Kaweewat Siwanartwong

Social calendar looking thin? Bangkok fixes that without much fuss. This weekend offers plenty of reasons to leave the house, whether your ideal day involves gallery hopping, live music, a long lunch or a film that deserves a proper cinema screen. Spend an afternoon drifting through Talat Noi with Charoen CITYZEN, where cafés, family-run shops and small galleries encourage you to slow down and notice the neighbourhood. Prefer to sit still? Bangkok Kunsthalle’s Sunday Cinema offers another reason to switch off your phone and watch films from Drive My Car to Perfect Days inside the old Thai Wattana Panich printing house. Music lovers are spoilt. PUN returns for his first show since his ordination with The Space Between Dream and Dawn, while Monster Music Festival brings together more than 100 acts, including Big Ass, Bowky Lion and Jeff Satur. After something more classic? Bangkok Ballroom Dancing brings live big band music back to Lumphini Hall, where polished shoes still glide across the wooden floor. Food plans practically make themselves. Toast Peru’s Independence Day with ceviche and pisco at Bar.Yard, stop by BONCI for its Gracie Abrams-inspired menu or settle in for Seenspace’s Saturday Boozy Brunch, complete with workshops, coffee and an easy-going crowd. 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 July with our guide to what’s on, and ke

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.

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

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.  

Pride Month may be over, but the conversation doesn’t end with the last parade. Beyond the Rainbow spends two days at TUFF Bar exploring queer lives through film, performance, workshops and open discussions, with a programme that values lived experience over polished slogans. Organised by Little Light Lab and independent collaborators, it gives people  space to share stories, learn new skills and meet others across a packed weekend. More than a cultural gathering, the event asks who gets remembered, whose voices are preserved and why everyday experiences deserve a place in the public record long after the rainbow flags come down. July 25-26. B150-250 via here. TUFF Bar. 11am-11pm

PUN returns to the stage with The Space Between Dream and Dawn – Comeback Show, his first live performance since completing his ordination. Picking up where MUSEUM OF SOMNIA – An Embodied Music Experience left off, the concert revisits the songs and stories that shaped the project while opening a new chapter. PUN oversees every detail, from the setlist and narrative to the staging, lending the evening a distinctly personal touch. Tickets are reserved for visitors who attended the MUSEUM OF SOMNIA exhibition with either a One-time Pass or Four-times Pass, making this a rare reunion with the fans who have followed the journey from the start. July 25-August 8. B299-1,299 via here. centralwOrld LIVE. 11am-10pm

Peru's Independence Day falls on July 28, and Bar.Yard at Kimpton Maa-Lai Bangkok marks the occasion with five days of food, music and plenty of pisco. Visiting chef Julio César Concha Muñoz has curated a menu inspired by the dishes he grew up with, giving Bangkok diners a taste of Peruvian favourites without leaving the city. Expect fresh ceviche in several forms, including ceviche clásico, ceviche carretillero and tiradito al ají amarillo, followed by traditional sweets such as suspiro a la limeña and alfajores. Pair your meal with a classic pisco cocktail, available throughout the month, and settle in for an evening celebrating one of South America’s great food cultures. July 24-28. Free entry. Bar.Yard at Kimpton Maa-Lai Bangkok. 5pm-1am

Gracie Abrams fans have a new Bangkok pilgrimage. To mark the release of her third album, Daughter From Hell, BONCI has given its café a temporary makeover with artwork inspired by the singer and a menu borrowing names from the record. Order a charcoal-topped Hit the Wall coffee, caffeine-free Look at My Life, fizzy ume plum drink Good Reason or Daughter From Hell dark beer cake. Limited-edition cup sleeves inspired by the album’s tracks are also up for grabs while stocks last. Even if you only stop by for an afternoon coffee, expect fans comparing favourites and taking photos between sips. Now-July 31. Free entry. BONCI. 10am-6pm

Sitting 22 floors above the buzz of Sukhumvit Soi 11, Pastel Rooftop Bar & Mediterranean Dining ranks among Bangkok's finest spots for pairing high-end plates with a lively, party-ready night out. Set atop the Aira Hotel, it serves up sweeping skyline views and a look borrowed straight from the sun-soaked French Riviera. Living up to its name, Pastel dazzles with soft pastel tones, nautical touches, modern murals and shifting neon lights that change colour as the evening rolls on. Cleverly laid out across three distinct zones, the venue gives you plenty of reasons to stay from dinner right through to the small hours. Soi Sukhumvit 11. Open Every day, 5pm-1am. Call 095 703 5679.

