Kaweewat Siwanartwong

Social calendar looking a little bare? Relax – we’ve sorted it out. Bangkok always has something on, and this week is no exception. Let’s crack on. August is in full swing, which means the annual Tay Level 10 flea market is back. On the rooftop of S-Oasis in Chatuchak, the open-air car park fills with more than 80 stalls selling vintage clothing, film cameras, handmade goods, plants and street food. A short ride away, Song Wat Film Day: Craft & Indie Market brings cameras, vinyl, ceramics and local makers to one of Bangkok’s oldest trading streets, with plenty of coffee spots between browsing sessions. Cinema fans, clear your evenings. A Wong Kar Wai open-air weekend pairs Chungking Express and Fallen Angels with Pulp Fiction, Pretty Woman and Comrades: Almost a Love Story, all screened outdoors in Chinatown. Bring a fan and a little patience for the seating. By the water, Art Island Festival gathers riverside workshops, independent artists and DJ sets beside the Chao Phraya, while Use Loop Repeat 2026 fills Open House at Central Embassy with secondhand fashion and sustainable brands. Want to work up a sweat? BEATS & RUN & PARTY: THE FESTIVAL takes over Chulalongkorn University Stadium with group runs, outdoor Pilates, DJs and coffee. Peak Guitar X BMO brings orchestral music to Lumphini Hall, while Books and Boo rounds things off with blind-date books, wine and easy conversation for National Book Lovers Day. Still undecided? Browse our guides to Bangkok’s best bars, restaura

The rainy season may be the perfect excuse to stay curled up in bed, but unfortunately, August's lineup is too good to miss.  This month's calendar is packed with everything from dance performances, concerts, book festivals and expos to vintage markets and lively carnivals. Better yet, most of the events are indoors, so you can dodge the downpour without missing out. From indie and acoustic pop to alternative rock, music lovers have plenty to look forward to this month. Catch Matt Maltese and Phum Viphurit at Road to Melt Festival, swoon over Matthew Ifield's Close to Your Heart Tour, or bid farewell to Kodaline as they hit the stage for their final tour. Prefer something a little slower-paced? Head to the Bangkok Speculative Literature Festival for offline reading sessions, author talks and a book and craft market. If you've ever been curious about MBTI, ‘Type to Meet You’ is a community event where the four-letter personality types become a starting point for new friendships and fresh insights about yourself. And for those looking for a dance, join the swing dance classes at Lumphini Grand Ball, compete for a spot on the dance floor or simply enjoy the performances. The Siam Carnival Funfair brings classic thrills with roller coasters, games and carnival treats, while Nippon Haku offers a taste of Japan through a dedicated expo for anyone dreaming of a trip or work opportunities in the Land of the Rising Sun. Keeping track of what's coming next? Our Bangkok concert roundup

The rain is turning up almost every evening, so Bangkok’s wet season is well and truly here. Need an excuse to duck the next downpour? Go gallery hopping. August’s art calendar is packed with reasons to head out, from major openings and long-awaited reunions to hands-on installations and quietly compelling solo shows. Several new creative spaces are opening their doors, too, while standout exhibitions continue their runs. Got an hour between coffee stops or a whole Saturday afternoon to spare? These are the exhibitions to catch across Bangkok this month. Need more ideas? Browse our guides to Bangkok’s best bars, restaurants, parks, galleries and interviews, or start ticking off the best things to do in Bangkok. Regular gallery-goer or just art-curious? Follow our guide to live the art life. From alleyway masterpieces and paint-splashed corners hiding in plain sight, seek out Bangkok’s top spots to see street art. Subscribe to our free Time Out Bangkok newsletter and get the best of the city delivered straight to your inbox.

Vinyl ruled the way we listened long before streaming put millions of songs at our fingertips. Yet the warmth and crackle of a needle hitting the groove still draw collectors and casual listeners back to something a playlist cannot quite replicate. Listening bars are flourishing around the world, and Bangkok is no exception. New spots keep appearing down sois and above shophouses, paying as much attention to turntables, valve amplifiers and acoustics as to what lands in your glass. Everything is tuned for switching off and listening properly.  Whether you collect rare pressings, simply love a good song or fancy a change from the usual after-work haunt, few things beat watching a record turns slowly through the night becomes one of those small, perfect hours. That's the whole appeal. We round up 14 vinyl bars around Bangkok that stand out for their atmosphere, their selections and their pours. Pick the one that catches your eye, and go make a night of it. Still undecided? Turn to our guides to Bangkok’s best bars, restaurants, parks and galleries, or consult our bucket list of the best things to do in Bangkok. Map out the rest of this month with our guide to what’s on, and keep an eye on our picks of Bangkok’s best things to do. Subscribe to our free newsletter for the best of Bangkok, straight to your inbox.

