Visit Authentic Floating Markets Outside Bangkok

Visit Floating Markets Outside Bangkok

Many tourists who come to Thailand are eager to experience an authentic floating market. They venture down to the Chao Phraya River hoping to get the floating market experience and are often told to take a tour of the canal where the Royal Barges Museum is located, opposite Sunam Luang. 

A tour of this area of the river is scenic and colorful, but it offers only a few people selling their wares from boats. It rarely offers the type of photo opportunity the tourist is expecting. 

Expect to Travel to Get the Perfect Photos

What every tourist is looking for is only available after driving about an hour or so south of central Bangkok. The destination is Amphawa Floating Market. This is the location of all the photos they’ve of the color and charm of Thailand’s floating markets. 

You can hire a long-tail boat for a one or two-hour tour of the area. This is the best way to see the market, homes, and small businesses of the area. 

The tour may start with the market area. There are graduated large concrete steps on the shore of the market area. People come to buy their lunch from the many food vendors in boats who travel a short way up and down the market, catering to the people along the shore. After buying lunch from a vendor, they’ll sit on the concrete steps and eat, chat with their friends and watch the colorful traffic go by. 

But the market is a small part of the attractions of the area. Your boat will take you through the ancient canals to see how people still live along the river. You can also buy fish food to feed the ravenous fish in a large pond on the canal. You might stop at a candy factory that uses palm sugar as its main ingredient. 

To find what every tourist is looking for, travel to Amphawa Floating Market.