Perched on the 12th floor of The St. Regis Bangkok, this bar claims a prime view over the smart Royal Bangkok Sports Club – a dream spot for afternoon tea or a Sunday cocktail while the horses thunder round the track below. The long black marble counter is where it all happens. Drinks run from the fuss-free G&T to the properly historic bloody mary, first mixed at the St. Regis New York back in 1934. And the Bangkok crew give that tomato-based classic a local twist, lacing it with a hit of Thai spice that wakes the whole thing right up.  159 Rajadamri Road. Open daily, 24 hours. Call 02 207 7777

Sitting pretty in the thick of Ratchaprasong, Raynue is Bangkok's slick new lifestyle lounge and rooftop dining spot. You'll find it across the 3rd and 4th floors of the iconic Gaysorn Amarin building, with a handy skybridge link straight from Chit Lom BTS. Billed as an 'auditory social lounge', the space marries postmodern and contemporary looks, drawing cues from the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, all crowned by an open-air terrace, polished design and a premium Void Acoustics sound system. Best of all, Raynue shifts with the clock. Menu, music and mood flow from day to night, so the whole vibe reinvents itself depending on when you drop by. Gaysorn Amarin, 3rd Floor. Open daily, 8am-12am. Call 092 976 6995

Fancy a night that plays more like a Barcelona blowout than a quiet dinner? VASO Spanish Tapas Bar is one of Bangkok's hottest tables. Tucked inside the smart Velaa Sindhorn Village on Langsuan Road, it's famously tricky to book, pulling in the city's social set, food obsessives and night owls alike. VASO reworks the traditional Spanish tasca with a slick, modern edge, its curved Mediterranean lines wrapped around an open kitchen and a sprawling counter bar. Choose the lively 'Blanco' room or the intimate 'Negro' space. Chefs plate up inches away, a DJ sets the beat and a giant bell rings out for 'la buena vida'. Velaa Sindhorn Village, 87 Lang Suan Road. Open Daily, 12pm-3pm and 5:30pm-12am. Call 098 914 4664

Gigi Eatery at Sacha's Hotel Uno suits just about any plan, whether you're cafe hopping, easing through brunch or settling in for dinner and drinks. Playful pops of colour lift the modern room, and those tall windows in the second dining area keep everything bright and airy. The kitchen leans authentically Italian, turning out burrata salad, pappardelle rosa and risotto, with a cheese board to linger over and vegan choices on hand too. Save room for pudding – the strawberry mille-feuille, honey-pressed croissant and tiramisu are all worth ordering. Keep an eye on their social channels for the latest live music line-ups. Soi Sukhumvit 45. Open Thursday-Monday, 6pm-1am. Call 094 894 8095

Not far from Sing Sing Theatre, this bar wraps you in dim red velvet, its walls and ceilings drowning beneath thousands of gin bottles for a steampunk-submarine effect. Iron Balls has earned Bangkok a spot on the craft distillery map, brewing tropical-leaning gin in a German-imported copper still at its Ekkamai bar-slash-distillery. Now there's a second outpost in Phrom Phong, built around punchy cocktails that put the house in centre stage. Every corner reflects owner-designer Ashley Sutton's maximalist vision – brassy trimmings, sleek leather chairs, hard-hat diving masks. Empty distilling vessels and bottles dangle overhead, and suddenly you're underwater, adrift among a thousand rising bubbles. Soi Sukhumvit 45. Open Monday-Sunday, 8pm-2am. Call 063 225 1331

