Things to Do

Bangkok is ridiculously good for dates. Over the past few weeks, I’ve tried everything from trendy cafés and Thai restaurants to cocktail bars, Muay Thai, massages and cruising down the Chao Phraya – I even somehow ended up at a shooting range. It’s a hard life for a reporter, right? But after trying so many different ways to spend a date in the city, one thing became clear: you can spend very little or an absolute fortune and still have a great time. But how much do you actually need? To find out, I’ve taken some of the places and experiences I tried and put together four dates at four very different budgets: B500, B2,000, B5,000 and B10,000. Here’s what I’d do with each.

Bangkok’s newest hair trend draws on a centuries-old tradition. Known as  malai klao phom, or ‘garland-wrapped hair’, it has sent a fresh wave of visitors to Pak Khlong Talat, Thailand's biggest flower market. According to the story circulating online, the trend began when a Gen Z influencer asked a vendor to fasten a garland around her bun instead of her wrist, then shared the clip. It spread across TikTok and Instagram almost overnight. Within days, women of all ages were queueing to try it. Pak Khlong Talat has already had one viral flower moment this year: in April, visitors posed holding a single lotus stem. The malai trend feels less disposable because phuang malai garlands are deeply rooted in Thai life. Strung by hand, flower by flower, they are offered to monks, hung from taxi mirrors for safe travel and placed over couples’ hands during wedding water blessings. Uusually fragrant with jasmine, sometimes roses or marigolds, they carry ideas of luck and respect. Wearing one in the hair gives a familiar tradition a fresh, highly photographable twist. Start at Pak Khlong Talat Photograph: Tonson H.Bangkok’s viral flower-garland hair trend Pak Khlong Talat sits where Khlong Ong Ang meets the Chao Phraya, on Chak Phet Road in Bangkok’s old city. It sold produce and fish until the 1950s, when the city moved the flower trade here. Today, it is reportedly one of the world’s largest wholesale flower markets and runs 24 hours a day. Daytime is gentler than the famous 3am delivery rush, making it easier to browse and ideal for getting a malai hair wrap. Read Time Out’s guide to Pak Khlong Talat  before you go, if only to brush up on the difference between roses and statice. Photograph: Tonson H.Bangkok’s viral flower-garland hair trend For the hair wrap, look for the small vendor stalls among the shophouses along Chak Phet Road. Stall 49 charged us B120 and finished the job in under five minutes. It operates roughly 9am-6pm, with plenty of colours to choose from.  Garland secured, head upstairs at Floral Café at Napasorn. The florist’s second and third floors hide a small vintage café with a faint fairytale feel – a good stop for iced coffee, a sit-down and a quick check that your hair survived the wrap. Cross Memorial Bridge, then head to Chinatown   Photograph: Tonson H.Bangkok’s viral flower-garland hair trend     From the back of Yodpiman market, follow the river to Memorial Bridge, or Saphan Phut in Thai. Bangkok’s first road bridge across the Chao Phraya was opened by King Prajadhipok in 1932 to mark the Chakri dynasty’s 150th anniversary. The handsome green bascule bridge and its steel trusses have appeared in more than one Thai period film. At the Bangkok end stands a bronze statue of Rama I, for whom the bridge is named – a fitting late-afternoon photo stop while your garland is still intact.   Photograph: Tonson H.Bangkok’s viral flower-garland hair trend   Chinatown is a short walk or a five-minute tuk-tuk ride away and makes a natural second act. Arrive in the early evening as Yaowarat Road lights up, the gold trade winds down and the food carts fire up. Start with Time Out's guide to Yaowarat. If you want a drink before dinner, the old shophouses of nearby Soi Nana hide some of the city’s better cocktail bars – see  Time Out's Soi Nana round-up for where to go.  Finish at Bangkok Flower Festival Photograph: Tonson H.Bangkok’s viral flower-garland hair trend   Loop back to Yodpiman River Walk for the evening. Through September 27 2026, it is hosting the inaugural Bangkok Flower Festival – a neat match for the rest of the day. An air-conditioned hall on the second floor holds more than 20 flower and floral gift stalls, an exhibition space and hands-on workshops. After dark, projection mapping takes over the riverfront outside Entry is B150 including a complimentary flower from a designated area, and the festival runs daily from 3pm–10pm. Check  Time Out’s full Bangkok Flower Festival guide before setting out, as first-year events have a habit of adjusting their schedules. Photograph: Tonson H.Bangkok’s viral flower-garland hair trend It is a satisfying bookend: begin with a garland from a market where flowers have been traded for decades, then finish at a festival devoted to turning them into an occasion. Between the two comes a 1932 bridge, Chinatown at dusk and the photograph that proves your malai made it through the day.

 

