Galaxy Room Microsoft turns your chosen pieces into a personalised digital constellation.

September 11-October 23. B200 via Ticketmelon or Trip.com. The Event Hall, Central Chidlom. 10am-10pm

Think of flowers in Bangkok and Pak Khlong Talat probably comes to mind first. Now the market has its own festival, with the Awakening team and Yodpiman River Walk staging the first Bangkok Flower Festival. Inside the air-conditioned hall are flower installations, an exhibition, hands-on workshops and more than 20 booths selling floral decorations and gifts. You can also distil and taste flower-infused water before taking a break by the river. 

September 18-27. B150 (includes a complimentary flower from the designated area). Yodpiman River Walk. 3pm-10pm

What does home look like when it becomes a way to show who you are? It’s OK to be Artist 2: The Best Version of ME brings together more than 100 paintings, ceramics and objects by 39 autistic artists, arranged as a series of homes to explore room by room. Some are simple and familiar, with pets and plants, while others are vividly imagined. Visitors can paint keychains, decorate hats and browse artist-designed homeware. Look out, too, for the artists’ work on electric passenger boats along the Chao Phraya River.

Until September 27. Free entry. RCB Artery, River City Bangkok. 10am-8pm

You probably know Samyan for its market stalls,  late-night noodle shops and Chula students carrying iced coffees. But how closely have you noticed its colours? Slowcombo’s The Neighbour’s Palette: Seeing the Neighbourhood Through Colour takes a small group through the area with cameras and one simple challenge: pay attention to colour. Look for faded shophouse signs, old brick, tiled floors, shopfronts and whatever else catches your eye. Follow one shade or photograph the lot – either way, it is a good excuse to slow down and see a familiar neighbourhood differently.

September 19. B590. Registration is through the Google Form. Slowcombo. 10am-3pm

A cast of 34 moves in tight unison in Murmuration Level 2, where a small arm gesture can ripple across the entire stage. French choreographer Sadeck Berrabah draws on hip hop styles including popping and tutting, arranging the dancers in formations inspired by birds in flight. Since its Paris premiere in 2023, the production has played to more than 300,000 people on a sold-out tour. Berrabah has also worked with the Grammy Awards, Olympic ceremonies and major pop acts, but here the interest lies in how the group moves without erasing the individual dancers.

September 19.  B2,000-4,000 via ThaiTicketMajor. Main Hall, Thailand Cultural Centre. 7pm

Bangkok’s South Korean community gathers at GalileOasis in Ratchathewi for Oasis Seoul, a two-day programme of Korean design, crafts and culture. The free garden market brings together local Korean designers, artists and entrepreneurs selling tin furniture, clothing, cosmetics and handmade jewellery. Paid activities include a Mat Pilates class, a Korean ceremonial tea-making session and a private gayageum performance on the distinctive Korean string instrument. 

September 19-20. Free garden market; selected activities B1,500. Reserve via VASANA SHOWROOM. GalileOasis.

Black Cabin Bar gets to the 21st night of September a day early with an Earth, Wind & Fire night on Sunday September 20. A live band takes on classics including ‘September’, ‘Boogie Wonderland’, ‘Let’s Groove’ and ‘Fantasy’, filling the room with brass, bass and falsetto. The setlist stays firmly with disco, funk and soul, so find a spot near the stage and prepare to sing along.

September 20. Free entry. Black Cabin. 9.15pm onwards

Hungarian comedy Be My Dad screens at TK Park as part of the 2026 Contemporary World Film Series. Barna Keserű , a writer and former university professor, has 10 days to finish his new novel when his ex-girlfriend arrives with seven-year-old Samu and says the boy is his son. She leaves Barna to look after him while she works abroad, adding bedtime stories and unfamiliar parenting duties to an already pressing deadline. Samu’s constant requests for stories, however, gradually get the writer working again. Hungary’s ambassador, HE Szilvia Szalóki, introduces the film before a reception hosted by the Embassy of Hungary.

September 20. Free for TK Park members; B20 for non-members. TK Park, centralwOrld. 4pm

Thai sculpture becomes a three-generation conversation in The Spirit of Sculptors: A Dialogue Across Three Generations at Museum Pier. Created with the Silpa Bhirasri Art Research Institute, the exhibition traces the field’s development through Professor Silpa Bhirasri, master artist Watchara Prayoonkum and contemporary sculptor Wayuphat Rattanaphet. Its rarest works date from Silpa’s years in Italy, before he moved to Thailand, and come from private collections. Most are being shown publicly in Thailand for the first time. New pieces by Watchara and Wayuphat respond to his ideas in their own ways.

September 8-October 23. B150-B250 at the door. Museum Pier. 10am-6pm

Cat people, here’s your excuse to visit the Thai Stamp Museum. Ma Ma Meow gathers more than 1,000 stamps featuring cats from around the world, with stories tucked among the displays. Every Cat Tells a Story presents 100 stamps based on owners’ real-life tales, from mischievous antics to favourite memories. You can also learn about 20 popular cat breeds, fold cat-shaped origami and create a stamp featuring your own pet. A museum stamp hunt comes with an exclusive postcard, while World Cat Day stamps are available for collectors.

Now-October 23. Free entry. Thai Stamp Museum. 8.30am-4.30pm

Sunday afternoons get a soundtrack at Bangkok Island with Turntables on the Chao Phraya, a weekly session of world grooves and house beside the river. Inspired by Nickodemus’ long-running Turntables on the Hudson, the series first lands here two years ago with Latin, African and Arabic influences woven through warm house rhythms. This week, Bangkok Island resident Yuval starts things off from 4pm, possibly joined by his wife Rainny, before Black Spaghetti takes over from 7pm to 10pm. It’s free to attend, with Bang Krachao’s greenery and the sunset providing the backdrop. The boat stays docked, naturally.

Every Sunday. Free entry. Bangkok Island. 4pm-midnight

Better known to Bangkokians as the Museum of Death, Siriraj Medical Museum sits within Thailand’s oldest hospital, founded in 1888 after a cholera epidemic exposed the need for modern medicine. Its collection spans anatomy, pathology, parasites, prehistoric humans and forensic science. See preserved organs, real specimens and the famous ‘Lampang Man’ Homo erectus skeleton, then explore murder cases and tsunami victim identification in the forensic section. It is graphic, but never treated as a sideshow; photography is banned, keeping the focus on medicine, research and the people behind the exhibits. B100 for Thai adults, B50 for Thai children and seniors, B300 for international visitors.

Wed-Mon. Siriraj Medical Museum. 10am-5pm; last admission 4pm

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