Floating Markets - Bangkok, Thailand

Floating Markets – Bangkok, Thailand

Where are the floating markets? Why visit them?

To understand why visit them? you need to know first what are they and the importance of those markets in the thai culture. Most of thai villages were built both sides of the rivers so the rivers gained importance in transportation and economic activity. Afterwards, roads and railways were built and the people started to move more by land and less by water.

Nowadays it is just an interesting tourist attraction to visit if you’ve never seen any of them. There’re several markets close to Bangkok, amongst them:

1. Taling Chan (Bangkok)
2. Khlong Lat Mayom (Bangkok)
3. Tha Kha (Samut Songkhram)
4. Amphawa (Samut Songkhram)
5. Damnoen Saduak (Samut Songkhram). This is the least recommended of all because of the high numbers of visitors, it is ‘a tourist trap’.

Three of them are located in the province Samut Songkhram. Here there is also another well-known and curious market: Mae Klong. It’s a market over railways tracks.

When to go to the floating markets?

The weather is the same as Bangkok. The raining time goes from May to October, between November and February the climate is cooler and the warmest months are March, April and May. From November to February is high season.

You keep in mind that most of the markets open only on weekends, check the timetable before going.

Things to do in the floating markets

Well, what you do in any market: eating, walking along the stalls and bargaining for a souvenir.

If you visit the Amphawa floating market maybe you have time to visit the Wat Amphawan Chetiyaram or the King Rama II Memorial Park (also called Phuttha Loet La or King Buddhalertla Naphalai Memorial Park). You can check the location on my map.

Very close to Amphawa is Mae Klong, a market on the railway tracks and the last stop on the line from Ban Laem. The attraction is watching stallholders pull back their stalls and awnings before the train arrives, but we missed this because it was not running that day. There are four trains a day, arriving at 8:30, 11:10, 14:30 and 17:40, and departing at 6:20, 9:00, 11:30 and 15:30. As this is the end of the line, staying for an arrival and its departure lets you see the show twice. Timetables change, so check with the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) or ask at the station before going.

If you’re going to overnight in Amphawa there is another interesting thing to do: getting on a boat along the river to see the dance of the fireflies (more numerous during the wet season).

Accommodation

The best place to stay is in Bangkok, from there you can visit several markets in a day trip. Also you can sleep in Amphawa. We stayed in Wendy House. The hotel is located in Bangkok, close to Siam Square. It was a good choice because the public transport is near and the street is quiet.

How to get there?

The vans from Victory Monument were removed on 25 October 2016. Vans no longer leave from inside Mo Chit 2 bus terminal either. You can now leave from Mochit New Van Terminal or the Southern Bus Terminal, Sai Tai Mai, in Taling Chan. Sai Tai Mai has vans and buses, but fewer services than before the pandemic.

Mochit New Van Terminal is opposite Mo Chit 2 bus terminal, across Kamphaeng Phet 2 Road by the footbridge. To get there, use MRT Kamphaeng Phet, exit 1, or BTS Mo Chit. Go to building D for van line 972 from Bangkok to Samut Songkhram (Mae Klong). Vans leave roughly every hour. The journey takes about 90 minutes and costs 70 to 100 baht. First, we went to Mae Klong. When we finished, we took a Sorng-Taa-Ou, a shared pickup, from behind the market to Amphawa floating market. This takes about 10 minutes. To return to Bangkok, vans leave right next to Amphawa floating market. You can find all these places and routes on my map.

Map: Floating Markets and Mae Klong Market

In the next map you can see all the locations of the markets mentioned, the transport to go to Mae Klong and Amphawa and two interesting places close to the last market.

Show interactive map

My experience

March/April 2016
We visited first the Mae Klong market. Around there there is another covered market, where the vans from Bangkok left us. When we approached the stalls a mix of smells invaded our noses: dried or fermented fish, spices, food… some aromas were nice and some others not so much.

The dates we were there the train didn’t run because of maintenance works, but it seems now is working again according to what the opinions on Tripadvisor say. Must be appealing seeing how the train goes very close to the stalls and the people remove their products in a one second. Our visit was quick because the train wasn’t going to arrive.

The next stop was Amphawa market. It was crowded, at the beginning it was stifling but bit a bit people were leaving. Maybe it was peak hour. We ate some food in several places and all was good except for some raw prawns.

In short, the excursion was quite nice and interesting although, if there is one, I would go to other more authentic floating market.