      Photograph: Time Out Bangkokkhao Yai Art Forest   The day starts in a building that still smells faintly of its own history. Bangkok Kunsthalle sits down a lane off Soi Nana in Chinatown inside the old Thai Wattana Panich printing house. The building burned, stood empty for two decades and now holds art without hiding the damage. Its staircases are scorched and its beams remain exposed. At 9.45am on Saturday, the light falls through the upper windows in long, flat slabs. The whole place feels like a room left alone to think. At 10am,a B500 round-trip shuttle leaves from outside, Thursday to Sunday,. Book ahead because seats are limited. It is an unusually civilised arrangement: turn up at a Chinatown gallery and, a few hours later, step into a forest three provinces away without driving or making another decision. We sleep for the first hour, as you do. The road out of Bangkok is dull until it suddenly isn't. Flyovers give way to billboards, warehouses and car dealerships, then limestone appears somewhere past Saraburi. The land stops looking flat before you quite register the change. Approaching Pak Chong, the roadside becomes unmistakably Khao Yai: corn stalls, sunflower fields, garden centres, a farm advertising alpacas and plenty of Tuscany rendered in Thai concrete.   Stop for Isan lunch at Penlaos Photograph: Time Out BangkokLunch and coffee at Penlaos Stop at Penlaos on the way in. What began more than a decade ago as a street stall is now a barn-like restaurant with high ceilings, gardens, mountain views, a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a car park that fills with vans. The Isan and Lao menu covers grilled chicken, som tam, the spicy catfish salad singled out by Michelin, house-made condiments and a mushroom soup with its own small fan club. It is loud, quick and costs about a tenth of that evening’s dinner – useful context for a trip like this.   Start the forest walk before 3pm   Photograph: Time Out BangkokKhao Yai Art Forest First, know that this is a proper walk: 2.5km across roughly 260 hectares of reforested land in Pong Ta Long, with slopes and several genuinely steep sections. Buggies are available if needed. Wear the shoes you would choose for a national park, not a gallery – a lesson some visitors learn in real time. The works do not announce themselves. You walk, then suddenly there is one.     Photograph: Time Out BangkokKhao Yai Art Forest Two Planetscomes first, down a short path peeling off the main route, a log to sit on and a screen among the trees. Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook’s 2007-08 video series places reproductions of European masterpieces, including Manet’sLuncheon on the Grass, Millet’'sThe Gleaners, before northern Thai villagers, farmers, workers and monks, then lets them talk. Now you are sitting outdoors watching people sit outdoors and look at art, one step inside the same mechanism. The villagers are funnier and less reverent than the average gallery-goer. That is the point, and also simply true.       Photograph: Time Out BangkokKhao Yai Art Forest GOD (2024) by Francesco Arena consists of two enormous stones. Together, they carve out an invisible word between them – the entire argument delivered in seconds, then left for youto chew over all afternoon   Photograph: Time Out BangkokKhao Yai Art Forest   Pilgrimage to Eternity by Ubatsat unfolds along the trail rather than occupying a single spot. Fragments of a chedi, made from the forest’s soil using mould-making techniques passed down through his family, appear as the path rises. The base sits low, near the start; the higher you climb, the higher the section of stupa, until you reach where its spire would be. With no plinth or protection, the pieces are slowly returning to the forest. That is intentional:. samsara as a landscaping decision.     Photograph: Time Out BangkokKhao Yai Art Forest Pulsus Vitae(2013) by French duo Scenocosme – Grégory Lasserre and Anaïs met den Ancxt – asks you to press an ear or hand against a tree. Technology hidden inside the living trunk returns a low vibration, the tree’s version of a heartbeat. It is the only work on the route that you must touch, and the one that makes people fall quiet.     Photograph: Time Out BangkokKhao Yai Art Forest  ‘Then the land opens. Madrid Circle (1988) by Richard Long is a perfect slate ring on a plateau, with hills and canopy rolling away on every side. Long has spent his career arguing that walking is the artwork rather than the route to it. After 2km of forest path, you are in no position to disagree. At the ring’s edge, the arithmetic hits: one human lifetime against the several million years it took to form those stones. See all current artworks at Khao Yai Art Forest.   Catch the fog at 4.30pm sharp   Photograph: Time Out BangkokKhao Yai Art Forest   Fujiko Nakaya’s Khao Yai Fog Forest, Fog Land #48435, follows a strict timetable: one 10-minute round at 4.30pm on Thursday and Friday, then 11.30am and 4.30pm at weekends. The timing is no  formality. You turn up and a hillside disappears. Nakaya is 93 and has been making fog since Expo ’70 in Osaka with Experiments in Art and Technology. This is her largest fog work. A solar-powered system by California start-up Aquaria harvests water from the air and is calibrated so the fog merges with the natural humidity during monsoon season. None of that occupies you once it starts. A visible slope becomes weather, the terrain deflects the fog and 10 minutes feels both brief and oddly expansive. People walk into it. Everyone walks into it. Nobody  stands politely at the edge.   Book the six-seat bar that opens once a month         Photograph: Time Out Bangkok, Ku BarKhao Yai Art Forest   K-BAR (2024) by Elmgreen & Dragset is a small pavilion at the end of a path through long grass – a working bar and a mixed-media installation about art, architecture and design. Outside, it resembles a dark grey shed you might pass without noticing. Inside is a metropolitan bar dropped into the forest, with a steel counter, red leather stools and terrazzo flooring. Its lighting shifts with the natural cycle of the day, changing what cannot be seen from outside. The bar honours Martin Kippenberger, the German painter who died in 1997 and was almost as well known for drinking as for his work. A 1996 Kippenberger painting hangs at its centre, visible through the glass even when the bar is closed – which is most of the time. The cocktail menu was developed with Ku Bar, reached by a dark stairwell off Phra Sumen Road in Bangkok’s old town. It occupies another former printing house, a neat coincidence on a trip that began in one. The house cocktail is the Dry Martin – a joke that is either very good or slightly too obvious, but works either way. The concept draws on Elmgreen & Dragset’s idea of ‘denials’: art that appears functional but withholds itself, as their Prada Marfa installation did in the Texas desert two decades earlier. A European painting permanently installed in a Southeast Asian forest also flips the usual argument over who gets to keep whose art. Six people fit, for 45 minutes per session. K-BAR opens only on the second Saturday of each month. On 12 Saturdays a year, you can drink an artist-designed in a Nakhon Ratchasima forest; the rest of the time, you can only look through the glass. The scale is both joke and point. After an afternoon among works the size of hillsides, the last one seats six.   Around 7pm: a five-course Forest Dinner Photograph: Time Out BangkokKhao Yai Art Forest Dinner at Forest Table is ‘Forest Dinner’ – The 4th Element Tasting Experience, a five-course menu by Chef Wuttisak and his team based on your assigned element: Earth, Water, Air or Fire. The premise sounds like a wellness gimmick, but the culinary framework has more substance. Earth draws on soil, roots, fermentation and deep umami, with warm, grounding food for the heavy and tired. Water favours clarity, softness, fermentation and reflection – cooling food for anyone overheated or wound up. Air uses aroma, fermentation, foam, petals and movement to keep things light for the scattered or overthinking. Fire brings heat, smoke, caramelisation, fermentation heat and controlled destruction for anyone feeling depleted. Ingredients are seasonal and local, with some harvested from the Art Forest. Rice paddies surround Louise Bourgeois’s Maman on the far side of the site, and that rice reaches the kitchen. Menus change with availability. At B1,500 including full site admission, the five-course hillside dinner is good value. By the time we finish, it is properly dark – the kind Bangkok never quite manages. We do not drive back into it.   Stay overnight, then take the slow way home   Photograph: Estella Khao YaiKhao Yai Art Forest   We spend the night at Estella Khao Yai and let the area keep us a little longer. The hotel sits in Wang Sai within the Stella Ozone estate, formerly the My Ozone project. Its English-inspired gables and stonework face actual Thai mountains, with the mini zoo downhill, until recently My Ozone Animal Club, is now called  Zooniverse. Mornings are cold by Thai standards, with mist low between the hills and no timetable – no fog session, last order or booking. The quiet is a useful reminder that beyond the schedules, this is somewhere people live.   Photograph: Time Out BangkokKhao Yai Art Forest Make one stop on the way back: Old Leng in Pak Chong town. The dining room is crammed with antiques and retro ephemera, with oldies on the speakers, live music some weekends and two very different versions of tom yam from the kitchen. After a day of deep time and artworks meant to return to the forest, eating soup under a ceiling fan in a room full of someone’s accumulated belongings feels like the right ending. Both places mark time passing, though only one does so deliberately.   Photograph: Time Out BangkokKhao Yai Art Forest Then comes the long, flat run through Saraburi. Warehouses reassemble along the road and Bangkok arrives as it always does – suddenly. Estella Khao Yai 343 Moo 6, Tambon Wang Sai, Pak Chong – in the Stella Ozone estate, formerly My Ozone, alongside Mövenpick Khao Yai Resort. Expect a pool, restaurant, mountain-view rooms and English-inspired architecture. It is a practical base if you want K-BAR and dinner without racing for the 5pm shuttle. Old Leng Talat Noi Na, Pak Chong town – a retro dining room packed with antiques, open from early morning until late, with live music some weekends. Worth stopping for on the drive back to Bangkok. Plan your trip Bangkok Kunsthalle Where: 599 Pantachit Alley, off Soi Nana, Pom Prap Sattru Phai, Bangkok 10100 When: Opening hours vary by exhibition and programme – check bangkok-kunsthalle.org before visiting. Most exhibitions are free. How to get there: Take the MRT Blue Line to Sam Yot, around 10–12 minutes’ walk, or Wat Mangkon, around 12–15 minutes. For a taxi or Grab, use the Pantachit Alley address. Ratchawong Pier is about 20 minutes away on foot. Shuttle departure: 10am from Bangkok Kunsthalle Shuttle return: 5pm from Khao Yai Art Forest Days: Thursday–Sunday Price: B500 per person round trip, excluding Full Site Admission Booking: Advance reservation required; seats are limited: tickettailor.com/events/khaoyaiart/2128675 Worth knowing: The 5pm return leaves no time for K-BAR or dinner. For the full evening, take the shuttle out and arrange your own return, or stay overnight in Pak Chong as we did. Khao Yai Art Forest Where: Pong Ta Long, Pak Chong, Nakhon Ratchasima – roughly a three-hour drive from Bangkok. When: Thursday–Friday 12.30pm–6pm; Saturday–Sunday 10am–6pm. Closed Monday–Wednesday. Last admission: 5.30pm for the site and artworks; 4pm for the dinner experience Admission: B500 adults; B250 students and visitors aged over-65 with ID; free for under-12s accompanied by an adult. Groups of 10 or more pay B400 per person when booked at least three days ahead, with 10% off dining. How to get there: Take the shuttle from Bangkok Kunsthalle or drive via the Mittraphap Road corridor beyond Pak Chong. On site: A 2.5km walking route with slopes and steep sections. Buggy hire is available for a fee. Forest Print, a free walk-in eco-print workshop, runs Thursday-Friday 1.30pm-4pm and Saturday-Sunday 11.30am–4pm. Khao Yai Fog Forest sessions: Thursday-Friday 4.30pm; Saturday-Sunday 11.30am and 4.30pm. Each round lasts 10 minutes. Good to know: Pets, tripods, drones, outside food and drink, smoking and commercial photoshoots are not allowed. Insects are part of the deal, so dress accordingly. Confirmed bookings cannot be cancelled. Enquiries [email protected] Forest Table What: ‘Forest Dinner’ – The 4th Element Tasting Experience, a five-course menu based on Earth, Water, Air or Fire by Chef Wuttisak and his team. It uses seasonal local produce, including ingredients grown on site. The lunchtime equivalent, ‘Bamboo Journey’ at Bamboo Bar, follows the same elemental concept. Price: B1,500 per person including Full Site Admission. Dining hours: Thursday-Friday 12.30pm-6pm; Saturday-Sunday 10.30am-6pm. Last order 4pm. Booking: tickettailor.com/events/khaoyaiart/1989192 K-BAR What: K-BAR (2024) by Elmgreen & Dragset, a six-seat bar and installation honouring Martin Kippenberger, with a 1996 Kippenberger painting and cocktails created by the artists. When: The second Saturday of every month, 4pm-10pm. Last session 9pm. Session length: 45 minutes, maximum six guests. Price: B500 per person added to an admission ticket when booked online, including one drink. Walk-ins from 5.30pm pay B600 for K-BAR only, including one drink; Art Forest admission is not included. Booking: tickettailor.com/events/khaoyaiart/1998215

