Kaweewat Siwanartwong

For Bangkokians, October is the month of transitioning monsoon weather and warm temperatures all at once. The sun shows up by day, the rain takes over at night, so plan accordingly. Still, why let that stop us. The Weeknd takes over Rajamangala National Stadium for three nights, Jason Mraz plays BITEC Live and Avenged Sevenfold returns to Thunder Dome. Between gigs, browse the NIC Factory Vintage Flea Market in Charoenkrung, follow Bangkok Climate Action Week across the city or try Thai craft beer at Topgolf Megacity Bangna. At NIC Factory, mid-century furniture, homeware and odd collectables fill a former tobacco warehouse by the Chao Phraya. Go early for first pick. DIAGE Festival brings digital art, live coding, workshops and electronic music to Cloud 11 in Phra Khanong, including a live reworking of Cyndi Seui’s ‘Continental Affair’. There’s plenty beyond the big shows: Southeastern Gathering fills six days with bluegrass, Irish and old-time music, Book Expo Thailand takes over QSNCC and the Bangkok Bar Show gathers the city’s drinks crowd at Anantara Siam. One Beer: Hole in One pairs more than 50 Thai craft breweries with golf challenges, while the Derby Day Charity Luncheon raises funds for The Freedom Story. For more ideas, browse our guides to Bangkok's best bars, restaurants, parks, galleries and interviews, or dip into our bucket list of the best things to do in Bangkok. Planning further ahead? Keep an eye on our updated Bangkok concerts roundup for 2026. For more o

The rain still hasn’t got the message, so take Michael Jackson’s advice and ‘beat it’. Grey skies and wet pavements or not, this week’s line-up makes staying home a poor call. Watch obsessives should start at Wela Bangkok, where 17-plus independent and emerging makers set up at Jim Thompson Art Center alongside Thai and Peruvian food, drinks and DJ sets. Registration is online and free. At GalileOasis, Noise of the Month pairs southern Thai Nora dance with opera, jazz and experimental music in Nopera the Show.  Young Nora performer Prames Praneet Silp joins experimental group B35 on stage. Kangkao Collective returns with Red Line, putting Gero, Payu, Jirus and Meltmode in the Main Room while six more DJs work the Creature Room. For a slower pace, Stupid Stay in Charoen Nakhon opens its artist-in-residence programme with illustrator Nene Nuntawan Jamsai. Her new pieces respond to the surrounding streets and hang throughout the hotel, with a workshop alongside. MŌCANA Sound II rounds up live sets and leftfield sounds from Yellow Fang, Beetkat, Maakornchai, Claudine, AN!KA and more. Film fans can head to SF World Cinema for Bangkok International Film Festival 2026, screening 40 films from around the world, including Minotaur, Yellow Letters and Nagi Notes. For something stranger, Korakrit Arunanondchai's Love After Death brings together video, performance documentation and footage shot in a disused cinema in Lopburi for his latest solo exhibition. Still undecided? Browse our gui

Bangkok is a city of contrasts.  Glass towers stand tall next to temples, old mansions and shophouses that have stood for a century or more cosy up to modern cafes and stores. Look past the traffic (and the malls) and you'll find a lot of history still standing.  Much of Bangkok’s oldest buildings are predictably found in neighbourhoods like Silom, Bang Rak and Rattanakosin Island, where the old and the new sit side by side on the same street. Similarly, a lot of them are easy to miss. Some of the best buildings hide down a narrow lane or behind a market, while others sit right on a busy corner or in a green garden of their own, waiting for you to notice them. What's good is how many are still in use. Plenty have been saved from the wrecking ball and given a second life as cafés, bars, galleries, hotels and libraries, with their original bones left on show. A former printing house is now an art space, a sawmill has become a theatre and a machine shop pours coffee. The work behind each one keeps a bit of the city's past alive rather than clearing it away, something of a trend right now and we can’t deny we’re all for it. Below we've picked our favourites in and around the city. Here are 17 old buildings that have been revived and are worth a visit. When in doubt, turn to our guides to Bangkok’s best bars, restaurants, parks, galleries and interviews, or work through our bucket list of the best things to do in Bangkok. Subscribe to our free newsletter for the best of Bangkok, s

