Nana Plaza is a complex of around 60 bars and gogo bars situated just off of sukumvit road in soi 4 close to BTS NANA Station (see map below). In terms of entertainment I think it is far better than Patpong as everything is close together and the girls SEEM to be more friendly and genuine! Nana offers three floors of nightlife activity around a central square. There are a mixture of beer bars showing sports where you can sit relax and talk to the girls, bars where you can play pool, be careful some of these girls are excellent pool players, and finally the gogo bars give this area a good feel. There used to be more naked dancing, but this changes depending on the mood of the local police.

The busy corner of Nana Plaza is located on the far right side. It includes Rainbow 2, Hollywood, Playskool and Rainbow 1. In these bars altogether you will find a few hundreds of girls.
Pretty Lady (former Buttoms Up) is popular at present, with its 'mirror' counter around the dancing stage. Lollipop has just been reopened after a period functioning as a ladyboy bar. It has now an airconditined foyer with pool tables in front.
In front of most bars on the ground floor, and in the middle of the Plaza, are various beer bars. If you favor that, you can watch live soccer games there on most evenings.

The entrance of Nana Plaza has beer bars on both sides.

The second floor of Nana Plaza has a lot of smaller bars, with a more 'intimate' environment. There is one huge bar though, G-spot, in the right far corner.

On the left, other more 'regular' a-go-go bars are Rainbow 3 and Angelwitch. Angelwitch in particular is a popular spot, since it features both good looking girls and some well choreographed shows. Casanova is a exclusively ladyboy bar.

In the right close corner, reached after using the escalator we find Fantasia, Mandarin and Silver Dragon. Mandarin is an interesting bar, with multiple levels and a transparent floor between two dancing stages. Rainbow 4 opened in May 2005, and has become a very popular bar.

The third floor of Nana Plaza has only a few bars. However they all are huge, and when busy, can house quite a number of girls. Hollywood Strip has been renamed Carousel bar, after being remodeled and now featuring two large carousels. Shows are featured, with the girls now dressed up though. Carnival is a huge bar on the right, also featuring a carousel, with much less girls and activity though than a year or two ago. Cascade is a 'ladyboy' bar.

Nana Plaza is comparable with drink prices in Patpong and used to be more expensive than Soi Cowboy, but not anymore. In most larger bars, beer is priced at around 125 baht, the same as whisky. Soft drinks and lady drinks are now also usually above the 100 baht barrier. (look out for happy hours, time it right and save big )
The smaller bars on the second floor are mostly exceptions to this rule.

ANGELWITCH

Latest : The bar has been slightly enlarged, with the shows on offer presently, this is certainly the most interesting bar to go to on Nana Plaza.

Angelwitch is one the medium sized bars on the second floor of Nana Plaza. It is hidden very well in between all the small bars on the left side of the second floor, close to the (in)famous Casanova lady boy bar.
In the old days, a bar under the name Farang Connection used to be at its location.
With the ongoing crackdown and october 2003 Apec summit, a lot of restrictions apply to Nana Plaza. Certainly no nudity is allowed.
However Angel Witch has gone back to what it does best : featuring sexotic shows, even though the girls can not undressed as some time ago. The bar which is relatively small is packed, especially during the weekends, with very well choreographed shows going on most of the time after 10 P.M. Highlight include 'Thai dancing' and some kinky SM simulations. There seems to be a fixed staff of showgirls. Most of them really have to work for a living, and seem to perform 5 to 8 different times every night. Interestingly, most of them are not really into making eye contact, or contacting the customers in the bar. Most likely they get a decent wage, that allows them to be choosy. And maybe they are actually not allowed to wander off, since the shows are a high priority.
If you just want to see girls dancing away all night, this is not the place to be. Maybe once every hour or so some regular dancers will come on stage for 10 minutes or so. The shows are good though, and might tempt you to come back to see it all again.

