I will start by saying that Bangkok is safe for women at night. Stay in the main areas and stay away from alleys. The transport system is active till late night and Bangkok has GRAB TAXI on call. Bangkok nightlife for single women is as good as it is for men. You can be single or in a group of girls – nobody will stop you from having fun.
Bangkok nightlife sets the stage for world music. International DJs play hip-hop, rock, pop and trance to psychedelic music for the Bangkok crowd. Bangkok nightlife offers top-notch nightclubs, beer bars, agogo bars, rooftop bars and amazing lounge bars. You can also go to karaoke bars to sing a tune yourself. The nightlife is not restricted to only music but also extends to the street food, which is a big part of Bangkok nightlife. Hoards of carts come alive on Bangkok streets offering Thai cuisine and shawarmas to amazing seafood. Fried insects to frogs to crabs – everything is sold on the streets of Bangkok. Another aspect of nightlife is the night market. Some pop up in the night and the daily street markets stay open till late night. The pop-up markets are scattered in Bangkok.
Royal City Avenue (RCA) is the nightlife zone for all your clubbing needs. You have nightclubs, bars, shopping and eating joints all at one place. Onyx, Route 66, Live RCA are some of the better-known clubs at RCA. These establishments are open seven days a week. Weekends are more crowded and the place is full to capacity. The RCA is mostly visited by Thai teens and they are dressed well. If you are a teen yourself this is the place to go. Adults can go, too, but they may find themselves out of place.
These places open by 10:00 PM, but will not get crowded till 12:00 midnight. 1:00 AM is the time when these clubs fill up, and it gets hard to find a place to sit. The best part is that they are open till 5:00 or even 6:00 AM in the morning. These clubs levy a cover charge, which can be redeemed against drinks. Don’t be surprised if you see Thais not paying.
If you are a backpacker, do carry a dress or buy a cocktail dress from Bangkok itself. They are inexpensive there. These clubs play their own genre of music, so if you don’t like the music playing just move to another club. The best way to reach RCA is by taxi.
For more information about music and price click here.
For a more mature crowd, Bangkok nightlife for single women has places like Ce La Ve, Sing Sing Theatre, Maggie Choo’s and Iron Fairies. These are classy clubs with great décor and music. CeLaVe is a high-end nightclub where the who’s who of Bangkok comes. For the rest, these are lounge bars, with amazing décor and the music is not too loud; you can talk. These places serve drink and food. They have in-house performances as well. Dress well and take some extra money. Cocktails start at 300 THB onwards. A beer cost around 180 THB.
You can spend a lot of money in nightclubs, but what do you do when you are on a budget! Do not worry; Bangkok takes care of everybody. Chinatown is the place to go! Go to Yaowarat Road, which is a 1.5 km- long road going through Chinatown. You get awesome street food, great clubs, cheap accommodation and a great crowd from all over the world. This street offers you the cheapest and the most authentic Thai and Chinese food. The choice is great. Street vendors, restaurants, clubs, moving hawkers and 7/11s sell at MRP.
You can dance on the streets, move in the club, have some food, move to another place and party till you drop dead. You will also find overwhelmed people barfing on the road who lost count of drinks. This is normal and nobody is judging you.
I would recommend staying near Chinatown in a hostel. Now hostel stays start from INR 500, and these are shared rooms, mostly bunk beds with shared bathrooms. You can get a private room as well. They are between INR 1000 and INR 1500. The other big reason to stay in China town is that it is close to a lot of Bangkok attractions. Grand Palace, Wat Pho and Chao Phrya River are close to Chinatown.
You should go to Pier 5, which is 500 meters from Yaowarat Road. The grand reason to stay here is that you meet single people from all over the world. Stay at a hostel and you even get a chance to know them better as all hostels have a common area to sit.
Vertigo 61st Floor, Sky Bar & Sirocco 63rd floor, Octave Rooftop Bar 45th to 48th Floor, The Roof Top Bar 83rd floor are the best rooftop bars in Bangkok. They all serve world-class food and signature cocktails. They all give you a 360-degree view of Bangkok. You cannot miss any of them. Okay, they are expensive, so you can visit one or two of them in one trip. Another good thing you can do on a budget is to go at sunset. Have a drink or two and enjoy the view. You get the best view and a very different experience of the property.
A single cocktail will cost you 350 THB (INR 793 at today’s rate). If you want to party all night, you can spend as much as 5000 THB including food for one person. Some of these establishments are Michelin star as well, so the food will be top class.
Yup, gogo bars are the place where single men go. So does that mean women cannot go; nope, women are welcome as well. Bangkok Nightlife for Single Women includes gogo bars. As the title suggests, it is a combination of a dance bar, a strip club and a bar. The strip club is nothing like what you see in movies. It is very different. These places are safe for single women, a group of women or couples. You will be surprised to see Thai couples enjoying themselves in these joints. There are no entry fees but you have to buy a drink in order to sit. One drink an hour is somewhat a norm. If you don’t drink, ask for cola.
Details on what happens in a gogo bar are here.
Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy in Bangkok, Walking Street and LK Metro in Pattaya are the places where you can find gogo bars. Tilac, Angel Witch and Baccara in Bangkok are gogo bars where you should go. Tilac was made famous in the movie ‘Hangover’. Angel witch does choreograph shows and Baccara for style and some amazing pole dancing.
Skyfall, what’s up and Sapphire agogo in Pattaya are the best for single women. They have awesome shows and dance performances. Drinks are a bit steep at 250 THB compared to 150-180 THB the others charge. Happy hours start at 8:00 PM and are there till 11:00 PM in most of the gogo bars.
Well, everyone has heard about it with open mouths. Here you will see that a vagina can do acrobats. You will enjoy it in the beginning, but after some time, it may get awkward. That’s all I will say. We were office colleagues: four men and four women who went; some wanted to stay back; some came back disgusted. If you are one of those who can’t hold the excitement, please do go.
Most of the ping pong shows establishments are not safe for single women. They can get aggressive asking for tips. However, Suzie Wong in Soi Cowboy has ping pong shows and is a gogo bar. Whatever reviews I have read online and from my experience when I went myself, it is pretty safe.
Sorry, no pictures!
Besides the high-end bars and clubs, there is another way to spend nights in Bangkok. It is a totally chilled out experience. I’m talking about the night markets. Yes, they are free. You can roam around and do window shopping. You can bargain hard and get some amazing deals. There’s plenty of food and drinks to buy, and you can enjoy the shopping till midnight.
You can buy cheap clothing, first- copy watches, every international brand (copies) and what not. Rod Fai or the train market is the no. 1 market to shop in the night. It is located on Srinakarin Soi 51, just behind Seacon Square Shopping Mall. There is also a pop-up market on Sukhumvit road, near Nana Plaza, which opens at 17:00 and closes by 22:00. Another market near Sukhumvit is the Patpong Market, which is open till midnight.
You can roam around in these markets without any hassle. Here are the top night markets in Bangkok, with addresses and locations.
If you like beer, you can spend a lot of time beer bar hopping. Most of these bars are safe. These bars are active throughout the day and the night. There are more than 3000-4000 bars in Bangkok and 2000 bars in Pattaya. I have met so many people and everybody has his or her own favorite bar. You can search for the famous beer bars online, but I suggest you see a bar and gauge for yourself– if it feels good, just go in.
The sheer volume of bars makes it impossible to say which ones are good. I haven’t repeated any beer bar in my last 10 visits to Thailand. I make sure I discover a new beer bar every time. Well, Hooters is one bar I have visited more than once. I like the girls and their performances. They are available in both Bangkok and Pattaya.