Bangkok hides some of its best galleries down side streets and up quiet staircases, right in the thick of its busiest neighbourhoods. Hop off the BTS, walk for two minutes and you can land somewhere cool, calm and blissfully air-conditioned – free to linger over a painting and, perhaps, dodge another visitor’s tote bag. This month brings plenty of reasons to make the trip. Mystical by Nattiwut Choomanowat turns old Thai sayings and folk beliefs into playful paintings, while The Blursed Sandwich leaps  to 2067 and imagines monkeys inheriting human civilisation. For something quieter, A Gray Lens explores memory, identity and how we understand the world. WHITE EYES, meanwhile, removes the eyes from its portraits to ask how much we rely on a person’s gaze to read them. Whether you fancy a full gallery crawl, a slow afternoon with contemporary art or simply an escape the usual Bangkok routine, see what’s showing and make a day of it. Need more ideas? Explore our guides to Bangkok’s best bars, restaurants, parks, galleries and interviews, or work through our bucket list of the best things to do in Bangkok. From galleries to creative spaces, discover  Bangkok’s best spots to live the art life. Track down alleyway masterpieces and paint-splashed corners you might otherwise miss with our guide to the 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.

According to psychology (the hangout edition), that amber-coloured glass with its soft, smooth foam has the power to soothe exhaustion after a hard week, revive you from that post-project slump and give your body a refreshing boost of energy. And in Bangkok, where the working day rarely finishes on time, beer drinking is now a long way from a casual afterthought. These days it comes with good music, sharp interiors and a proper crowd. You step off a hot, busy street, the door swings shut, the air-con hits and someone behind the bar is already pouring your first of the night. So whether you know your DDH IPA from your vanilla porter or simply want a cold pint, decent music and somewhere comfortable to spend the evening, these are 20 of the best beer bars in Bangkok. Also worth bookmarking: our guides to Bangkok’s best bars, restaurants, parks and galleries, plus 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.

News of club closures and sober youngsters might have you thinking that nightlife is dead. We’re here to tell you – with proof! – that you couldn’t be further from the truth.  The way we go out might be different, but people are by no means staying in. Cities are adapting to our changing nightlife habits: as summers get hotter, street parties and rooftop raves are bigger than ever. Rather than heading to one or two big-name venues, locals are flocking to new nightlife districts for an evening of bar-hopping and curbside drinking. And, trust us, the nightclub isn’t going anywhere – in fact, communities and local governments have successfully rallied to save historic nightlife venues (in Berlin’s case, they’ve even managed to grant techno UNESCO-listed status). So, we’re here to celebrate going out in the city. From Bangkok to Berlin, Medellin to Mexico City, Time Out’s Best Cities for Nightlife with Intrepid Travel is the ultimate guide to today’s after-hours capitals. To curate the ranking, we went straight to the people who know their city best – the locals – and asked them to tell us all about the nightlife scene in their hometown right now. We asked them about everything from clubbing to cocktail bars, how affordable it is to go out at night, the overall quality of nightlife in their city, how easy it is to find community, and how safe, exciting, welcoming and diverse their city is. After crunching all that data, a panel of nightlife experts – Time Out’s city editors, cult

You might never have met Ray MacDonald, but if you grew up in Thailand in the 1990s he was part of your week all the same, on the telly after school, up on the big screen with your mates, or talking you through a train ride halfway across the map. Ray, one of the most recognisable faces of a generation of Thai youth, died on August 19. His career runs close to three decades and takes in film, television and the travel programmes that sent a lot of us reaching for an atlas. Plenty of people first know him from the show Teen Talk; others picture him in O-Negative, Dear Galileo or Phobia 2. And for a whole crowd of viewers he plays a travelling companion they never actually meet, someone whose journeys make the wider world seem that bit closer from the sofa. So his story runs richer than the word 'actor' lets on. Over the years he turns up as a shy young man, a hitman, a monk, a graphic designer and a traveller, each part catching a particular moment in his life and the times around it. Here are 14 of his screen roles, from his first day on set to the work that still brings him to mind.   Fun Bar Karaoke Photograph: Fun Bar Karaoke, 2540Ray Macdonal Ray's first screen appearance comes in Pen-ek Ratanaruang's debut feature, and it wins him Best Actor at the Suphannahong National Film Awards straight out of the gate. He plays Noi, a shy convenience-store worker who turns hitman the moment he falls asleep. The character is odd, cheeky and quietly lonely, and you can already hear