Prices are a bit higher than in other bars at Nana Plaza : beers and short drinks at 130 baht, soft drinks at 110 baht. To be sure, a lot of the somewhat cheaper bars have much less to offer (and should actually lower their prices for their own benefit).
Angel Witch is still a rather small bar. It can get a bit smoky and also noisy at times.

G-SPOT

G-spot calls itself the biggest a-go-go bar in Bangkok. This possibly is true. At least at Nana Plaza, only Carnival and Hollywood Strip on the third floor, have a similar size.
G-spot is one of the more popular bars, but lately is has seen less customers, possibly as a result of the 'crackdown'. The bar is the only big bar on the second floor of Nana Plaza, and is located in the far right corner. It has no less than 3 dance stages. When you enter a smaller one is to the left of you, one very large longitudinal one to the right, and further right another smaller dance stage. The one on the left when you enter, usually has the more raunchy girls. Not long ago, girls dancing on that smaller stage where invariably dancing in the nude, but those days are gone. At present, less girls, but still a considerable number are working here.
The girls have some more space here to dance than in some of the other bars, and some actually do this. The Crown group probably tells his girls to move around some more than the regular bargirls shuffle you see in most bars, where often the girls are just kind of standing on the platform, limited in their movements by the other girls and their own boredom.

Probably this bar can be called the present 'flagship' bar of the Crown group. The number of girls now working there has increases substantially, and the bar is relatively well visited.
Prices are as in the other Crown group bars.

PLAYSKOOL

Playskool is part of the busy right far corner, when you enter Nana Plaza. It is in between Hollywood and Rainbow 2 bars.
The bar itself is not very big. Classic layout with a central dancing stage.
Traditionally, Playskool has been one of the attractions at Nana Plaza. The girls nowadays are still somewhat above average, and there are two shifts of about 12-15 girls dancing. We have visited a few times during the weekend, and noticed that of late, the bar is not that popular anymore as it used to be. Many times, much of the seating area is not occupied. Not clear what this is all about, since as mentioned the bar was always popular in the past, and has an excellent location. All that said, some of the girls are worth looking at. Maybe you could just have a look around when entering, before deciding to have a seat.

When sitting observing the scene the other day, we were very puzzled by the lack of customers (even though on some occasions, we noticed some naughty shows in there). One of the long time waitresses (around for at least 7, 8 years) volunteered that the girls in Playskool simply aks to much money for extracurricular activities. Not sure whether that can explain the lack of enthusiasm for this once popular bar, but after all there is an active information world on websites and webboards regarding price issues around. And word of mouth is also a force to be reckoned.

In the old days, girls would wear a kind of 'sexy' schoolgirl uniform, but lately this outfit has disappeared. Dancers, of course, are dressed up now.
Drink prices are at 125 baht for a beer.
Playskool also has a busy outside beer bar, where drink prices are lower.

RAINBOW 1

The first of the Rainbow bars. It is the first real a-go-go bar on the right of Nana Plaza ground floor.
The bar is medium sized, but is always rather packed with people. It is part of the busy, most interesting corner of Nana Plaza, which also includes Playskool, Hollywood, and the bigger sister bar Rainbow 2.
Always a lot of girls on stage at Rainbow 1, making it rather crowded. We checked it our lately, and found that no less than about 150 girls are actually working at Rainbow 1! If you go around midnight, about a 100 of them will already have left the premises. Who thinks there is no money to be made in the gogo bars?
There is no lack of girls, and therefore the girls dance in three shifts. Most bars nowadays have only two. As a result the girls have lots of time in between dancing, and this is clearly to the benefit of the customers. They do not disappear right away, after you buy them a drink, as in most places around Nana Plaza.

Possibly the bar appeals more to some customers than its sister bar Rainbow 2, which possibly due to its size, has a little bit less atmosphere.

Drink prices are at 125 baht for a beer.

