The best bars and nightlife in Bangkok

Find a bar by area, Banglamphu, The Adhere 13th Blues Bar, Sirocco Sky Bar, Lebua at State Tower, Bang Rak, Bamboo Bar, Sukhumvit , WTF Bar Café and Gallery, Havana Social, Alone Together , Maison Mizuki, Chinatown, Foo John’s, El Chiringuito, How we choose, About our expert

Stunning sunsets and night-time views: the Sirocco Sky Bar, one of the best bars in Bangkok, is a true city experience

Bangkok’s nightlife is high, low and in-between, reflecting the tastes of its ever more cosmopolitan visitors, expatriates and locals. Wine bars, intimate music venues, cocktail lounges and trendy sky bars are all growing in popularity. Night owls will enjoy themselves until midnight or 1am, when the government curfew closes most establishments, except in Silom, Patpong and Ratchadapisek, where clubs stay open till 4am.

Find a bar by area

  • Banglamphu
  • Sathorn
  • Silom
  • Bang Rak
  • Thong Lo
  • Sukhumvit
  • Chinatown
Find a bar by area, Banglamphu, The Adhere 13th Blues Bar, Sirocco Sky Bar, Lebua at State Tower, Bang Rak, Bamboo Bar, Sukhumvit , WTF Bar Café and Gallery, Havana Social, Alone Together , Maison Mizuki, Chinatown, Foo John’s, El Chiringuito, How we choose, About our expert

Banglamphu

The Adhere 13th Blues Bar

This friendly, bohemian hole-in-the-wall bar in Bangkok’s backpacker quarter is a properly kicking Blues bar that comes to raucous life almost every night. The house band, under the assured guidance of Khun Pong, the bar’s co-owner and guitar maestro, belts out everything from Muddy Waters to BB King and is the best of its kind in the city – and at weekends, the joint gets so packed that punters (a great mixture of Thais and foreigners) spill out on to the street. During the week, things are more subdued and Pong gives space to emerging players.

Opening times: Daily, 5pm-12am, Wednesdays and Fridays open till 1am

Prices: ££

Find a bar by area, Banglamphu, The Adhere 13th Blues Bar, Sirocco Sky Bar, Lebua at State Tower, Bang Rak, Bamboo Bar, Sukhumvit , WTF Bar Café and Gallery, Havana Social, Alone Together , Maison Mizuki, Chinatown, Foo John’s, El Chiringuito, How we choose, About our expert

The Adhere 13th Blues Bar is a properly kicking bar that comes to raucous life almost every night

Sathorn

Smalls

Enter through revolving doors and enjoy three floors of Parisian-inspired décor in a townhouse dating back to the 1960s. Expect mellow jazz and a solid menu of somewhat pricey cocktails (around 400 Baht/£9) and wines. You can explore the cosy downstairs bar, with live music on Wednesdays and DJ sets at the weekend, the first floor balcony overlooking the road below, or the alfresco rooftop bar. The vibe is quietly trendy (and occasionally raucous), and often packed with a youngish crowd of ex-pats and international visitors, even though it is a little out of the way. Oh, and they sell absinthe.

Opening times: 6pm-2am, closed Tues

Prices: ££

Getting in: Smart casual

Find a bar by area, Banglamphu, The Adhere 13th Blues Bar, Sirocco Sky Bar, Lebua at State Tower, Bang Rak, Bamboo Bar, Sukhumvit , WTF Bar Café and Gallery, Havana Social, Alone Together , Maison Mizuki, Chinatown, Foo John’s, El Chiringuito, How we choose, About our expert

Explore the cosy downstairs bar at Smalls before heading up to the rooftop bar

Silom

Sirocco Sky Bar, Lebua at State Tower

The stupendous views from this very smart 64th-floor lounge bar were made world famous after serving as the location in a key scene in the American comedy Hangover II. It sits atop Bangkok’s second-highest building, and will literally take visitors’ breaths away. It's also well stocked with wines, and helped along by live jazz, fresh oysters and simply stunning sunsets and night-time views. Try the appropriately named Sky Devil – roasted red capsicum infused in tequila with lime juice, agave extract and black pepper. The dress code is smart casual.