The Shed BKK is the new eatery collective from Rongros Dining Group, throwing its doors open daily from 11am to 11pm. It's built for anyone who rocks up hungry, thirsty or both, gathering a proper spread of kitchens and bars under one roof. Fancy Thai-style seafood? Horsamut has you covered. From there the cast rolls on through bimbo for mediterranean plates, bou bou for dessert-led drinks and casabon for Pacific Rim flavours. When it's time to slow down, the Shed cellar pours something special from its wine list, while the Shed bakelab keeps things homey with fresh bakes.  Soi Sukhumvit 26. Open Tuesday-Sunday, 11am-11pm. Call 084 169 6562

With both open-air and indoor seating, this is a proper spot for people-watching, late-night lounging and soaking up a soundtrack of hip-hop or chill beats. The kitchen deals in hearty Mexican-American fusion comfort food, from bottomless 'all-you-can-eat' taco deals to sizzling fajitas, mountainous nachos and moreish jalapeño cheese balls. Drinks are where it really shows off, though. The list leans hard on a well-chosen line-up of tequilas, mezcals and house margaritas, with the jalapeño margarita earning a loyal following of its own. It's the sort of place you drop by for one round and somehow stay for three. Fair warning, that is. Soi Sukhumvit 13 (2nd Floor of Margarita Storm). Open 24 hours, daily. Call 02 651 1153

Lately, our life revolves around one thing – buying concert tickets. Saying we book them every weekend is honestly not an exaggeration. Another dream comes true this autumn though, and this one's been a long time coming. We're finally watching Interstellar with a live orchestra performance by the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra. Interstellar Live returns Christopher Nolan's Academy Award-winning epic to the big screen, scored live by Hans Zimmer's masterpiece, the soundtrack Zimmer himself calls the best work of his career. Martin Gellner conducts, organist Charles Andrews takes the keys, and the full 170-minute theatrical cut plays out while every note happens in the room with you. The organ alone runs through your chest. Nolan makes something rare here. Released in 2014, the film is action-packed and poetic, an epic the press ranks among the finest of the early 21st century. Audiences haven't stopped agreeing. It lands on countless best-of lists, takes a Top 10 spot for its year and picks up five Academy Award nominations, including Best Visual Effects, Best Production Design and Best Original Score. We already know how this goes. The seats fill, the lights drop, someone near you sniffles through the docking scene and nobody judges them for it. No headphones, no pause button, just Zimmer's score filling the hall and Matthew McConaughey ageing decades in seconds. It happens on October 28 at 7pm at UOB LIVE, EMSPHERE. Tickets go on sale from midday on July 28. Grab yours here

Anyone after somewhere to wander once the working day winds down, or keen to swap the shopping mall for a city-view car park, can mark this one on the map. 'Tay Level 10' returns, gathering shops, crafts, vintage finds and street food on the 10th floor of S-Oasis in Chatuchak, running August 6-8, midday-8pm. Photograph: trys_terHybrid Flea Market The appeal here isn't only the browsing. It doubles as a community corner in the Chatuchak-Mo Chit-Vibhavadi-Phahonyothin stretch, the sort of place you drop by to sit for a while, meet a friend or grab a proper feed after clocking off. Once again it sets up in an open-air car park ten storeys up, though this round a roof handles the rain. So you take your time regardless of what the forecast says, with the traffic humming somewhere far below. Across the three days more than 80 stalls line the floor, from fashion and secondhand pieces to film cameras, homeware, potted plants and small accessories, alongside a food and drink zone. Whether you collect vintage, need something for the flat or just want a decent bite, you head home with more than you turned up with. Photograph: trys_terHybrid Flea Market The location earns its keep too. It sits a short walk from both Mo Chit BTS and Chatuchak Park BTS, and a free shuttle runs from the stations right to the door, which matters when the afternoon heat sets in. Thinking of trading rather than shopping? The team still takes vendor applications, so long as you send photos and product detai