RAINBOW 2

Rainbow 2 can be called the flagship bar of the Rainbow group of bars. It obviously came later than Rainbow 1, but the new bar was bigger and had a lot of girls right from the beginning.
The bar is located in the far right corner of the ground floor of Nana Plaza, next to Hollywood Rock.
It is a big bar, but not necessarily the biggest on the plaza. But there are an enormous amount of girls here. There must be no less than 250 girls working in there. So a whole bunch of girls are crowded together on stage most of the time. They do not really have a lot of space to dance, and mainly do the Bangkok shuffle. There are three dancing shifts, so the girls have time to accost the customers in between shifts.

The bar caters to Japanese clientele. Probably about three quarters of the customers are Japanese. The girls might be paying more attention to them then to Westerners, since they are known to spend money easily. The bar is really crowded most of the time, so do not expect to have a 'quiet' drink in there. We actually think if you count all the girls in the three Rainbow bar, you will end up with a number close to the sum of all the girls dancing in the other bars at Nana Plaza (if we exclude the beer bars).
As mentioned, it can be crowded in there. If you suffer from claustrofobia, or can not stand cigarette smoke, beware.

Lots of girls are usually already bought out during the early hours of the night, so it may be a good idea to come early here. But even late at night, there will still be quite few attractive girls there, although some of them may have already come back from extracurricular activities and started 'dancing' again.

Drink prices are at 125 for a beer.

RAINBOW 4

Rainbow 4 opened in May 2005, and from the very beginning it has been packed with people.
The bar is located where Woodstock and an adjacent smaller gogo bar used to be, is large in size, but smaller than G-spot next door. But the old proven strategy to make a bar work is used : just have many girls available. The Rainbow bars seem to be the only ones nowadays who use the old knowledge, while most other bars have reduced the number of dancers (and the number of customers). We revisited the bar when Rainbow 1 had reopened again, and a quick look at the blackboard (where the numbers of the girls dancing an the girls departed for extracurricular activities are listed) revealed that no less than about 120 girls are working at Rainbow 4.
The bar has two dancing stages, each having room for about 20 dancers (they do dance close together at Rainbow 4). The stages are surrounded by barstools, and some small tables. Left and right there are some dark corners with three rowes of sofa seating. Not quite clear why people want to be sitting that far away from the action, but they do.
A disadvantage is that there is very little space to walk around the place, and people have to bump onto each other all the time. Since it is so crowded and somewhat dark, it is quite difficult to find girls you met before etc.
As in most of the Rainbow bars, the girls mostly dance in three shifts (all the other bars do away with just two shifts). This allows for ample time to acquaint the girls while they are off the stage, and they have more time (and are more eager) to stay with you.
Needless to say, the format is 'bikini-outfit' dancing.
Rainbow 4 is the first of the Rainbow bars with somewhat adequate lavatories, but still a toilet boy is available in the bathroom, who may want to surprise you with a shoulder massage while you are at it. Just be on your guards, and let him know you don't favor this treatment.

Rainbow 4 has been a great success since the beginning. The bar was started the right way. It also shows visitors do find the way to the second floor of Nana Plaza when the right stuff is available. G-spot next door could really benefit from this new neighbour, if only they would increase the number of dancers there. [last count there are about 30 girls working at the very large G-spot bar]

CARNIVAL

Carnival is a huge bar on the third floor of Nana Plaza located on the right side. It is huge, but at present not very busy. In the center of the bar, are two rotating carousels, one on top of the other, on which the girls are dancing. So you will have a constant change of view, and if you have a favored girl, you will have to wait from time to time till she turns round again.
Not long ago, this bars featured a lot of shows and naked dancers. . For the time being, shows are cancelled. Girls would perform all kinds of 'sexual' acts. Highlights used to be various lesbian shows, with dildo's etc. At the time, this made the bar very popular. However, they did not yet recover from the present 'crackdown' on the nightlife. The bar looks rather overspacious at the moment.

