Kaweewat Siwanartwong

Social calendar looking a little bare? Bangkok has plenty to fix that this weekend, from open-air cinema on the Chao Phraya and free art exhibitions in GalileOasis, Siam Paragon, Yaowarat and Srinakarin to Thai craft drinks, a 120-restaurant food festival, indie markets, shoegaze gigs, queer club nights and a free board-game meet-up. Start on the roof. Skyline Film returns to River City Bangkok for four evenings of outdoor screenings, swapping the multiplex for wooden deck chairs, wireless headphones and river views as the ferries move below. The line-up includes Midnight in Paris, The Princess Diaries, Drive, Black  Swan and Notting Hill, with 5.30pm and 8.30pm slots from July 9-12.  More of an art person? GalileOasis presents Chopper Pipatpong Sripeng’s home, a quiet show about love, shame, fear, hope and the idea of belonging. At MMAD Gallery 1, HOMMES.HOM’s debut show Pillow turns insomnia, anxiety, ceiling-staring and sleeping pills into grounded work, while Luenrit Yaowarat hosts Filipino sculptor Jinggoy Buensuceso’s industrial, origami-inspired Cosmic Bloom. For something softer, The Furryways fills Park Paragon with oversized characters, tactile installations and make-believe subway spaces.  Peckish? The World In One Bite 2026 spreads more than 120 restaurants across Central Embassy and Central Chidlom, with pop-ups, chef takeovers, tea tastings, live music, market stalls and even a wine bar pairing bottles with MBTI results. Thirsty instead? Sip Thai by Song Craft b

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.

The rain is arriving  almost every evening now, which means Bangkok's wet season is properly under way. Looking for a good excuse to dodge another downpour? Spend a few hours gallery hopping instead.  July's art calendar is packed with reasons to head out, from major new openings and long-awaited reunions to interactive installations and quietly compelling solo exhibitions. A few fresh creative spaces are also welcoming visitors for the first time, while several standout shows continue their run.  Whether you have an hour between coffee stops or a free Saturday afternoon to fill, these are the exhibitions worth catching across the city this month. Need more ideas? You can also fall back on our guides to Bangkok's best bars, restaurants, parks, and galleries, or work your way through our bucket list of the best things to do in Bangkok. Whether you're a regular gallery-goer or just art-curious, these are Bangkok’s best places to get your culture fix. From alleyway murals to paint-splashed corners you might walk past, here are our favourite spots to see street art in Bangkok. Subscribe to our free Time Out Bangkok newsletter and get the best of the city delivered straight to your inbox.

July is when Bangkok settles properly into the rainy season. It is also one of the fullest stretches on the city’s cultural calendar, so whether your idea of a good weekend involves live music, contemporary art, independent cinema or an afternoon rummaging through second-hand books, Bangkok gives you plenty of reasons to head out. Book lovers should start at Bangkok Book District Fest, which spreads across historic neighbourhoods including Phan Fa, Tha Tien and Nang Loeng. Independent bookshops open their doors, readings and gatherings run through the day and there are plenty of titles you are unlikely to find in chain stores. Film fans should also make room for the Taiwan Documentary and Film Festival, back with a line-up of hard-to-find documentaries and narrative features screening in Bangkok and Khon Kaen. By the river, Awakening Song Wat lights up one of Bangkok’s oldest riverside quarters after dark, placing light installations and digital artworks between warehouses, shophouses and narrow lanes you can cover in one evening. Music gets a strong showing too. Colorists Music Festival returns with a line-up spanning indie favourites, newer alternative acts and bigger crowd-pleasers, while JUST KIDS keeps things close-up with rising hip-hop artist Zambug and a community-minded approach to live shows. July looks busy, then. Carry an umbrella, keep some cash for books and merch and expect your weekends to fill up quickly. Keeping track of what's coming next? Our Bangkok  conc

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.

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.

We keep this article updated regularly to make sure everything stays accurate and current, pop back anytime for the latest. So 2025 was pretty huge for live music in Bangkok, wasn't it? We had Doja Cat, BLACKPINK, TV Girl, The Smashing Pumpkins and Tyler, The Creator all gracing stages across the city. Not a bad lineup. The good news? 2026 is looking just as packed. Alright, Oasis might not be on the cards just yet, but there's still a serious roster of artists lined up to play Bangkok stadiums and arenas over the coming months. And rumour has it even more big names are yet to announce tours like BTS. Givēon, Central Cee, Taeyong, Kraftwerk... the list goes on. Whether you're into R&B, grime, K-pop or electronic legends, there's something coming your way. Here are the best major gigs heading to the capital this year.  

