Bangkok Private Parties and Bachelor Party Planning

Bangkok gives you rooftop bars, clubs, gogo bars and upmarket restaurants in one city, which suits a mixed group. Pattaya is built for this: Walking Street, beer bars, pool villas and beach days, all compact and cheaper. Many groups do two nights in Bangkok and then move to Pattaya, about two hours by road.

Get the full price and exactly what it covers: the establishment, the hours, drinks, how many guests and staff, any company provided and what counts as an extra. Add the deposit, the cancellation terms and who pays for damage. Agree the house rules too, including photos and the finish time. If an organizer won't put it in a message, find another one. Members see the organizers and establishments we've checked.

Some do and many don't. Plenty of holiday villas ban parties, limit guest numbers or charge a security deposit, and neighbors in residential areas complain about noise. Tell the owner honestly what you're planning and get the guest and noise policy in writing. Getting evicted at midnight is the fastest way to ruin a stag do.

Agree a plan before you go out: a kitty for shared rounds, a spending cap, a meeting point and the hotel's address saved on every phone. Keep passports in the safe and carry a copy. Nobody leaves alone with a lot of cash, and nobody rides a motorbike after drinking. Stay away from drugs entirely, because Thai penalties are severe and apply fully to foreigners. Appoint one sober-ish person to keep the group together.

Yes, and bars love a big group, but tabs get messy fast. Pay per round or give one person the kitty, and check every bill. Split into smaller groups of four to six at busy bars so you can actually get seats. Tell the bar if it's a bachelor party; the groom often gets extra attention.

For high season, roughly November to February, and for Christmas, New Year and Songkran in mid-April, book villas and group hotels at least a couple of months ahead, because the best places go early. Organizers and private establishments need a few weeks' notice for a big group. Outside the peaks, two to four weeks is usually enough. Confirm every booking again a few days before you fly.

Either through an organizer, who books the establishment and invites the women, or by the group bar fining women from a bar they've already visited. Either way, each woman agrees her own fee and what she's comfortable with, and she can decline or leave at any time. Insist that every guest is 18 or over and that the organizer checks ID. Walk away from any setup where women seem frightened, can't keep their own ID or are escorted by a minder.

It depends on the group, but the big costs are predictable. A Pattaya pool villa starts at around 3,000 baht a night off-season and climbs quickly for big houses in high season. A gogo bar crawl costs a few thousand baht per man in drinks, more with lady drinks. Each bar fine adds roughly 600 to 2,500 baht before the lady's own fee. Add transport and any organizer's package, then keep about a fifth extra for surprises.