Fried chicken belongs to everyone. From the United States to Korea and Taiwan, almost every country and culture has a version. But ask Bangkok diners where Thailand’s best comes from and one answer rises above the rest – Hat Yai.You know the type: skin that shatters, meat still steaming underneath and fried shallots piled so high they border on showing off, with sticky rice to catch whatever survives. It is Southern Thailand’s great contribution to the fried chicken canon, and the rest of the country has happily claimed it.The strange part is that half of Bangkok advertises Hat Yai fried chicken, yet very little tastes as it should. The marinade lacks depth, the oil goes tired or the shallots come straight from a packet. Anyone raised down south can tell in one bite.We went looking for the real deal. Four proper Hat Yai and Songkhla-style specialists made the cut, joined by one Bangkok fried chicken institution too good to leave out.Order at the counter, wait for the batch that is still spitting and eat with your hands. Obviously.   What is it?Hat Yai fried chicken begins long before the oil gets hot. Garlic, coriander root and white pepper worked are worked into the meat, which is left to marinate for hours before frying to a deep gold: crisp skin outside, juicy flesh within. Unlike fried chicken that depends on the dip, the seasoning runs through the meat – peppery, savoury and faintly herbal. Crisp, sweet fried shallots are scattered over the top by the fistful. Att a road

 What beats a margarita or two after a long day? Not much, honestly. And this month, Bangkok gets a whole run of them. PATRÓN launches Margarita Your Way, a month-long love letter to the world's most famous tequila cocktail, on now until July 31 and turning the city loose on flavour, discovery and a proper bit of self-expression. The heart of it all sits on the M Floor of Siam Paragon, where the Margarita Your Way Pop-Up poses one simple question. Which one are you?  Four personalities set the tone – classic, fruity, spicy and cool – each a different attitude, a different flavour, a different way of drinking. Are you the purist? The fruity show-off? The one who orders a chilli rim and dares the table to keep up? Photograph: PATRÓNMargarita Your Way Come Friday evening, the guest shifts hand space to some of Bangkok's sharpest bartenders, who reimagine the drink their own way. And the fun spills out across town. All July, PATRÓN teams up with a hand-picked cast of bars, restaurants, hotels and lifestyle spots. Sunset rooftops, buzzy nightlife dens, tucked-away cocktail hideaways and plush hotel lounges – each one shaking up its own take on the classic. So, thirsty yet? Here’s where to go.

When it comes to art and exhibitions, Bangkok has a lot. From poky little independent spaces to avant-garde galleries and the big crowd-pleasing museums, the city brims with shows that perplex, challenge, inspire, educate and leave you thoroughly awestruck. The trouble is, there's an absolute mountain to get through. Too much, you might say. So we're here to tell you where to spend your precious time. Whether you're a bona fide art connoisseur or simply the type who likes to stand about looking pensive in front of a canvas (we've all done it), these galleries promise to inspire and entertain in equal measure. So if you're wondering what's genuinely worth a trip across town, start right here. Have a browse through the best museum exhibitions and art in Bangkok at the moment, take your pick and make a day of it. We refresh this list regularly, so do pop back regularly for our latest and greatest picks.Stay one step ahead and map out your plans with our round-up of the best things to do in Bangkok. Whether you're a regular gallery-goer or just art-curious, these are Bangkok’s best spots to live the art life. From alleyway masterpieces to paint-splashed corners you might walk past without noticing, here are our top spots to see street art.

You've probably seen the look before you've heard the name. The head tilts back, the eyes go wide, there's a held beat of silence, and then the camera swings up to a neon skyline or a stretch of white sand. The man doing the looking is Travis Leon Price, and at 35, the Donegal-born creator has spent the last five years in Bangkok, amassing more than 500,000 followers across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram who tune in for that signature slow, upward gaze of awe before a skyline or a shoreline reveals itself. Photograph: Travis LeonTime Out Bangkok His tagline, 'Bringing you the magic of Asia', sounds like marketing until you realise he means every word of it. He has slept in a 24-hour Chinese spa for the price of a takeaway, crawled the bars of Yaowarat and built a whole second life on an iPhone and a refusal to film anything corny. As busy as you would imagine, we never actually speak on the phone. The whole conversation is over WhatsApp, his replies are in clusters from elsewhere while Bangkok goes grey around me, then the little 'typing…' that flickers and stalls and starts again. He writes the way he talks on camera: warm, fast, unbothered by punctuation, a 'haha' dropped in before he's finished a thought. So, everyone, pour yourself a rooftop something and settle in. What follows is a love letter to a city that refuses to let him leave. Photograph: Travis LeonTime Out Bangkok A long way from a famine village Donegal to Thailand is not exactly a casual commute, and Travi