Not everyone who visits Thailand wants to see another temple. But what if it had cats? So many cats that you forget all the statues and keep your eyes down for a game of feline ‘I spy’ as hundreds of furry faces run carefree among the colourful ceramic chedis. At Wat Pho (or its official Thai name, Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Rajwaramahawihan), the temple is a safe haven for visitors looking for a little peace of mind, a place where monks share their teachings and, in this case, a home for some very cute little creatures, too. About 200, to be exact. A tail of 200 temple cats Photograph: Meena Janekrabuanhad - Time OutWat Pho's cat residents: Grass Jelly and Cotton Ball At first there were just 20 – some stray cats wandering around the neighbourhood, others abandoned at the temple. Venerable Monk Mahanalin was, at some point along his journey in the Sangha, tasked with looking after them, making sure the temple remained a clean and safe place for both people and cats. They were never meant to permanently stay. In fact, Ven. Mahanalin says he wasn’t even a cat person. And yet, here he is years later, introducing us to hundreds of cats he named himself, with a gang of them following him at all times.  ‘This is Pizza; Mom Mam (the oldest of the bunch who’s been here for 10 years); nong Mali, the youngest and newest resident; and Botun, who has to take daily medication. Mafuang and Mafai are siblings, both born here. Green Beans is the shyest of them all, and Grass Jelly, he’s the leader of one of the many cat gangs roaming the temple.’ At this point, we were starting to get confused about who was who. One thing was clear, though: they were all loved, even a little chubby, which can only be a good sign. Some of the cats even had collars, so naturally, we had to ask if he secretly had favourites. Was that why some had collars and others didn’t? He insisted he loves them all equally. The collar-less ones, he explained, simply wouldn’t let him put one on. Photograph: Tonson H. - Time OutWat Pho's cat residents: Grass Jelly and Cotton Ball Caring for the cat’s purr-manent residents Feeding time starts at 7pm and ends a little after 9pm. Like clockwork, as soon as the monk starts his walk, cats come prancing out from every corner – tucked into the steps of the stupa, lounging in shady corners and seemingly appearing from thin air. Photograph: Meena Janekrabuanhad - Time OutFeeding time at the temple Like pigeons finding pizza in New York City, they all flock to him – except they’re fighting for his attention rather than the food. He makes his way around, greeting every single one and checking their coats and condition, making sure they’re free from cuts, ticks and haven’t used up any of their nine lives. All of the cats have been sterilised and vaccinated, with support from The Voice Foundation, a Thai non-profit organisation that rescues and advocates for stray, injured and abused animals. The temple also has a team of volunteers who help clean and care for the cats. And with 200 cats comes a lot of responsibility. Scattered throughout the temple are more than 60 litter boxes that you’d never notice at a glance. Ven. Mahanalin proudly points one out and explains: ‘I had them specially designed with stone motifs to blend into the temple architecture. They pull out for easy cleaning and there’s no smell. That said, the cats seem to love them best for napping...’ Photograph: Meena Janekrabuanhad - Time OutLitter spot or nap spot? There are no typical water bowls here, either. Instead, traditional brown Thai Ratchaburi bowls, hand-painted with dragons and floral patterns, double as drinking bowls for the feline residents. With so many cats to care for, the temple goes through plenty of cat litter and food. Visitors can lend a paw by donating cat litter, as well as cat kibble and freeze-dried chicken for the older kitties who can’t quite chew as well as they used to. Spotting the holy cats Photograph: Meena Janekrabuanhad - Time OutStealth mode The best places to spot the cats are in the shade and tucked into little crevices around the temple. Come around 7pm, when feeding time begins, and you’ll see a furry army emerge from their hiding spots in full force.  There’s never a guarantee where a cat will turn up, but the quieter side entrance at Ticket Counter 2 is a good place to start – it’s also where we spotted the most cats, thanks to a tip from the security guards. For those driving in, the closest parking is available on Chetuphon Road for B20 an hour, although spaces are extremely limited. If you really can’t spot one, find a group of tourists gathered around a chedi – chances are there is a cat modelling for them. While it might be tempting to pet every cat you meet, the monks ask visitors to refrain, as many of the cats get easily frightened. And remember to dress respectfully and cover your shoulders and knees. Paws and reflect at the temple Photograph: Meena Janekrabuanhad - Time OutWelcome to Wat Pho Of course, the cats aren’t the only reason to visit Wat Pho. The temple is home to one of Bangkok’s most famous sights: its enormous gold-plated reclining Buddha, stretching 46 metres long and 15 metres high. It’s also where Thai traditional massage has its roots, and the temple’s walls are packed with centuries-old illustrations and inscriptions that helped earn it recognition on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme.  We came specifically for the cats, but surprisingly, Wat Pho still managed to stun even those of us who grew up going there on school trips. At night, the pagodas glimmer and illuminated golden structures pop against the dark sky. We followed the monk carrying cat food from one corner of the temple to another, with a parade of cats serving as our unofficial tour guides. Photograph: Meena Janekrabuanhad - Time OutCat on duty   The cats left behind here aren’t a nuisance; they’ve become part of the temple’s charm. In their own way, they embody something Thailand is known for: a sense of hospitality and warmth that makes room for everyone – no matter how many legs you have. Who knew we’d end up leaving with more than just a few cat photos, but a little wisdom, too. Wat Pho, 2 Sanam Chai Rd, Phra Borom Maha Ratchawang, Phra Nakhon. B300. Open daily 8am-7:30pm

A completely free trip from Bangkok to Ayutthaya sounds suspiciously like the beginning of a story that ends with someone asking for your credit card details. So when I first heard about the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s new trip KOH KERD: The Living Legacy of Thai Craftsmanship, I assumed the word ‘free’ applied mainly to the bus. I pictured getting picked up in Bangkok, dropped somewhere in Ayutthaya and being left to figure out the rest of the day myself. I couldn’t have been more wrong This organised cultural route from Bangkok to Koh Kerd in Ayutthaya was very well organised, even by TAT standards.Running from July 15 to December 26, 2026, every Wednesday to Sunday, with return transport, guides, travel between the attractions, a traditional Khon performance and a visit to the Arts of the Kingdom Museum all included, I barely spent a penny. The only things you really need to worry about are booking your seat, turning up on time and feeding yourself along the way. Naturally, I had to see it for myself. Spoiler: it's well worth it. But this isn't necessarily the Ayutthaya trip you might be imagining, and there are a few things I wish I'd known before setting off. Starting with my trousers.

