Bangkok Bar Closing Times: 04:00 for Licensed Venues

Licensed entertainment venues in Bangkok may open until 04:00 the next day, under a regulation that took effect on 15 December 2023. Outside the exemptions, nobody may sell alcohol after 24:00, so an ordinary bar stops at midnight. A licensed venue sells within its own licensed hours.

By Vincent Nguyen and team

Bangkok bar closing times at a glance

Bangkok has two closing rules, and the licence decides which one applies. A licensed entertainment venue may open until 04:00 the next day. Everywhere else, alcohol sales stop at 24:00.

Hotel sales are also exempt from the sale hours.

The late-closing rule

The late limit comes from the Ministerial Regulation on service places (No. 3), published in the Royal Gazette on 15 December 2023. It took effect on 15 December 2023.

It replaced clause 6 of the 2004 regulation.

What the Gazette text says

Clause 6/3 covers service places in the territory of Bangkok, Chonburi, Chiang Mai, Phuket and the Ko Samui district. They may open at the times in the older clauses, until 04:00 the next day.

(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)

Hotels

Service places inside a hotel under the hotel law may open on the same terms. The same sentence on 04.00 is repeated for them in clause 6/2.

New Year

If the next day is 1 January, a venue may stay open until 06:00 that day.

Who counts as an entertainment venue

The late limit applies to a legal category, not to every bar. An entertainment place is a place set up for commercial service, listed in section 3 of the Entertainment Places Act.

Two types matter to most visitors:

• A venue with food and drink and live music or another show, which closes after 24:00.
• A venue where dancing is allowed, or a dance show is staged on a stage or at the tables.

A normal pub or restaurant that stops serving at midnight does not fit that list. Such a place follows the alcohol sale hours instead.

The three Bangkok zones

New entertainment licences are tied to zones. A new service place must sit inside a permitted zone, unless it was licensed before the zone was set or is inside a hotel.

For Bangkok the Royal Decree names three areas:

• Patpong, in Bang Rak district.
• Phetchaburi Tat Mai, in Huai Khwang district.
• Ratchadaphisek, in Din Daeng and Huai Khwang districts.

Khao San Road is not among them. A Khao San bar that serves past midnight needs an exemption such as a hotel setting.

A Bangkok council report counts 207 licensed service places: 73 inside the zones and 134 outside.

Ordinary bars and restaurants: midnight

Nobody may sell alcohol outside 11:00 to 24:00. The notice took effect on 29 May 2026.

The exemptions are narrow: airport terminals serving international flights, hotels, and entertainment venues selling within their own licensed hours.

So a rooftop bar without an entertainment licence stops at 24:00. A licensed club in Patpong may keep selling to 04:00.

For the full hours, days and fines, see Thailand alcohol sale hours and fines.

Drinking after the sale hours

Nobody may drink, during the banned sale hours, at a place that sells alcohol or serves it for commercial benefit. A drinker who breaks this rule pays an administrative fine of up to THB 10,000.

The seller faces up to 6 months in prison, a fine of up to THB 10,000, or both.

What changed from 02:00

Before the regulation of 15 December 2023, a venue inside a permitted Bangkok zone could open from 21:00 to 02:00 the next day. Guides that still say 2 am describe that rule.

The 2023 regulation replaced clause 6 of the 2004 regulation. Venues in Bangkok, Chonburi, Chiang Mai, Phuket and Ko Samui may now run to 04:00.

Which rule applies to the venue in front of you

Use the venue type, not the street name.

• Live music or a show after midnight, or dancing: it is an entertainment place, so the 04:00 limit can apply if it holds the licence.
• A hotel bar or club: hotel sales are exempt from the sale hours.
• A plain bar or restaurant: sale stops at 24:00.
• Airport terminal serving international flights: exempt.

Before you go out

• Last orders: for ordinary bars, plan for 24:00.
• Late nights: licensed venues may run to 04:00.
• 1 January: venues may stay open to 06:00.
• Drinking on after hours at a selling place can bring a fine of up to THB 10,000.
• Zones: Patpong, Phetchaburi Tat Mai and Ratchadaphisek.

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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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