Lesbian venues aren't exactly a dime a dozen in Bangkok. The city does a roaring trade in bars and clubs that pull a mainly gay and bi male crowd, yet permanent spaces built for queer women, or trans and non-binary folk, remain frustratingly thin on the ground. You can count the long-running ones on one hand and still have fingers spare. Happily, the tide turns. Social media crowns this the year of the 'Lesbian Renaissance', and Bangkok plays its part with gusto. A growing roster of roving club nights now fills the gap, popping up across Sukhumvit, Silom and beyond the usual haunts, each one carving out a proper safe space where queer women party on their own terms. Discrimination gets left firmly at the door, the line-ups skew fresh and local and the welcome runs warm. Some come monthly, some quarterly, a few keep their locations hush until the last minute, half the fun is the chase. So whether you fancy sweaty basement raves, sapphic disco or a low-key spot to nurse a beer and make connections, the scene finally delivers. Hunting for your new favourite haunt? Here's our pick of the bunch. These venues span everything from dancing clubs to cosy bars and they're all genuinely welcoming to all genders

Some drinks work like a key. Ask any writer hunched over a keyboard at midnight, chasing the messy business of being human, and you may hear something similar: sometimes the second glass loosens what the first one couldn’t. Literature and drinking have long kept close company. Some writers turned bars into second homes. Others wrote about them as places of exile, romance, loneliness, glamour or escape. And a few, before the books made their names, worked behind or around the bar themselves. So here's a round-up, inspired by Koktail Kuisine's list, of Bangkok bars with a literary streak. Some wear the theme boldly. Others keep it tucked into the wallpaper, the music, the mood or the way a cocktail arrives like a sentence someone has worked on for hours. Book lover? Cocktail snob? These are your places.

We arrive on Decho Road in the afternoon, the sun still strong outside but the air pressure dropping, hinting that rain is on its way. It is unusual to be here before opening time, so we slip in through the back door and climb the stairs to a wine bar. In this wine bar, a small cinema is hidden behind curtained walls on the floor above and the dusty smell of old parquet fills our senses. That, near enough, is the whole idea. Photograph: Lalitphat BumrungkarnSala Saneha At a moment when independent picture houses around town are quietly going dark, Natchanon 'Vana' Vana, Pakapol 'Meang' Srirongmuang and Dit Thanasresthavilai have chosen to walk the other way. They have taken things they love – movies, wine, food and books – and poured them into a close-to decade old building, with help from more than a dozen friends drawn from the world of entertainment and art.  The result is Sala Saneha, a place built on the faintly old-fashioned conviction that going out to the pictures ought to feel like romance again. Photograph: Lalitphat BumrungkarnSala Saneha I met the three of them upstairs in the bookshop, on soft chairs among the wood – cladding the walls, forming the bookshelf, the floor, the table, the chairs – and as the early afternoon light came through the leaves just outside the windows, we began to talk. Photograph: Lalitphat BumrungkarnSala Saneha A building with several past lives What was clear, is how exact they are about the conditions. The venue could not disturb

June marks the official start of Pride Month, though anyone paying attention knows the celebrations rarely stay contained to four weeks. Across Bangkok, galleries, clubs, restaurants and public spaces roll out programmes honouring LGBTQIA+ communities while making room for protest, conversation and the simple joy of taking up space together. Some gatherings lean political. Others just want you dancing under disco lights until midnight. Both matter. This year's line-up covers everything from large-scale parades and drag showcases to film screenings, speed dating nights and art festivals built around queer storytelling. One evening might find you watching voguing performances above the city skyline, another screaming sapphic pop lyrics in a crowded bar off Silom Road. Rainbow branding arrives right on cue every June, but Pride carries far more weight than a seasonal marketing campaign. Its history is political, personal and deeply tied to communities still fighting for safety, visibility and equality. So whether you’re here for the parties, the performances or the people, these are the Pride events worth adding to your calendar this month. Joining the Bangkok Pride parade? Here's everything you need to know before showing up.