Shows have made a comeback as of late (Nov. 2004) but are of the dressed up variety. During one of our last visits we had to endure the following : girls going under the shower in group (some fully 'dressed'), girls rubbing each other with ice cubes, girls treating each other to buttocks smacking alternating with oral (covered) sex.

An interesting feature at this bar, is the 'mechanical bull'. From time to time some of the girls (they are actually pretty good at it) will take a ride. Farangs or other foreigners who try the thing, are usually thrown off within seconds. I guess quite a few customers try it out after having a few drinks. Watch out for injuries. In a way, this is not a bad gimmick, and somewhat entertaining.

Another interesting feature of this bar, is that you buy some candies in the washroom area.
Prices are as in the other Crown bars, that is, expensive.

EROTICA

Latest : Erotica has now split into two bars, the one on top called VIP bar. Girls in schoolgirl outfit are dancing upstairs. Getting up is an hassle, watch out when taking the outside staircase, you may fall on the roof of Nana Plaza, and break your neck. Customers are not allowed to take and drink downstairs and move upstairs.
Downstairs the girls sometimes are topless or in the nude, the only bar at Nana Plaza for the moment?
Negative : Excessively loud music.

Erotica is a recent addition to Nana Plaza. The bar is well hidden, especially for newcomers. Take the stairs on the left when entering Nana Plaza. When arriving on the second floor, take the flight of stairs in front of you, while neglecting the 'thugs' who want to drag you inside Rainbow 3 and Mercury bar.
The fact that this bar is well hidden is rather a bonus. We would not recommend to visit this place which has a rather disconcerting business model.
The place has a lower and upper floor with a transparent ceiling in between. Since a while no girls have been dancing on the upper floor though, certainly not later in the evening.
The girls dance during three or four songs each turn. So when a girl is sitting with you, you will not exactly have a lot of time to communicate before she disappears to go on stage again.

The stage has barstools on one site. Not much place to put your beer, which is in constant danger of being kicked over by the girls dancing.
It actually happened on two occasions to one of us. A girl moved around a bit to energetically and kicked over one of our beers. One time it even happened before we sipped our drink. Interestingly, the waitresses expect you to order and pay for another new drink, instead of giving you a free drink without much fuss. Even going to have a little chat to talk to the cashier will not solve this simple problem.

So when this happened to us again lately, we decided to not bother anymore with Erotica bar. After all, there are many girls and many bars to choose from. Certainly, dishonest practices may happen anyplace around Nana Plaza. But we experienced them at Erotica bar. So we will not visit again for probably about a year, and hope for new management and new practices by the time we visit next.

FANTASIA

Fantasia, the smallest a-go-go bar of the Crown group of bars, is located on the second floor, just to the left after you exit the escalator (on the left after entering Nana Plaza). It has always been a favorite with some customers, although lately it has seen less customers. Some time ago, it used to have quite a few attractive girls, but a whole lot of them seem to have left for greener pastures. As in all the other bars of the same group, a carousel rotating platform is present in the middle of the dancing stage.

At present, we would consider Fantasis clearly below par, with few girls and few customers.

