Floating Markets Day Trip from Bangkok

Expensive Boat aRide

Took a taxi from Bangkok. Took two hours. To get to the destination. It was an expensive two hours boat ride in the market. It was almost 100 USD per person. Market was not floating at all.

Total sham! Price doesnt include anything!

Absolutely terrible tour. We drove 1.5 hours outside of Bangkok (which was not in the description) and the guide was silent the entire ride. He even fell asleep. We stopped first at a hut on the side of the road and were shown how they make brown sugar, which was interesting. Then we were brought to an elephant/tiger farm, which was not in the description of the tour either. We were essentially forced to spend more money on an experience there. It also really did not feel safe. We then finally went to the floating market. The tour description says that the boat is included in the price, but it was not. We had to pay extra to actually get in the boat for the market. When I asked the tour guide what we actually paid for on Viator, he said transportation. That is NOT a tour!!! Very deceiving. You are also asked of any food allergies beforehand, insinuating that you will be given some food. But you are not. Again, you must pay extra. Nothing was included in this tour. Total sham

Absolute hell on earth.

Absolutely total rip off horrific toxic fume filled experience. If you want to spend the worst time of your life then waste your money on this. £40 for 1 hour on a diesel powered long boat trawling stenching canal water with people trying to sell you mass produced tourist trash...then barge your way through a diesel fumed long boat traffic jam for an hour...burning your eyes and swelling your tongue. A disgrace. TripAdvisor for health and safety reasons please do not promote this experience. There were families with young children crying and babies in arms with parents trying to protect thier young from the toxic hell... A disgrace to describe this experience anything but horrific.

Far from being the best

Worth a visit, but far from being the best in South East Asia .. compare to Mekong Delta, Insle Lake in Myanmar…

Worth a visit

I see many mixed reviews about this trip. We are a couple late 50s and travelled quite a lot. We still found this worthwhile. Go early!!! To avoid loads of people. Try a private or small group not bus loads which are horrid. Yes it is touristy but the history and going around was still fun. Coconut ice cream yum. Barter 50% off everything.

Floating around going back in time

Amazing day out except they drop you off at a different site to where you r picked up with Klook 🌸🇻🇳

Floating market great for foodies

Half day trip to railway then to floating markets and fireflies at night boat ride Had best pad Thai off the boat near the bridge and plenty of choice in markets

FLOATING RIP OFF

Don't waste 4 hours drive, 3,000baht for boat that takes you around man made klong, passing exorbitant shops on river Bank that try to get you to spend £75 for a t shirt and copy sunglasses, which you can buy outside your hotel for about £4. What a waste of a day for Dougie and Jeanette and myself , absolute scheisse.

Conned and disgusted

Great concept but that is the only good thing I can say about this market. Al items for sale were way exorbitantly overpriced and even at half the price they were charging. Most stalls sold the same sort of items. I would describe them as very expensive rubbish. The cost of 4000 bht was extremely expensive even in western terms. Would definitely NOT recommend this place.

Don’t waste your time or your money. River is dirty, shops carry typical souvenirs not worth buying. Disappointing!

Too far from Bangkok! 1.5 hour drive each way!! Then it’s in a nosy longboat, difficult to get in and out of, engine is smoky. The vendors pressure you to buy and it’s all bartering. Even for coffee! Drivers of the boats get kickbacks on your purchases, so they want to shop dearly.

Great tour of Floating Market and riverc - ask for Tum Tum as your guide!