Need a break from Bangkok? Swap skyscrapers, traffic and noise for bicycles, palm trees and jungle paths – just across the river.  Bangkok can be a tough one. The city moves at high speed, and with the combination of heat, smells, noise and crowds, it can easily get overwhelming. Luckily, I found a pretty good solution: escape it for a day, without actually leaving Bangkok.  Popping my head out from underneath the concrete ‘rocks’ of the city centre, I laid my eyes southeast just across the Chao Phraya River towards Bang Kachao –  a place many of us like to call Bangkok’s ‘green lungs’.  Between my studies in town, I needed a little break from the coursework and exams, and quite honestly, Lumphini Park just didn’t cut the mustard.  I needed to escape Bangkok’s concrete jungle and replace it with an actual one: palm trees, narrow paths, small ponds and bicycles.  If you’ve not been, or at least not been for a while, much is changing in this green corner of town – and all for the right reasons. After a few hours of cycling through greenery, getting slightly lost and stopping for an iced cappuccino along the way, I was ready to cross the river and keep up with Bangkok’s energy all over again.  So, if the city is starting to feel like a little too much, give yourself a day here. Here’s how I spent mine.   Start with a boat across the Chao Phraya River Photograph: Time OutThe best things to do in Bang Kachao Start your day relatively early and take a Grab to either Khlong Toei Pier or Bang Na Pier. Both are relatively small and somewhat tricky to find. From most taxi drop offs, you’ll still need to weave your way through tight community sois to find the river’s edge. Luckily there are signs in English, but you’ll need to keep a good eye out to catch them. From there, small boats cross the Chao Phraya and take you straight to Bang Kachao. Tickets cost B40 for a return journey, plus an extra B10-20 for a bicycle if you prefer to bring your own. Just remember to keep your ticket somewhere safe for the way back.  The boats cross regularly and the journey itself only takes a few minutes, but that's enough to make the city feel surprisingly far away.  Why we love it: For me, the boat ride is where the whole escape begins. You can still see Bangkok behind you, but your surroundings start changing almost immediately. There’s something quite funny about the fact that one short boat ride can take you from skyscrapers, traffic and noise to dense forest, mangrove villages and bicycles. A lot of bicycles.  Time Out tip: Start early enough that you don't have to rush your day. And keep some cash on you – you’ll need it for things like the boat and bike rental.    Get yourself a bike Photograph: Iga Siemieniec - Time Out BangkokThe best things to do in Bang Kachao What is it? Once you’re on the other side, you basically have two options: explore on foot or rent a bike. Personally, the thought of spending the day walking around in the Thai heat didn’t sound particularly appealing, so the bike won without much competition. Bike rentals are available near Bang Krachao Pier and Pae Jeab Pier, with bikes costing around B100 for the day. If you arrive at Klong Yaychid Pier, keep in mind that there are no bike rentals available there. Do be prepared to part ways with your ID or B1,000 as a deposit, which you’ll get back when you return the bike. Bang Kachao is fairly spread out, so having a bike means you can explore much more without spending the entire day walking around in the heat. Why we love it? Convenience aside, getting on the bike was probably what made the day for me. After years living in the Netherlands, it was a true ‘back to the roots’ moment for me, albeit quite a bit hotter.  From the piers, there’s usually just one way to go, and that’s into the lung. The best way to explore is to not plan every stop but maybe have a destination in mind as your midway stopoff.  At one point, I instinctively followed a road without really knowing where I was going and suddenly found myself cycling along these beautiful narrow concrete paths surrounded by palm trees and dense greenery. That was probably when Bang Kachao really clicked for me. You don't necessarily need to know exactly where you're going here. Just ride.  But if following your instincts isn't really your thing, don't worry – there are maps around too.  Time Out tip: Take your time on the narrow paths. Some are pretty tight, so maybe don't use Bang Kachao as the place to suddenly discover your competitive cycling career.  Cycle through Sri Nakhon Khuean Khan Park  Photograph: Iga Siemieniec - Time Out BangkokThe best things to do in Bang Kachao What is it? Sri Nakhon Khuean Khan Park and Botanical Garden is one of the main green spaces in Bang Kachao, and although very park-like, it’s also a protected environmental space.  Head through the gate and wind your way through the many pathways inside, around the small ponds, trees and tropical plants. You can stop along the way and read about some of the different plant species, or just continue cycling and enjoy the fact that you're surrounded by nature. I think that’s what they call ‘forest bathing’ these days.  Why we love it? You don't really need to do much here, which is exactly the point. I liked simply riding around the ponds, stopping whenever something caught my attention and taking in how different everything felt.  Once you get sweaty enough from cycling in the heat, take respite at the little cafe inside for a well deserved iced coffee.  Time Out tip: Go earlier in the day and  be sure to bring water (my mistake!). Cycling through a botanical garden is considerably more relaxing before the midday heat kicks in.    Accidentally find a farm of wooden animals Photograph: Albums by Patrick LepetitGet Growing Community Farm   What is it? Wrong turns are sometimes the best type of accident on a trip like this, and my one ended up at a farm. Get Growing Community Farm has different animals, including goats and chickens, as well as a cafe and a big outdoor play area for kids. But what’s most striking is that wooden ‘animal’ playground that is an art piece in and of itself.  Why we love it? This is exactly why exploring Bang Kachao without following a strict route is the most fun. One minute you're cycling in between palm trees, and next you're looking at goats.  If you're coming with your family, this is definitely worth adding to the day. Kids can explore the outdoor area – including a huge wooden Trojan horse – while you sit at the cafe and find refreshment.  Time Out tip: Leave some space in your itinerary for places you didn't plan to find. Getting slightly lost is part of the fun here.  Get Growing Community Farm, 22/2 Bang Kachao. Wed-Sun 9am-5.30pm, playground closes 5pm. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays)   Make your own Thai souvenir Photograph: KlookThe best things to do in Bang Kachao   What is it? If you're an artsy person – or just want to bring home something a little more unique from Thailand – stop by Cave Craft Outdoor Retreat for something a little different.   This small creative spot has a range of different workshops to get involved with, including painting on canvas, making your own bracelet and ceramic painting, to name a few.  Why we love it? Coming home with something you actually made rather than another souvenir you picked up from a shop is always a good feeling. Whether your final creation turns out to be a masterpiece or something only you can appreciate doesn't really matter. At least it'll have a story behind it.  Time Out tip: Although part of the adventure around Bang Krachao is about spontaneity, this one’s best booked in advance.  Cave Craft Outdoor Retreat, Soi Wat Rat 12 Rangsan, Bang Kachao. 10am-6pm   Stop for food – obviously Photograph: Facebook BaanBaanBangKraJaoThe best things to do in Bang Kachao What is it? By this point, you’re probably going to be hungry. Fortunately, with food on practically every corner, you rarely have to sustain this uncomfortable state for very long. Bang Kachao has got you covered too, with restaurants and small coffee shops hidden among all that green scenery. The only difficult part is deciding where to stop – which, honestly, is often a nightmare in Thailand because how are we supposed to choose when everything looks so delicious? Whether you want a proper Thai lunch by the river, some comforting Western carbs or just a quick coffee and toastie before jumping back on your bike, here are a few spots worth making a stop for. Have a proper Thai lunch at Baan Baan Bang Kra Jao  If you want to go for a traditional Thai lunch, then you might as well find yourself sitting by the river with an amazing view to go with it. For that, check out Baan Baan Bang Kra Jao. From the front, the restaurant looks a bit like a big treehouse tucked into the greenery, with plenty of space to sit down, slow things down and enjoy the riverside surroundings. Food-wise, you can indulge in fresh seafood, choose between different variations of papaya salad or simply stick to the never-miss Thai default: pad kra pao. Because really, can you ever go wrong with one? Expect to spend somewhere around B200 per person for a meal. Maybe slightly more than your usual quick Thai lunch, but once you're sitting there surrounded by tropical greenery and looking out over the river, you'll probably forget about that pretty quickly. Baan Baan Bang Kra Jao, Soi Phetchahueng 20, Bang Krasop, Bang Kachao. 11am-9pm (Mon-Thu), 8am-10pm (Fri-Sun)   Get your comforting carbs at The Junction  Sometimes, however, no amount of papaya salad is going to fix the very specific need for comforting carbs. In that case, I'd definitely advise stopping at The Junction, a small outdoor restaurant that's conveniently located on the way to or from the pier. The seating area is entirely outside, so maybe have a quick look at the sky before committing – dark clouds and an outdoor pizza aren't necessarily the combination we're going for. The menu has a wide variety of Italian-style pizzas, but if somehow that's still not enough comfort food for you, there are also fish and chips and plenty of fried finger foods. And yes, you can wash the whole thing down with a craft beer. Compared with typical Thai food, things are a little pricier here. Be prepared to spend somewhere around B300 per person for a meal. But after cycling all day, I think we can agree you've earned the carbs. The Junction, Bang Kachao. 11am-8pm (Thu & Sun); 11am-9pm (closed Mon-Wed)   Cool Down at Deep in Bangkrachao  Another spot worth stopping at is Deep In Bangkrachao, a small outdoor café hidden among the greenery of Sri Nakhon Khuean Khan Park. This one is perfect when the Bangkok heat has finally caught up with you and you need something cold before getting back on the bike. Grab a fresh coconut or another refreshing drink and sit down in the shade for a while. If you're hungry, there's fried rice and even Italian pasta on the menu. Or, if you only need a quick snack to give you enough energy to explore some more, go for one of their toasties – which, I have to say, pose some pretty serious competition to the beloved 7-Eleven ones. It's also one of the more budget-friendly stops on the route. Food generally lands somewhere around B40-B70, while drinks are usually around B50. Then, once you're properly fuelled, you can jump back on your bike and continue exploring. Or, if you're a big fan of a little post-lunch siesta, find yourself a patch of grass and reconnect with nature for a while. No judgement here. Deep In Bangkrachao, Sri Nakhon Khuean Khan Park and Botanical Garden, Bang Kachao. 7.30am-9pm   Eat your way around Bang Nam Phueng Floating Market  And if you're visiting on a weekend, you're even luckier because Bang Nam Phueng Floating Market is worth adding to your food route. Rather than sitting down for one big meal, this is the place to walk around and see what catches your attention. You'll find plenty of local Thai food, snacks, sweets and drinks alongside stalls selling crafts and other products. Personally, I think this is also where the whole ‘how am I supposed to decide what to eat?’-problem becomes considerably worse. But maybe that's the solution – don't decide. Try a few smaller things instead. The market generally gets going in the morning and starts winding down at around 4pm, so don't leave this stop until the very end of your day. Come hungry, wander around and grab whatever looks good before getting back on your bike. Bang Nam Phueng Floating Market, 98 Bang Nam Phueng, Bang Kachao. 8am-4pm (Sat-Sun)   Cross back into the city as Bangkok lights up  Photograph: Iga Siemieniec - Time OutThe best things to do in Bang Kachao Eventually it's time to return your bike and make your way back to the pier. Last boats generally make their way back around 6pm, perfect for that sunset-on-a-boat shot for your Instagram feed. As the sun comes down, Bangkok starts lightning up and suddenly the greenery and quiet paths you’ve spent the whole day exploring are behind you. But if you do miss the last boat back, fear not. Bang Krachao is still connected to the ‘mainland’ via the Bhumibol Bridge, so you can easily call a Grab and find a road back home.  For me, that little breath of fresh air did wonders after a stuffy few weeks in the city. I had spent the day cycling between palm trees, riding around ponds, getting sweaty enough to justify an iced cappuccino, following roads without really knowing where they were going and somehow ending up surrounded by farm animals. And a few minutes later, I was back in Bangkok.  So what now? A party? Chinatown by night? Or maybe a Thai massage to keep the relaxation going?  Whatever you feel like, it’s the contrasts that really makes Bangkok special. You can spend your afternoon cycling through greenery and watching giants and then cross one river and find yourself back among skyscrapers, traffic, street food, neon lights and crowds. 