Prices: £££

Find a bar by area, Banglamphu, The Adhere 13th Blues Bar, Sirocco Sky Bar, Lebua at State Tower, Bang Rak, Bamboo Bar, Sukhumvit , WTF Bar Café and Gallery, Havana Social, Alone Together , Maison Mizuki, Chinatown, Foo John’s, El Chiringuito, How we choose, About our expert

The views from the very smart Sirocco Sky Bar are stupendous

Bang Rak

Bamboo Bar

Bangkok’s oldest jazz bar first opened in 1953 in the Mandarin Oriental and has been serving up cocktails, cigars and live bands ever since. This ground floor bar brims with historic references to its golden past and offers comfortable indoor and outdoor seating, a riotous list of cocktails and a high society clientele intermingling with well-to-do hotel guests. The bar’s signature cocktails, some with Asian inflections, are named after famous jazz and pop standards – Hey Porter! by Johnny Cash is a winning combination of Tanqueray, Porter, thyme and East Imperial tonic.

Prices: £££

Find a bar by area, Banglamphu, The Adhere 13th Blues Bar, Sirocco Sky Bar, Lebua at State Tower, Bang Rak, Bamboo Bar, Sukhumvit , WTF Bar Café and Gallery, Havana Social, Alone Together , Maison Mizuki, Chinatown, Foo John’s, El Chiringuito, How we choose, About our expert

Bamboo Bar's signature cocktails are named after famous jazz and pop standards

Sukhumvit

This intriguing bar-cum-arts space institution, founded by a Brit and a Thai in trendy and up-scale Thong Lo, offers a wide range of drinks and tapas in a small café style venue on the ground floor of a shop house. But the main reason to visit are the intriguing music events and art exhibitions on the second floor, which don’t shy away from controversial subject matters and attract a young, mixed crowd of Thai professionals and ex-pats. An arts space in a two story building opposite hosts larger events and exhibitions.

Prices: ££

Find a bar by area, Banglamphu, The Adhere 13th Blues Bar, Sirocco Sky Bar, Lebua at State Tower, Bang Rak, Bamboo Bar, Sukhumvit , WTF Bar Café and Gallery, Havana Social, Alone Together , Maison Mizuki, Chinatown, Foo John’s, El Chiringuito, How we choose, About our expert

WTF Bar Café and Gallery is an intriguing bar-cum-arts space in Thong Lo - ©Christopher Wise, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.© Christopher Wise, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED./Christopher Wise

Havana Social

There’s no sign and no entrance. Those who don’t know about it won’t get in. This super discreet speakeasy, hidden away in a back alley of Sukhumvit Soi 11 is made to look like an illegal underground venue, but is actually a very classy retro-style Cuban bar offering fantastic mojitos and of course Cuba libres, period décor and an air of decay that is entirely manufactured. The only way to get in is to find an apparently disused payphone booth and to key in a secret code. There’s live Cuban jazz at the weekends.

Contact: havanasocialbkk.com

Prices: ££

Getting in: To get the code, punters need to call Havana Social

Find a bar by area, Banglamphu, The Adhere 13th Blues Bar, Sirocco Sky Bar, Lebua at State Tower, Bang Rak, Bamboo Bar, Sukhumvit , WTF Bar Café and Gallery, Havana Social, Alone Together , Maison Mizuki, Chinatown, Foo John’s, El Chiringuito, How we choose, About our expert

Havana Social is a very classy retro-style Cuban bar offering fantastic mojitos and of course Cuba libres

Alone Together

Named after a Chet Baker song, Alone Together is a laid-back, candle-lit speak-easy that hosts live jazz and comes with its very own separate cigar lounge cum record store with plenty of rare vinyl gracing the walls. The cocktails designed by Anupas 'Kong' Premanurat are the main draw, classics subverted ever so slightly with Thai ingredients. 