Two years of Step into Swing at Hua Lamphong Railway Station drew hundreds of dancers under the old station's arches, and Jelly Roll Jazz Club has decided it's time for a bigger room. This August the club transforms Lumphini Hall into a classic swing ballroom, with live jazz from international artists and a proper swing-era atmosphere. 'Swing Partout: Lumpini Grand Ball' takes place on August 23, starting from 4pm. It's free, it's open to everyone and it opens with a beginner class run by actual instructors, so nobody has to stand by the wall pretending to check their phone. Wear something with a bit of swish, flat shoes you can actually move in, and turn up early. Photograph: Jelly Roll Jazz ClubLumphini Hall The music does a lot of the heavy lifting. Yusu Jazz Band flies the Thai flag before a genuinely international line-up takes over: Clap Stomp Swingin' from Japan, Eyal Vilner from the States, The Brothers Arntzen out of Canada and Steven Coombe representing the UK. The Swing Era Cadet closes the night. That's a serious amount of talent for a room that costs nothing to enter. The centrepiece is the Lumpini Grand Ball, a competition modelled on the Harvest Moon Ball, the contest that crowned America's finest swing dancers between 1935 and 1970. This year marks the ninetieth anniversary of that original, and the professionals turn up to honour it with lifts, spins and footwork worth watching even if you never leave your seat. Photograph: Jelly Roll Jazz ClubLumphini Ha

Marimekko's flowers are back, and this time they take over a corner of Mega Bangna. Marimekko: Art of Flowers is the Finnish design house's new pop-up, a bright, print-splashed room that invites everyone to spend a while with the label and its sunny outlook on living well. Photograph: Marimekko ThailandBangkok Inside, the exhibition splits across three zones. Art of Dressing puts those bold signature prints front and centre, a nod to dressing loudly and enjoying every second of it. Art of Living gathers the home pieces – the mugs, the textiles, the small things that make an ordinary day run smoother. And Art of Blooming turns up the flowers, nature and colour, spelling out the idea the brand keeps returning to: 'Bring Joy to Your Everyday Life'. Happiness, it reckons, lives in the little moments. Photograph: Marimekko ThailandBangkok The centrepiece is Kukasta kukkaan, a print Finnish designer Erja Hirvi creates in 2024. It shows bees crossing a summer garden in full bloom, flower to flower, and it now runs through the Pre-Fall 2026 collection across both ready-to-wear and homeware. Marimekko: Art of Flowers runs from today until July 22 at Mega FoodWalk, Mega Bangna, and the newest collections wait at Marimekko stores nationwide.

Pride season in Bangkok has a familiar shape by now. A brand slaps a rainbow on its window, a parade rolls through and everyone packs the bunting away until next year. Beyond the Rainbow continues. For two days this month, TUFF BAR turns over its whole floor to a programme of film screenings, workshops, talk shows and performance art, running 11am to 11pm on July 25 and 26. It comes together through Little Light Lab, a small experimental outfit, and a handful of partners who pool people, ideas and money to make the thing happen. The stated aim is a genuinely safe room where the queer community can, in the organisers' word, 'shine'. The name does some heavy lifting. The rainbow is the shorthand everyone recognises, but the weekend reaches wider than six colours. It isn't only a screening series. The line-up runs workshops, performances and activities built to help people collect and keep their own stories, and that matters because preserving the lives of ordinary people has never been a private hobby. It is part of a longer history of struggle. Photograph: ihleighBangkok Saturday, July 25 The first day opens with periods. 'Let's Talk Periods, but Make It Queer-Friendly' hands everyone, bleeders and non-bleeders alike, a tray of beads and a length of string, and asks them to thread a bracelet that tracks a menstrual cycle in a way that matches their own identity. Later, Zurapun takes the mic for a stand-up hour, 'Love Is (Not) All Around'. She is a creator known for pop-cultu

Mark your calendar for Pantomime in Bangkok, the wordless festival that pulls off something rare – a full night of theatre where nobody says a word and you still catch every beat. That silence is the whole selling point. If foreign languages usually leave you glancing down at subtitles and missing the good bits, this is the one show where none of that applies.  This year's line-up gathers seven troupes from three countries, Thailand, Japan and South Korea – across two days, August 8 and 9, each act arriving with its own style and sense of humour. Photograph: Pantomime in BangkokWordless festival returns Leading it is Kojimaya Mansuke, the Japanese veteran who's performed here since the very first edition. This time he pairs with next-generation artist Ayumi, whose oddball approach sits opposite a legend 34 years her senior, and the mismatch is exactly why it works. Japan also sends Yamamoto Koyo, a professional mime working since 1989, and Sivouplait, the white-clad couple from Ueno Park known for stitching comedy and romance together. Thai audiences get a homecoming too. Ta Nuttapol, formerly of Babymime, now performs solo as Ta Lent Show, and after more than 20 years he's quieter, sharper and more assured. Photograph: Pantomime in BangkokWordless festival returns Rounding things out are the Guri Guri Girls, an accordion duo who appear between scenes to keep the room warm through the 15-minute interval. Satoco brings mime and puppetry she trained in over in Canada. And f

