Chidlom - Ploenchit Nightlife

This area's well heeled mix of post-office suits, expat executives and hi-society Thais makes for a nightlife scene that falls firmly in the up-market bracket. Think high-class restaurants and lavish wine bars, with an atmosphere that matches. Don't come here if you're after the sensory bombardment found 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. Nearby Sarasin Road has a handful of bars, among them 70's Bar and Brown Sugar, one of Bangkok's top live jazz venues. There are also some fine hotel bars and lounges. The Diplomat Bar at Conrad Bangkok Hotel offers sublime jazz in elegant surrounds (dancing also at 87Plus!), while Syn Bar at Swissotel Nai Lert Hotel serves up intoxicating retro-future stylings and cocktails.

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.