Bangkok Bestival: Benchakitti Park hosts festival of nature, culture and community

The annual three-day festival at Benchakitti Forest Park features everything from free yoga and nature workshops to storytelling and tree-climbing for children.

The following festival activities will be held from Friday:

- Alms-giving: The public is invited to offer alms to Buddhist monks on the morning of the first Friday of the year.

- Nature journey workshops: Guided expeditions through park’s thriving ecosystem of plants and animals.

- Tree-climbing: Young children get to explore nature’s playground.

- Chess in the garden: Join competitions held by a Thai chess association.

- Colouring and stories in the garden: Storytellers and colouring books will be on hand to keep kids enchanted. Storybooks will also be on sale.

- Better SX Morning Talk: Swapping ideas for sustainable and green city-living.

- Community market and music: Over 40 booths selling healthy food, as well as garden plants, accompanied by relaxing music.

- SX Repartment store: Visitors can drop off unwanted household items, which charities will distribute to needy people.

- Yoga in the park and sound bath. Free classes of mindfulness yoga to ease the stress of city living and reconnect with rhythms of nature, aided by musical immersion.

Bestival 2024 aims to promote the park as a hub for active lifestyles, said NCC Management and Development, operator of Benchakitti’s neighbouring Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre (QSNCC).

NCC is jointly organising the second edition of the festival with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and other partners.

Sprawling over 300 rai (480,000 square metres) in central Bangkok, Benchakitti features a large lake, forested area and water meadows, crisscrossed by paths and elevated walkways. It connects with Lumpini Park via the elevated “Green Mile” walkway.

The park is a short walk from Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre