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Santika
One of several same-same-but-different mega-clubs that line Ekamai, whose crowd comprises a predictable cross-section of Thai jet-setters, children of politicians, and lûuk khrûeng models. But even the moneyed Thais like their drinks affordable and their disco music deafening.
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Saxophone Pub & Restaurant
Don't leave town without a visit to this venerable music club. Whether you're toasting distance from the band or perched in the 2nd-floor alcove, Saxophone's intimate space draws the crowd into the laps of great jazz and blues musicians. The music changes each night - jazz during the week; rock, blues and beyond on weekends. Reggae-fusion worships define Sunday nights.
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SF Cinema City
Grab a big box of popcorn and find a seat among the Thai teenagers waiting to see the latest blockbuster. If that sounds like your worst nightmare, spend the extra cash and buy one of the gold-class seats.
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SFX Cinema
On the top floor of the Emporium shopping centre, this cinema serves up the usual Hollywood shoot-and-snog standards. But this cinema stands out because of its fab sound and projection quality.
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Shela
Owned by the same women who run Zeta, Shela draws a slightly more mature crowd with live music, a pool table and food. Women only.
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Ship Inn
Only steps away from Soi Cowboy but a world away in ambience, Ship Inn provides a mature embrace for a quiet drinking crowd. The mock-Tudor bar is as well stocked as a ship captain's quarters, and the music is gracefully at conversational volume.
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Silk Bar
An open-air cocktail bar for the visiting Sukhumvit entourage crowd.
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Sin Bar
Technically an 'entertainment' complex, Sin Bar is Nana's alter ego: three floors divided into a pool hall, dance club and rooftop bar all noticeably lacking in the soi 's namesake industry, prostitutes. Reliably sneaking past the curfew restrictions, the rooftop bar is the after-party scene for clubbers and night owls not hunting for 'hello handsums'.
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Sirocco
Yet another of Bangkok's rooftop bars, the Sky Bar at Sirocco provides heart-stopping views over the Chao Phraya River, not to mention much of Bangkok. Come here for a drink and the view, not the overpriced cuisine.
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Sirocco & Sky Bar
Descend the sweeping stairs like a Hollywood diva to the precipice bar of this rooftop restaurant. A dress code is enforced and drink prices are impressive, but so is the view.
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Slim/Flix
Ideal for the indecisive raver, this immense three-in-one complex dominating one end of RCA features chilled house on one side (Flix), while the other (Slim) does the hip hop/R&B soundtrack found across much of the city. Oh, and there's a restaurant thrown in there somewhere as well. Despite its size this place is packed on weekends.
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Studio 9
The country's top modern-dance theatre recently began combining highbrow entertainment and dining. Performances are plucked from a diverse menu of music, dance, puppetry and theatre; check ahead of time to see what's in store.
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Superfly
The gargantuan dance hall is a decent middle ground in the jungle of Bangkok clubs; not too trendy, with music that the majority of us can shake to. As with many places in town, the cover charge gets you one drink.
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Susie Pub
Before Khao San was a hip place for Thais to hang out, Susie was a local outpost for university students to play pool and drink in candy pop music.
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Taksura
There are no signs to lead you to this seemingly abandoned 93-year-old mansion in the heart of old Bangkok, which is all the better according the cool uni-artsy crowd who frequent the place. Take a seat outside to soak up the breeze, and go Thai by ordering some spicy nibbles with your drinks.
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Tapas Room
Although it sits staunchly at the front of Bangkok's pinkest street, this longstanding box manages to bring in just about everybody. Come Thursday to Saturday when the combination of DJs and live percussion brings the body count to critical level.
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Tawan Daeng German Brewhouse
Despite its hangar-like girth, this Thai version of a Bavarian beer hall manages to pack 'em in just about every night. The Thai-German food is tasty, the house-made brews more than potable, and the nightly stage shows make singing along a necessity. Most people come for the Wednesday performance of Fong Nam.
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Tawandaeng
Looking for a more local feel than your average expat bar? Well, you asked for it: Tawandaeng is a massive beer hall and German-style microbrewery ( rong beer ). In between stage sets of sing-along pop tunes, choruses of 'Happy Birthday' erupt from the overcrowded tables.
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Telephone
At 20 years of age, Bangkok's oldest gay bar/restaurant still features telephones so that patrons can 'ring' each other. The café-like seating in front is probably the best place from which to watch the virtual gay-pride parade that is Soi 4.
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Th Sarasin Gay Clubs
This quiet little street across from Lumphini Park has a tight cluster of intimate bars, ranging from non-orientational to gay-festive. There's disco fever at 70s Bar and karaoke at I-Chub, a bar dedicated to bear and their admirers. Bangkok has just started to develop a lesbian-only nightclub scene with two newcomers: Shela (Soi Lang Suan, Th Ploenchit) and Zeta. You'll find the clubs located between Th Ratchadamri & Soi Lang Suan.
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Thailand Cultural Centre
Bangkok's primary performing-arts facility, the Thailand Cultural Centre, is the home of the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra and hosts the International Festival of Dance and Music in September. Classical dance performances, and regional Thai concerts like lûuk thûng (Thai country music) and Khorat Song, also cycle through the yearly calendar. On performance days, a free shuttle picks up passengers from the subway's exit 1.
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Three Sixty
Feeling frustrated with Bangkok? A set or two of live jazz in this elegant glass-encased perch 32 floors above the city will help you forget some of your troubles, or at the very least, give you a whole new perspective on the city.
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To-Sit
Live, loud and sappy music, cheap and spicy food, good friends and cold beer: To-Sit epitomises everything a Thai university student could wish for on a night out. There are branches all over town (check the website), but the Siam Sq location has the advantage of being virtually the only option in an area that's buzzing during the day, but dead at night.
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Tokyo Joe's
Recently relocated to something of a residential district - what do the neighbours think of the noise? Despite the move, the bar's die-hard regulars still file in to witness a revolving cast of jazz, blues and rock. To see what the place is really about come on Sunday evening when the infamous Joe's World Famous Blues Jam kicks off at 9.30.