June in Bangkok means sweaty afternoons, sudden downpours and permanently questionable hair, but the city rarely lets a bit of rain ruin its social life. Between storm clouds and iced coffees, the calendar quickly fills with riverside markets, free music festivals, film screenings and enough vintage shopping to destroy your budget before payday arrives. PUBPEAB Zine Fair returns with handmade books, risograph prints and crafty workshops for anyone romanticising a life spent making tiny publications. Music lovers are spoiled too. A free festival inspired by France’s Fête de la Musique spreads across One Bangkok and Alliance Française with more than 30 acts covering indie, jazz, hip-hop, mor lam and Ballroom performances celebrating Voguing culture. Elsewhere, the EU Film Festival 2026 brings thoughtful cinema from across Europe to venues including House Samyan and Lido Connect – completely free if you arrive early enough. Vintage hunters should make time for the riverside slow market and the latest Made By Legacy gathering at Pat Arena, where stylish crowds rummage through rails of secondhand fashion, vinyl and deeply unnecessary collectibles. Prefer something slower? Bangkok’s  laid-back Books and Beers festival happily encourages both reading and day drinking. Frankly, June stays packed. Keeping track of what's coming next? Our Bangkok  concert roundup for 2026 stays updated with the latest gigs worth adding to your calendar. Stay one step ahead and map out your month with o

What’s your weekend looking like? Club nights, bar-hopping or a slow wander through a flea market?  If the latter sounds more your speed, you’re in luck. Three flea markets are on the horizon, each bringing its own mix of vintage finds, handmade pieces and low-key people-watching. Here’s the breakdown of what’s coming and where you’ll want to be.

Bangkok doesn't really do slow. The city runs hot – always another plate to try, another bar to find, another corner of the night to chase down. Sometimes you just need out. Not far, but far enough: somewhere the air is cooler, the pace drops and the view stretches past concrete and neon. Chiang Mai answers that call. Head north and the landscape shifts, mountains roll in, the Ping River winds through and centuries of Northern Thai culture sit quietly on every corner. The food up here has its own character too: bold, rooted and built on recipes that haven't needed fixing. This guide is put together by the Koktail Thailand Restaurant Guide, spotlighting restaurants where mountain panoramas and riverside vistas do more than set the scene – they're part of the meal itself. Local ingredients take centre stage, each dish a small piece of the larger story that Northern Thailand has been telling for a very long time. RECOMMEND: Best egg noodles in Bangkok Bangkok’s top 13 steakhouses Confessions of a Bangkok food voyeur

Board games are an easy way to spend a Sunday afternoon, especially when someone else explains the rules. Held on the second Sunday of every month, this free gathering welcomes seasoned players and complete beginners alike for a relaxed session of rolling dice, moving meeples and meeting fellow enthusiasts around the table. This month’s edition spotlights Thai-designed games, giving homegrown creators a chance to share their work. Drop by whenever suits you, pull up a chair and see why Thailand’s tabletop scene keeps growing.July 12. Free entry. TK Park, CentralWorld. 11am-7pm

Watching stand-up is one thing. Getting behind the microphone is another. The Comedy Club Bangkok gives aspiring comics a chance to test their material in a two-day workshop led by resident comedian and creative director Chris Wegoda. Sessions cover joke writing, stage presence, timing and building a persona, with practical exercises that help turn everyday observations into punchlines. Expect feedback, nervous laughs and a room full of people giving comedy a proper go for the first time. If you’ve ever thought, ‘I could do that’, this is where you find out.July 11-12. B2,000-2,500 via here. The Comedy Club Bangkok, The Royal Oak. 3pm

Hanoi favourite Snug makes its Bangkok debut with a one-night takeover at Horn, bringing nearly a decade of queer club culture with it. Known for building an open dancefloor where everyone is welcome, the long-running party keeps the focus on good music, good company and staying out late. Ouissam, Emel and Saint Guel keep things moving with soulful grooves, house and disco. Find a spot near the speakers and settle in for a night that values community just as much as the music.July 11. B400 via here. HORN. 10pm