A weekend by the river rarely needs much persuasion, especially with art, music and a reason to slow down. Spend the afternoon browsing original prints, ceramics and handmade pieces, then grab a drink and find a seat by the water as long-tail boats pass and the late-afternoon light settles across the river. After dark, DJs take over a stage aboard a moored boat, shifting the gathering from relaxed market to open-air dance floor without anyone having to move far. August 9. Free entry. Bangkok Island Pier. 4pm-midnight

National Book Lovers Day gets a sociable twist at Books and Boo, an evening that swaps silent reading for drinks, conversation and a little literary matchmaking. Browse blind-date books wrapped to keep their titles secret, many drawn from short-story collections and romantasy favourites with a decidedly grown-up edge. Bring your partner, gather some friends or turn up solo, then settle in with a drink and compare recommendations with fellow readers. A photo corner adds to the fun, while the bar offers 10 percent off drinks and 20 percent off bottles of wine. Even if you leave without a new romance, you’ll probably go home with a good book. August 9. Free entry. 6TH.FL. 6pm-9pm

August brings a packed live-performance programme to Lumphini Hall, as the Bangkok Metropolitan Orchestra fills the calendar with symphony concerts, dance nights and stage shows. One highlight comes on August 8, when young guitarist Pornpawit ‘Peak Guitar’ Sriwarom takes centre stage for Peak Guitar X BMO, performing with the full orchestra under conductor Sorapot Worasaeng. Violinist Chonsorn Chantrapaoraya joins the line-up, with vocals from Pond Patthanan Ajon-ong, Fish Kritthath Phisutthiwong and Kongprab Panithan Juangkhrut. Set inside the park, the venue makes an easy early-evening stop after a walk around Lumphini, with the music starting as the city cools down. August 8. Free entry. Lumphini Hall. From 5pm

Running clubs, Pilates regulars, coffee drinkers and music fans share the same track when BEATS & RUN & PARTY: THE FESTIVAL takes over Chulalongkorn University Stadium. Organised by Sawasdee Cup, the one-day gathering swaps competition for community: join a group run, stretch through one of Bangkok’s biggest outdoor Pilates sessions or cool off in an ice bath before settling in with coffee and DJ sets. Families are covered too, thanks to Kids Run and Kids Rave, while more than 20 games and wellness activities keep things moving. Stay active or find a patch of shade and watch it all unfold – the festival leaves plenty of room to go at your own pace. August 8. B190-390 via here. Chulalongkorn University Stadium. 3pm-10pm

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

Fans counting down to Olivia Rodrigo’s next chapter can stop at Piccolo Vicolo, where all three branches are hosting an album-inspired pop-up until August 9. The Sam Yot café gets the full treatment with exclusive photo spots, while every location serves themed drinks named after tracks from you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love. Expect the soundtrack throughout the day, handwritten fan messages across the walls and plenty of purple details. Order a featured drink, scan the in-store QR code and save the album on Spotify or Apple Music to receive one of five limited-edition button badges, while stocks last. Until August 9. Free entry. All three Piccolo Vicolo branches. 9am-5pm

Some moments still make more sense on film. The measured click of a shutter, the wait for a roll to return from the lab and the slightly unpredictable colours all explain why analogue photography refuses to disappear. Song Wat Film Day: Craft & Indie Market takes over the century-old Gate Alley, where weathered shophouses, family-run wholesalers and boats passing on the Chao Phraya provide a fitting backdrop. Browse film cameras, vinyl, handmade goods and accessories, then stop for a craft drink or glass of wine.  August 4-12. Free entry. 100-Year-Old Gate Alley, Song Wat. 10am-8pm

Looking for an easy post-work wander?  Tay Level 10 returns to the rooftop of S-Oasis in Chatuchak, bringing more than 80 stalls to an open-air car park with sweeping city views and, this time, a roof in case the weather turns. The market has become a regular meeting point for the Mo Chit and Chatuchak crowd: browse vintage clothes, film cameras, handmade goods, plants and homeware, then settle in with street food and a cold drink. It’s a short walk from Mo Chit BTS and Chatuchak Park MRT, and a free shuttle makes the final stretch even easier. August 6-8. Free entry. S-Oasis. Midday-8pm

