Bangkok Bars and Cocktail Lounges

Bed Supper Club

26 Sukhumvit Soi 11
Bangkok,
Telephone: 00 66 2 651 3537

The hottest new spot in the Oriental City of Sin, Bed is an extraordinary space-age designer lounge in fashionable Sukhumvit. You enter a large, all-white oval pod interior with a bar at the back, divan-beds suspended from the walls and low-slung chairs on the floors - all lit up in a permanent glow of soft blue neon. The effect is to transport you back to the Jetson’s via the 21st Century, silent films and videos projected on the walls adding to the retro-futuristic feel. Food is mostly a fusion of western and Oriental dishes, although tasty northern Thai fare seemed to dominate. Predictably it all comes at a price, but since ultra sexy staff dressed like spaceship travellers will happily bring food and cocktails to you as you recline like galactic emperors on the divan fittings, we reckon you’ll manage. Similar to its namesake in Amsterdam but somehow more exotic, we say: “come to Bed darling.”

87 Plus at Conrad Bangkok Hotel

• Conrad Bangkok
• All Season Place, 87 Wireless Road,
• Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330

87+ - The new, dynamic night club in Bangkok with a hot, curvaceous and sexy design. Bangkok's newest entertainment venue with exclusive, international live bands and DJ's. It's a bar with a plus!

The Balcony

• 86-8 Silom Soi 4 Silom Road
• Bangkok, 10500

New Silom Soi favourite with the usual outdoor seating to satisfy the voyeur in you all. Even better though is the inside lounge, with a long circular bar that‚s a throwback to Fifties Hollywood. We grant you the soft sofas are more 'Friends' than 'Frank' but it shouldn't stop you lighting up a cigar and sipping on a Jack. The balcony itself is one floor up with a fine aerial view of the soi, plus a karaoke lounge for potential divas.

Bamboo Bar

The Oriental Hotel 48 Oriental Avenue
Bangkok, 10500
Telephone: 00 66 236 0400
Hours: Sun - Thurs 11am - 1am, Fri - Sat 11am - 2am

Resembling “a speakeasy in the jungle” according to one critic, the Oriental’s Bamboo Bar is as much part of the city’s landscape as the Khao San and Pat Pong Road - just with a load more class and sophistication. Legendary for its live jazz since 1946, it’s a film noir type setting, a sort of Rick’s Café of the Orient, and you half-expect Bogart to wander in with a babe on his arm. The skilled bartender has trained at Harry’s Bar in Munich, and makes every spectacular cocktail from the Mai Tai to the martini. Décor is that jungle theme but you’ll find leather sofas and plush chairs amongst all the bamboo and palm fronds. Comfortable, classy and sophisticated, make yours a double!

Vertigo Grill & Moon Bar

• 21/100 South Sathon Rd Sathon Bangkok,
• Telephone: 00 66 2 679 1200
• Hours: Open 5 pm-12 midnight

Perched 60 floors above the city on the roof of the sultry Banyan Tree Hotel, Vertigo’s location is tops for great views, less good for staying dry though, since it has no roof. A chic open-air lounge popular with the cocktail-drinking glamour set and Amex carrying ex-pats, the restaurant does good barbecued seafood and Asian-inspired dishes such as lamb in Japanese Green Tea crust, but mostly you’re here for the drink and scenery. Bangkok's cityscape, the winding Chao Praya river and the soccer ball sun sinking below the horizon are best enjoyed with a glass of fine Crystal, or wine and cocktails.

Speed

• 80 Silom Soi 4 Silom Road
• Bangkok, 10500

Another Silom Soi favourite, this one a hot spot for the local in-crowd who come to see and be seen at the outdoor tables. Inside it's split over three levels and more hectic, with weekend clubbers cramming in to bop and bounce to everything from house to hip-hop. But we say slow down, pull up an outside chair, breathe in Bangkok night air and make eye contact with whoever takes your fancy. Bar staff are big on spirits and cocktails which should supplement your courage.

Spasso

Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel

• 494 Ratchadamri Rd
• Bangkok,
• Telephone: 66 2 254 1234

Intriguingly billed as an Italian restaurant “and entertainment centre” you might forget for a moment that you’re in the Orient at Spasso. In the heart of the fancy Grand Hyatt, the space is fun, lively and crowded and usually packed weeknights with a post-work crowd of execs who come for good cocktails and loud chat. The chat tends to get louder when the local band performs covers from 9pm and although there’s minimal dance space, after a few Mai Tais most regulars are shaking their tails. If you come for dinner, take a seat at the intimate dimly-lit bar counter, order a Scotch and soda, and ask for some stock advice from the ex-pat suit standing next to you.

Mystique

• 71/8 Soi Sukhumvit
• Bangkok,
• Telephone: +66 2 662 2374

As if Bangkok wasn’t alluring enough, the multi-roomed Mystique brings another dimension to the fast-growing Sukhumvit scene. Set over three floors, it contains a dance space, a dining area and a lavishly-furnished lounge, not to mention five themed VIP rooms for special guests. With wines from Italy, Champagne from France, cigars from Cuba, and a delectable fusion menu, the cocktail menu does well to keep up. Masterful bar-staff mix up 150 delights from the Mystique Martini signature to the Lychee Mojito and the wicked Lover Machine. There’s also a Pimp Daddy. It’s the kind of place a certain rapper might be seen in.

Dali

• 227 Soi Rambutree (off Chakrapong Road)
• Bangkok, 10200
• Telephone: 00 66 2 629 1173

Cool art-bar in the traveller-rich Khao San area although whether Salvador himself ever passed through here with a backpack we can't say. Small, relaxed, popular with locals and tourists, it's full of surreal wall hangings downstairs, comfy sofas, cushions and live music. We prefer it below, where the wide range of cocktails, spirits and beers in a cool, quiet setting is a welcome respite from the frantic tropical chaos outside.

Telephone

• 114/11-13 Silom Soi 4 Silom Road
• Bangkok, 10500
• Telephone: 00 66 2 234 3279

Popular gay bar named for the telephones at each of the booths, which give you a hotline to whoever you fancy at the neighboring table. Might sound cheesy but its cooler than you think, with a simple minimalist design that keeps scene locals and interested tourists more than happy. Split over two levels with several separate bars, it gets ultra loud at weekends but the crowd is relaxed and not too posey. We mostly like it for the jugs of powerful frozen margaritas and plates of tasty Thai snacks.

Sirocco bar and restaurant

1055 Silom Road, Bangkok, Thailand

Another rooftop bar … same same but different. Atop the Bangkok State Tower, the city's second-highest skyscraper, Sirocco attracts glammed-up Thais and ex-pats happy to pay a premium for drinks with a view. Stepping out of the lift at the 63rd floor is a bit like going on a particularly scary theme-park ride - terrifying but exhilarating. I had to get my friend to bring me a very stiff drink before I would go anywhere near the bar which is cantilevered over thin air. I couldn't relax so high up but it was amazing to watch the city lights twinkling a million miles below.