We used Tour East for all of our airport transfers and tours during our honeymoon in Bangkok and they never let us down! For Bangkok, we had a full day trip courtesy of our guides Tum Tum and Mr Satong. Both were very friendly, knowledgeable and spent all day with us taking us through the following itinerary: Damnoen Saduak Floating Market Coconut farm White Orchid riverside dinner cruise It was an early start from our hotel, around 7:30am but Mr Satong and Tum Tum made us feel at ease and gave us an overview of the history of Bangkok and the area. We visited the coconut farm and tried some of the coconut syrup and brough some of the usual souvenirs here, which were cheaper than at the market or surrounding stalls in centre of Bangkok. Tum Tum offered to take photos for us as we went through the tours. Damnoen Saduak Floating Market This was a nice guided tour of the floating market and about 1 hour outside of Bangkok, and we were fortunate to have good weather and not many tourists around when we visited. We were driven to the transfer boat and taken to the entrance of the floating market. After paying our entrance fee (1000 bht), we were then taken round the market by boat and the stall owners grabbed our boat with their hooks to draw us to their souvenir stalls. After our round trip of the floating market, we were returned by boat to the entrance of the floating market, where we could look at the stalls on land for 30 minutes or so. It's worth waiting for this, as we found better deals on gifts for our families here. Again, Tum Tum took as many photos as we asked for! We returned about 3pm to our hotel. White Orchid riverside dinner cruise - 2 hours We started at the mall by the riverside, and had some time to explore the shops whilst we waited for the boat. It was raining at this point but the river boat staff provide umbrellas to usher you onto the boat. The food wasn't the best, with it being a buffet and cold, however we had plenty of hot food to eat, and the entertainment on the boat was great. The atmosphere and audience participation made up for the shortcomings. As the evening went on, the rain stopped and we could explore the upper deck, to see the beautiful night view of the Chao Phraya river and the nightlife. Bless Tum Tum and Mr Satong, who at this point had been with use for nearly all day! They dropped us off back at the hotel and were still as friendly and enthusiastic as they had been all day! I highly recommend asking for Tum Tum to be your guide for your visit to Bangkok!

Floating Markets

Not worth the money, cost $80 per person for boat, stalls all sold the same thing and were super expensive. Pair of pants you could get off the street in Bangkok for 150 baht was 1,200 baht at markets. Would not recommend this tour. The only thing I saw worth buying was they had amazing art work, but wouldn't fit in your suit case to take home. I didn't ask how much it was though.

Floating Market Visit

Nice and unique place ti visit, a good trip for one day, tourists may visit the floating market and Maeklong railway market on a same day, as they are close to one another. The rates of tour operators at floating market are high, and a little bit scanning can also be faced.

A huge scam

This is a huge tourist scam. Was an exorbitant price for trip down a very ordinary canal. We were forced to stop at every stall and made to look at the same cheap rubbish all priced way over the top. Nothing authentic about the whole trip. Other people we met all agreed with us . An extremely disappointing outing. Huge tourist rip off.

Disappointing Floating Market Trip in April 2022

I will not go again in the near future. Due to the pandemic, many stalls (boats) were not operating (in April 2022). The place was empty. And remember don't over pay for the boat ride (U$10 or less per pax).

Absolutely awful

Don’t go! Total ripoff. All of the markets are selling cheap garbage at inflated prices - at least 3 stores tried to sell me coconut bowls at 600 Baht when they are 100 Baat in the real shops. The boat drivers pull up at EVERY store and they try to force you into buying their wares. Say no. If you pay anything with a card they charge you up to 600 Baht which is total theft as the ATMs charge less than half this. All in all, a waste of time and gives the good, honest people of Bangkok a bad name.

Don't fall in this tourist trap. Prepare to pay 2000-5000 bhat for a boat once you arrive there.

This is a tourist trap. Be aware! Taxi drivers from Bangkok will offer you a day trip for about 1500 Bhat, but they won't take you to the main market. You will arrive to a tourist point were they will ask you to pay 2000-5000 Bhat. They will take you through the canals to tourists shops. You will just feel as their prisoner. We wasted half a day and there was nothing to see.

Dont do it

2 hours trip from Bangkok - you pay 4000bht for a boat and then on top you Can order all sorts of weird things - did the city of Long necks - just sad. In the boat you are trapped to look at all the stuff on your Way. The food was cheap and Nice

SCAM! Don’t go - not worth your time or money

Tourist scam! Arrived there and it was 2500 baht EACH. May be better to book through a tour but honestly i wouldn’t even bother. Barely any of the markets were open and the ones that were all sold exactly the same items (the stuff you can find in every souvenir shop in Thailand). Waste of time and money. £60 wasted to float down a dirty river and then have to pay to buy things at a higher price than usual

Interesting Experience

We booked through Viator using Tour East Thailand. Tour was OK but the guide was not very helpful. Basically left us to wander the Market on our own. Found a coffee shop and had a coffee while watching the vendors on the canal. Also tried some mango and stcky rice - very good, but if you are concerned with hygene, they wash the fruit and their hands in the river.