Lawry’s The Prime Rib – born in Beverly Hills in 1938 and credited with pioneering the carved-at-the-table Prime Rib ritual – brings its iconic experience to Ratchaprasong. The brand’s first and only restaurant in Thailand, and its 12th worldwide, makes its legendary Prime Rib closer than ever, just a Skytrain ride away. So what is actually on your table? Quite a lot, as it happens. And nearly nine decades of fuss have gone into every bit of it. The beef, the trolley and the wait that's worth it Start where you should: the Prime Rib. Lawry's Bangkok works with premium U.S. cuts, including Certified Angus Beef, chosen for exceptional marbling, rich flavour and remarkable consistency, so your second visit is every bit as satisfying as your first. The beef is wet-aged for a minimum of 21 days, allowing it to become more tender while preserving its natural juiciness and depth of flavour. It is then slow-roasted using techniques refined over generations, producing Prime Rib that is evenly cooked from the rosy centre to the outer edge, with no unappealing grey band in sight. Then comes the show. A Master Carver wheels a gleaming Silver Cart to your table and slices your portion to order, right there, exactly how you like it. It's been the brand's signature flourish since the Frank and Van de Kamp days, when two stubborn men opened a restaurant dedicated almost entirely to one dish and gambled that precision would beat variety. They were right. Alongside the beef sits a yorkshire p

Art festivals often ask you to stand back and observe. UNFEST’26 wants you to join in. Returning through a collaboration between Unformat and Cloud 11, it brings artists, designers, developers and technologists together around real-time technology. Expect immersive dome screenings, interactive simulations, live performances, virtual-production sets and LED installations that respond as visitors move through the space. Technology is treated as a creative tool rather than a gimmick, with the festival examining how it is changing the way art is made and experienced. More events and workshops will be announced ahead of the main festival, so keep this one on your radar. Now-September 13. Check the schedule here. Second floor, room 218, Cloud 11.

Every Ari regular carries a different map of the neighbourhood: perhaps a long-gone coffee shop, a shortcut down a quiet lane or the house passed each morning on the way to the BTS. Maps of Memories turns those personal recollections into Ari’s first community-made exhibition, inviting residents and visitors to sketch directly onto a shared map. Organised by Puenban Ari, the project draws on psychogeography to explore how everyday experience binds emotion to place. Pick up a blank map around the neighbourhood or download one at home, then return it by August 18 to help createa portrait of Ari shaped by the people who know it best. August 22-September 2. Free entry. Numthong Art Space. 11am-6pm

Rain can send everyone running for cover, then slow the city down enough for us to notice pavement reflections or water tapping against a window. Chulalongkorn University’s In the Rain starts with that familiar experience, drawing on the university’s art collection to explore memory, uncertainty, hope and quiet reflection. A suspended rain-cloud installation sets the scene. Visitors can add their own rainy-day thoughts and read short essays on the link between weather and emotion. Thoughtful and gently immersive, it feels made for Bangkok’s wet season. Now-October 6. Free entry. Chula Museum. 9am-4.30pm

Calling all book lovers: clear your weekend and give your favourite reads the send-off they deserve at the Reshelf Secondhand Book Market, the first-ever market from Reshelf, the platform where secondhand books change hands and start again. It's a simple idea at heart. Every book you've loved and finished is just sitting on the shelf, spine cracked, gathering dust. This is where it finds someone new. The market runs August 29-30, 10am-6 pm, at Ninetails on Radio Cafe & Bar, and it costs you nothing. Photograph: The Commons ThonglorBangkok The stalls come stacked with pre-loved paperbacks and hardbacks, chosen with real care and priced to move. Expect to crouch, flip covers and lose track of time. Then there's the bit everyone talks about: the Blind Book Swap. You bring something from home you're ready to release, wrap it in paper so nobody can peek, decorate it with the pens, stickers and tape laid out on the table and pass it on to a stranger. The fun keeps going as you wander. Collect stickers from the booths as you browse, gather enough and you can redeem a Lucky Draw at the Reshelf table. Over in the postcard corner, you write a note to your future self, post it in the mailbox and wait. It reaches you at the end of the year, straight from you to you.  Register ahead here and pick up a special gift when you arrive. One last thing before you head out the door: bring a tote bag. You're going to need it.

