Night life in Bangkok - nightlife guide
There’s a huge range of nightlife options in Bangkok, and downtown Bangkok at night can become a frenetic, pulsating, lively place. There are many western-style expat pubs, go-go bars, hostess bars, cocktail lounges, huge supper-clubs, street-side cheap and cheerful places and many more options. There are also lots of gay and lesbian bars, with whole areas dedicated to gay or mixed crowds.
There are many areas in which you can bar-hop between many close-by pubs, or you can take a taxi to a stand-alone club which will typically feature live music and lots of whisky. Most places in Bangkok close at 1am or 2am at the latest, leaving you to either go home (the sensible option!) or continue on to find an illegal “after-hours” pub which often involves quickly ducking under a half closed shutter and tip-toeing upstairs into a packed and sweaty room filled with other like-minded party-goers. Some after hours places don't actually open until 3:30am or even 4am, meaning that the many pavement bars on Sukhumvit Road may be your only option.
Browse our comprehensive list of recommended bars in Bangkok.
Budget: there are various clusters of bars in which tourists inevitably find themselves. Khao San Road has probably the highest density of bars per square metre, and they play a large variety of musical styles including hip hop, drum and bass, house, trance, chart music, rock and Thai music. Bars here are lively, cheap and draw a predominantly foreign crowd, although in recent years it has become a popular destination for more cosmopolitan Thais.
Sophistication: also, Silom Soi 4 is worth a look as it has a sophisticated mix of both gay and straight bars. Just nearby is the Langsuan area in which the bars have mainly Thai clientele and most also feature live music.
Pubbing: for the expat scene, head to Sukhumvit Road, along which you can do a pub crawl of the many British, Irish, German and American style pubs. These are a bit more pricey and there’s rarely a Thai customer to be found. Also in this area are many larger clubs, which have large dance floors and often very talented DJs spinning the tunes.
Clubbing: but if big, banging clubs are your thing then look no further than RCA - six huge clubs next to each other, all playing hip hop, R&B or drum and bass. These swanky places pull in moneyed Thais and a few of the more hip expats. Be sure to take a photocopy of your passport here though as absolutely everyone is checked on the door. You’ll find discos in the central tourist areas too, full of punters and ‘pickup artists’.
Go Gos and girlies: of course you can hardly talk about Bangkok nightlife without mentioning the go-go bar scene - it’s the much loved and much loathed phenomenon that Bangkok’s been famous for for a long time. There are three main areas in which the go-go bars are concentrated: the Nana Entertainment Plaza, Soi Cowboy (both Sukhumwit road) and the infamous Patpong (Silom). Although they’re tamer these days than they were in the more hedonistic 80’s and 90’s, they’re still pretty full-on and probably unlike anything you’ve seen back home. Some are touristy and have the boorish ‘ping pong shows’ others are smaller places to simply pick up a girl for the evening. Although these bars are plentiful, they’re segregated enough from the ‘normal’ bars so that if this scene is not to your taste it won’t encroach on your evening’s enjoyment. More on go-go bars.
Some recommended Bangkok clubs and discos
Q-Bar: very popular with Thais and, more recently, some expats, this expensive but fun place always gets busy. Sukhumvit Road in-between Soi 5 and Soi 7. Best to taxi there though rather than trying to navigate the back streets on foot. (nearest BTS: Nana), 600/400 baht cover charge weekends/weekdays, with two free drinks. Open: 20.00 to 01.00, nightly.
Santika: mainly Thai students and other upmarket Thais frequent this buzzing club which is a little out of the way but is worth making an effort to get to. Ekkamai Soi 11. Nearest BTS station: Ekkamai. No cover usually. Open: 21.00 to 01.00, daily.
Astra: Plays the best music of all the RCA clubs and often has big name drum and bass and hip hop DJs. Nearest MRT station: Phra Ram 9, then a taxi ride. Closed Sundays, cover charge: 100 baht usually. Open: 21.00 to 02.00, except Mondays.
Bed Supperclub: famous throughout Bangkok, this popular and pricey venue always provides for an entertaining night. Sukhumvit Soi 11. Nearest BTS station: Nana. Cover charge 400 baht, with free drink. Open: 19:30 to 24.00 week nights and 02.00 weekends.
CM2: located in the basement of the Novotel in Siam, this is a lively, popular centrally located venue. It only gets going after 11pm and is full of freelancing ‘ladies of the night’ (Thai and Eastern European). The bar staff also have a terrible attitude. Nearest BTS station: Siam. Cover charge 300 baht, with free drink. Open: 18.30 to 02.00, nightly.
RCA: not a disco but a whole area for clubbing, with nearly a dozen clubs on one pedestrianised street, pulling the young rich Bangkok Thai crowd any night of the week. It also attracts the clubbers among expats and some tourists. Best bet for a guaranteed night of boogeying, but don’t expect any girls for hire. 20 minute taxi ride south of city.
