Bangkok’s rooftop bars: paying for the view, not the gin
Bangkok’s rooftop bars run from bargain sundowners to £40 cocktails. Here’s which views justify the bill, what the baht really costs and how service charge adds up.
Reviewed, edited and approved by Editor-in-chief Daniel Sköld · Updated 1 November 2026
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Bangkok has a strange habit of making a £40 cocktail look reasonable. At street level you can eat superbly for the price of a London sandwich. Then a lift carries you up 60-odd floors and the menu starts to read like a ransom note. The drink is still gin and something. What you are really paying for is the height, the breeze and the city spread out below you like a circuit board.
That doesn’t make Bangkok’s rooftops a con. A few of them are among the best places on earth to watch a sunset with a glass in hand, and some cost less than a hotel bar in Manchester. The trick is knowing which is which before the lift doors open.
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How much does a drink cost at a Bangkok rooftop bar?
Broadly, there are three tiers. The marquee names around Silom and Sathorn charge roughly 500 to 900 baht for a cocktail, and the most famous goes well past that. The mid-range hotel rooftops, Octave, Tichuca, Above Eleven and the like, mostly sit between about 350 and 550 baht. Then come the cheaper perches, such as Cielo Sky Bar out in Phra Khanong, where cocktails start at around 300 baht.
The price on the menu is not the price you pay. Most hotel bars print figures followed by “++”, which means a 10 per cent service charge and then 7 per cent VAT on top of that. Together they add about 17.7 per cent. In recent times the pound has bought roughly 43 to 45 baht, though it moves about, so check the rate before you go. As a rule of thumb, take the menu price, add a sixth, then divide by 44. A 390-baht cocktail comes to about £10.40 all-in. A 600-baht one is closer to £16. Since the service charge is already on the bill, nobody expects a further tip, though rounding up for good service goes down well.
Is Sky Bar at lebua worth the money?
This is the one you know, even if you’ve never been: the golden dome of State Tower, the glowing circular bar hanging over the Chao Phraya, and the staircase made famous by The Hangover Part II. The bar is open from 5pm to 12.30am and the official minimum spend is one drink per person. In practice that one drink can be expensive. The signature Hangovertini has been listed at around 1,500 baht before service and tax, which is close to £40 by the time the bill lands.
Is it worth it? Once, perhaps, and only if you get there at five, before the sunset crowd turns the narrow deck into a Tube carriage with better lighting. The river view really is magnificent, sweeping and theatrical in a way the Sukhumvit towers can’t match. Recent visitors report that staff sometimes steer arrivals towards the newer, pricier Pink Bar, so if it’s Sky Bar you came for, say so politely and firmly. Dress smart casual. Sportswear, flip-flops and beach sandals are banned, and men are wise to wear long trousers and closed shoes. Children aged seven and over are allowed in with an adult.
In Bangkok the cocktail is the entrance ticket; the sunset is what you’ve actually bought.
The one with no glass between you and the sky
If you only do one big-ticket rooftop, many regulars would point you to Vertigo and Moon Bar on the 61st floor of the Banyan Tree in Sathorn rather than lebua. It is properly open-air, with no glass screens, so you get the wind and the city noise along with the view. Vertigo is the grill restaurant. Moon Bar is the drinking end, with cocktails at roughly 500 to 700 baht and a minimum spend reported at 800 baht per person. A small glass-floored section lets you look straight down 61 storeys. Whether that counts as an attraction depends on how well you’ve lunched.
At around £16 all-in for a cocktail, Moon Bar costs about what you’d pay at a smart London hotel bar. The view is considerably better than anything over the Thames, unless you’re particularly fond of cranes.
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Where’s the best-value rooftop bar in Bangkok?
For most people it is Octave, on floors 45 to 49 of the Bangkok Marriott Sukhumvit in Thonglor, a short walk from the Thong Lo BTS station. There’s no entry fee, just a one-drink minimum, and signature cocktails run from about 390 to 555 baht. That works out at roughly £10 to £15 including tax and service. It spreads across three levels, with proper seating rather than elbow-to-elbow standing, and the top tier gives a full 360-degree view over the Sukhumvit skyline. It also stays open late, and its early-evening deals are among the more generous in town.
That is the real point of comparison with home. Sky Garden in London is free if you book ahead, and that’s hard to beat. But at most big-name London and Manchester rooftops, a cocktail with a view costs as much as, or more than, one at Octave. The British versions are usually 30-odd floors lower and half the year has you looking at drizzle. For a cheaper sundowner with fewer crowds, Cielo Sky Bar offers a less familiar angle on the river. Treat places that charge a separate “sky pass” just to get in with some scepticism and do the sums first. You can find the same view for less.
Timing, weather and getting there
Most rooftops open around 5pm. Arrive soon after and you’ll see the city in daylight, at golden hour and lit up at night for the price of one or two drinks. The cool, dry months from November to February are the most comfortable. In the rainy season, roughly May to October, evening storms can clear open-air decks at short notice, so check the bar’s social media before trekking across town. Book ahead for sunset at the famous names, especially at weekends.
Nonstop flights from Heathrow to Bangkok take around 11 to 12 hours. Before you go, check the latest FCDO travel advice and Thailand’s entry requirements on GOV.UK, and make sure your passport has plenty of validity left. Your GHIC is no use outside Europe, so proper travel insurance with medical cover is essential.
Costs at ground level, roughly: a large bottle of local beer in an ordinary bar is about 80 to 150 baht (£2 to £3.50). A good dinner in a mid-range Thai restaurant is around 400 to 800 baht a head (£9 to £18). A metered taxi for about 5km costs roughly 70 to 120 baht (£1.60 to £2.70), depending on the traffic. Do insist on the meter.
In short
Bangkok’s rooftop bars range from about £9 to £40 a drink once the 10 per cent service charge and 7 per cent VAT are added. Many of the views beat anything in London or Manchester at similar prices. Sky Bar at lebua is the famous one-off, Vertigo and Moon Bar has the best open-air atmosphere, and Octave in Thonglor is the best value. Arrive at five, dress smart and do the baht sums before you order.
Archie Inglis writes about travel for men 45 and over: city breaks, winter sun, road trips, rail journeys, walking holidays and the longer trips you've been putting off. Where's worth going, how to get there without the hassle, and how to make the money go further.
One of Midcent's writers. Spotted something? Write to archie@midcent.uk.
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