Bangkok's Other “Nana” Feels Like a Completely Different World

Exploring Bangkok's Other Nana — From Craft Cocktails to Underground Dance Floors

Say “Nana” to most tourists in Bangkok and they'll probably think of Sukhumvit.

Bright lights, huge numbers of tourists and one of Bangkok's most internationally famous nightlife areas.

But head toward Chinatown and Pom Prap and you'll find another Nana.

And it feels like a completely different world. 😂

Soi Nana Chinatown is a small street surrounded by old Bangkok shophouses that has gradually evolved from having only a handful of bars into a nightlife cluster with roughly 20 venues around the area.

Instead of mega clubs and giant dance floors, expect:

• 🍸 Cocktail bars
• 🎨 Artistic spaces
• 🎷 Live music
• 🏚️ Old shophouses
• 💬 Tiny bars made for conversations
• 🎶 Alternative and underground music

And one of the best things about it?

You can explore most of the area on foot.

This is worth making very clear. 😂

The word Nana automatically makes many Bangkok visitors think about Sukhumvit.

But the personalities of these two areas couldn't be more different.

Sukhumvit Nana is one of Bangkok's best-known tourist nightlife areas.

Soi Nana near Chinatown feels smaller, slower and considerably more artistic.

The nightlife here isn't designed around getting thousands of people into one enormous venue.

Instead, the appeal is in the details:

• Old buildings.
• Small bars.
• Cocktails.
• Music.
• Design.
• And venues that each have their own personality.

Same Nana. Very different Bangkok.

Part of what makes Soi Nana interesting is that the nightlife hasn't completely erased the original character of the neighborhood.

The old buildings are part of the experience.

Rather than replacing everything with giant modern venues, many bars use the limitations and quirks of old shophouses to create their identities.

• Some are narrow.
• Some have several floors.
• Some hide interesting spaces upstairs.
• Others only have enough seats for a small group of people.

And somehow, those imperfections are exactly what make the neighborhood work.

From Nightlife.run's experience, the crowd is roughly:

• 🇹🇭 40% Thai
• 🌎 60% international

That's our own observation rather than an official statistic, but the important point is that locals actually come here too.

It doesn't feel like a completely isolated tourist bubble.

If a foreign friend told us:

“I want good drinks, somewhere we can actually talk, and maybe somewhere to dance later.”

This is how we'd build the night.

Begin at Wallflowers.

It's one of the area's earlier bars and still retains much of the artistic personality and old-building atmosphere that made it interesting in the first place.

We don't choose it because we want the night to start hard.

Quite the opposite.

Think:

Cocktail → Dessert → Conversation

It's a good place to settle into the evening, catch up with friends or begin a date before gradually increasing the energy.

Next, move to Thansamai Room.

It's smaller and more intimate.

What we particularly like about it is how personal the experience can feel, especially when the owner is around.

Instead of:

“I'm the customer. You're the bar owner.”

The atmosphere can feel more like:

“Come have a drink with us.”

Friday and Saturday are particularly interesting, with DJs and, as the night gets later, sometimes a casual karaoke atmosphere. 🎤😂

There aren't many seats.

But for this kind of bar...

we're not sure there should be.

After a couple of bars, cocktails and plenty of conversation, you might decide you've had enough sitting down.

That's when we'd move to Bar Temp.

It's one of the few venues around the area that can transition your night from:

🍸 Bar hopping

into:

💃 Drinking & dancing

Don't expect a mainstream EDM or Hip-Hop club.

The musical identity leans toward Electronic, Underground and Alternative Dance Music.

Friday and Saturday can continue later than some other nights of the week, making it a natural progression when the rest of the neighborhood starts winding down.

For us, Bar Temp is one of the answers to:

“Where do we dance after drinking around Soi Nana?”

If Bar Temp finishes and somebody says:

“One more?” 😂

Move further toward Talat Noi / Charoen Krung and try Clutch.

Clutch makes sense for people who care more about music than the spectacle of a giant nightclub.

Depending on the night, the sound can move through:

• 🎷 Jazz
• 🎵 Soul
• 🌌 Ambient
• 🌙 Downtempo
• 🎛️ Electronic

From our experience, beer can start at around ฿160, making some options more accessible than the craft cocktails you'll find earlier in the night.

Most importantly:

Clutch isn't trying to be a mega club.

If that sentence sounds like good news to you, you're probably the right audience for this route. 😂

You don't need to follow our route exactly.