Bar Temp lines up another strong night for Bangkok’s electronic music crowd as More Rice teams up with Trommel for its third visit to the city. Italian DJ Giammarco Orsini heads the bill, joined by local selectors DOTT and Sarayu for a night kept firmly rooted in underground territory. Trommel has long championed independent electronic artists online, while More Rice remains one of Bangkok’s best spots for vinyl, complete with listening stations and Technics SL-1200 turntables.July 11. B600 via here and B800 at the door. Bar Temp. 9pm onwards

One shopping trip can easily turn into lunch, dinner and a few unexpected snacks at The World In One Bite 2026. Spanning Central Embassy and Central Chidlom, the festival gathers more than 120 restaurants from across Thailand, with plenty worth seeking out. Start at EATHAI for pop-ups from Suki Pornsiri, Pad Thai Khun Choo and Pasta Ama, then make time for chef takeovers, tea tastings and a wine bar pairing bottles with your MBTI results. Live music, market stalls and plenty of places to pause between bites make wandering part of the fun. July 2-12. Free entry. Central Embassy and Central Chidlom. 10am onwards

Sleepless nights leave their mark, and HOMMES.HOM chooses not to tidy them up. Pillow, the debut solo exhibition by Sittha Jantharawong, draws on insomnia, anxiety and the small-hour routines that come with them, from staring at the ceiling to reaching for a bottle of sleeping pills on the bedside table. A former advertising creative, the artist brings a sharp eye for everyday behaviour to work that quietly examines emotions people rarely say out loud. Presented as part of MMADness is Calling, the exhibition asks whether accepting our struggles is the first step towards living with them. July 9-August 23. Free entry. MMAD Gallery 1, MunMun Srinakarin (Seacon Square). 10.30am-7pm

In home, Chopper Pipatpong Sripeng looks at the space between who we hope to become and who we are when certainty starts to slip. Presented at GalileOasis, the solo exhibition gathers paintings shaped by love, shame, hope, fear and brief moments of calm, tracing the small negotiations that make up everyday life. Rather than chasing tidy answers, Chopper pays attention to acts of acceptance that slowly reshape us, suggesting home is less a destination than something we keep building over time. July 4-August 3. Free entry. GalileOasis. 9am-7pm

Created with BEM and supported by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, The Furryways turns Park Paragon into a make-believe subway station filled with oversized sculptures, tactile installations and plenty of chances to touch, hug and interact. Familiar characters including Mushkin, Rosado, Corkin, Gally and Odey pop up around platforms and train-inspired spaces, making this less a walk-through show than a soft, strange little world to linger in. Bangkok is the first stop before the exhibition travels to other cities across Asia. July 4-19. Free entry. Park Paragon, Siam Paragon. 10.30am-9pm

‘A spy-themed Sala Daeng bar so slick even James Bond would slide in and order his martini shaken, not stirred.’ Built around the mythology of spies, secrets and Ian Fleming-style glamour, Rogue Affair carries the hush of somewhere official agencies might quietly pretend not to know about. It’s a stylish sanctuary hiding in plain sight, with just enough theatre to flatter your inner double agent. Order the Osaka, the Janitor or the Excommunicado and you get a taste of the bar’s obsession with coded lives, hidden motives and names that sound as if they belong in a classified file. It’s sleek, playful and very knowing. But, much like a certain tuxedoed Englishman, you may find yourself circling back to the classic. The martini. Shaken, not stirred. Ice-cold, faintly ceremonial and still the drink that started the whole myth. So slide onto a stool, keep your voice low and your intentions lower. Nobody's watching. Or everybody is. Either way, the martini is on its way. Saladaeng 2, inside PASSA Hotel, 5th Floor. Open Wednesday-Sunday, 6pm-1am. Entry is free. Call 082 852 7999