Everyone's invited to wind the clock back to the 1930s at 'Swing in the Park: SWING THROUGH TIME', a dance night that brings the legendary Lumpini Hall back to life. The ballroom sits right by the park's edge, and at more than ninety years old it's one of the oldest surviving dance venues in the city. For one evening it fills again with music, live performances and plenty of vintage footwork. Photograph: The HopBangkok The event is a collaboration between the Culture, Sports and Tourism Department of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and Bangkok Swing, the local community of enthusiasts who meet regularly to dance. Together they dress the hall with warm lighting and sound and bring in live sets from The Stumblrs and the beloved Suntharaporn orchestra, both playing the timeless classics that first filled rooms like this one.  Complete beginners get a Swing Dance Open Class first, a gentle beginner-friendly lesson that keeps things simple before you join everyone on the social floor. No experience required, no partner required and no pressure. You learn a few basic steps, then dance them alongside a room full of strangers picking up the same moves at the same time. A free night that hands the city back a piece of its own history while keeping the performing arts alive and open to all, rather than tucked behind a ticket price. Come alone or bring friends, the point is that anyone can walk in. The whole thing runs on Saturday, August 15, from 5pm to 8pm at Lumpini Hall,

Thai fans can't get enough of Maroon 5. Or maybe Maroon 5 can't get enough of Bangkok. Either way, the much-loved American pop-rock band comes back to the city on February 9, 2027 at Impact Arena, marking Adam Levine's eighth visit. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Live Nation Tero (@livenationth) The Los Angeles band trades in radio hits that blend pop, rock and funk. 'Moves Like Jagger'. 'Makes Me Wonder'. 'Sugar'. 'She Will Be Loved'. Last year they release a new album, Love Is Like, home to 'Priceless' featuring Thailand's own LISA. 'Heroine' follows as the latest single. Photograph: Live Nation TeroMaroon 5 live in Bangkok 2027 Tickets start at B2,800 and climb to B8,500, with a middle tier between B5,300 and B6,300. VIP packages go for B9,700 and B10,800.  Presale runs August 18-20 at 10am, general sale opens August 21 at the same hour. You'll find everything at www.livenationtero.co.th. Bangkok keeps drawing the big names this year. Givēon and Central Cee both play the city, along with Kraftwerk and Post Malone, and BTS close things out in December. If you've been waiting for an excuse to sort out your February plans, here it is.  

Anyone who loves a beach club knows it's really a hub of lifestyle experiences for people who enjoy a day by the sea – the food, the drinks, the sunbeds, the swimming pools, the boutique shops and the beachfront activities.  Well, Phuket has just welcomed a newcomer to that scene in August 2025, the awesome 'RAVA Beach Club', stretched along 180 metres of Bang Tao Beach that now holds the title of Thailand's longest beach club.  Photograph: Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts PhuketRAVA Beach Club The headline news is that it hands Sundays over to something special: RAVA Beach Club now launches Pura Vida Brunch, a proper celebration of cracking food, easy lounging and beachfront living. It carries on the legacy of Banyan Tree Phuket's much-loved spreads, reworked for a younger, sharper crowd. Every Sunday from midday to 3.30pm, guests eat, swim and stretch out on sunbeds as one seamless affair, with three infinity pools thrown in. It costs B2,900 per person and includes a bottle of house wine per couple.  Photograph: Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts PhuketRAVA Beach Club The main event The cooked seafood bar piles on New Zealand mussels, blue swimmer crab, king prawns and local prawns – all of which are given RAVA's signature charcoal-grilled treatment. A charcuterie selection brings thinly sliced Wagyu bresaola, Serrano ham, pastrami and mortadella next to local cheeses and homemade sourdough, while the sausage sizzle counter fires up locally crafted bangers hot off the grill. 

Cloud 11 is having a moment. Bangkok’s newest creative landmark on Sukhumvit 101 is a vast complex built for a new generation of makers – from musicians and artists to filmmakers, cooks, athletes – plus anyone who simply wants to hang out,  swap ideas and drink strong coffee. Now it has a suitably ambitious  housewarming party. DIAGE Festival is back. First staged in 2023, the digital art and electronic music festival returns at its new home,  Cloud 11, from October 31-November 1. Photograph: diage.festival2026 Anyone who caught the debut knows the scale of the production. Lighting and sound are engineered to the standards associated with major European festivals, while immersive visuals from a diverse roster of artists fill giant screens. It all moves to sets from Thai and international DJs, electronic acts and live bands. Photograph: diage.festivalBangkok To mark its return, the festival unveils ‘Continental Affair (DIAGE Deconstruction)’, a reimagining of the cult track by pioneering Thai electronic musician Cyndi Seui, aka Cesar B. de Guzman – a fitting nod to the local scene’s roots.  Music is only part of the programme. Live coding sessions, talks and workshops fill the daytime hours, led by respected names from Thailand and overseas. There should be plenty to explore, whether you’re an electronic music devotee or contemporary art obsessive. Missed the first edition? The new venue promises the festival’s best version yet. DIAGE 2026 Blind Tickets go on sale soon, be

