In shortKhlong Lat Mayom floating market sits at 30/1 Bang Ramat Road in Taling Chan, about 15 minutes from Bang Wa BTS. It trades Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays only, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, which leaves you eight hours to work through seven zones and 404 stalls laid out on both sides of the road. Cooked food and produce are what people come for, and the best eating runs about 10am to 1pm.
20 November 2004Market opened
404 stallsAcross seven zones
9:00 am until 5:00 pmSaturday, Sunday, holidays
15 minutesFrom Bang Wa BTS
How the market came about and what it sells
The market opened officially on 20 November 2004. Chuan Chuchan, a farmer and community leader from the area, started it and still owns it, and the stated purpose was to keep local residents connected to the canal.
A 2007 expansion pushed the stalls onto both sides of Bang Ramat Road. Seven main zones and 404 stalls make up the layout today, which is a lot of ground for a canal market and the reason a visit here goes mostly on walking between kitchens.
Food is the business, and most of it is cooked on land. You order at a stall, carry the plate to one of the low tables along the canal and eat sitting there. Fresh produce, plants and household crafts fill the quieter corners, while the canal serves as a view and as the boat departure point.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration bundles this market with Taling Chan, Wat Saphan, Wat Champa and Two-Canals, five sites in the same district sold as one tourism cluster. Khlong Lat Mayom is the eating anchor of that group.
Khlong Lat Mayom opening hours
Trading days are Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays only, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. No market office publishes a fixed timetable, and other listings circulate with a narrower window, one of them 09:00 to 15:00, so work to 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and confirm on the day.
Vendor news and event dates go up on the market's Facebook page, which is where a change shows first. Worth a look the night before a public holiday that falls on a Monday, when this market may trade while the rest of the city keeps weekday hours.
Aim to walk in somewhere between 09:30 and 11:00. The best eating window is about 10am to 1pm, seating fills as lunchtime approaches, and by four in the afternoon you are left with a thinning market and the stalls that sell nothing hot.
Monday to Thursday, both this market and Taling Chan are shut. A free day in that part of the week points you to Damnoen Saduak, 80 to 100 km southwest of the city and a drive of 1.5 to 2 hours each way, rather than a 15-minute hop from Bang Wa.
What to eat and how the zones divide
Zone 6 holds most of the food stalls, so go there first if you arrived hungry. Zone 1 covers Thai desserts, drinks and fruit, and it doubles as the boat departure point, which makes it a sensible last stop before you leave.
Cooking runs to grilled seafood, grilled chicken, papaya salad and larb, eaten at the low tables beside the water. Order the grilled snakehead fish set if there are three or four of you, since it arrives as a set built for sharing.
Order in stages instead of loading one tray. Stalls specialise, queues move at different speeds, and two people working separate counters will eat better than two people standing in the same line.
- Zone 6: the concentration of food stalls
- Zone 1: Thai desserts, drinks and fruit, plus the canal boat
- Along the canal: low tables for grilled seafood, grilled chicken, papaya salad and larb
- Elsewhere on both sides of Bang Ramat Road: fresh produce, plants and crafts
The canal boat from Zone 1
A canal boat trip leaves from Zone 1 and runs about an hour, taking you off Bang Ramat Road and onto the waterway the market is named after. Boat tours operate here, and from Khlong Lat Mayom it is possible to carry on by water to the other floating markets in the Taling Chan group.
Treat the boat as an extra. The hour on the water is quiet and pleasant, though the stalls are where the day's value sits, so take the boat only if you have time to spare around the eating.
For both, go on the water before 11:00 and eat afterwards. That keeps you inside the 10am to 1pm stretch, when the kitchens are at full strength.
The short private day out of the city
With a Khlong Lat Mayom morning already in your weekend, this 6 to 7 hour private day runs out to the Maeklong Railway and the floating markets, with hotel pickup and a long-tail boat kept to your own party, from THB 4100 and rated 5.0 ★ (877 reviews).
