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

December rolls around and Suan Luang Rama IX shifts character, almost as if someone quietly swapped its everyday calm for colour and movement. The botanical festival settles in again, filling the park with stalls stacked with greenery and blooms that look far pricier than they are, which helps when trekking across town feels like a heroic act you simply cannot face. Regulars treat it like a gentle homecoming. Families from Prawet stroll the grounds in matching weekend finery, greeting familiar faces as if the whole district planned to meet at the same bench. People from Samut Prakan turn up with well prepared enthusiasm, often arriving before the sun remembers its job, ready to spend the day wandering, chatting and pretending life can be measured in petals and shade rather than deadlines and traffic. December 1-10. B20. Suan Luang Rama IX, 8am-7pm

Goodhood returns for its sixth year with the kind of energy that turns a regular weekend into a small adventure. The market has become a familiar fixture by now, pulling together fashion labels, lifestyle stalls and those online favourites you usually only scroll past at midnight. Everything lands under one roof with limited runs, playful collaborations and the odd promotion that feels like a quiet win. Music keeps the whole affair from slipping into a simple shopping trip. Mini concerts pop up through the day with Tilly Birds, Polycat, Pun, Youngohm and The Parkinson holding court, plus a few surprise names that always seem to appear just when you think you have seen it all. It is the sort of event where you wander in for a look and somehow stay long enough to forget what time you arrived. December 4-7. B200 via here and B250 at the door. Sermsuk Warehouse, 3pm-midnight

The event makes its return with the swagger of an event that knows exactly how to gather a crowd. The riverside setting is gone, replaced by a central spot that cuts travel time without losing any of the fair’s original mischief. Vinyl spinning DJs keep the mood warm across two days, giving the whole thing the feel of a laid back block party with better glasses. Wines come from a generous cast of producers and importers including Fin, Cloud Wine, Winearoi, Koko Wines, The Grand Crew, Tipsy Tickles, Soul Wines, Must Wine Bar, Grapey and Veraison, adding up to roughly 100 labels. Food arrives courtesy of Dough with its sourdough and Olive and Apple with homemade salads. A vinyl market waits in the corner like a quiet temptation, perfect for anyone who can’t resist taking music home as a souvenir. December 6-7. B700-1,500 via here. FRIEND FRIEND, Emporium, midday-8pm

Bangkok Art Book Fair returns for its seventh round with a theme that feels like an open-armed invitation: You Can Sit With Us. The message is simple enough. Anyone curious, shy, seasoned or completely new to the scene can walk in without pretending to know the difference between risograph and perfect binding. This edition packs four programmes including three fresh additions. Expect 126 exhibitors from 25 countries, installations that stretch the idea of what an art book can look like and 25 activities ranging from compact talks to hands-on workshops. Conversations on the state of contemporary publishing thread through the weekend, offering thoughtful pauses between browsing sprees. It promises a heady mix of clever printing, sharp ideas and unexpected encounters, the sort of fair where you wander off with stories as easily as you do with books. December 5-7. Free. Bangkok Art and Culture Center, 1pm-8pm  

Flying Whale gathers seven artists and illustrators for a show that feels like a gentle exhale in a season usually obsessed with glitter and performance. Tum Ulit, faan.peeti, katangg, 2an, May&Clay, Pou Rawiwan and PYH bring fresh pieces shaped by distinct lines and quiet emotional weight, each one building a small world that speaks without fuss. The spark for the exhibition comes from a question many of us try to dodge. In a world addicted to speed and endless self-proof, do we ever get a moment to step back and look at life without treating it like a scoreboard? Beyond Festivity treats Christmas less as spectacle and more as a pause. A pocket of warmth, longing or peace. A brief reminder that feeling alive can be simple and honestly quite soft. Until December 14. Free. 5/F, Central Pinklao, 10am-10pm

Kitikong Tilokwattanotai’s latest exhibition feels like a conversation across centuries. The artist revisits one of humanity’s earliest canvases, goat parchment, a medium that once held the first flickers of human thought and record. By working with this ancient material, Kitikong bridges the gap between the ancient and the contemporary, layering centuries-old craft with modern printmaking. Etching, one of the oldest printmaking techniques, guides the series. Each incision on the plate negotiates between control and chance, a subtle  dialogue between hand and surface. When transferred onto parchment, the prints carry a quiet tension, permanence brushing against fragility, memory pressed into form. The work lingers somewhere between past and present, inviting viewers to trace the line where history, material, and imagination meet. Until February 6 2026. Free. Archives Design, 11am-6pm

Season one of Tryster turned a warehouse at Long Tang Tang into a weekend ritual and now the team is taking the whole affair outside, setting up by the river on Song Wat Road. The street still thrums with its usual energy, so you can wander past cafes and old shophouses before slipping into Tryster Song Wat Flea Market, which might be the most relaxed vintage spot along the Chao Phraya. More than 50 vendors are joining, each bringing food, drinks or well-picked lifestyle bits that feel made for slow browsing. A Minus 196 bar is parked on site too, perfect for settling in with something cold while the sky softens over the river. December 6-7. Free. Song Wat Road, 11am-9.30pm

Som Supaparinya’s latest solo exhibition, shaped with curator Gridthiya Gaweewong, feels like stepping into a quiet argument about who gets to record the past. Part of the Han Nefkens Foundation, Southeast Asian Video Art Production Grant 2024 in memory of Dinh Q Lê, the new commission sits beside a reworked version of her earlier installation Paradise of the Blind. The older piece still carries its spark, using archival fragments, censorship records and once-forbidden titles to sketch a region that edits itself as often as it remembers. Seen together, the works raise questions about the cost of progress and the uneasy conversation between power, memory and the natural world. December 4-March 29 2026. Free. Gallery 1-2, The Jim Thompson Art Center, 10am-6pm 

An evening with the Bangkok Metropolitan Orchestra is even richer when the set list is built from the catalogue of legendary Irish bands and singers. These songs, usually heard in pubs, stadiums or late-night playlists, have been reshaped for a full orchestra, giving familiar melodies a fresh sort of weight. It’s the kind of concert where you catch yourself hearing an old favourite in a new light. The event comes from a collaboration between the Embassy of Ireland in Thailand and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, marking 50 years of diplomatic ties. A cultural celebration sounds formal on paper, yet this one leans more towards shared joy, a musical nod to the connection between both places. A good chance to sit back and let the arrangements do the storytelling. December 7. Free. Lakeside area, Gate 1, Benjakitti Park, 5pm onwards

Pnk.ff's second solo exhibition celebrates everything we usually try to sweep under the rug – the fumbles, the messes, the moments when life doesn't quite go to plan. Rather than hiding these beautifully awkward bits of being human, the artist drags them out and gives them proper gallery treatment. What you'll find here are personal, clumsy snapshots transformed through playful and humorous artworks that feel refreshingly honest. It's essentially an invitation to laugh at your own stumbles whilst recognizing that these wonky moments are what make ordinary stories genuinely memorable. Because let's be real, some days simply refuse to go smoothly, and often it's precisely those off-kilter experiences that stick with us longest. Until December 27. Free. KICH Ari Space, midday-7pm