Cooling Tower
Cocktails on a hotel rooftop in downtown Bangkok for B195 each? We were skeptical that a rooftop venue would win this category—considering most of the contenders are beer-heavy pubs or all-day dining spots—boy were we wrong. Cooling Tower Rooftop on the 34th floor of Carlton Hotel Bangkok gives you all the glitz and glamor of a swanky luxury hotel rooftop cocktail bar, but essentially at half the price you would even start paying anywhere else. Happy hour cocktails run B390 each, but it’s a two-for-one deal that effectively cuts that price in half. Besides, who doesn’t have two drinks during happy hour?
34/F, Carlton Hotel Bangkok Sukhumvit 491 Sukhumvit Rd., 02-090-7888. Open daily 5pm-midnight.
Finalist: Kosmo Resto & Bar
This is one of those “if you know, you know” kind of places. Hidden on the backside of W District’s open-air seating area, this bistro and bar gets packed to the gills on almost a daily basis around happy hour thanks to its absurd prices on domestic beers (from B45), imported craft beers (from B85), and other drinks (wine, highballs, and cocktails from B100). There’s also a happy hour “snacks” menu (B109 on all items) but the portion sizes are more than generous, especially the pizzas. The catch is you need to get here early. Happy hour starts at 4pm and the outside terrace, where you want to sit, fills up around 30-40 minutes later.
W-District, Sukhumvit Soi 69/1, 02-381-2951. Open Mon-Fri 4pm-late; Sat-Sun noon-late
Finalist: The Deck
15, Sukhumvit Soi 20, 095-239-0805. Open daily 7:30am-midnight
Is it really “happy hour” if it’s running for nearly all of the venue’s daily operating hours? The Deck doesn’t care, and you can pull up a seat here and booze near all day from 8am-8pm working your way through their extensive list of cocktails, craft beers, and wines on special. Wash that all down with a plate or two of Latin-inspired tapas bites on the breezy terrace and you have a really good argument to stay for the entire day. Maybe a 12-hour happy hour isn’t so crazy after all?
Finalist: Hemingway Bangkok
Nearly every hour of the day is happy hour at this age-old restaurant and bar on Sukhumvhit Soi 11. You can start your cheap boozing here as early as 11am (we’re not saying you should do that, but it’s an option), with local beers and some spirits for B99, wine by the glass from B129, draft beers from B109, among others. Sit on the alfresco terrace and watch the world around you become more wobbly and degenerate as the notorious Soi 11 comes alive. The venue has tons of hearty pub eats to help stave off complete booze-to-blood saturation.
19, Soi Sukhumvit Soi 11, 02-653-3900. Open daily 11am-2am
Finalist: The Old English
The Old English is “old faithful” for anyone around Thonglor-Ekkamai looking to down a cheap couple of pints midday or well into the evening. With a happy hour special on beers running from 1-7pm, you’ll find the venue packed with sports-loving British expats throughout most of the afternoon, there to take advantage of the venue’s “Pint for a Pound” gimmick from 1-3pm, and then B65 and B85 at 3pm and 5pm respectively.
1033 Sukhumvit Rd, BTS Thong Lo, 02-392-3361. Open daily 8-2am