This year hands us more choice than we know what to do with, the parties rolling on til the end of December. A little strategy pays off. The schedule stretches from gentle seaside sets in the cooler months to giant year-end send-offs, so plan ahead.  Do you want a slow day by the water or a midnight thrash in a warehouse? Can you handle a tent, or does the shower queue alone put you off? Loyal to one sound or happy to gamble on whatever lands next, one of these has your name on it. Sandy chill-outs, rooftop hip-hop, jazz under the trees, all-night electronic marathons that run til dawn – Thailand serves the whole spread, often across a single week. From Bangkok venues to island beaches and jungle clearings, the map fills up quick. Yet to book? No stress, because we keep this rundown current with day parties still holding tickets. Get moving before you miss the big names. 808 Festival, DIAGE Festival, Wonderfruit and Tomorrowland Thailand all touch down on Thai soil in the months ahead. Give our guide a scroll, refreshed constantly as new line-ups drop, and pick out whatever grabs you. Still undecided? You can always 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 the 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. 

Craving ice cream? Course you are. Bangkok has a way of sending even the most grown-up among us in search of something cold and sweet  – and the city’s gelato scene has never offered more ways to cool down, dairy-free included. The only problem is choosing. We’ve rounded up the spots worth seeking out, whether you fancy a cone or cup of the good stuff, soft-serve that actually delivers, a cheeky ice cream sandwich or a sundae big enough to share (or not). The choices border on absurd, in a good way: brioche and tacos, fairy floss clouds, candied bacon, charcoal, sea salt and ube. However you roll, here are 16 of the best gelato and ice cream spots across Bangkok and the greater metro area. Still undecided? You can always 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. Subscribe to our free newsletter for the best of Bangkok, 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.

Southeastern Gathering 2026 returns for its third year, expanding to six days of bluegrass,  Irish and old-time music with players from Thailand, the US, Japan and Ireland. The line-up includes banjo player Tray Wellington, 2024 Steve Martin Banjo Prize recipient, Tokyo’s Bluegrass Police and Irish musicians Luke Coffey and Cameron Mather. Choose from a penthouse concert for 20 people, a welcome jam, a six-hour main gathering and a brunch with live music and stories. October 20-25. B999-3,299. Public House Bangkok. Programme starts at 7pm. Tickets here

Demand for The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn Tour has added a third Bangkok date at Rajamangala National Stadium. The show draws on the dark, cinematic worlds of After Hours, Dawn FM and Hurry Up Tomorrow, with stadium-scale production to match. The first two nights have sold out, so October 13 is the date to check for tickets. October 11-13. B2,835-B21,935. Rajamangala National Stadium. 5pm. Tickets here

Avenged Sevenfold returns to Bangkok after 11 years, with M. Shadows, Synyster Gates, Zacky Vengeance, Johnny Christ and Brooks Wackerman on stage at Thunder Dome. The band has topped the Billboard 200 twice in succession, with Nightmare (2010) and Hail to the King (2013). Expect the kind of big, riff-heavy show that made them a fixture of arena and festival bills. October 6-7. Thunder Dome. 8pm. Tickets here.

