Chidlom - Ploenchit: Nightlife

This area's well heeled mix of post-office suits, expat executives and hi-so Thais makes for a nightlife scene that falls firmly in the upmarket bracket. Think high-class restaurants and lavish wine bars, with an atmosphere to match (see Thailand Tatler Best Restaurant 2007 Reviews for ideas). Don't come here if you're after the sensory overload associated with life in the city's more frenetic areas. There is no night market, few street-cart vendors and certainly no dens of sin.

The lack of a buzzing scene is made up for by the odd, tucked-away nightlife nugget. Langsuan Road's folksy music tavern Ad Makers and after-hours club The Tunnel, on Soi 5, are both worth checking out, the latter often not closing till 05:00. Nearby Sarasin Road is popular with the gay community and has a handful of bars including 70's Bar and Brown Sugar, one of Bangkok's top live jazz venues. On Ploenchit Road, Fogo Vivo is a Brazillian Churrascaria and bar that at 22:00 comes alive with pulsating Latin grooves, and offers free salsa and samba classes throughout the week.

There are also some of the city's finest hotel bars and lounges. The Diplomat Bar at The Conrad Hotel features sublime jazz in elegant surroundings (dancing also at 87Plus!), Syn Bar at Swissotel Nai Lert Hotel offers retro-future stylings and creative cocktails and, at the northern end of Ratchadamri Road, the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel has both Bar 494 and the well-known Italian restaurant Spasso, which at night morphs into a lively live music venue popular with Bangkok's affluent post-work crowd.

Learn more about Nightlife: Siam Square, Sukhumvit, Ratchada and RCA, Khao San Road, Silom