The magic comes back, and this time it arrives with a 92-piece orchestra breathing down your neck. grab your wand, because the Triwizard Tournament lands in Bangkok. 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in Concert' takes over UOB LIVE at Emsphere on Saturday November 21 at 7pm, and it promises the sort of evening that turns grown adults back to wide-eyed eleven-year-olds still waiting on a Hogwarts letter. Photograph: harrypotterinconcertBangkok Here's how it works. The whole film plays across a 40-foot screen in crisp high-definition while Patrick Doyle's score gets performed live, every last note of it, by an orchestra and choir under the baton of Timothy Henty.  And what a thing it is. The trembling strings when the Dementors glide across the pitch. The brass that hauls those broomsticks skyward. The haunting melodies that make growing up at Hogwarts something monumental rather than merely fictional. You know these tunes even when you swear you don't. They live somewhere at the back of your skull, waiting. View this post on Instagram A post shared by UOBLIVE (@uoblive_bangkok) It's nostalgia, sharpened and rearranged. Cinema and symphony sharing one room, reminding you exactly why the spell still holds. Tickets open on August 8 at noon via eventpop.me. Bangkok's about to get very, very Gryffindor.

If someone asked you to picture the word 'sato', what's the first image that comes to mind? For a lot of people it's a strong-smelling homemade rice liquor brewed somewhere deep in the countryside, the sort of thing that rarely reaches everyday life and seems faintly unfamiliar when it does. But that picture may no longer describe Thai sato in 2026. Because sato has changed. Quietly, and then all at once. Over the past few years this humble community ferment has grown up, and grown up with real ambition. Producers now labour over quality, ingredients, technique and presentation the way a sommelier labours over a vintage, and the results speak for themselves. Younger drinkers are listening. So are visitors from abroad, who recognise that Thailand has been sitting on its own answer to Japanese sake or Korean makgeolli this whole time. And it refuses to be one thing anymore. Sato branches out now: sparkling versions, alcohol-free versions, even sato gelato, which is as delicious and slightly mad as it sounds. Makers pick their rice varieties carefully, control the fermentation down to the temperature and give every label a personality of its own. Bottles come with proper labels, tasting notes and a name you can remember. This is a drink with a story to tell, with layers worth talking about, the way people talk about natural wine or a good craft beer. So how far has it actually come? 'SATO SO GOOD – Original Thai Sip' answers the question better than words can. Organised by Prach

This August, Bangkok Youth Opera presents a radical production of Gluck's masterpiece Orfeo ed Euridice, the reform ballet Don Juan and Donizetti's Don Pasquale, running August 15-22 at the Studio on the fourth floor of BACC. Three works, one week, and every last note handled by young people.  It plays out in the Studio, a black-box space you reach by escalator past the gallery shops and coffee stands, so the whole thing stays close and intimate rather than grand. That's part of the appeal. But the productions themselves are where things get gloriously strange. Old myth meets new anxiety, sung and played and run by people who refuse to wait their turn. The line-up: Photograph: Bangkok Youth OperaBangkok 1. Orfeo ed Euridice: The ancient myth of a musician who follows his beloved down to the land of the dead. Darren Royston's staging transports Orpheus across time and dimensions on his odyssey to bring back Eurydice, reimagining that descent through projection mapping, with holograms glitching across the walls of the room. The catch: he can never glance back at her until they reach the world of the living. You already know how well that tends to go. Photograph: Bangkok Youth OperaBangkok 2. Don Juan: The reform ballet that arrived just before Gluck's opera in 1762. A story of desire that ignores every consequence until no warnings remain, it sets 'love' in all its shapes side by side – Orpheus's undying loyalty against Don Juan's bottomless appetite. Two very different men

Every year the Mid-Autumn Festival rolls around and every year the same question surfaces. Which mooncake box actually earns its place at home? For 2026, Kimpton Maa-Lai Bangkok has an answer, and it comes wrapped in ember red and gold foil. Found in the delightful Langsuan neighbourhood, a short walk from Lumpini Park and the inner-city green, the hotel marks the Year of the Horse with a mooncake collection that carries a story. This is the Fire Horse Collection, a limited-edition keepsake made in partnership with Artstory By Autistic Thai, a social enterprise backed by the Autistic Thai Foundation. Photograph: Kimpton Maa-LaiBangkok The original Fire Horse illustration comes from Anusone 'Mix' Tunarin, one of Artstory's many gifted artists. A portion of proceeds from every box sold goes towards Artstory's mission, building on a collaboration that stretches back to 2024 and has raised over B200,000 so far. Buying a box, then, does some good. Photograph: Kimpton Maa-LaiBangkok Now, the box itself. The Kimpton Signature Mooncake Box outlives its contents by design. It's shaped like a horseshoe, that old emblem of fortune, strength and protection, and it arrives in a palette of ember red, metallic gold and deep espresso brown. Pick it up and you feel the weight of something built to last. Photograph: Kimpton Maa-LaiBangkok The matte leather exterior gets the full treatment. Gold foil stamping, debossed detailing and small accents that catch the light as you turn it. A le