HOLLYWOOD

At the location of the present Hollywood bar it all started many years ago. In the first few years of Nana Plaza, the original Hollywood bar together with a closeby bar, called 'Pretty Lady'(or was it 'Pretty Girl'), used to draw in the crowds. The smaller bars were already there, for sure, but they always had a different kind of customer. People who used to spend time at Soi Cowboy, started coming to Nana to see the topless and naked girls at Hollywood. This is more than 10 years ago now, and times have changed, with 10-15 bigger bars now at Nana, and more smaller ones. Hollywood always kept some faithful customers.
The original Hollywood bar did not change for ages, was kind of dark and somewhat seedy, but I reckon that is what attracted its visitors. The last few years it went slowly downhill, with less customers and visitors than the surrounding bars and a takeover with new management and ownership took place.
They decided to kind of remove any resemblance to the old bar, and after quite a long period of 'renovation' the bar opened under the Hollywood name in september 2003. Well, it is a huge disappointed altogether. The Crown Group that manages a lot of bars at Nana Plaza, has created another monster. Their purpose seems to be create a monopoly of bars, where quality has no more relevance. After all, if ones owns most of the bars, where will customers have to go?
The bar is well lit, same size as before, with a really small dancing stage (room for about 10 girls) centrally located. There are no less than 3 rows of plastic covered seatings around. Some Hollywood stars (not quite clear if the stars themselves would agree with having their name put up like this) have been engraved on some of the furnishings. All in all, the new Hollywood bar has lost all the character it had before the renovations. On top of that, the girls on offer are mostly third class, and their are hardly any customers at present. Things can change, and sometimes rapidly, but visitors have much better value in the neighbor bar : Rainbow 1 and 2, Playskool.
Prices are high. Beer and short drinks at 125 baht, soft drinks, lady drinks at 110 baht. Really too much for what you can get here.

CAROUSEL

Carousel (formerly named Hollywood Strip, which I think now refers to both Carousel and Hollywood Two) is a huge bar on the third floor of Nana Plaza. Take the stairs on the left when entering and take all the stairs you notice going ever higher up, while neglecting all the touts and thugs who try to get you into other bars on the way. The bar now has two rotating carousels with about ten- twelve girls dancing on each of them. In between the two carousels there would still be sufficient place to have another bar altogether.
The bar used to have very 'open' shows until the crackdown on the nightlife, and as a result would be packed on all days of the week. While still recovering now for its former glory, the bar is reasonable busy again. There are lots of dancers, and also a lot of 'available' serving staff. Nowadays the dancers just shuffle, there may be the occasional shows, but the girls will be all dressed up. I remember seeing a soapy show recently, with the girls in bikini outfit, not quite what it used to be. While this was not one of our favorite bars for quite a while (we found the girls rather unattractive, and the bar was a leader is raising prices to present levels at Nana Plaza), we found our recent visits more pleasurable. According to our voting results, many customers seem to think the same way. So if you can negotiate the steps, and the thugs on the way up, it may be worthwhile the effort.

HOLLYWOOD TWO

Hollywood Two is located on the third floor, next to its sister bar of the Hollywood Strip group, Carousel bar. The bar is slightly smaller than Carousel, but still large when compared to most bars at Nana Plaza. There are now two rotating carousels. On some days, when traffic is low, or few girls (still) working, one carousel may be empty. When we were there the last few times, the place was not exactly packed with customers, but we have it from hearsay, that on some days it is a more active place. The trick is to have a look inside, when visiting the Hollywood Strip, and see how things are going, before deciding to sit down and enjoy the place. Beer prices are at 120 baht a drink, just below what the price the Crown group bars are charging. As with Carousel, and Erotica bar, closeby, the most difficult part of the journey upstairs, is not the effort itself, but the many touts and thugs, blocking the way while trying to get you into some other bar.

On our last visits, we have to say, we were kind of imagining being at Soi Cowboy. Lots of the 'girls' dancing there are a little bit aged, with quite a few post multiple pregnancies.

MANDARIN

This bar is at the old location of Paradiso bar, on the second floor, right in front after you exit the escalator. However it is an all together new bar. Obviously the same people who designed Baccara have been at work here. This could be called a 'designer' bar, quite different from the classic configuration, where you just have a central dancing stage with seating around it.
When you enter the bar, you first have to climb some stairs to enter the first level. There on the right you will find a square dancing stage, with ample seating around. Some designer, rather peculiar barstools are present. They are rectangular, positioned perpendicular to the stage, and resting on two legs. There is room for two people to sit on them, but most are only occupied by one person, who is obviously protected from other people bumping into him, as is the case in most other bars. Most interesting, the seat has an heart shaped opening in the middle. This will be most welcomed by people with hemorrhoids or some other anal inconvenience and allows for free air flow.
But I should mention the most interesting part of the whole scene. There is another level of the bar, which can be reached by some more stairs. [the latest time we visited the second level was closed though] On that level, also ample seating is provided. The ceiling in between the two levels is made of glass and thus completely transparent. So below you get a view from below of the girls dancing on top. As in Baccara, this will allow for interesting observations, once the girls start discarting their underwear.
At present dancing is relatively modest. Girls wear a rather transparent bikini outfit, with some kind of veil covering their buttocks. In between dancing rounds, they wear some Chinese satin outfit.