Some memories digital can never replace. The click of a film cameras shutter. The wait while an image surfaces on photographic paper. Colours that come out imperfect and are somehow better for it. Fragments of moments that once existed, rather than 400 near-identical versions sitting in your camera roll. Song Wat understands this. From August 4-12, the 100-Year-Old Gate Alley hosts Song Wat Film Day: Craft & Indie Market, and the old riverside warehouse zone hands itself over to people who still shoot 35mm without apologising for it. The setting does half the work: shophouse façades with paint coming away in sheets, dried goods stacked in sacks outside wholesale shops that have traded here for generations, boat horns from the Chao Phraya and a stray cat asleep on a stack of pallets. The neighbourhood becomes the subject – its alleyways, its shopkeepers and the details you walk past daily without noticing. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Outdoor Bkk time Line @Outdoor999ร้านค้า นักช็อป (@outdoor_bkk_time) What's actually there? Film cameras and the accessories that keep them running, handmade work from local makers, vinyl still doing its thing decades after everyone declared it finished. There are craft drinks and wine too, so you can sit somewhere shaded while conversation and music settle around you. It’s the sort of market where you arrive wanting a roll of Portra and leave three hours later with a record, a ceramic cup and mild sunburn. Pho

Apichatpong Weerasethakul is one of the Thai directors who takes his name to the world. To mark his birthday, seek out Morakot (Emerald), his video installation shot inside an abandoned hotel in Bangkok. The building goes up in the boom years, when the money arrives faster than anyone can spend it and Thailand looks unstoppable. Then 1997 comes, the baht falls apart and the rooms empty. The place stays standing anyway, wallpaper lifting at the seams, mosquito nets still hanging, a lift shaft that goes nowhere. Photograph: DIB BangkokMorakot (Emerald) Apichatpong brings in three actors he works with again and again and asks them to talk. They speak about their dreams, about the towns they grow up in, about love and about losing it. You hear traffic outside. You hear the building settling. Dust drifts across the frame, lit so it hovers like something suspended in water, and the hotel starts filling up again, not with guests but with everything people leave behind. What you're really watching is how a place holds a memory once the people go. Photograph: Dib BangkokMorakot (Emerald) He's the first Thai filmmaker to win the Palme d'Or, taking it in 2010 for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, a film where a dying man in Isan sits at an outdoor table and his dead wife turns up for dinner. Before that come Blissfully Yours (2002) and Tropical Malady (2004), which wins the Jury Prize at Cannes, then Syndromes and a Century (2006), set largely in the hospitals where his p

Write a letter now, read it in 2029. That’s the idea. The OKMD National Knowledge Center is still a building site on Ratchadamnoen Klang Road, but the plan is to turn one of Bangkok'’s grandest historic avenues into a creative learning district people actually use. Rather than wait behind the scaffolding, OKMD wants your handwriting first. Photograph: OKMDLetter for Later ‘Letter for Later’ asks you to write two letters. The first, ‘To My Future Self’, stays sealed and private. Nobody reads or archives it, and in three years it comes back to you – by post, or by email if you submit online. Whatever you are wrestling with now, your 2029 self gets to open it and judge you gently. The second, ‘To the People of the Future’, becomes part of a public exhibition when the Center opens in 2029 (B.E. 2572), joining its knowledge collection as a record of what ordinary people were thinking in 2026. Taking part is free. Write your letters, tuck them into envelopes, decorate them as scruffily or beautifully as you like, seal them and drop them at one of five Letter Stations: TK Park on the eight floor of centralwOrld; Taiban in Hua Lamphong; Rimkhobfabooks Bookstore in Bang Phlat; Midsummer Cafe & Roastery on Song Wat; or A BOOK with NO NAME in Samsen. Each one is worth a wander anyway. Bring a pen – you probably will not have one. Can't make it across town? Submit online at theletter.okmd.or.th by September 20, 2026 Three years is nothing and everything. Your handwriting stays the same