Topgolf Megacity Bangna is trading quiet concentration for One Beer: Hole in One. More than 50 Thai craft breweries bring over 100 pours, with food and live music alongside. The Beer People team adds golf challenges, including Angry Birds Golf, where hourly winners get a free beer. Sink a ball from within 100 metres in the Hole in One challenge and you’ll win a coupon for 30 glasses – one from every brewery booth. October 3-4. B250-B4,900. Topgolf Megacity Bangna. 3pm-11pm. Tickets here

The Shed City Farmer Market brings local food, home bakers, organic produce, art and independent goods to Sukhumvit 26 for two days. On October 3, artist Makarat ‘Tap’ Taveechon of ToSmile gives a talk and paints live. On October 4, makers from Ubon Ratchathani and Mae Hong Son lead a community talk and tasting of sato, a Thai rice wine. There are vase-painting and aroma roller oil workshops too, plus live music and DJ sets throughout the weekend. October 3-4. Free entry. The Shed Bangkok, Sukhumvit 26. 1pm-9pm

Bangkok Climate Action Week returns for its second year with more than 320 events under the theme ‘Economy We Shape, Climate We Share’. Lumphini Park is the main hub, hosting climate talks, local perspectives, art and live music each evening from 4.30pm-8pm. Across the city, look for workshops, exhibitions and discussions on green jobs, finance and fairer economic systems. The Asia’s Next Economies Forum brings policymakers, businesses and civil society together to consider Southeast Asia’s economic future. October 3-11. Free entry. Various Bangkok venues. See the full programme here

Give yourself time to rummage at NIC Factory Vintage Flea Market. Mid-century tables, classic chairs, home décor and harder-to-find collectables sit alongside one-off pieces from different eras and cultures. The setting is part of the draw: NIC Factory Charoenkrung 74 occupies a former tobacco warehouse by the Chao Phraya River, with weathered industrial details that suit a day of vintage hunting. Arrive early if you want first pick.

Negroni Week returns with bars and restaurants worldwide raising money for hospitality and community programmes through the Negroni Week Fund. In Bangkok, Stella Bar at Capella Bangkok hosts masterclasses and guest shifts with Monica Berg, Alex Kratena, Iain McPherson and Erik Lorincz, while Giorgio Bargiani takes over Aman Lounge. A bar-hopping trail covers Soi Nana, Sathorn and Song Wat in Bangkok, plus Chiang Mai, guided by hand-drawn maps from Thai artist Karoon Jiamviriyasathian. Brunches at Kimpton Maa-Lai Bangkok and Andaz One Bangkok round out the week.   September 21-27. Bars across Bangkok.

Bangkok’s streets look rather different when you leave the car at home. For this year’s Car Free Festival, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is encouraging residents to rethink everyday journeys by walking, cycling, running, catching a bus, hopping on a boat or taking the train. The festival runs September 20-27, so consider swapping the usual traffic jam for a few stops on public transport. The full programme is still under wraps, but previous editions featured talks and pop-ups about car-free travel. Keep an eye on the BMA’s channels for updates.   September 20-27. Free entry. City wide. Check the schedule here.

Stupid Stay in Charoen Nakhon launches its Artist in Residence programme with illustrator and graphic designer Nene Nuntawan Jamsai, aka nnene.iie. During her stay, Nene is creating work drawn from everyday neighbourhood life, from small local details to the people and places she encounters. The pieces appear throughout the hotel, turning it into a compact exhibition to browse while exploring the space. A workshop with Nene lets visitors make something themselves rather than simply viewing the finished work.   Until October 1. Free entry. Stupid Stay. 11am-8pm

Kangkao Collective returns with Red Line, a club night built around the tension between restraint and release. Gero, Payu, Jirus and Meltmode take over the Main Room, while Lsyndrome, Tulwai, Issasha, Tapejam, DJ Tada and Bugsyy keep the Creature Room  moving. The pace builds as the night goes on, with low lighting, heavy sound and two dancefloors to move between.   September 26. B700-800 via here. DUAL. 4pm-am

