Music venues in Asia

A list of 54 music venues in Asia worth travelling for, across 16 countries. 54 rooms in 16 countries: 12 concert halls and opera houses, 10 festivals, 27 clubs and bars, 1 wild and open-air places, 4 sacred and ancient sites. Start with Paro Tshechu in Paro, or Esplanade Theatres on the Bay in Singapore, and follow the country pages from there.

Japan 8 rooms

Bar Martha

Tokyo, Japan · Bar

A listening bar in Ebisu, Tokyo, run by Wataru Fukuyama's Martha Records group. No reservations, no photography, voices kept low, open 19:00 to 03:00 year-round.

The Blue Note Tokyo street front in Minami-Aoyama, with musician silhouettes over the entrance

Blue Note Tokyo

Tokyo, Japan · Bar

The Tokyo branch of New York's Blue Note, open since 26 November 1988 and now at 6-3-16 Minami-Aoyama. About 280 reserved seats, short runs by touring players, no dress code.

A band on stage under pink and blue lights at Fuji Rock

Fuji Rock Festival

Naeba, Japan · Festival

Three days at the Naeba ski resort in the Echigo mountains. The Green Stage backs onto a river, forest stages wind through actual woodland. Asia's flagship destination festival since 1997.

Jazz Kissa Basie

Ichinoseki, Japan · BarCheck before you go

Shoji Sugawara's jazz kissa in Ichinoseki, Iwate, open since 1970 and built around speakers he made himself in the 1970s. It opens only some days, so check before you travel.

A curved staircase and glass wall inside the Sapporo Kitara foyer

Sapporo Concert Hall Kitara

Sapporo, Japan · Concert Hall

Vineyard-terrace masterpiece in Nakajima Park, Sapporo. Nagata Acoustics-designed in 1997, with terraced blocks that throw sound across every seat.

An orchestra on stage in Suntory Hall, with blocks of seats rising around the platform

Suntory Hall

Tokyo, Japan · Concert Hall

Asia's most decorated vineyard-terrace concert hall, opened 1986. Karajan called it 'a jewel box of sound'.

The low white shell of Teshima Art Museum on a green hillside

Teshima Art Museum

Teshima, Japan · Sacred

Ryue Nishizawa's concrete shell on Teshima Island in the Seto Inland Sea. Rei Naito's water installation produces a near-imperceptible drip-and-flow soundscape. The room is the music.

Purple and magenta lasers over a dark dancefloor at Womb

Womb

Tokyo, Japan · Club

Four-floor Shibuya club, since 1999. Asia's largest mirror ball on the main floor, a Funktion-One rig, 25 years of being the techno-tourist's first stop in Tokyo.

Thailand 22 rooms

Alonetogether

Bangkok, Thailand · Listening Bar

A jazz bar on Soi Sukhumvit 31, Bangkok, from the owners of Sugar Ray and Ku Bar: live bands Wednesday to Sunday downstairs and a second-floor listening room of rare pressings from Recoroom…

Club Salva Record Bar

Bangkok, Thailand · Listening Bar

The Modern-Day Culture team's second record bar in Ekkamai, Bangkok, opened in 2026 behind a red door: crates of jazz, house and disco and wines and cocktails built from fermented…

Clutch, The Warehouse

Bangkok, Thailand · Listening Bar

The nightlife floor of The Warehouse, a multi-level creative complex in Talat Noi, Bangkok: a shared living room on quiet nights and a rave when RomRom or Bangkok Community Radio take the…

Deaf Shop

Chiang Mai, Thailand · Listening BarCheck before you go

Chiang Mai's first vinyl listening bar, open since May 2022 at 36 Prapokklao Road inside the Old City.

Freaking Out The Neighborhood

Bangkok, Thailand · Listening Bar

A small listening bar in a metal-container building off Soi Sukhumvit 36, Bangkok, from the Have You Heard team.