The San Francisco-born K-pop veteran who rose to fame as a member of Girls’ Generation announces her grand solo show ‘Tiffany Young: Edge of Calm Tour in Bangkok’, a night celebrating a full decade of her solo career, and it happens on Sunday, October 25 at UOB LIVE on the sixth floor of EmSphere. That’s the big arena above the shops, the one you reach by escalator past the food halls. Ten years on her own, one Bangkok stage. View this post on Instagram A post shared by tiffany young (@tiffanyyoungofficial) She swaps LA for Seoul as a teenager, chasing a dream most people her age can’t even name, then debuts in the group that turns a Korean girl band from a national treasure to a global one. Sixteen number-one singles. A stack of international awards. She helps build the very door the rest of the industry now strolls through without a second thought. Photograph: Transparency AgencyTiffany Young: Edge of Calm Tour in Bangkok The Bangkok date sits in the middle of a proper Asia run, six cities and a homecoming to finish. It opens in Hong Kong at AXA Dreamland on September 12, then Jakarta on September 19, Singapore on September 26, a two-night Taipei stop across October 9-10, Ho Chi Minh City on October 17, then Bangkok on October 25, before wrapping in Seoul on December 27. A decade of songs on one side of the setlist, newer material on the other. Tickets go live on Friday, August 28 at www.bykpopmerch.com. UOB cardholders get first grab from 12pm to 2pm,

If you've ever kept 'blue' on repeat for more plays than you'd care to count, or let yung kai's soft guitar melodies become the soundtrack to the days you just want to slow right down and breathe, get ready – the Chinese-Canadian indie pop star returns to meet his Thai fans once more with his solo concert 'yung kai – stay with the ocean, i'll find you: Asia 2026' on November 1 2026 at Sphere Hall, EMSPHERE. He comes fresh off his debut full-length record, 'stay with the ocean, i'll find you', released in 2025. It carries everything people love about him – warm, unhurried and full of feeling, the kind of easy-listening indie pop you put on while you're making coffee or winding down before bed. The album runs a little over a dozen tracks, and most of them read like quiet confessions. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Live Nation Tero (@livenationth) Rewind a little and the story starts online, where a teenager casually uploads covers of the world's biggest names to social media. No grand plan, just a distinctive voice and a knack for reimagining a familiar tune until it sounds like his own. Views climb, comments pile up and slowly a devoted crowd gathers around him. Then comes 'blue'. Gentle guitar, soft vocals and lyrics about the dizzy longing of a crush that everyone recognises. It spreads fast, soundtracking millions of clips online, and turns a bedroom musician into one of the genre's most talked-about names in a matter of months. Fancy he

Founded by Chef Luca Mascolo and Brigitta Houkamp, The Smokaccia Laboratory offers one of Phuket’s most immersive fine dining experiences. Exceptional cuisine, thoughtful hospitality and playful storytelling create a memorable culinary journey that begins in an elegant Champagne lounge with refined welcome bites before unfolding in the intimate dining room. Photograph: The Smokaccia LaboratoryPhuket Every dish celebrates exceptional local ingredients and tells its own story through visually striking presentation. Chef Luca transforms familiar flavours using modern culinary techniques to create not just dishes, but works of art on a plate. While every presentation is imaginative and visually captivating, the flavours remain balanced, familiar and deeply satisfying.Guests can choose between nine- and eighteen-course tasting menus, including vegetarian and vegan experiences. The team also accommodates almost every allergy and dietary requirement without compromising the experience, making fine dining accessible to more guests. Photograph: The Smokaccia LaboratoryPhuket Each tasting menu is complemented by carefully curated wine pairings and acclaimed homemade alcohol-free pairings by sommelier Massimo Zoz, recognised ‘alcohol free pairing of the year’ by Thailand’s favourite restaurants guide.  The restaurant takes its name from Chef Luca’s award-winning invention, the Smokaccia – not a focaccia – but an entirely new and complex style of naturally 50 hours fermented sourdoug