Experimental music returns to GalileOasis with Noise of the Month, a monthly programme built around unlikely combinations. This edition pairs Nora – a centuries-old Southern Thai dance-drama combining stylised movement, music and storytelling – in Nopera the Show by B35. The experimental group blends Southern Thai folk traditions with jazz and avant-garde music. Traditional thap, gong, ching and Nora pi share the stage with modern instruments and plenty of improvisation. Young Nora performer Prames Praneet Silp, continuing the tradition from Nakhon Si Thammarat, brings movement into the mix.   September 26. B450 via here. GalileOasis. 4pm

And the Season 21 winner of America’s Got Talent is… Nene Royal! This is huge. A dream comes true for Thai fans as the Phuket teenager takes the crown. Her run begins in the second round of auditions, a day before her sixteenth birthday. She plugs in an electric guitar, sings the Cranberries’ ‘Zombie’ and taps out a two-handed solo halfway through. All four judges say yes. The clip becomes the most-watched audition of the season, passing 20 million views on the show’s YouTube channel. After a few notes from Howie Mandel in the callback round, she returns with Muse’s ‘Hysteria’, which racks up 2.1 million plays within 24 hours of going online on August 8. Then comes Soundgarden’s ‘Black Hole Sun’ at the live quarterfinals on August 25, and Mel B hits the Golden Buzzer, sending Nene through to the final without a single public vote. Back home, even the government gets behind her, with a deputy spokesperson publicly wishing her luck. For the first night of the final on September 22, she chooses the White Stripes’ ‘Seven Nation Army’, adds a solo of her own and wears a dress with ‘Nene Thailand’ printed across it. Simon Cowell misses the finale while recovering from back surgery, so YouTuber KSI takes his seat, and Howie tells viewers to give her the million. America listens. On results night she performs ‘The Emptiness Machine’ alongside Linkin Park. Magician Geno Ploeger finishes second and South Korean illusionists Hundred Fingers take third. Nene walks aw

Be honest. How many times did you wish for Doraemon’s Anywhere Door in primary school? One turn of the handle and you’d be out of maths class and on a beach in Phuket. The door never showed up, sadly, but the earless blue robot cat from the twenty-second century does, bringing his mates to Sea Life Bangkok from September 21 to October 31.   View this post on Instagram A post shared by SEA LIFE Bangkok Aquarium (Siam Ocean World) (@sealifebangkok_official) Nobita, Shizuka, Gian and Suneo tag along too, popping up across the aquarium’s two basement floors beneath Siam Paragon. It gives the usual loop past the tanks a storyline, with familiar faces waiting around corners and activities pitched at every age, from toddlers to thirtysomethings with a soft spot for weekend-morning cartoons. The animals hold their own, too. Expect tiny reef fish darting through coral and sharks and rays sliding over the glass tunnel while kids press their palms against the acrylic. The idea is to look at it all the way the gang would, with Doraemon on hand to explain what’s what. If you grew up watching Nobita sob over another failed test or Gian bellow through a concert nobody asked for, each cameo raises a grin. Children get plenty out of it as well, learning about the ocean from characters they know by heart. It also makes a smart plan for a rainy-season afternoon. Hop off the BTS at Siam, follow the signs through the mall and swap the downpour for air-con and water that stays

Already eyeing next year’s getaways? The 2027 holiday calendar is official, covering every public holiday, bank holiday and substitute day in Thailand. Whether you’re plotting a trip, working out your annual leave or sorting paperwork at a bank or district office, it’s worth looking at the dates now. The days off are spread right across the year, but they don’t all apply to everyone. Some close both government offices and banks, some are for financial institutions only and the odd one applies to civil servants alone. So before you travel or turn up at a counter with a stack of forms, find out which kind of holiday it is. Unless we say otherwise, every date below closes both offices and banks. January Friday January 1: New Year’s Day, and the first long weekend of the year. February Sunday February 21: Makha Bucha Day. Temples hold candlelit processions around the ordination hall after dark. Monday February 22: Day off in lieu of Makha Bucha, giving you a three-day weekend from February 20-22. March March has no holidays at all, so keep your leave for April. April Tuesday April 6: Chakri Memorial Day. Book Monday April 5 off and you get four days in a row. Tuesday April 13-Thursday April 15: Songkran. Buses out of Mo Chit fill up days ahead as Bangkok heads home, while Silom Road and Khao San Road host the city’s biggest water fights. May Saturday May 1: National Labour Day, for banks and private companies only. Monday May 3: Labour Day’s replacement. Banks shut, but