Daytrip

The train was brilliant. And it was good fun on the long boat although could be uncomfortable for an older person. The guide was very informative

Watch out but worth it

Okay. This is totally for tourists. Our driver that was taking us from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi took us there. They get a cut from the ticket sale. But it did save us if we had signed up for it. Everyone seems to get a cut when tourists buy something. Tuk tuk drivers also get fuel vouchers. Interesting system but it helps pay the bills. You might be able to bargain but also think about their wages and we are traveling and most of the vendors and transportation folks there cannot afford such a luxury. We had a great boat ride through all the vendors. Items are way pricier than street markets. Bargain. Our driver had lots of relatives along the way. Hmmm?? It was still worth it. You travel in a Longtail boat and see lots of housing, monitors and great flora and fauna. We did buy souvenirs and saw them chestier later. Same exact items. Be aware. Their overhead might be higher. I had a delicious coconut ice cream served in a coconut. Yum. Refreshing!!

Lots to see, including snakes.

A fun longboat ride through a very crowded floating market. The powerboats bully their way through the traffic as you visit vendors along the water and also get visited by boats selling food and wares also. Lots of color and fun.

Long way to go

It is a very long way to go for not an overly authentic experience. Best part was the boat ride to the market. Coconut farm was not enjoyable. Food at floating markets was good. 4 hours in a minibus was a bit of a waste of a time

Floating market Bangkok

I went to see the Floating market outside Bangkok City. The first stop to see some coconuts and how they make products from coconuts. It was interesting. Went on small speed boat to see the market. They sell products on the boats such as Thai fruit and veg. Lots of things to buy in market like clothes jewelluary and gifts. On the way back sawsome elephants and fes them bananas.

Cool Floating Market - not sure about the Elephant Village

Quite a long drive and a stupid early start at 6.10am but necessary to get out of Bangkok quickly. Floating Market was good although really just for tourists. We also went to a coconut "factory" which was good and an elephant and tiger etc. village which left us feeling a little sad as the animals (especially the tigers) didn't look too good - not how we expect to see them treated in the UK. Also everything was very expensive. Other than this was really enjoyable - and not a lot of walking which was great as we're still tired from several other tours we've done !!!

Cool place ruined by tourist garbage

The floating markets are a really cool place that is ruined by the amount of crap on sale for tourists. It's all junk that you can see in Bangkok, but it was still fun nonethless. The reason for 3 stars is the tour could have been better organised by letting us know roughly how long the journey will be because we almost had a toilet issue on the way back which seemed to take almost twice as long as the way there with no stop for the happy room.

Floating market

Our tour guide was very good. She was very informative and attentive. Only issue we had with the tour is that we had to wait about 30-45 minutes on the side of the highway for 2 passengers. The floating markets is a nice experience, the bus was clean and the commute was quick.

missed tour!

I didn't go on this trip, due to confusion about pick up location. I payed for it and was looking forward to it, but in the end was not told soon enough about whether I was being picked up from my hotel, (as I had been on previous tours with the same company (tour east thailand) or other hotel. Assumed that they would pick me up from my hotel as they had done previously and transport went without me. very dissapointing, but got quick refund to paypal account.

Bangkok

The distance traveled was long but worth it. it was very fun. The time to buy souvenirs was just right. I would like to go again if I have the opportunity.

Awesome experience

Awesome experience! Very nice and friendly guide. It's a one in a lifetime experience. The food is very good too.

An OK trip

Decent enough short day but just another Thai/Chinese market really. Boat trip is good. The boats float; the market's on firm ground!

Floating market

Our guide was pretty quiet on the long ride to the floating markets. I like when guides share the country history and information about where we are driving as we go. Also the floating market was a lot more touristy than I expected. My advice would be to skip the boat ride (they literally take you only thru the souvenir area and go so slow that 2 turns takes the whole 30 minutes). Instead walk to the left, toward the start of the floating market and experience more of the market aspect rather than the tourism one.

A good activity for family

You can see different aspects of a dynamic Bangkok. Dont go with any taxi driver as they will rip you off.

Floating markets Worth a Visit For First Time Travellers to Bangkok

I would recommend any travellers visiting Bangkok for the first time to make a visit to the infamous Floating Markets. They have a few versions but they one furthest away from the City seems more vibrant and authentic. Samdoek Floating market the more popular one.

Fantastic tour

Went with my boyfriend to Thailand for the first time and the floating markets are a must. So much culture and great food. Our tour guide was fantastic, giving us recommendations along the way. So happy we chose this tour!