Fung Record Bar

Chiang Mai, Thailand · Listening Bar

An all-analogue vinyl bar up the wooden stairs of a converted traditional house on Prapokklao Soi 1, inside Chiang Mai's Old City: funk, indie, disco and rock on records, good speakers, a…

Japhoochonpak

Bangkok, Thailand · Listening Bar

A shop, bar and occasional stage in Bangkok Noi, across the river from the old city, built from the record, book and memorabilia collection of Tum Tokin Teekhanont.

John Lemon

Chiang Mai, Thailand · Listening Bar

Khun Pik's bistro on Samlarn Road inside Chiang Mai's Old City, opened in 2025, with the slogan Food, Drink, Vinyl: burgers, a garden, a large LP collection tended by staff, and diners…

Lennon's

Bangkok, Thailand · Listening Bar

The Rosewood Bangkok's vinyl bar on the 30th floor, styled on a 1970s home studio: more than 6,000 records, a weekly programme (jazz on Friday), smart casual, 20 and over.

Long Play Music and Bar

Bangkok, Thailand · Listening Bar

A dark second-floor vinyl bar inside Josh Hotel on Soi Ari 4, Bangkok, with a wall-sized projector, rotating DJs, and live jazz on Friday and Saturday with the Club Patongko DJ team.

Modern-Day Culture

Bangkok, Thailand · Listening Bar

An Ekkamai record bar in Bangkok run by friends who have collected vinyl for more than twenty years.

Noomtaofire Record

Chiang Mai, Thailand · Listening Bar

Khun Ae's second-floor record shop above a clothing boutique on Charoen Prathet Road, near Chiang Mai's Night Bazaar, opened in 2023: secondhand and sealed LPs across pop, indie, hip-hop…

OBi Record Bar

Bangkok, Thailand · Listening Bar

A vinyl listening bar behind a blue door on Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Road, Silom, Bangkok, opened in 2026 by the Yayyyyy team: rare Japanese pressings, dark wood, and a host called the Bar…

SIWILAI Sound Club

Bangkok, Thailand · Listening Bar

A two-floor audiophile club inside Central: The Original Store on Charoen Krung, Bangkok, opened in 2020: six OJAS speakers around a grand piano downstairs, and upstairs a pair of OJAS 816s…

Sober Record Bar

Bangkok, Thailand · Listening Bar

A vinyl bar on the third floor of the Merchant Gate Hotel on Song Wat Road, Bangkok's old riverside street, where the DJ plays from the balcony.

Soulmate Listening Bar

Bangkok, Thailand · Listening Bar

A converted old house off Soi Lat Phrao 41 in north-east Bangkok, wood throughout with a front garden, where records play in the evenings: Thai and international easy listening and the…

Studio Lam

Bangkok, Thailand · BarClosed

Maft Sai's small vinyl bar above Zudrangma Records on Sukhumvit Soi 51, Bangkok's home of Thai mor lam and luk thung on record. Closed for good on 28 February 2026.

The Toys Club

Chiang Mai, Thailand · Listening Bar

A café by day and cocktail bar by night on San Pa Koi Road, east of the Ping river in Chiang Mai, packed with retro consoles, where DJ Bird plays his First Press collection of jazz, funk…

Thirty Records

Chiang Mai, Thailand · Listening Bar

Khun Munee's record shop in Suthep, Chiang Mai, opened early 2023, with a hi-fi listening wall at the back: Pioneer CS-77A and Diatone DS-36BR speakers, sofas, post-1950s jazz and Japanese…

An aerial view of the Wonderfruit site with a circular pink dance floor

Wonderfruit Festival

Pattaya, Thailand · Festival

Five days on the Fields at Siam Country Club outside Pattaya. Bamboo-architecture stages, sustainability ethos, programming closer to Burning Man than EDM.

Yayyyyy Record Bar

Bangkok, Thailand · Listening Bar

A one-shophouse record bar in a 77-year-old building on the edge of Nang Loeng, Bangkok, opened around June 2024 and named after the grandmother's grocery it replaced: 1,500 records, DJs'…

aftersun Listening Bar

Bangkok, Thailand · Listening Bar

A small listening bar made from an empty room in an old dormitory in Bang Bon, far west Bangkok: dark walls, 1970s light, a different vinyl DJ every night, a buy-and-sell record corner and…