Contact: instagram.com/alonetogetherbangkok

Opening times: Daily, 7pm-1am

Prices: £££

Maison Mizuki

This softly lit bar, located in the Sofitel Hotel in downtown Bangkok, will delight serious whisky aficionados -there are more than 120 different bottles of distilled grain liqueur to choose from, likely the largest selection in Bangkok, affectionately named the Whisky Bible. For those seeking an entirely Japanese drinking experience, there’s a wide range of saké to accompany the extensive menu of sushi, nigiri and sashimi.

Contact: maisonmizukibangkok.com

Prices: ££

Find a bar by area, Banglamphu, The Adhere 13th Blues Bar, Sirocco Sky Bar, Lebua at State Tower, Bang Rak, Bamboo Bar, Sukhumvit , WTF Bar Café and Gallery, Havana Social, Alone Together , Maison Mizuki, Chinatown, Foo John’s, El Chiringuito, How we choose, About our expert

Wishbeer Home Bar is a craft beer pub located in a former elevator factory warehouse

Chinatown

Foo John’s

Located on the edge of Chinatown, both literally and figuratively, Foo John’s invokes the stylish nostalgia of Wong Kar Wai’s movies and combines one of the city’s foremost jazz clubs with a games bar and a rooftop concert space. One could spend an evening here and start with some charcuterie or a crêpe on the ground floor, move up to one of the bars for cocktails – try the Leaf Dragon which tastes a little like tom yam –  on the next two floors, or head for the top to hear a rock band and grab some ribs with a beer or two.

Contact: 00 66 98 664 9826; facebook.com/foojohnjazzclub

Opening times: Tues-Sun, 7pm-12pm

Prices: ££

Find a bar by area, Banglamphu, The Adhere 13th Blues Bar, Sirocco Sky Bar, Lebua at State Tower, Bang Rak, Bamboo Bar, Sukhumvit , WTF Bar Café and Gallery, Havana Social, Alone Together , Maison Mizuki, Chinatown, Foo John’s, El Chiringuito, How we choose, About our expert

Located on the edge of Chinatown, Foo John’s invokes the stylish nostalgia of Wong Kar Wai’s movies

El Chiringuito

Soi Nana in Chinatown is the go-to nightlife area for the city’s moneyed hipsters. A plethora of bars, eateries and boutique hotels have opened up here in recent years. Punters will love Asia Today for its kitschy décor and drinks assembled with local and regional herbs and spices and hi-so gin joint Teens of Thailand, but evenings are best started at El Chiringuito, a friendly and authentic tapas bar run by a Thai-Spanish couple. Inside, there's rough brick walls, vintage posters and baubles in glass vitrines, and the day’s specials are written up on a chalk board. Also look out for the excellent gin and tonics, before sangria and pizza topped with chorizo.

Opening times: Thurs-Sun, 6pm-11pm

Prices: £

Find a bar by area, Banglamphu, The Adhere 13th Blues Bar, Sirocco Sky Bar, Lebua at State Tower, Bang Rak, Bamboo Bar, Sukhumvit , WTF Bar Café and Gallery, Havana Social, Alone Together , Maison Mizuki, Chinatown, Foo John’s, El Chiringuito, How we choose, About our expert

Evenings are best started at El Chiringuito, a friendly and authentic tapas bar with excellent gin and tonics

How we choose

Every bar, venue or experience in this curated list has been tried and tested by our destination expert, who has visited to provide you with their insider perspective. We cover a range of budgets and styles, from casual pubs to exquisite cocktail bars – to best suit every type of traveller – and consider the service, drinks, atmosphere and price in our recommendations. We update this list regularly to keep up with the latest openings and provide up-to-date recommendations.

About our expert

Tom moved to the Thai capital 20 years ago, drawn by the hot weather, friendly smiles and laissez-fair vibe. Today you can find him exploring river side markets such as Tha Pra Chan, and checking out the city’s eclectic music venues. 

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