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

Bangkok Baking Company (BBCO) at the JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok leans into the season with Tropical Harmony, a limited run of desserts built around bright fruit and lighter textures. It is a simple idea done well, with flavours like mango, coconut and berries working through a set of playful designs. Standouts include the raspberry flamingo, which layers sponge, confit and mousse into something sweet yet light, while the delightful poolside tropique – which brings banana, mango and passion fruit into a creamier mix – adds a kiss of freshness to proceedings. There is also a neat piña colada take and a chocolate option shaped like a beach bucket if you’re really after something richer and absolutely photogenic. Now until Apr 30. B250 per piece. Bangkok Baking Company, JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok. 6am-9pm

Songkran wraps, but not everything disappears with the last splash of water. Thai art stays put, holding the centre a little longer than expected. Towering sculptures by internationally recognised Thai artists remain scattered across the city. Earlier moments of artist talks and hands-on workshops pass, leaving behind quieter encounters with each installation. What lingers now is space to take your time, to look properly, to notice details that might have slipped by during the rush of the festival. Even the stamp-collecting frenzy fades, replaced by something slower, more reflective. April 16-30. Free. Entertainment Plaza, Lumpini Park, 10am-8pm

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

A contemporary exhibition and workshop programme takes on questions of security and precarity within today’s art landscape, focusing on those often left at the edges. The project centres Thai artists aged 40-plus who continue working without institutional backing, whether overlooked by selection systems or quietly stepping away from formal circuits out of necessity. The programme creates space for these voices without dressing them up, pairing exhibitions with workshops that favour exchange over instruction.  Until May 31. Free. Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, 10am-8pm

Noo Monthip moves across disciplines with quiet ease, shaping voice, music, fashion and image without ever insisting on attention. This exhibition gathers what she leaves behind, assembled by family and friends who understand that her work speaks best when given space. ‘Wind’ becomes a gentle thread. You don’t see it, but you feel its presence in motion, much like memory that lingers, shifts and returns in unexpected ways. The ground floor, Baan Sailom, invites a slower pace, a place to sit and reflect. Upstairs, her life unfolds through sound, images and objects that feel deeply personal. A music corner hums beside fragments of writing. Another level brings fashion and collaborations, offering a fuller sense of how she connects with others, softly but unmistakably. Until April 30. Free. Museum Pier, 10am-6pm

What is it? The Mandarin Oriental's khao chae is led this year by Chef Pom Patchara, who draws on family recipes passed down through generations. The jasmine rice is smoked with ob tien – a traditional Thai aromatic candle used to infuse a delicate, smoky, floral fragrance – before being floated in cool, flower-scented water. The side dishes follow a classical royal-court sequence: luk kapi, pounded yison fish caramelised to a deep sweetness, stuffed green pepper in its delicate egg-net wrapping and sweet shredded pork.  Why we love it: The presentation across both available formats – a gift box and a traditional pinto lunch carrier – reflects the hotel's understanding that the experience of khao chae extends well beyond the table.  Time Out tip: Advance orders are required. If you're giving this as a gift, the pinto carrier is the move – it travels beautifully and arrives looking considered. Four branches are available if one location doesn't suit you. The Mandarin Oriental Bangkok. Available at four Bangkok branches – Siam Paragon, Gaysorn Village, The Emporium and Park Silom. Daily from March 16-May 15.

Thanwa Huangsmut takes familiar expectations and quietly pulls them apart, piece by piece. His paintings rely on instinct as much as discipline, balancing assured brushwork with colour that feels almost unruly at first glance. Figures seem caught mid-shift, held between movement and control, as if testing how much space they can claim for themselves. The question lingers without insisting on an answer: do we truly own our lives, or simply perform within inherited limits? Each canvas suggests a different response, shaped through texture, rhythm and carefully measured composition. What stays with you is less a conclusion and more a feeling, a quiet encouragement to stand firm, to choose deliberately, and to carry that choice with a certain grace. Until May 3. Free. Joyman Gallery, 11am-6pm

Thanwa Huangsmut’s Self-Sovereignty turns away from the familiar framing of the female form as something simply admired. His paintings reclaim that space with a sharper sense of agency, shaped by instinct and a confident, deliberate hand. Figures hold their ground, not posed for approval, but fully aware of themselves. Colour carries much of the weight, vivid yet controlled, moving across the canvas with a kind of contained intensity. The question lingers throughout: do we ever fully own our lives, or do we negotiate that idea daily? What stays is a sense of self-possession, expressed without spectacle. These works suggest strength not as performance, but as something steadier, built from within and held with care. Until May 3. Free. Joyman Gallery, 11am-6pm

‘Preserve, Maintain, and Extend’ sounds almost instructional, yet the White Elephant Art Competition treats it as an open question. Artists answer in their own language, moving freely across form and surface. Among the works that linger, Branches of the Era by Theerapol Seesang carries a steady gravity, while Doi Ang Khang by Boonmee Saengkham leans closer to memory and place. Recognition matters, but it never overwhelms the wider conversation. Each year, this show marks a subtle shift, where technique evolves and ideas stretch, leaving visitors with something to sit with long after. Until May 17. Free. Bangkok Art & Culture Centre, 10am-8pm

Call it a citywide fixation: One Piece takes over Bangkok with surprising ease. Fans who once followed Luffy on small screens now find those stories stretched across real space. Netflix brings a slice of the Grand Line to Lumpini Park, yet ICONSIAM answers with something more immersive: a 600-square-metre pop-up café that plays like a living archive. Scenes from past arcs reappear as walkable sets, while newly issued wanted posters chart the crew’s long evolution. A stamp trail links ten zones, gently guiding visitors across the space. At the centre, a five-metre Gear 5 Luffy looms with cartoonish confidence, slightly surreal, unmistakably designed for photographs and quiet disbelief. Until 31 October. Free. ICONSIAM, 10am-8.30pm