There’s a version of Thailand that exists purely on screen: a jagged limestone island hiding a villain, a beach so perfect it sends backpackers wild, a rooftop bar where four strangers wake up with no memory of the night before. None of it is fake, exactly. Somewhere along the way, though, the line between ‘shot here’ and ‘must go here’ blurred – and Thailand’s tourism board took notice. This isn’t a list of films that happened to use Thailand as scenery. Plenty have, and most changed nothing. This is about the handful that did: the ones that turned a cinema seat into a boarding pass and a scene into a bucket-list photo, before the government eventually stopped watching from the sidelines and started engineering the effect. Call it set-jetting or film-induced tourism; either way, films have been shaping Thai travel itineraries since 1957. 1957: the film that renamed a river Photograph: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)The set-jetting guide to Thailand Start with the strangest case of all: it wasn’t even filmed in Thailand. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) was shot in Sri Lanka, won  seven Oscars and told a heavily fictionalised story of the Death Railway – the brutal Second World War line built by Allied prisoners of war and Asian labourers under Japanese occupation, whose construction killed well over 100,000 people. Photograph: Niels MickersThe set-jetting guide to Thailand   Then came the real plot twist. The bridge is in Kanchanaburi, but the river was never called the Kwai: it was the Mae Klong, running through the Khwae valley. Tourists arrived anyway, repeatedly asking for ‘the real Bridge on the River Kwai’, until Thai authorities renamed the relevant stretch Khwae Yai in the 1960s to match the film’s fiction. Photograph: Supanut ArunoprayoteThe set-jetting guide to Thailand   This was no marketing campaign or tour operator’s branding trick, but an act of state cartography triggered by tourists who had seen a film and wouldn’t stop asking. The whole set-jetting story is there in one renamed river. The bridge still stands, trains cross it daily and the whistled Colonel Bogey March still plays in visitors’ heads before they have even boarded. 1974: a villain’s lair lands on the tour map Photograph: The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)The set-jetting guide to Thailand Producer Cubby Broccoli spotted an odd little island in a magazine and decided Bond needed to duel there. Photograph: Pexels – Satheesh CholakkalThe set-jetting guide to Thailand Khao Phing Kan – twin limestone islands with the 20-metre rock spike Ko Tapu jutting up beside them – had barely seen a tourist before The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) made it Scaramanga’s lair. Locals called it Ko Phing Kan. Everyone else began calling it James Bond Island, and the new name all but eclipsed the old one. Photograph: Pexels – Satheesh CholakkalThe set-jetting guide to Thailand The scale today says it all. Phang Nga Bay, the wider stretch of water surrounding the island, now draws more than 4.1 million visitors a year. Speedboat and long-tail operators run three or four departures daily from Phuket alone, many built around a 40-minute stop at a rock made famous by a film of more than 50 years ago. Photograph: Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)The set-jetting guide to Thailand Pierce Brosnan’s Bond returned to Phang Nga Bay in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), reinforcing the franchise’s claim on the location. Tourists standing on that beach today are there because of a producer’s magazine clipping: the geology hasn’t changed a bit. 2000: the beach loved into a closure Photograph: The Beach (2000)The set-jetting guide to Thailand The Beach (2000) is the one everyone half-remembers: DiCaprio, Danny Boyle and a hidden lagoon at Maya Bay on Ko Phi Phi Leh that looked too perfect to be real. Less remembered are the brutally clear before-and-after figures. Photograph: Wikipedia – MikecleggphotoThe set-jetting guide to Thailand Before the film, Maya Bay received fewer than 1,000 visitors a day. By 2018, estimates put the figure at 5,000 to 8,000, arriving on flotillas of speedboats from Phuket and Phi Phi Don. One travel writer called it ‘the Instagram boom’: tourists came to stand where DiCaprio had stood and post the same view. Photograph: Wikipedia – Oceanquest1The set-jetting guide to Thailand The damage went far beyond visitor numbers. Coral cover fell from around 70-80% intact to just 8% alive by the time the bay closed. The Thai government shut it completely in June 2018, initially for four months and then indefinitely; it remained closed for more than three years. In a twist possible only because of a film, Thailand’s Supreme Court later upheld a settlement requiring 20th Century Studios – the production company behind The Beach – to contribute 10 million baht to the bay’s rehabilitation. When Maya Bay reopened in 2022, boats were banned from anchoring in the bay, swimming was prohibited and daily visitor numbers were capped at 4,125 a day, admitted in timed one-hour slots. A film sold a beach so effectively that saving it meant legally limiting how many people could buy a ticket.     2011: the rooftop pose that won’t quit Photograph: The Hangover Part II (2011)The set-jetting guide to Thailand The Hangover Part II (2011) turned Bangkok’s chaos into the joke – and travellers into willing participants in recreating it, quite literally. Photograph: lebuaThe set-jetting guide to Thailand Sky Bar at lebua, glimpsed in a helicopter shot in the film, still serves the Hangovertini: green tea liqueur, apple juice, Martini Rosso and rosemary honey, mixed specially for the cast. More than a decade later, it remains the most-ordered drink on the menu. The real evidence is on TikTok. Search ‘Hangover staircase Bangkok’ and you’ll find a genre of its own: travellers descending Sirocco’s sweeping staircase in the film’s exact pose. Captions include ‘worth the flight just for this shot,’ ‘POV: you couldn't visit Lebua without doing the Hangover pose’, while one #hangoverchallenge group declared, ‘I'm pretty sure we won this trend.’ 2012: the film that put a university on guard Photograph: Lost in Thailand (2012)The set-jetting guide to Thailand For the most measurable case in this story, look to Lost in Thailand (2012).The scrappy US$5 million Chinese road comedy went largely unnoticed in the West but became, on release, the highest-grossing domestic film in Chinese cinema history, earning more than US$200 million. It was shot almost entirely around Chiang Mai. Photograph: Beijing Enlight PicturesThe set-jetting guide to Thailand The numbers moved fast: Chiang Mai’s airport recorded a 28% jump in passenger traffic within months of release, while the city’s Chinese visitor count rose from around 70,000 in 2011 to roughly 80,000 in 2012, before the real surge. Chiang Mai tourism officials later described visitor numbers as trebling, while Chinese arrivals across Thailand roughly doubled year on year to an estimated 4.6 million by 2013. Photograph: Lost in Thailand (2012)The set-jetting guide to Thailand The behavioural evidence is even better. Chiang Mai University – a working campus, not a tourist attraction – became such a magnet for fans re-enacting scenes that visitors sneaked into lectures, pitched a tent beside the university lake and swamped the cafeteria. Eventually, the university began charging admission and installed extra security to manage the crowds. Standard Tour, a local operator, told reporters the film ‘really promoted Thailand as a fantastic holiday destination’, while academics have since made it a textbook case of one comedy reshaping a country’s outbound travel patterns. No film here has a cleaner data trail – or a stranger consequence than a university forced to check IDs at its own gates. 2018: when a soap opera revived court dress Photograph: Love Destiny (2018)The set-jetting guide to Thailand Thai TV doesn’t need Hollywood’s help to move people. Bupphesanniwat, released internationally as Love Destiny (2018), is a time-travel romance set in 17th-century Ayutthaya. Within weeks of its debut, local tourism officials were reporting precise results at Wat Chaiwatthanaram: an average weekend footfall jumped from around 3,300 visitors to more than 9,000, with 5,773 people through the gates on one Sunday alone. The Ayutthaya governor coined a nickname for the chaos – ‘Bupphealawart’  – blending the show’s name with the Thai word for pandemonium. Photograph: Average trinmoThe set-jetting guide to Thailand What visitors did on arrival is the fun part. They rented full 17th-century court dress from roadside shops that sprang up opposite the temple, then posed among the ruins like the show’s characters. The trend spread beyond Ayutthaya: government officials wore traditional Thai dress to work, while people arrived at government offices in full costume to have their national ID photos taken. Hotels joined in too. Hotel Indigo Bangkok now runs a ‘Borrowed by Hotel Indigo’ programme, lending guests Thai outfits for Ayutthaya day trips. It’s the clearest example here of a screen hit not merely selling a place, but reviving a style of national dress dormant for a generation. 2025: the show Thailand planned for Photograph: The White Lotus (2025)The set-jetting guide to Thailand Then The White Lotus (2025) landed in Koh Samui. For the first time in this story, Thailand wasn’t reacting to a surprise; it was executing a plan. TAT had already launched a dedicated ‘SetJetters’ website, having watched Hawaii and Sicily absorb the same effect of the show’s first two seasons. Maui alone saw Four Seasons booking enquiries jump 400% after season one aired. Four Seasons Koh Samui searches spiked 65%, and the brand's Thailand bookings rose 68% year on year. Book a stay at the actual resort – the hillside sanctuary and PlaPla restaurant are the same ones the show shot in. The pivot: Thailand stopped waiting to get lucky That readiness marks the real shift. TAT now runs a formal ‘Location Thailand’ strategy centred on set-jetting, offering cash rebates to international productions, fast-tracking filming permits and flying in press and influencers to follow the exact routes seen on screen. Photograph: Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025)The set-jetting guide to Thailand   When Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025) filmed across Krabi, Phang Nga and Trang, TAT didn’t wait to see whether tourists would follow. Before the film even opened, it flew in the director and cast for a media tour, treating the production itself as a marketing campaign. Foreign shoots generated more than 6 billion baht in Thailand in 2025, and the country is now pushing for Krabi to join UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network as an official ‘City of Film’. The real filming spots are all open to visit – Khao Phanom Bencha National Park, Huai To Waterfall and Railay Beach in Krabi, plus Koh Kradan in Trang. The tall grass field near Man Khao Farm in Krabi didn't exist naturally – director Gareth Edwards had the whole seven-acre field specially grown in Thab Prik because Thailand doesn't really grow grass that tall. Visit the real filming spots at Khao Phanom Bencha National Park, Huai To Waterfall and Railay Beach, or Koh Kradan in Trang. Photograph: Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025)The set-jetting guide to Thailand The pattern repeats even where nobody has measured it properly. Bollywood has fuelled its own version since Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai (2000) used Krabi’s islands as a honeymoon backdrop. By the director’s own account, the crew had to bunk with villagers because Krabi had just one hotel with eight rooms at the time. Photograph: Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai (2000)The set-jetting guide to Thailand A quarter of a century later, Indian couples still visit the same stretch of coast, posting captions such as ‘at the place where Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai came alive’. There’s no tourism board data behind it – just people who saw a song sequence 25 years ago and never stopped wanting to stand in it.  That’s the arc of this story: from a river renamed to keep pace with a film’s fiction to a tourism board treating a Hollywood shooting schedule as a strategic asset. Thailand went from being wherever the story happened to land to actively writing itself into the next one. At some point, somebody realised the fastest way to sell a plane ticket isn’t a brochure; it’s a scene people can’t stop thinking about.