Casa Bacardi is a real place, in case you were wondering. It sits in Cataño, across the bay from San Juan in Puerto Rico, on the grounds of the world’s largest premium rum distillery, and locals call it the ‘Cathedral of Rum’. Reaching it from Phuket involves several flights. The new one is on Lagoon Road, a stroll from Boat Avenue. Photograph: Mrs Bfirst Casa Bacardi flagship Phuket Which is where Mrs B Bar & Table comes in. From this Thursday September 24, the Lagoon Road restaurant becomes Casa Bacardi for three months, the first flagship of its kind in Thailand. And no, we’re not talking a couple of logos on the menu. The house pours change. So do the cocktail list and weekly events, built around the brand’s own rum plus Patrón tequila, Grey Goose vodka and Bombay Sapphire gin. Ask for a G&T and watch the bartender reach for the blue bottle. Everything else stays the same. Cooks still work the wood-fired grill in full view of the dining room, and the open-air Yard Bar fills up once plates are cleared, with Dean Oram behind the decks. Word to the wise, the terrace gets loud, so book a table indoors if you’re after a proper catch-up. Why three months? The run lasts until December, timed around EDC Thailand’s return to Rhythm Park in Laguna on December 18-20, a short drive away. We’re calling it now, festival wristbands at the bar that week. Casa Bacardi at Mrs B runs from September 24 until December. Entry is free and reservations are recommended on 093-586-9828.

Good news for anyone who missed out first time round: The Weeknd's After Hours til Dawn Tour reaches Bangkok this October and demand is so high he's added two more shows. This is the second time the tour has come to Bangkok. Abel Tesfaye built it around a trilogy that came to define an era – After Hours (2020), Dawn FM (2022) and Hurry Up Tomorrow (2025). It already ranks among the best-attended and highest-grossing tours ever staged, and more than two dozen dates still remain before it wraps in October 2026. Off to see The Weeknd? Chasing a last-minute ticket? Here's everything worth knowing about the After Hours til Dawn Tour, from stage times and the setlist to what's left on ticket availability.       Photograph: theweekndThe Weeknd Tour   When is The Weeknd playing Bangkok?What started as a one-off on October 11 is now a three-night stand. Organisers have confirmed The Weeknd's After Hours Til Dawn Tour plays October 11, 12 and October 13, well beyond the single date first put on sale. Where is The Weeknd playing in Bangkok?For a show on this scale, he takes to Rajamangala Stadium – home of the Thailand national football team and the biggest sports venue in the country by capacity. Can I still get tickets?Yes! The October 11 and 12 shows have sold out, but tickets for October 13 are still up for grabs at Ticketmajor. Prices run from B2,835 to B5,225, rising to B11,935-B21,935 for the VIP zones. When do doors open?Gates open at 5pm on the remaining date. When does The W

You normally have to leave Bangkok behind to stand in a proper flower field. That usually means packing the car, driving a couple of hours out to Lopburi or Saraburi and squinting at a map on the way. Not this time. From September 29-October 9, more than 3,000 sunflowers take over the plaza out front of Samyan Mitrtown on Rama IV Road, right among the high-rises and the office crowd, as part of the complex's Every Light Matters programme, subtitled Because You Matter. The spot you usually cut across on a lunch break becomes somewhere to actually stop. You wander the rows, get your photos and sit for a while as everyone else does the same. Yellow heads stretch across the concrete, glass towers rise behind them and the Rama IV traffic keeps grinding away a few metres off, so for a moment central Bangkok looks nothing like itself. Here's a fact for you. Sunflowers don't only grow yellow. More than 15 varieties exist, in white, pink and red too. For this one the organisers pick Pacific Aquara 6, a hybrid chosen for its big blooms and steady growth, which shows up brightest when it's massed together like this. You don't only look. Spend B500 and one plant comes home with you; spend B1,500 and you leave with a DIY bouquet. A Snap Moment corner puts professional photographers on hand to shoot you among the flowers, then sends you off with the shots. So if you've been craving a wide-open field without the road trip, we reckon an afternoon here does the job.  The sunflowers bloom at S