'A bistro-bar steeped in Hemingway's Paris years, where the cocktails keep things simple but suggest plenty beneath the surface.’ Ernest Hemingway is one of literature's great understaters, a defining voice of the Lost Generation, the phrase Gertrude Stein used for the disillusioned writers and artists drifting through Europe after the First World War. His sentences look simple. They aren't. Every plain line hides something deeper, which is exactly what he meant by his famous iceberg theory. He wrote The Sun Also Rises while working as a foreign correspondent in Paris, tapping away between café sessions, horse races and late nights with other expats. The novel follows a group of Americans and Britons moving through a world they no longer quite belong to, with Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley carrying the ache beneath all the surface cool. Which brings us to Hemingway Bangkok. Now in the thick of Sukhumvit Soi 11, the bar-bistro still channels the writer’s Paris years through its easygoing dining room, leafy terrace and travel-worn charm. There's wine, champagne, beer and gin, but cocktails are the reason to lean into the theme. Try the Basil Bellini, Tik Tok Thai or Mexican Moondance, though in honour of the man himself, the daiquiri feels like the order that makes the most sense. Soi Sukhumvit 11. Open daily, 11am-2am. Entry is free. Call 02 653 3900

'A literary mystery cocktail bar drawing on Dickens, packed with Pickwickian escapades and drinks named after his characters.' Tucked down a Bangkok side street, The Pickwick Chronicles makes a strong claim to being the city's most bookish bar. Wooden shelves line the walls, hardbacks pile up everywhere and the lighting stays just low enough that make the menu feel like part of the mystery.  The name nods to The Pickwick Papers, or The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club if you want the full Dickensian mouthful. First published in serial form, the novel follows Samuel Pickwick and his companions as they leave London to chronicle life around England, stumbling into comic trouble as they go. That literary streak carries through to the drinks. Order an Augustus Snodgrass Teddy Bear, a Tracy Tupman, Mr Wardle's Tiki Drink, Samuel Pickwick's Martini or Nathaniel Winkle Vol II and you can drink your way through the cast. The cocktails arrive with proper care, garnishes and all, and the bartenders are happy to explain which character sits behind each glass. A love of English literature helps. A soft spot for Dickens helps even more. 76/10 Lang Suan Road, Lumphini. Open Monday-Saturday, 5pm-2am. Entry is free. Call 098 494 6727.

Another Thai name lands on the world stage. Phuket teenager Nene Royal takes 'Zombie' by The Cranberries to America's Got Talent, and all four judges say yes. She's 16, she writes her own songs, and she now goes through to the next round, one step closer to the sort of career she's been quietly building since primary school. The performance earns a standing ovation. All four judges talk about her musicianship, then about the charisma and energy they say a rock star needs.    She isn't a total unknown, mind. Thailand has been watching for years. Three million followers across her socials, an appearance on Super 10, first runner-up at the 14th Overdrive Guitar Contest in 2023, an Outstanding Player Award at the King Power Band Competition in 2025. Enya Music, the instrument brand, name her a Featured Artist. She picks up a guitar at six, teaches herself from videos on the internet and practises alone until the chords stick.   Photograph: neneroyalmusicAmerica's Got Talent Before the lights and the buzzers, she busks. Evenings and weekends in the markets around Phuket, guitar case open on the concrete, amp running off a borrowed extension lead, playing over the noise of woks and motorbikes and tourists sorting through racks of vests. Most people walk straight past. Some stop for a song, then carry on. You learn how to hold a crowd that hasn't chosen to listen, and once you can do that, a television studio holds no fear whatsoever. Global superstardom next, apparently. W

Late night bookworms, a lil treat for you this second half of the year. The Goethe-Institut Thailand Library keeps its doors open until 8pm on the first Wednesday of every month, a new ritual it calls the Late Night Library. It starts Wednesday, July 8 and runs through December, which gives you six chances to make a habit of it. The walk over from Surasak BTS takes about ten minutes, less if the pavement is behaving. Photograph: Goethe-Institut ThailandLibrary The clever bit is what happens to the rules. Talking is fine. Practising your German out loud is fine. Working in a group, huddled around one of the long tables, arguing about verb endings? Also fine. Snacks are permitted as long as they don't smell, and drinks are permitted as long as they have lids. It's free, and it's for everybody. The shelves hold more than grammar drills. Language material, yes, but also contemporary fiction, graphic novels, magazines and children's books. Members get Onleihe, the institute's digital library, which holds more than 20,000 e-books and assorted media, all of it free to borrow. Photograph: Goethe-Institut ThailandLibrary The rest of the week runs to a more conventional clock. Weekdays open at 9.30am, Saturdays run 8am to 5pm and Sundays 8.30am to 4.30pm. Head to the Goethe-Institut Thailand Facebook page for the fine print. Bangkok doesn't offer many places where you can read, talk, eat and loiter without someone expecting you to buy a coffee every forty minutes. The aircon is co