Strut straight off the screen and onto the dance floor. On Saturday July 18, Sala Saneha follows its screening of Saturday Night Fever by clearing the seats and turning the room into a disco. The film transports audiences to New York in 1977, when the Bee Gees soundtrack seemed capable of convincing an entire city that dancing could change your life. Now the story lands in Bangkok, as a venue better known for candlelit romance gives itself over to mirrorballs and four-on-the-floor beats. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sala Saneha | ศาลาเสน่หา (@sala.saneha) Rewind to 1977: New York is broke, jittery and counting every subway token. Tony Manero sells paint in Brooklyn all week, then rules the 2001 Odyssey dance floor on Saturday nights. The film grasps a simple truth – three minutes beneath the lights can outweigh the other six days. Anyone who lives for the weekend will recognise him immediately. Pa Ted (Yuthana Boonorm) and Ek Chuchirdkiatskul take turns behind the decks, keeping the strings, falsettos and four-on-the-floor drums through the night. Wine will be served. Photograph: Sala SanehaBangkok Naturally, the dress code is disco: sequins, glitter, flared trousers, wide-collared shirts – or anything that makes you catch your own eye in the mirror on the way out. Watching a film keeps you outside it: a spectator with a ticket stub and a drink going warm. Dancing afterwards pulls you in. A film about freedom through music and movement dese

Missed the last free World Cup public screening? This is your final chance! JAS and Monomax stage 'FIFA World Cup 2026: One Night One Champion' at Vachirabenjatas Park (Rot Fai Park), a free live screening of the final on a giant LED screen. Gates open at 11.30pm on Saturday July 19 in the Activity Area, and kick-off comes at 2am on July 20. Nap accordingly. Photograph: JAS GroupRod Fai Park The last one, on July 12, pulled a crowd big enough to make the point. On the night it fills up again, with people spread across the grass on mats, coolers open, phones propped up, everyone watching one screen. The park gets the full setup. Big screen, lighting and sound rigged so the whole thing lands like a proper stadium, plus a Pre-Match Talk with football pundits who will happily explain why your prediction is wrong. Live commentary runs throughout, so nobody sits there guessing at the substitutions. Photograph: JAS GroupRod Fai Park Need to know Vachirabenjatas Park (Rot Fai Park), Activity Area. Gates 11.30pm, Saturday July 19. Kick-off 2am, Sunday July 20. Free entry via Gate 3 only. Bring camping chairs, picnic mats and drinking water. No alcoholic drinks permitted on site. Entry is free. Everyone comes through Gate 3 of Vachirabenjatas Park (Rot Fai Park).

Cloud 11 launches a new series that goes looking for the roots of Thai creativity, and it does so through art, exhibitions, workshops, food, crafts and conversations with the actual creatives working in each region. The argument underneath it all is a good one. Thailand's contemporary culture has grown from the land, from the hands of its people and from ways of living handed down through generations. This first chapter puts that idea on the fifth floor of Cloud 11 and calls it Toob North. View this post on Instagram A post shared by KALM VILLAGE (@kalm_village) The setup is straightforward. Between 16 July and 30 August 2026, the space fills with Northern kitchens, roasters, potters and community groups who have made the trip down from Chiang Mai and the surrounding hills. You walk in to the smell of khao soi and grilled herbs, the sound of people chatting over their work and rows of handmade objects laid out for you to pick up and turn over. Admission costs nothing. Photograph: kintaamToob North Toob North organises itself around three ideas. Living Land reconnects you with the soil. Human Hand celebrates the artisans who still work slowly and by feel. Inner North makes room for a bit of quiet, with therapists and calmer corners for anyone who needs a breather. Chefs, baristas, bartenders and whole networks of makers turn up to fill in the detail. Coffee drinkers will do well here. Toffee Roasters, the Charoen Muang name that specialty types rate, brin