For this year's Car Free festival, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) asks you to rethink how you get around town. The concept is a simple one. Leave the car at home and walk, run, cycle, catch the bus, hop on a boat or ride the train instead, any day from September 20-27.             The full programme isn't out yet, but past years point to a run of talks and pop-ups on the how and why of getting about without a private car. Keep an eye on BMA's channels for updates as the week rolls on. Before the date comes round, though, it helps to know what all it’s about. What is Car Free Day, and why cut back on driving? Every September 22, cities across the globe mark World Car-Free Day, and the request is a small one. Nobody wants you to sell the car or quit driving altogether. You simply leave it at home for the day, or for a trip or two, and travel on foot, by bike, by train or by bus. Share a ride with a few colleagues and you count as well. A lot of cities go a step further and close certain roads for a few hours, giving the space over to pedestrians and cyclists. That eases some of the usual gridlock, though the bigger appeal is watching an ordinary street work differently, with stalls and people milling around where a row of cars normally sits. What are the benefits of Car Free Day? A single day of it won't fix much on its own. One quiet Sunday can't undo years of exhaust fumes. What matters is the prompt it gives. Hop on the BTS for a trip you'd normally drive and

Normally a round of golf means keeping quiet, lining up your swing and willing the ball towards the hole. One Beer: Hole in One throws that out. For one weekend in October, Topgolf Megacity Bangna hands its driving range over to craft beer drinkers, and more than 50 Thai breweries turn up with live music and food to fill the afternoon and evening. Run by the Beer People team, fresh from a sato festival on the banks of the Chao Phraya. This time they trade the river for a golf course and gather breweries from every corner of the country, so you have over 100 pours to work through across an unhurried afternoon that keeps going until late. Photograph: Prachachon BeerBangkok The concept is cheeky, built on the notion that one good glass can change your world. Around the tasting, a set of golf games rewards anyone who fancies a swing of their own. First up is the Angry Birds Golf challenge, which drops the game's characters onto the course. An hourly leaderboard tracks the top scorers and the sharpest shot each hour takes home free beer. Photograph: Prachachon BeerBangkok Reckon your aim holds up? The Hole in One challenge, the festival's grand prize, asks you to sink a ball from no more than 100 metres. Manage it and you walk off with a coupon for 30 glasses, one from every booth on site. Miss and it barely matters, because hourly giveaways keep the prizes and entertainment coming all day. Topgolf Megacity Bangna hosts One Beer: Hole in One on Oct 3-4, 3pm-11pm. Early bird t

Already plotting your next escape before this one's wrapped up? OSOTHO Fair is back for a second edition, and this year the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) hands the whole weekend over to storytelling. Three days on the lawn at Museum Siam, grills going and free to get in. Photograph: Museum SiamOSOTHO Fair The idea is simple – turn up, wander about and pick up a story of your own. Here's what's on. Food market Seventeen kitchens from Thailand's smaller cities pack up their best plates for Bangkok. Order homemade pizza from Chumphon at Mho Larn, charcoal skewers cooked Isan-meets-izakaya style at Lab Siab, or khao soi from Chiang Rai at Khao Soi Yai Kaew. Rong Khanom Yai serves traditional sweets more than a century old, all properly halal. Craft market Ten independent makers bring homeware and bags you'll actually use. Khortani weaves banana rope, Same.Thang restitches spent coffee sacks as colourful totes and Mae Teeta dyes indigo cloth by hand. Esan Cubism shapes earthenware from Isan folk art. WorkshopsMake something to carry home. Mould a Buddha figure with Esan Cubism, try cyanotype printing with the College of Fine Arts, build a kokedama moss ball with Garden Atlas, or start a junk journal with Yep Yep Handicraft. Drop-in sessions cover upcycled keychains, dried-flower craft and bookmarks. Travel talkOn Saturday September 19, DJ Pae Wisawa hosts a relaxed hour of chat about life on the road with Singha Wannasingh Prasertkul of Thuean Channel, Hom Pornsinee Iamsa-