If music is more important to you than bar hopping, there are some good alternatives.

TEP BAR was one of the venues that helped establish the character of this neighborhood.

Its distinctive feature is the way it brings elements of Thai culture into a contemporary bar experience, including both drinks and music.

If a traveler asks us:

“Where can I experience something Thai without going to a traditional tourist show?”

TEP is one of the bars that comes to mind.

From our experience, its customers lean more international than Thai, but the identity of the venue itself is unmistakably influenced by Thailand.

If you're specifically looking for jazz, there's Brown Sugar.

The venue dates back to 1985 and has moved locations over its long history before settling into its current home around Soi Nana.

It's one of the long-running names associated with Bangkok's jazz scene.

One warning, though:

If you're on a date and planning a serious deep conversation...

don't sit next to the band and expect to whisper to each other. 😂

When the live music gets going, the atmosphere can be energetic and loud.

Go because you want to hear the music.

Something travelers occasionally overlook is late-night food.

A local-style night out doesn't necessarily finish the moment you leave your last bar.

One nearby option we recommend is:

It's a long-running local food option with reasonable prices and late opening hours, making it easy to combine with a night around Chinatown.

There are two strategies:

1. Option A 🍽️ Eat first around 7–8 PM and start drinking afterwards.
2. Option B 🌙 Finish your bars first and get late-night food afterwards.

Ask us?

Option B is more fun. 😂

Late-night food is part of the Bangkok nightlife experience too.

You can begin exploring Soi Nana from around 7 PM.

But from our experience:

8:30 PM is the sweet spot.

There is one thing Soi Nana isn't particularly good for:

Views.

If you're visiting Bangkok and want sunset plus a beautiful skyline, don't necessarily spend the early evening sitting inside Soi Nana.

Instead, try:

🌇 Sunset rooftop

↓

🍸 Soi Nana cocktail bar

↓

💬 Small local bar

↓

💃 Bar Temp

↓

🌙 Clutch

↓

🍚 Late-night food

In one night, you can experience several completely different sides of Bangkok.

Don't assume old buildings and casual clothes mean cheap drinks. 😂

From our experience, a rough guide is:

• 🍸 Cocktails: ฿400+
• 🍺 Beer: ฿200+ at many bars

At Clutch, beer can start at around ฿160.

Prices can change between venues and menus, so treat these figures as a rough guide rather than guaranteed current prices.

One thing we love about this area is that you don't need to dress like you're entering a luxury nightclub.

The overall atmosphere is casual.

Walk-ins are possible at most places.

However, many of these venues are genuinely small.

On Friday and Saturday, reserving ahead is a good idea if there's somewhere you absolutely want to visit.

It's not necessarily because of a difficult door policy.

Sometimes...

the bar is simply tiny. 😂

We particularly recommend this area for:

• 🎒 Solo travelers — smaller bars can make socializing easier than in a mega club
• ❤️ Couples — excellent for dates and conversations
• 🍸 Cocktail lovers — several venues to explore within a small area
• 👥 Small groups — easy to bar hop together
• 💬 Deep talk — you can actually find places where conversation is part of the night
• 🎶 Alternative music fans — the night can eventually progress into underground/electronic sounds

But if your priority is:

• ❌ Festival-style EDM
• ❌ Mainstream Hip-Hop
• ❌ Huge dance floors
• ❌ Thousands of people
• ❌ Hard partying from the first minute

We'd choose another Bangkok nightlife area.

For us, what makes Soi Nana special isn't having one bar that is supposedly “the best.”

It's the personality of the entire neighborhood.

There's a sense of craft in the details:

• The old buildings.
• The art.
• The cocktails.
• The music.
• The tiny rooms.
• The owners.
• And the crowd itself.

It's another version of Bangkok nightlife.

Not huge.

Not flashy.

Not particularly formal.

But full of personality.

So next time someone in Bangkok says:

“Should we go to Nana tonight?”

Ask one question first:

“Which Nana?” 😂🍸🐉

Because Bangkok's two Nanas may share the same name...

but the nights you'll have there can feel worlds apart.

• Bangkok Nightlife: Where to Go by Your Mood (2026)
• Where Do Locals Actually Party in Bangkok? (2026)
• Best Cocktail Bars in Bangkok
• Bangkok After Midnight Guide (2026)
• Bangkok Nightlife for Solo Travelers