Unique and cultural

The floating markets are a fun and unique experience that we really enjoyed. We bought a lot of stuff to bring home (silk scarves, elephant pants, Thai purses, etc. Very cheap prices and good quality. Great food too! Try the mango with sticky rice for $1.50.

Floating market

Tour good. It is a long drive out of Bangkok. Take something to read or do whilst travelling. Pick-up arrangements suck: non-existent.

Day trip from BKK to the Floating Market - very underwhelming!

While it was good to get out of BKK for a few hours to see a bit of the Thai countryside this was a disappointing trip overall. To start with, the Tour East Thailand coach had seen better days with some of the seats stuck in the full recline position. The coconut stop was pointless - just the guide doing their best to show the use of coconuts but not really involving any locals (who simply took a photo of people stepping off the coach and then wanted to charge you for a souvenir pic). It was really an opportunity to try and flog overpriced tourist stuff. Once at the Floating Market, the best bit of the trip was the long tail boat ride down the wide 007'esq waterway, where we were dropped off in the centre to navigate on foot as we were informed "long tailed boats are not allowed in the main part of the market, only paddle boats"! If 90mins of a combination of crowds, petrol fumes (from the long tails) heat, tiger balm sellers and tourist tat is your thing then enjoy, if not then avoid. As a foot note, the guide (who was very plesent, knowledgeable and helpful throughout) did warn us about people offering wild caught pythons and Tarsiers as photo props. What was a surprise was the number of people brazey doing this in the open. This was very disturbing, as was the Thai authorities appeatently ignoring this cruel practice.

Floating Market

We enjoyed the most in this trip the boat trip surrounding the floating market. It was amazing to see the crowded market and all the intresting things for sale there.

Bangkok Floating Market

What a lovely place to visit. The boat ride along all the canals gave a nice preview of the whole market place. It is huge market place but surprisingly most vendors would not engage in any bargaining. One thing we did not like was awful seafood smell along the food stalls in the market place.

Floating Market

It’s an experience! Though there are many stalls, the items sold are repetitive and the prices are higher than what you can get in other places.

The worse tour of my life

Do not buy this tour. First: you spend all day sitting in the traffic. Second: They give you transportation to the market. You have to pay for the boat to see the market. Do not waste your money. This tour is rip-off.

Amazing time.

Very cool trip to floating market. Never will you see anything like this anywhere else! Professional staff and very accommodating! We really liked them!

Fun way to shop

Ŕide showed up right on time. A fun experience where you get good deals if you negotiate hard. Their 1st offer is usually 2X what they are willing to sell for. Guide spoke English well. Side trip to Tiger park was good too.

Amazing and well organized

We had an amazing time. The tour guide was a sweetheart and the driver was great. The boatride to the market was so fun. Everything was very well organized.

Not worth the money

There are 4 activities in this trip: 1) coconut farm The basic info was great Then the product selling took over - ok for a free event, not if you are paying for the trip 2) train market The fish market showed many variations and was a good experience The train passing through is something very special you will remember, the best thing of this trip. The train goes slowly, fortunately, still it is over in a few minutes 3) 2 floating markets A) a tourist trap: it is entirely fake The boat trip is too B) a bigger one, probably less touristic, and maybe ok in the evening - so why coming there around noon?? 4) temple A temple entirely overgrown by a tree Otherwise: small and just another temple To complete the picture: it takes a long drive back and forth to Bangkok to get to these places. The floating market as experienced here was by far the worst Bangkok trip experience. Everything else matched or exceeded expectations

Bangkok Floating Markets a Must

Do not miss a visit to a Floating Market. This is a must, the real life in Bangkok where you feel the way Thai people lives. We had to taste some fantastic cooked Floating food, as Sticky Rice with Mango and the best Coconut Ice Cream we ever had. Loved this place. Visit the Market during the morning.

Contamination to the world

The place is contaminated, very far from bangkok (1:30-2 hrs), it is pointless the visit, nothing good to buy. But the real bad thing for you and the World is that is full of mini gasoline boats that make terrible clouds of smog

Not what I expected

It is tourist attraction to buy staff you dont need for prices you dont want to pay. Everything overpriced. And you even pay for the boat to take you to the shops on the river. Dont spend a lot of time. 1 hour is enough, if you dont want to buy some spices, handbags, purses, souvenires, magnets, scarfs, paitings, cocoflower sugar, wooden everything. I thought it is an old style market, how people trade between themselves, hope to buy more food on the river from the board. Food prepared on the river was delicious, great coco icecream!