Khao San Road Bars & Pubs

AB Bar

Located downstairs from Gazebo Club Khaosan (where the Jazz Gallery used to be) with live Thai Rock/Pop bands every night playing a mix of Thai and International songs depending on the crowd.  

Sleek air-conditioned design, smart casual dress code and free entry every night - enjoy shisha pipes on the outside balcony, and live jazz every Tuesday night! Very reasonable drink prices.

Ad Here the 13th

Stripped down to the raw essentials - bar, tables and instruments - Ad Here the 13th is a diminutive blues and jazz spot that never fails to make a big impression on those who find it. Only on weekends, when the earthy sounds and people spill out on to the street would you notice it on passing - it's a tiny hole in the wall. Despite the bare, bohemian feel there's a warm, welcoming atmosphere that attracts Thais, discerning tourists and expats in equal numbers. A resident blues band with a loyal following plays nightly from around 22:00. Occasional special events and frequent jams by other locals ensures a bit of variety for the regulars. Beers are reasonably priced at 60 to 70 baht. Well worth finding.

Brick Bar

Dark, cavernous and with its signature red brick walls, this intimate venue has a distinctly European air that is matched by some serious attention to music. With low-lighting and a live music policy that skirts deftly between jazz, blues and ska, it's a real magnet for boisterous locals. Best of all the bands is a colourful Thai outfit called Ska, renowned for their own material.

Buddy Beer

This colonial-era style bar (and restaurant) is a bright, spacious upstairs retreat popular with cultivated Thais. Clean white walls, wooden floors and old-fashioned ceiling fans make this a refined, air-conditioned, means of escape from the bedraggled human zoo outside. Prices reflect the upmarket aspirations, and there are several pool tables for your gaming pleasure.

Cinnamon Bar

Hidden away on the road parallel to Khao San Road, Soi Rambuttri, this has 'discovery' written all over it. A neat water feature wall lines the narrow pathway entrance. This striking entrance however is outdone by a chic modern interior consisting of two intimate floors of sleek glass and steel, and festooned with lots of funky furniture. The cocktails are a winner here, and there's a backroom to cater for all your dancing needs.

Gullivers

The Tuk-Tuk mounted like a trophy above its entrance at the Chakrapong Road end of Khao San, is one of the first things many backpackers see on arriving in South-East Asia. With its comforting Euro sports bar ambiance, pool tables and TV's screening wall-to-wall sport, for many it's also one of the last.

Schools of seductive female pool-sharks encircle a clientele comprised mainly of boozy male farang. At around 22:30 each night it morphs into a wild Club-Med style disco, complete with cheesy chart hits and people using pool tables as podiums.

Hippie de Bar

A funky jewel of a bar in an area drowning in tastelessness, Hippie de Bar is all cool kitsch and cool kids. In a small, calm courtyard, down a side alley off the main strip is this cozy two-storey house decked out in old school memorabilia.

This artsy interior draws gangs of hip Thai adolescents, while the greenery and serenity of the fairy-light lit courtyard appeals more to strung out backpackers. Add a good line in tangy cocktails, superb Thai grub and you've got one of the few places on Khao San Road with real personality.

Khao San Centre

On the face of it there is little to commend Khao San Centre. It's busy, shabby, hot and the staff often a tad brusque. There's no live music. However, before you briskly stroll past with your nose up, hold up a second - and listen! Open 24 hours a day, this open-fronted watering hole is eternally abuzz with the chatter of travellers swapping stories and comparing notes.

Excitable new arrivals about to embark on their Southeast Asian adventure glean tips from sage old timers who've been at it for months - and look like it. This conviviality, and the fact it's one of the best places on the strip to people watch, make it worthy of the newcomers patronage at least once. Shamrock - the icily air-conditioned live music Irish bar - sits.

Shamrock

Slick local bands play every night at this popular Irish themed pub, the sounds revolving around alternative hits from bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nickelback, Oasis, U2 and Nirvana. They serve chilled Guiness, but the mixed Thai and foreign crowd come mostly for whisky chasers, to sing-along to anthems and dance in refreshing air-conditioned surroundings. It's very loud up front though, so forget about chatting. 

Silk Bar

One of the new breed, Silk Bar is the archetypal upmarket Khao San establishment, a place where international fusion foods meet with trendy venue design and loud lounge music. Head inside to revel in the stylish interiors, or go al fresco on the raised terrace, from where you can sit and gaze with cool detachment and a cocktail at the human zoo walking by.