Within the first few seconds of Chungking Express or In the Mood for Love, the flickering neon signs bleeding into crowded streets, the muted green hues of narrow alleyways, the camera gliding through crowds as though searching for something lost, and time itself seeming to move more slowly than it should – all of this is enough to tell you that this is the world of Wong Kar Wai. A world where love almost always arrives too late and longing lingers far longer than it should, where cigarette smoke carries more weight than conversation and a glance that doesn't quite connect becomes the entire story. Photograph: In the Mood for Love2000 Photograph: Fallen Angels1995 This July, House Samyan brings five of his masterworks back to the big screen: Chungking Express (July 12), Fallen Angels (July 13), Happy Together (July 9 and 15), In the Mood for Love (July 11 and 14) and 2046 (July 10). The Shot by Christopher Doyle retrospective isn't merely screening these films. It's a homecoming of sorts, marking both the cinema's anniversary and the arrival of Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's latest feature, Morte Cucina, shot by the very cinematographer who made Wong's visual language possible. Doyle was never simply someone behind the camera. Over more than a decade collaborating with Wong, he became something closer to a co-author, a co-architect of longing itself. He transformed raw emotion into the visible world, wielding light and colour and unconventional frame rates the way a sculptor works

You know the friend who answers every text with a reaction clip? The one who says more with a badly-cropped screenshot than most people manage in a paragraph? This one's for them. YUEDPAO Presents MEME FEST collides two things that have no business sharing a room, the sweaty communal joy of a live gig and the anarchic humour of the group chat, and somehow makes the whole thing sing. It's a festival, yes. It's also the internet spilling out onto a stage, unfiltered and slightly out of control. The masterminds are Go on G, the crew behind Folk Khang Wat, and Buffalo Gag, one of the loudest names in Thailand's online comedy scene. Between them they round up more than 30 acts, musicians, actors, YouTubers, influencers, whoever makes you laugh, rotating across two stages from 1pm until 11pm. And the lineup lands. October 17 brings Tattoo Colour, Singto Namchok, SLUR and Samarn, plus the gloriously unexpected pairing of luk thung legend Yingyong Yodbuangam with Arpaporn Nakornsawan. There's Earn Wat Yai, The Ginkz, Pupan The Autobahn and Thep.lee.la, too. October 18 answers back with ZEAL, LITTLE JOHN, DAJIM and Kong Huayrai, alongside a run of comedians – NINE, Joke iScream, the Baby Zipper Mime Show – who need no surname to pull a crowd. But the stages are only half the story. Wander off and you'll find Hong Yiam Yod, where you natter and make content with your favourite influencers; The Wark, a karaoke experiment unlike anything you've survived before; and Run Away Jee, which da

Some dogs win people over by being bold, glossy and impossible to ignore. Wednesday does the opposite. The small brown dachshund, already a familiar face to Bangkok art lovers, is shy, anxious and not always sure what to do with herself. Which, of course, is exactly why everyone loves her. Now she gets her biggest outing yet. 'Wednesday: All Over the Place' lands at River City Bangkok this July, inviting visitors to follow the worried little sausage dog as she inches her way through unfamiliar people, places and feelings. Photograph: River City BangkokWednesday: All Over the Place It is cute, yes, but not just cute. The show uses Wednesday’s wobbly courage to talk about fear, self-doubt, hesitation and the small daily bravery of keeping going anyway. Behind it all is Newyear, the illustrator and contemporary pop artist who created Wednesday. Through her character’s awkward encounters and tiny internal dramas, Newyear turns a dog’s eye view of the world into something more personal: a reminder that stepping outside your comfort zone rarely feels graceful at first. Photograph: River City BangkokWednesday: All Over the Place The exhibition unfolds across five zones: Zone 1: Wednesday in a Loop Zone 2: After Long Thinking Zone 3: Out of Comfort Zone Zone 4: Time for Self-reflection Zone 5: Perfectly Imperfect And there is the extra tail-wagging bit: for the first time, River City Bangkok is letting pets come along too. They will need to stay in a stroller or carrier, which m