Everyone knows Bangkok can be cheap. Eat local food all day, walk everywhere and stick to free attractions and, yes, B500 will probably get you pretty far. But that's a little too easy. I wanted to see if B500 could actually get you a proper day out. The goal: Spend a day out on the town, enjoy three good meals, get around without walking half the city, pick up something sweet and see the best the city has to offer at the lowest possible price. For me, the day started in Silom. My journey took me to Siam, around the sights, to more food spots than you’d expect and with enough to get me back again for dinner. I took Grab bikes, swapped predictably cheap Thai food for some rather ridiculous fries at lunch and even squeezed in a cookie along the way. There was a lot more besides, but I'll break it down below. Here's how far B500 got me on a day out in Bangkok. Small budget, big appetite.

I just moved here, and I thought that would be the hardest part. Turns out belonging is a whole other battle.  Even in the social hubbub of Bangkok, making friends as an adult is hard, so I’ve turned to hobbies. Think of them as little whimsical side quests around Bangkok: no social pressure, no commitments, no need to be particularly good at anything. Just show up as you are, try something new and see where it takes you.   Maybe you’ll meet a like-minded friend. Maybe you’ll come out the other side with a new favourite pastime. Or maybe you’ll spend two hours awkwardly making some wonky trinket that doesn’t work properly but you’ve had a great time making it anyway. Worst case, you’ll have a funny story to look back on. Welcome to ‘hobbymaxxing’ in Bangkok. A series about trying new things, facing (social) fears and making new memories, one hobby at a time. First up: journalling. Trading your phone for a pen Journalling seems like a good place to start, even if it’s quite personal (so much for making new friends!). It’s low-entry, low-pressure and requires very little commitment beyond finding somewhere to sit and putting pen to paper, essentially. And in a city that’s always rushing to get caught in traffic, there’s something quite nice about deliberately doing the opposite. Find somewhere to slow down, open your notebook and scribble your thoughts. Serious ones or complete nonsense. Photograph: I found something goodEverything to Journaling

Say Song Wat and you might picture old shophouses, Chinese lettering above the shutters and sacks of dried chillies by the door. They’re all still here. Along its roughly 1.2km stretch beside the Chao Phraya, spice wholesalers now trade alongside Song Wat Coffee Roasters, Thai restaurant e-ga, independent shops and bars with river views. Come hungry, but keep your eyes off your phone between stops. Belgian artist ROA’s upside-down elephants cover a car-park wall, PLAY art house occupies a former shoe warehouse and smaller artworks turn up in alleys and shop windows. Made in Song Wat, a local collective that began with 10 businesses in 2022, has since grown to more than 60 members.  The road’s name refers to King Rama V drawing its route on a map. That history is part of the pleasure of walking here: Song Wat still works as a trading street, even as its old buildings find new occupants. Photograph: rongklannuea What's Song Wat known for? Street art helped draw visitors here before the café queues arrived. Now galleries sit among wholesalers, design pieces appear in unexpected shops and restored shophouses hold restaurants, bakeries and bars. You can spend an afternoon photographing the walls and grazing your way down the road, then stay for dinner and a drink. Photograph: rongklannuea Why do the locals love it? Song Wat rewards a slow look. Family-run businesses still sell chillies, star anise and coffee beans from open-fronted shops, while murals cover peeling walls and galleries range from bright rooms on the main road to small spaces down a soi. Late afternoon is a good time to arrive: the delivery traffic eases, some older shops begin to close and there’s still daylight for a wander before dinner. Photograph: Sachasak Rakgamnerd How do I get there? The simplest route is the MRT Blue Line to Wat Mangkon. Take Exit 1 onto Plaeng Nam Road, cross Yaowarat and walk towards the river; allow around 10 minutes to reach Song Wat. From BTS Sala Daeng, change to the MRT at Si Lom. From BTS National Stadium, bus 204 (2-52) runs towards Ratchawong. For a river arrival, take the BTS to Saphan Taksin, walk to Sathorn Pier and board a Chao Phraya Express Boat that stops at Ratchawong. Check the boat’s stopping pattern before boarding. Song Wat is a short walk from the pier. Driving is possible, but parking around Chinatown can be difficult. If you only do one thing: Walk with your camera ready. Look beyond the big murals for a sculpture on a window ledge, a mosaic behind a drainpipe and handmade ceramics in shop windows. Some installations invite you to turn a handle or press a button. Galleries and cafés add their own changing displays, so leave time to follow an alley that catches your eye.

Old Town Bangkok makes you move like you have all the time in the world. It sits in the Phra Nakhon district, which literally means ‘royal city’. Here, things move at their own inherited pace, not the calculated slow of somewhere trying to be quaint, but the rhythm of a place that’s simply always existed this way. Rattanakosin Island, as it’s also called, sits snugly between the Chao Phraya and a maze of canals. Before Bangkok became the kind of city where ancient temples back onto phone repair shops, this was ground zero. Since 1782, lives have been building up here, one generation on top of another. The density’s part of the charm. This neighbourhood still holds its weight – you can feel it was once the centre of everything.   Photograph: Maksim Romashkin The Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun: the big three temples holding down the district, the giant guardians still on duty. Holy ground that hasn't been museumed. There’s a faint smell in some alleys, jasmine mixed with coconut from street snacks that’ve been made the exact same way for decades. Tuk-tuks navigate impossibly narrow passages. They shouldn’t fit, but they always do. Bangkok’s racing ahead naturally, but somehow nothing that shaped this corner ever really disappears. The river flows. The flower market opens before dawn, same as it has for generations. People here just move differently, so you end up flowing through the neighbourhood in an oft-paused, wandering manner. You don’t even realise you’re doing it. What’s it known for?   Photograph: Wisnu Phaewchimplee A spiritual island. Old Town with a time zone of its own, held there by the water. Glass towers shot up everywhere else in the city, but this place didn’t fight it. Didn’t make a big show of staying the same either. Motor shops upgrade their equipment. New coffee spots and international restaurants squeeze in between the old storefronts. All of it peaceful, moving slow, together. Why do locals love it? Mostly because the real texture lives in the mundane rituals: shophouses keeping their original bones while cracks of change let modern concepts in. It’s a place where people hunt down a specific person for that specific something, with no aesthetic agenda, just the ordinary machinery of days cycling forward. Walkability exists here too. You just end up on foot somehow, navigating the area. And that matters more than it sounds, especially in a city like Bangkok, where sprawl keeps pushing everything further apart and highways and high-rises slice the map into isolated fragments. Being able to walk from point A to B without a strategy session is rare. How do I get to the area? First option is to take the MRT and get off at Sanam Chai station, where the design itself references temple architecture, a design choice that telegraphs location before anyone’s cleared the escalator. The boats matter though. There’s something about pulling up to Old Town by river that has this half-awake quality to it, riverside living with clothes airing out to dry, longtail boats and those wake patterns they leave when passing you. Walking then water, or the reverse, either direction opens up the neighbourhood properly.  Chao Phraya Express Boats run on coloured flags: blue for visitors, orange for everyday commuters, yellow for peak-hour runs and green-yellow for selective stops. Anyone can board any line, though blue boats angle themselves towards exploration: B150 unlocks unlimited pier-hopping for the day, or it’s B30 for a one-way shot. Tha Tien, Tha Chang and Tha Phra Athit are among the pier names worth knowing. Taxis and Grab handle the broader streets until the lanes pinch down to barely two people wide. Bicycles are everywhere! Locals navigate by instinct. Rental bikes lean against corners, green Anywheel scooters are lined up in their zones. If you could only do one thing A longtail boat ride through the khlongs while Bangkok’s water neighbourhoods are still rubbing sleep from their eyes. At Tha Tien or Phra Athit pier: you’re looking at B1,500-2,000 per boat. Most operators stick to their 9am schedules, timed for tour groups. But ask around a day early and a few cool captains will meet you in the dark and take you along on their everyday rides.

If getting lost is a prerequisite to good travel, Songkhla disorientates in all the right ways.  Ramvithi Road, where mini-vans drop off travellers from Hat Yai for B34, looks like any main road in Thailand. But as you stroll into the Old Town, you’ll soon be wondering which country, and into which century, you might have stumbled. North of the City Gate, past the golden-domed Banbon Mosque that anchors a community where Thai-Chinese and Muslims live side-by-side, rows of antique shophouses simply ooze charm. The Taoist temples and clan academies signpost the old Chinese quarter, while Wat Yang Thong, a redolent Thai temple complex near the city walls, marks the northern periphery of old Songkhla.  Photograph: Thomas Bird This unique cosmopolitanism is the product of commerce and conquest down the centuries. First established as the seat of the ancient Malay kingdom of Langkasuka, between the 10th and 14th centuries, Singora, ‘the lion city’ as it was known, emerged as an entrepot, attracting traders from India, Java, China and Persia. By the early 17th century, the Sultanate of Singora had taken shape, flourishing until 1680, when a protracted war with the Siamese saw the besieged city abandoned.    Under Siamese suzerainty, a settlement grew-up just across the strait from old Singora, which has subsequently thrived as a hub of fishing, attracting Chinese merchants to its bountiful shores.  Although Hat Yai has surpassed Songkhla in size and prestige, the provincial capital’s heritage and unique location on an isthmus between the Gulf of Thailand and Songkhla Lake, lend it a new lease of life as a tourist locale.

