Bangkok Bar Closing Times: Midnight, or 04:00 if Licensed

Plan on last orders at 24:00 in an ordinary Bangkok bar. A licensed entertainment venue, such as a club or a bar with live music or dancing, may stay open until 04:00 the next day. The licence, not the street, decides which rule applies.

Plan on last orders at midnight in an ordinary bar, and on 04:00 only if the venue holds an entertainment licence. The licence on the wall decides, not the street.

Which venues can stay open until 04:00

The late limit comes from a regulation printed in the Royal Gazette on 15 December 2023. It lets licensed entertainment venues in Bangkok, Chonburi, Chiang Mai, Phuket and the Ko Samui district stay open until 04:00 the next day. Venues inside hotels get the same terms.

(๑) สถานบริการตามมาตรา ๓ (๑) (๓) (๔) และ (๕) ให้เปิดทำการได้ตามเวลาที่กำหนดในข้อ ๑ ข้อ ๓ ข้อ ๔ และข้อ ๕ แล้วแต่กรณี ถึง ๐๔.๐๐ นาฬิกา ของวันรุ่งขึ้น

(1) Service places under section 3(1), (3), (4) and (5) may open at the times set in clauses 1, 3, 4 and 5 as the case may be, until 04.00 hours of the next day.

Ministerial Regulation on opening and closing days and times of service places (No. 3) B.E. 2566, clause 6/3(1), Royal Gazette 15 December 2023 (editor’s translation)

The rule covers a legal category, not every bar. In practice you are in an entertainment place if the venue has live music or a show and closes after midnight, or if dancing is allowed. A pub or restaurant that stops serving at midnight is not one of them. If an older guide still says 2 am, it describes the rule before that regulation took effect.

Where the licensed zones are

New entertainment licences are tied to zones, unless the venue is in a hotel or was licensed before the zone existed. Bangkok has three: Patpong in Bang Rak, Phetchaburi Tat Mai in Huai Khwang, and Ratchadaphisek across Din Daeng and Huai Khwang. Khao San Road is not one of them, so a bar there that pours past midnight needs another exemption, usually a hotel setting.

Ordinary bars: midnight

For a normal bar or restaurant, nobody may sell alcohol outside 11:00 to 24:00. Hotels, international airport terminals and licensed entertainment venues selling within their licensed hours are the exceptions. A rooftop bar without an entertainment licence stops at midnight, while a licensed club in Patpong may keep going. Full hours and fines are in Thailand alcohol sale hours and fines.

Do not keep drinking after the cut-off at a place that sells alcohol. That is an administrative offence, and the drinker’s fine goes up to THB 10,000. The seller risks up to 6 months in prison, a fine of up to THB 10,000, or both.

Before you go out

If you want a late night, head for a licensed venue in Patpong, Phetchaburi Tat Mai or Ratchadaphisek. Otherwise finish your last drink before midnight.

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Not confirmed: Plans to scrap the zones and allow late closing nationwide have been reported, but no Gazette text changing the hours was found. Check the Gazette before you rely on any change. The licence on the wall, not the street, decides which rule a venue follows.

Prices, timetables and opening hours change; check with the operator before you travel. See how guides are checked.

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