Bangkok’s Second Red-Light District: Soi Cowboy Overview

The Origins of Soi Cowboy

The first go-go bar on Soi Cowboy opened in 1977. Over the years more and more bars appeared, and by the late 1990s the street already had around 30 venues, turning it into Bangkok’s second major red-light district.

Several movies have filmed here, most famously The Hangover Part II, and Chinese audiences will also recognize it from Detective Chinatown.

Location-wise it’s very convenient. Take the BTS to Asok or the MRT to Sukhumvit — it’s only a short walk from either station. The most obvious nearby landmark is Terminal 21 mall, just a two-minute walk from the entrance of the soi. The street itself cuts through between Sukhumvit Soi 21 and Soi 23, with entrances at both ends.

I’ll be honest — while writing this I debated whether I should even recommend the place. As an Asian visitor in 2026, I can really only treat Soi Cowboy as a tourist attraction… and not even a particularly good one. It lives up to every stereotype people have about red-light districts: crowded Thai street stalls creating a mix of strong spice smells, Indian guys selling fake watches, discarded food waste left by the dancers, and the constant mix of cannabis and cigarette smoke. Most tourists just walk from one end to the other, take a quick look, and think “so this is what a red-light district looks like.”

Compared to Nana Plaza, which still feels relatively clean and organized once you’re inside, Soi Cowboy doesn’t inspire the same desire to explore. On top of that, there are fewer and fewer girls who match typical Asian beauty standards. The better bars from years ago now feel half-empty, and the supply of attractive girls has become inconsistent. Meanwhile, ladyboy and transgender bars on the street are thriving.

Still, I have many readers from around the world, so I decided to put together a reasonably complete guide. I don’t want my personal preferences to stop others from exploring somewhere new. A lot of Western visitors still have a strong filter for Soi Cowboy — when the purple and pink neon lights come on at night, it really does feel like stepping into a cyberpunk world. For them, the very “dirtiness” I described earlier actually becomes part of the charm.

Detailed Bar Guide

1. Baccara

This was the first bar I ever walked into on Soi Cowboy, so it holds a special place for me. The layout hasn’t changed much over the years, though in my eyes the number of genuinely attractive girls has dropped a lot (maybe my standards have just gotten higher after years of clubs and social media). Customer numbers don’t lie either — places that used to have queues now sometimes have empty sofas.

That said, Friday nights are still reasonably busy, and you will occasionally see one or two really pretty girls (who usually get taken by Japanese customers).

The bar has two floors connected by a glass floor/ceiling, so from downstairs you can look up under the girls’ skirts. The second floor is more revealing (topless) and has its own bar and sofa area with more of a small lounge feel. Girls don’t freely move between floors, so if you don’t like anyone downstairs you can check upstairs (personally I find the first-floor girls better looking). There used to be a third floor that opens irregularly.

In the past this place had a reputation for poor service similar to some of the Rainbow bars in Nana Plaza — girls sometimes disappearing while “changing clothes,” or even claiming to be ladyboys to scare customers off. These days the girls are all female. If a girl is giving you a hard time, it usually just means she doesn’t want to leave with you. My advice is simple: just move on to the next place. There are plenty of options.

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