Bangkok holds its breath a little tighter through this January 10-15 stretch, said to be the worst of it. The air isn't moving, ventilation is weak and everything just hangs there: car exhaust, emissions, all of it stagnant and heavy. Authorities say PM2.5 levels will keep climbing until winds from the Gulf push through around January 17-18 and clear ‘some’ of this out. On the maps many districts show up orange bleeding into red, which means hazardous for everyone, not just those with asthma or underlying conditions. The worst-hit district as of January 12 is Pathum Wan at 49.9 micrograms per cubic metre. To put that in perspective, the World Health Organization (WHO) sets a health-based guideline of 15 micrograms per cubic metre for 24-hour exposure. See the districts taking the hardest hit here. So, we adapt. It's about keeping your lungs intact but also keeping those orange-to-red maps from consuming every waking thought. Right now the numbers stay put until the winds shift. Here's the adaptation playbook so far.

Go on first dates today, be coupled up by Valentine's! We know first dates can feel like a soft performance, so you might as well choose a decent stage. Let the pilot episode lean rom-com, not horror. You want somewhere with enough going on. Places with things to look at, little moments that naturally spark conversations. It should feel intimate enough for a blink-and-you-forget-the-rest-of-the-world moment, but not so secluded it gets weird. Sometimes the best dates cost nothing, just like the best people! Here's where to go when you're actually trying to see them again (and again).

New year, new you. Sure. But what about that anger you’re still hauling around? The stuff that didn’t get the fresh start memo. It’s just sitting there, or worse, popping off at random over something small that you know isn’t even the actual issue. You could journal it out. Meditate. Talk to someone. But if you need to actually move the feeling through your body, that’s what this list is for. Important note: nobody’s condoning actual violence here. But there are places built specifically for this – controlled, legal, supervised. Bangkok and the surrounding areas have spots where you can smash things designed to be smashed, hit bags that exist to be hit, move hard and fast enough that the anger just flies out.  Here’s where to take it when the talking part stops working. Better than letting it leak out sideways into your actual life where people don’t deserve it!

We were honoured when Time Out tapped us to curate this definitive guide to Bangkok’s best new bars. Our story is simple: what began as an after-work ritual of sharing drinks organically grew into the Paikapai (@paikapai.official), or ‘Let’s go!’ community. It started as a way to answer friends’ constant questions – ‘Where is that beautiful bar? Are the drinks any good?’ – and remains a way to share the places we genuinely love. Our process is just as organic. We don’t rely on insider tips; our main tool is our own two feet. We walk the city, pay attention to a corner of a soi under construction, and feel the buzz of something new. When it opens, we’re there as regular customers – first and foremost. Even our photography follows this ethos. We always order a drink first, soak in the atmosphere, and only when the artistic mood strikes do we capture the moments we love, simply on our phones. This isn’t a job for us – it’s our lifestyle. Every day brings a different mood, and for each one, a bar is often the answer. It’s in these spaces that we’ve learned the most, simply by observing the incredible ‘diversity’ of people. By watching the focused bartenders, the diligent staff, and the customers’ stories unfold, we’ve realised you’re never truly alone in a good bar. You’re surrounded by friends – some you know, and many you just haven’t met yet. So when assessing a bar for this list, we look beyond the menu. The primary criterion is the atmosphere – does it feel cosy? Is it a place you can truly relax? After that comes excellent cocktails and warm, genuine service, which tie the whole experience together. Right now, the city’s bar scene is electric. We’re seeing a wave of creativity, with bartenders championing local ingredients in Thai gin and rum, and pushing boundaries with cocktails like the unforgettable ‘Fossil Fuel’ at Wasteland. We’ve also seen how great bars can transform a neighbourhood – just look at Soi Nana in Yaowarat, which has blossomed into a global destination. We believe this energy comes from a core part of our identity: Thais love to gather, and when combined with the city’s cosmopolitan vibe, it creates a cocktail culture that’s truly world-class. It’s with this in mind – as observers, customers and lovers of this city – that we share our list. Let’s go! Want to know why these bars made the cut? A dedicated podcast drops in October. Subscribe to our new YouTube channel to be the first to know.

Time Out asked me to write a list of my favourite new cafes, and as I started to put it together, I found myself thinking back on how this all began. For the past eight years, my passion has been exploring Bangkok’s coffee scene. It started simply because I’ve always loved coffee. When I had a full-time job, I'd spend my weekends searching for interesting new cafes. Every time I discovered a place with delicious coffee or beautiful decor, I felt a spark of inspiration and didn't want to keep it to myself. Sharing those moments on Instagram became my way of documenting these small, joyful discoveries. It’s been my personal gallery, and I'm still amazed that so many people have followed along on this journey with me. Over the years, people have always asked me, ‘How do you find all these new cafes?’ There's no one answer. Back in the day, I was part of a group of ‘cafe hoppers,’ and we’d share new spots with each other. I'm also lucky to have friends in the design world who sometimes give me a heads-up about a new project they're working on. For everything else, it’s a mix of my own methods: scouring hashtags, checking my social media feeds, and sometimes, I just stumble upon a new place while I’m out exploring. Visiting so many places has taught me a lot. The most important lesson is that passion is an incredible source of energy. I love talking to baristas and owners, and in those conversations, I always see the dedication that drives them. Whether it’s their love for coffee, their meticulous attention to detail, or the sheer courage it takes to open a cafe in a city as competitive as Bangkok, that passion is what makes a place special. When I evaluate a cafe, the coffee always comes first. That’s the key factor that determines if I’ll go back. It's not just about a delicious flavour; I look at the creativity of the menu and the thought process behind the selection of beans. The ambiance comes second, because I truly believe that great coffee tastes even better in a great atmosphere. I've seen firsthand how a beautiful cafe can transform a neighborhood. The Song Wat area is a perfect example. It used to be a quiet, historic neighbourhood, but now, with over 20 cafes and more on the way, it's buzzing with life. These cafes have shone a spotlight on the area, drawing in new crowds, from young people to tourists. This small change has brought a new energy to the community, and it's inspiring to see. My photography is something I’m often asked about, but honestly, there's no fixed technique. I just feel a connection with a certain angle or moment and I take the shot. I try to capture a sense of naturalness and movement. I look for the perfect timing, like when the light hits the room just right, or a barista is pouring a perfect latte. I love warm, brown tones – they just feel right for cafes. My style is also heavily influenced by the movies I watch, especially the work of directors like Wes Anderson, whose use of symmetry and composition I find really inspiring. So what motivates me to keep exploring almost every day? It’s simple: I have fun. The city is always changing – the light, the colours, the mood of the people. And every time I discover a new corner or a new cafe, it feels like I've found a fresh burst of inspiration for my own life. Bangkok’s love for coffee isn't just a trend; it's a reflection of the city itself. In a place that’s often chaotic and stressful, a cafe is a small space to breathe. It’s a moment of simple happiness. A cafe isn't just a place to buy coffee; for many of us, it’s a safe space to work, read, meet friends, or just be alone with our thoughts. This love for cafes also speaks to a new generation's appreciation for quality and experience. We no longer just drink coffee; we choose it. We choose it based on the origin, the brewing method and the story of the cafe itself. And of course, social media plays a huge role. A beautiful cafe and a great cup of coffee have become a part of our lifestyle that we want to share. This has pushed cafe owners to pay even more attention to every detail – the lighting, the design, and the entire customer experience. I'm excited to share my list with you and hope you find as much joy in visiting these places as I did in discovering them.

The Museum Star 2025 awards have just been launched by the National Discovery Museum Institute to spotlight the venues that truly shine. The winners were chosen not just for their collections, but for their overall vibe – from excellent service to a truly unique and welcoming experience for guests. Only 10 pioneering Bangkok institutions made the inaugural list, giving them a well-deserved badge of excellence. Consider your next cultural outing sorted.  Here are 10 award-winning spots to check out now.

Finding a proper bagel in Bangkok used to be a real mission according to my dad and uncle, self proclaimed ‘bagel scholars’. Now they reckon ‘we're spoilt for choice’, which is great news! New York’s thick chewy bad boys and Montreal’s sweeter rings are everywhere now plus some wildcard geniuses doing Thai fusion.  The bagel situation escalated quickly. You’ve got the OGs who gambled on bagels when nobody even knew if Bangkok cared, the pandemic bakers who got a bit too into their lockdown hobby and never looked back and the Singaporean vets with battle-tested recipes. Here are all the bagel joints you knead to know.