MERCURY CLUB

Mercury Club is one of the latest additions to Nana Plaza. It is located on the second floor. Take the stairs on the left when entering Nana Plaza. Then go straight, it is located in the corner next to Rainbow 3. For a few weeks or months another bar was operating there, named Casablanca. Mercury Club opened at the end of June.
Although the name might suggest otherwise, the format is a go go. The bar is medium-sized by Nana standards, and has a slightly different outlay when compared to other bars. There is a long counter left when entering. The dancing stage itself is centrally placed, with sofa seating on the three remaining sites. Interestingly, there are no barstools next to the stage, although there seems to be place for them. The stage is lower than usual, and visitors do not have to look up to see the dancers, actually the head of the visitor is at 'groin' level.
Music is contemporary, and of good sound quality. When I visited, about 20-25 girls were working there, most unknown to me, so probably they are a new batch recently recruited. Girls dance topless. Supposedly shows are scheduled at 10 P.M. and midnight, but nothing happened while I was there.
Prices are kind of standard. Beer and most liquor at 110 baht, although Chang Beer and Asahi are available at 90 baht. Soft drinks and coffee cost 90 baht. The barfine is modest at 500 baht.
While the logo on the right may suggest otherwise, it was freezing cold when we were there, quite uncomfortable.
The main hurdle for the bar will be its location, kind of out of the way. But I think the bar may have potential. In any case, the quality of the girls seems to be above average for Nana Plaza.

SILVER DRAGON

Silver Dragon used to be a smallish bar just right after you exit the escalator on the right side, close to the entrance of Nana Plaza. About mid 2002, the adjacent beerbar was annexed and construction of a larger new Silver Dragon was started. The new owners are the same as the people running Mandarin bar next door.
The bar is now medium size, with a dancing stage that allows for about 10 girls. Seating is on barstools around the stage, and plastic covered sofas in two rows around the bar. At present there are about 30 girls working there. Quality of the girls is average, definitively better than some of the smaller bars on the second floor, but not up to the standards of Rainbow and Angelwitch. Girls follow the present standard on Nana Plaza with most of them dancing bare-breasted, not naked. Although katoeys (lady boys) seem to be favored by the bar owner in his other bars, this bar does not have them. (at least that was my impression during the few visits I made there) All in all, if you come at the right time and in the right company, some good fun can be had. However, I would classify Silver Dragon as a 'secondary' bar, that should not be on a prime list of bars that have to be visited. If you are in Bangkok for a longer while however, you can check out some other girls here for sure.

VOODOO BAR

Voodoo bar is located on the ground floor of Nana Plaza in the far left corner. It is one of the bigger bars on the ground floor.
The dancing stage is rather huge. The middle part consists of a rotating carousel, a very common feature in all the bars of the Crown group. This rotating carousel is more than shoulder high, so when sitting you will have to really stretch your neck to 'look up' to the girls. The dancing style of the girls is very similar to the style at G-spot. The girls have more space to dance than in most other bars, so they usually do just something more than the classic Bangkok shuffle.

Lately, it is clear, that this bar despite its good location and size, is not attracting lots of customers anymore.
Drinks are expensive at 125 baht for a beer.

There is a really big outside bar also. Pool tables are installed there. You can have a relaxing drink there (unless there is football on the TV's) and observe what is going on at Nana Plaza from there.

Nana Plaza Location Map