The French multi-instrumentalist, singer and producer FKJ brings his acclaimed live show back to Asia this year, announcing a seven-city tour in support of his forthcoming third studio album, Tyber, and the genre-defying artist plays Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo. View this post on Instagram A post shared by FKJ (@frenchkiwijuice) If you've never seen him work, picture this. One man on a stage crowded with saxophones, keys and guitars, plus a loop pedal on the floor by his feet. He plays a phrase, records it, loops it back, then layers the next instrument on top until the room hears a full band. There's no backing track and no other musicians. He keeps a mic close so you catch him breathing between takes. Photograph: frenchkiwijuiceBangkok Tyber’s set to release on September 11, his first full-length since V I N C E N T, and he writes and records it across London, Los Angeles, Paris, Brazil and Mexico. It's a record made by someone in the middle of big changes, threading groove-led compositions, jazz instrumentals, sample-heavy experiments and psychedelic textures through what stands as his most expansive work yet. Lead single 'Soulmates' offers a warm way in, and the guest list tells you plenty: Lucy Park, Baby Rose, Bas, Eryn Allen Kane and Labrinth all appear across the 12-song tracklist, which he's already teased with 'Changes Rising'. Over the years FKJ has earned a devoted following through a fusion of jazz,

The debut did the thing every promoter dreams of. It made a remarkable impression, drew an overwhelmingly positive response and sent people out onto the street still humming. So Ghibli Live at The Palace comes back, this time as a restage concert, and once again it invites audiences through the world of Studio Ghibli's animated films by way of live music. Photograph: ETC Studio BKKGhibli Live at The Palace The setting matters as much as the programme. The Thewarat Sapharom Throne Hall at Phaya Thai Palace has just reopened after a full restoration, and this run is one of the first real reasons to step inside. Built in the early 20th century, the hall stands a short walk from Victory Monument, all high ceilings, pale stonework and the hush of a building that has watched a century go by. Music and memory come together here again, and the room gives them the space to do it. Photograph: ETC Studio BKKGhibli Live at The Palace The line-up gathers Studio Ghibli's best-loved film scores, reworked and performed by a company of skilled musicians. You'll know the melodies before you know the titles. The soft ones from My Neighbour Totoro that reach back somewhere quiet. The bigger, hopeful pieces from Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle that catch people off guard every time. Most of it comes from Joe Hisaishi, whose long partnership with Hayao Miyazaki is the reason these tunes have outlasted the films they were written for. Heard live, in a hall this size, they land properly.

This late July, if a proper city stroll is calling your name, point yourself towards 'Charoen CITYZEN: Charoen Edition' – an event that hands you the run of the Talat Noi-Charoen Krung neighbourhood along a route stitching together food, art and the stories of the people who actually live here. It takes an ordinary afternoon on foot and turns it something closer to a treasure hunt, letting you read one of Bangkok's most quietly cinematic districts from angles you'd never clock on a normal day. Here's how it works. You collect your CITYZEN ID & Journal, check in as a fully fledged Charoen Citizen and set off. The eating alone earns the trip. Charmkrung, Tae Lao Chin Seng, Kway Teow Roo Talat Noi, Rice9Gelato Shop, Sunset Coffee Roasters, Envies and Jittawilai Photo Studio all throw open their doors, each serving up signature plates and the small, stubborn personalities that give this pocket its charm. View this post on Instagram A post shared by THE CORNER HOUSE (@thecornerhouse.bangkok) Then come the flourishes. You gather stamps from shops and the hidden spots dotted around the community, wander the 'Served with Art' mini gallery at Charmgall and catch a set from the DJ Random Pop-ups somewhere along the way. Play it right and the Charoen CITYZEN Lucky Draw sends you home with a prize. So whether you're a devoted foodie, a cafe obsessive or simply the type who'd rather read a city through its pavements, this one rewards taking your sweet time. Chat to the

Fresh off the roaring success of the craft beer festival that took over the historic shophouse streets of Song Wat Road – and armed with a mission to hoist Thai local wisdom and homegrown ingredients onto the international stage – Sip Thai by Song Craft returns once more from July 6-12 at Parkside Hall on the G floor of Dusit Central Park. For Song Craft, they're not simply pouring pints. They're a community built to grow Thai craft drinks and community spirits, redefining the whole category as something they call 'Liquid Art' – a heady blend of creativity, music and contemporary art that turns beverages as something worth lingering over. Photograph: songcraftfestivalsThailand's craft beer festival So what's actually on? Plenty. Quality craft producers and brands from every region of Thailand converge under one roof, ready and waiting for you to sip your way through. There are knowledge talks too, where industry insiders spill the real stories behind the bottle. Every single day brings DJs on the decks, and live music takes over on July 10-11 . Then there are the promotions, special offers from the vendors that live and die within this one glorious week. So clear the diary. Sip Thai by Song Craft runs July 6-12, 11am-10pm, at Parkside Hall, G floor, Dusit Central Park. Free entry.