Bangkok is about to get an aquarium unlike any other in the country. From late January 2027, Seacon Square Srinakarin becomes home to Thailand's first immersive aquarium, and it promises a fair bit more than the usual shuffle past a wall of glass. You'll find it inside MyScape on the mall's North Wing, a 1,400sqm space built with Index Creative Village under the concept 'Where Nature Becomes Art'. Nine zones bring together real fish, art, shifting light, colour and sound, plus a fair whack of immersive technology. Photograph: IndexCreativeVillagethailand first immersive aquarium Each room changes the mood as you move through water, colour and the slow drift of the fish towards spaces that read more like art installations than tanks. Living creatures and digital work sit side by side, and the team is keen to stress the quieter stuff too, from exhibition standards to how well the animals are actually looked after. It suits families, teenagers after somewhere to kill an afternoon, curious tourists and anyone chasing a fresh way to spend a Saturday. And this is only the start, with more creative spaces promised down the line. Thailand's first immersive aquarium opens at MyScape, North Wing, Seacon Square Srinakarin in late January 2027.  

Southeastern Gathering 2026 is a bluegrass festival now in its third year, run by the crew at Trad Bangkok, the people behind Bluegrass Underground Bangkok and Irish Session Bangkok. And this edition is the biggest one yet. Banjos and fiddles aren't the first sounds that spring to mind when you picture a night out in Bangkok. But a small, stubborn community of players keeps proving that bluegrass, Irish and old-time music belongs here as much as anywhere else. The clearest sign of how far the scene now reaches? A Thai-language logo, in for the first time this year. The team also stretches the run to six days, partly because not everyone can hop on a plane to hear the genre played live. Photograph: Bluegrass Underground BangkokBangkok   The line-up does plenty of the talking. Tray Wellington travels over from the US, a banjo player who won the 2024 Steve Martin Banjo Prize. Tokyo's Bluegrass Police turn up with the swagger behind an Instagram clip now sitting at 5 million views. Luke Coffey and Cameron Mather come from Ireland, two of the bigger names in traditional and progressive string playing. Local acts fill out the bill throughout the week. Four set-ups, four reasons to show up: The Pickin' Parlour. A private penthouse session capped at 20 people and running three hours. You sit shoulder to shoulder near the artists, with drinks flowing free for two of them.Welcome Jam. A relaxed open house to get things going, with canapés, a full bar and a loose jam between Thai and

You probably know Samyan for the food. The market stalls, the noodle shops that stay open late, the students drifting out of Chula with iced coffees in hand. But have you ever stopped to clock what colour the place actually is? That's the question behind Slowcombo's next outing. On September 19, they run The Neighbour's Palette: Seeing the Neighbourhood Through Colour, a small-group amble around Samyan built around a single prompt, colour. Photograph: bangkokmusiccityThe Neighbour's Palette: Seeing the Neighbourhood Through Colour The concept probably rings a bell from social media, where someone photographs an entire city through one shade, every red door and blue awning, then puts the shots side by side. Grouped together, they say something about a place that an ordinary snap never quite manages. They can even tell you as much about the person holding the camera as the streets in front of them. For Samyan, the palette might be the burnt orange of old brick, the washed-out blue of a shophouse sign or the particular yellow the light turns in the late afternoon. Shades you pass a hundred times a week and stop noticing, basically. Give it a few hours of proper attention, and the character of the area starts to show itself. Photograph: bangkokmusiccityThe Neighbour's Palette: Seeing the Neighbourhood Through Colour You won't get a rulebook. Pick one colour and hunt for it the whole way round, or shoot the lot, from shop doors and window frames to floor tiles, parked motorbik