Going on vacation to Bangkok? Want to experience the sights, sounds & smells of the Bangkok floating market? Our guide to the Bangkok floating market gives you the tips you’ll want to know.
Bangkok floating market is one of the most fascinating places in all of Thailand to visit. An intricate complex of canals is where hundreds of boats congregate daily to conduct the daily business of the market where absolutely everything from clothes, food, batteries, incense and other trinkets are sold.
Floating Market Tours
There are many companies in Bangkok offering guided tours of the floating market. The first advantage of taking a tour to go see the floating market is the savings you’ll make on the transport to and from the market. Tour companies will take you to the floating market in a minibus which costs about $7 per head. You’d most likely pay three times that amount to get to the floating market from downtown Bangkok in a taxi. In addition you get an English speaking tour guide who will explain the history and set up of the floating market and answer any questions you might have once you get there.
The only downside to going to the floating market, or anywhere else in Thailand, with a tour guide, is that quite often they will stop off at pre determined eating areas or tourist spots where you’ll be pressured by the locals into buying something. However, provided you are prepared to politely decline any offers for merchandise or food you don’t want you shouldn’t have any problem.
Shopping at the Bangkok Floating Market
Once you arrive at the floating market you have the option of renting a water boat for about $7 an hour which will take you into the heart of the floating market from where you can see hundreds of people, both sellers and buyers, floating around looking at each others merchandise. If you don’t like the idea of getting on a boat you can still see pretty much everything there is to see from the sides of the canals. In facts many boats set up shop there so there is no need to get on a boat to buy things.