All month, Hua Takhe Old Market gets the full floral treatment. The old riverside neighbourhood in Lat Krabang, usually runs on canal breezes and afternoon quiet, throws its shophouse doors open for Rakdok Floral Weeks 2026, a flower exhibition back for another go under the theme 'Flower to Spread Smiles'. Come down, take a slow amble through the lanes and let this lovely, slightly time-warped pocket of the city wrap itself around you for an afternoon. Photograph: Arthy PhotoRakdok Floral Weeks The event first blooms in 2020 as a plain flower-arranging show. This year it grows up. What you once simply looked at now asks you to come closer, to touch, to linger among the works and the weathered timber walls that hold them. Artists and locals make it together, these are the stories of Hua Takhe, told fresh. The vision belongs to Chayawas 'Joe' Panjaphakdi, florist and founder of Rakdok, who reckons a flower has no business sitting prettily in a vase and calling it a day. It can belong to a place, a person, an ordinary Tuesday morning. So he scatters blooms across the market like punctuation, nudging people back to a corner of town that earns the visit. 20 installations wait for you. 11 come from competition entrants, eight from the Rakdok team and one from a visually impaired artist, each with its own tale. Some stop you in your tracks. Some make you grin. Some might have you falling for the place all over again. There are workshops and craft sessions too, the warm hands-on so

Travel And Tour World has released its Top 50 Medical Tourism Destinations for 2026, and Thailand has taken second place, pipped only by Türkiye and finishing ahead of a global field. The ranking weighs the things that matter most to patients travelling abroad for treatment: trusted care, specialist expertise, modern medical technology, competitive pricing, shorter waiting times and somewhere appealing to recover afterwards. On those counts, Thailand clearly makes a strong case.  Here's the top 20 medical tourism destinations for 2026: Turkey Thailand India Mexico South Korea Malaysia Costa Rica Singapore United Arab Emirates (UAE) Colombia Spain Czech Republic Germany Brazil Japan Panama Taiwan Greece Canada China Medical travel is growing up fast, and patients now compare destinations carefully, looking at accreditation, transparency,  surgeon reputations and value before they book a flight. Demand continues to grow across cardiology, oncology, fertility, orthopaedics, dentistry, cosmetic work, rehabilitation, precision medicine and wellness therapies. For Thailand, the ranking is not just about scenery or soft-power appeal. It reflects the hospitals, specialists, recovery services and hospitality infrastructure that have helped make the country one of the world’s most established medical tourism hubs. Travel And Tour World has released its Top 50 Medical Tourism Destinations for 2026, and Thailand has taken second place, behind only Türkiye and ahead of destinations from

After setting a fresh benchmark for unforgettable fun last year, the Monster Music Festival  2026 edition returns bigger, bolder and more complete than anything the city has thrown before. This is the ultimate metropolitan music weekend, the one that gathers every scene under a single roof. Indie, pop, hard rock, whatever moves you, this is where you lose yourself in sound from the first light of day right through to the final shimmer of night. And the opening wave of names arrives with real swagger. Big Ass, Bowky Lion, Ink Waruntorn, Jeff Satur, Taitosmith, Three Man Down and YOUNGOHM lead the bill across two glorious days. More than a hundred artists still wait backstage, so clear your calendar now and thank us later. Photograph: Monster Music FestivalQueen Sirikit National Convention Center The music is only half of it, though. Monster runs sunrise to small hours, and the spaces between sets carry just as much magic. A properly curated spread of food and drink you'll happily queue for, merch booths that reward the true obsessives, quiet corners where you catch your breath before the next act reels you back in. Bring your mates, bring your person or fly solo. Nobody blinks, everybody stays till the lights come up. Four editions deep, the festival earns its place as one of the city's most coveted dates. Now year five lands with everything turned up. Production, lighting, visuals, sound, a running order that glides from daylight to dark without a single dull moment. You al