What is it? A lifestyle brand you won’t be able to resist with its playful colour combinations, cheerful patterns and little charms designed to make everyday life a little more fun. Why we love it: Thailand is home to the brand’s first and only overseas store, Tagi. Sabaai House. The space is a one-of-a-kind, cosy little escape inspired by Thailand’s tropical greenery, with bamboo weaving and textiles throughout. Think a traditional Thai wooden ‘baan’ (house), but with a colourful, cute twist.  Expect colourful and patterned accessories that’ll brighten up your daily routine, from seriously cute water bottles that might get you overhydrating to hair accessories, phone cases and many more things you’ll want to add to your everyday rotation. The Bangkok store even comes with its own character: Elly. A young artist elephant who has just made Thailand her new home. An elephant in Thailand feels like a pretty perfect match. Cliche? Yes, but we love her all the same. Time Out tip: The employees gave us the inside scoop: the makeup pouches are the store’s bestsellers. So much so that even people who don’t wear makeup pick them up to use as lunch bags – although there’s no insulation, so pack accordingly. New drops and designs arrive roughly every three months, so there’s always something new to discover. Keep an eye out for the latest grey Elly elephant, an exclusive design available only in Thailand. Location: centralwOrld, second floor, Eden zone

What is it? Not official, but we’re pretty sure the ‘W’ stands for warehouse. And once you step inside, the name starts to make sense: clothes, clothes and more clothes, stretching out in every direction, neatly arranged by color like a very fashionable rainbow. Why we love it: The vibe is unapologetically Gen Z, with racks packed with Y2K-inspired pieces, casual streetwear and easy everyday fits. Think cool-girl basics, low-effort-but-somehow-put-together outfits and plenty of pieces you can mix, match and throw into your wardrobe rotation. Thailand is the brand’s first Southeast Asian location, and we’re ready to shop until we drop. Time Out tip: Eat before you go, and maybe save this for your final shopping stop of the day. Trust us, you’re going to need both hands for the bags you’ll be carrying out. Location: Siam Center, ground floor (Opening very soon)

What is it? A British-inspired vintage bakery starring the unmistakable ‘Bagel the Dog’ logo. Step inside and the stone walls, hanging pots and rustic details instantly transport you to a little London bakery.  Why we love it: The smell of freshly baked goods wafts through the space, with irresistible rows of breads, pastries, pretzels, egg tarts, scones, croissants and cakes making it feel like you’ve stepped straight into bread heaven. Add on some irresistibly cute packaging and a rather photogenic storefront and AMAM Lonbakery Town has all the ingredients of a viral bakery worth travelling for. What's more, Thailand is currently its first and only overseas location, so consider this your excuse to book the ‘flight’. ‘Ole Bagel is waiting. Time Out tip: No tips on what to order because you really can’t go wrong. But their Bagel dog-themed homeware and merchandise are just as good as the baked goods, making for a memorable souvenir to take home since you can’t exactly take the pastries home with you. Location: Siam Paragon, ground floor floor (Opening September 2026)

What is it? By now, you should all know about POP MART. But did you know this is POP MART’s first café outside China? Your favourite art-toy characters come out of the box and onto your plate, created in collaboration with Thai café brand Greyhound Café. Why we love it: The café serves up desserts, drinks and popsicles all inspired by some of its most iconic characters, including LABUBU, SKULLPANDA, MOLLY, PUCKY, CRYBABY, DIMOO, HIRONO and more. Even the popsicles come packaged like a POP MART toy box, so you can pick your favourite character and flavour without the blind-box gamble.   Time Out tip: Head there early and reserve your table first to avoid the notorious queues. There’s a TV screen displaying the available time slots, so grab your spot before doing your shopping at the biggest POP MART store in the world. Time in the café is limited to one hour, so take a look at the menu beforehand and save time for all the pictures you’ll want to take in the character-filled interiors. Location: ICONSIAM, in the POP MART Global Landmark Store located on the seventh floor, with the café on the shop’s second floor. Yes, it has two floors. 

What is it? A contemporary handbag brand known for its distinctive weaving patterns, Songmont creates practical, everyday bags that don’t chase trends but somehow always stay on them.  Why we love it: Born from the search for the perfect laptop bag, functionality isn’t an afterthought, with plenty of pockets and enough room for all the things you swear you’ll only carry ‘just in case.’ It blends traditional Chinese craftsmanship and patterns with modern minimalist designs that work seamlessly together, and with every outfit.  Time Out tip: The staff are super friendly and happy to help you find your perfect bag, whether that means trying on different styles, adjusting the straps or tracking down additional stock. Just be careful, you might walk out with more than the one bag you came looking for. Location: centralwOrld, first floor, Atrium zone

What is it? Taking the country by storm, this beverage and soft-serve chain brings the ‘Snow King’ mascot to Thailand – and we can't seem to get enough of it.  Why we love it: Just as eye-catching as its super-affordable ice cream, fruit teas and lemon drinks, the Chinese brand has become a familiar sight across Bangkok, with its bright red-and-white shops and cheerful mascot making it hard to walk past without stopping for a quick sugar fix. Keep an eye out for Thailand-specific specials too, with MIXUE regularly dropping new flavours and local collaborations, such as its Jasmine Milk Tea series. Time Out tip: Although famed for its B15 soft-serve ice cream, the ‘Mango Pearl with Ice Cream’ is another must-try, combining mango, ice cream, jelly and boba. Give it a good shake before digging in to mix all the toppings together. The fresh-squeezed lemonade is also a refreshing pick, but we’d personally order it less sweet. Location: Multiple locations around Bangkok, including Siam Square, centralwOrld (seventh floor, Beacon Zone), MBK Center (fifth floor) and more

What is it? For those here for the tea. CHAGEE focuses on taking traditional Chinese tea varieties and turning them into fresh milk teas, keeping the tea at the centre rather than piling on the toppings.  Why we love it: All CHAGEE teas are brewed using whole tea leaves rather than powdered tea. Each variety undergoes its own traditional processing techniques, from jasmine scenting for the green tea to the ageing and post-fermentation of Pu-er. This gives the drinks a smooth and fragrant taste, with the natural flavour and aroma of the tea coming through rather than being overwhelmed by sugar.  Time Out tip: Try the tea with their special three-channel straw, designed to slow your sipping pace and enhance the tea’s aroma and flavour. Whether it actually makes a difference, we’ll leave that to you, but at least you won’t scald your tongue before you have a chance to taste the rest of your drink. Location: Multiple locations around Bangkok, including ICONSIAM (ground floor), centralwOrld (sixth floor, Beacon Zone), One Bangkok (ground floor) and more

What is it? If you didn't know, this is actually the world’s largest ma-la-tang (‘numbing-spicy-hot’) chain restaurant. Pick your own meat, seafood, mushrooms, tofu, noodles, and vegetables (or not), then have it all cooked in a rich, fragrant mala broth that brings the heat and that signature tongue-tingling kick. Not feeling the fire? There are gentler broths to choose from, including tomato and beef. Why we love it: Some of us are picky eaters, so being able to build your own bowl is a game-changer. You choose exactly what goes in, meaning there’s no fishing around for ingredients you don’t like once everything is swimming in that deep reddish-orange broth. Even better, you can customise the spice level, so you still get that addictive mala kick without setting your mouth on fire – ideal for anyone who likes their spice on the milder, kid-friendly side. Time Out tip: It’s pay-by-weight so there’s a price to pay if you come in starving. While you wait for your bowl to cook, head to the DIY sauce bar and whip up your own dipping sauce. The secret recipe? Peanut sauce, chilli oil, minced garlic, vinegar and coriander. Location: Esplanade Ratchada (basement level) and Union Mall (first floor)

What is it? The pioneers of the cheese tea world? Quite possibly. HEYTEA Lab puts a contemporary spin on Chinese tea culture with bold combinations and creative seasonal drinks, from specialty fruit teas to its signature cheese-foam-topped creations.  Why we love it: The drinks are as good as they look, with colourful swirls, fresh fruit and a creamy cloud of foam on top. There’s plenty of variety, too, even for those who don’t consider themselves ‘tea people’. You can go for something fruity and refreshing, a classic milk tea or simply a good old cup of tea. The toppings let you make your drink your own, from chewy sago and juicy grapefruit pulp to the signature cheese cloud. Expect combinations that might have you questioning it at first, only to leave you hooked with a new go-to order. Time Out tip: Don’t let the cheese foam scare you (unless you’re lactose-intolerant). The ‘Fluffy Cloud Grape’ pairs a sweet, juicy grape slushie with creamy, lightly savoury salted cream cheese foam – an unexpectedly perfect match, proving opposites do attract. Location: centralwOrld, first floor (Opening soon)

What is it? The Chinese hotpot chain where the reputation precedes the food. Pick your broth, with both spicy mala options as well as classic Thai favourites like Tom Yum and Nam Ngiao (a northern Thai soup). Load up on ingredients to cook at the table and get stuck in.  Why we love it: They give us the princess treatment. Literally. While waiting for your table, you’ll be treated to snacks, and at some branches, complimentary nail services. Parents can also let the kids burn off some energy in dedicated play areas. Add the hand-pulled dancing-noodle show and service that has you feeling like royalty, and you’ll see why Haidilao has become an experience in its own right. Time Out tip: While we usually say no to yet another membership that’ll inevitably become spam, if it comes with free food and discounts, count us in. For those die-hard Haidilao fans who are here religiously, you might as well get the most out of your hotpot cravings. Location: Multiple locations around Bangkok, including centralwOrld (seventh floor, Beacon Zone), Central Rama 9 (seventh floor) and more