★ 5.0/5 · 877 reviews
Getting there, and pairing it with Taling Chan the same morning
The address is 30/1 Bang Ramat Road, Taling Chan, roughly 15 minutes from Bang Wa BTS station by taxi or Grab. Riding the skytrain out to Bang Wa and finishing the trip by road is the straightforward way in from the centre, and it spares you the long drive the markets outside the city require.
Taling Chan is about 4 km away, on Khlong Chak Phra at 333 Chak Phra Road, directly in front of the Taling Chan District Office and some 14 km from central Bangkok. Anyone coming from the shopping districts rather than from Bang Wa can reach it without changing vehicles on the orange air-conditioned city bus No. 79, which picks up at Central World, Pratunam and Democracy Monument and takes around 45 minutes from the Pratunam stop.
What the two markets put in front of you is different. Taling Chan is compact, with a floating platform where grilled seafood, som tam and noodles are cooked on boats moored alongside and eaten sitting on the ground, plus live Thai music from 11:00 to 14:00. Khlong Lat Mayom is several times the size, land-based and built around eating.
One morning can cover both, in two shapes. For the boat, be at Taling Chan pier before the 9:45 am departure, which runs about three hours and calls at Taling Chan, Wat Saphan and Khlong Lat Mayom. For the food, start at Khlong Lat Mayom at opening, eat through the late morning, then drop in on Taling Chan afterwards, bearing in mind that its stalls pack up well before the posted close.
| Khlong Lat Mayom | Taling Chan |
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| Address | 30/1 Bang Ramat Road, Taling Chan | 333 Chak Phra Road, Khlong Chak Phra, in front of the district office |
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| Trading days | Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays | Saturday and Sunday |
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| Hours | 9:00 am to 5:00 pm (other listings give 09:00 to 15:00) | About 08:30 to 16:00 (one listing gives 8am to 5pm) |
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| Distance from central Bangkok | About 15 minutes from Bang Wa BTS | About 14 km, one source gives 12 km |
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| Scale | Seven zones, 404 stalls, both sides of Bang Ramat Road | Canal frontage plus a floating dining platform |
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| Eating | Grilled seafood, grilled chicken, papaya salad, larb, grilled snakehead fish set | Grilled seafood, som tam and noodles cooked on moored boats |
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| Boats | Departs Zone 1, about one hour, links to the other Taling Chan markets | Three-market loop at 9:45 am for about three hours; a one-hour Wat Koh loop; a 1:30 pm run to the Artist's House |
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| Other | Produce, plants and crafts across the quieter zones | Live Thai music 11:00 to 14:00 |
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Bangkok market tours on this site
Khlong Lat Mayom closes Monday to Thursday, and those are the days an organised trip out of the city earns its keep. Both tours below run to markets beyond Bangkok and pair a canal market with the Maeklong Railway Market.
Bangkok: Floating Market and Train Market Experience is the cheaper of the two: 8.5 hours, from THB 792, rated 4.9 ★ (3750 reviews). The ticket covers an air-conditioned vehicle, a train ticket, a boat ride, accident insurance and a licensed English-speaking guide, plus an audio guide streamed in your selected language to a phone you bring yourself. Lunch is not included. Pickup is outside the KFC at SAMYAN MITRTOWN on Phaya Thai Road; be there 15 minutes before departure, and allow extra time for rush-hour traffic on the way.
The alternative, Private Excursion to Maeklong Railway and Floating Markets, keeps the day to 6 to 7 hours and costs from THB 4100, with a rating of 5.0 ★ (877 reviews). Pickup is at your Bangkok hotel, excluding hotels near the airport or outside the city area, the transport and the licensed English-speaking Thai guide are yours alone, and the long-tail canal tour of about 20 to 30 minutes carries only your party. Local fruits, desserts and a drink are included, and full names as shown in passports are required at booking for the accident insurance.
| Tour | Duration | Starts from | Group | Boat | Rating | From |
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| Bangkok: Floating Market and Train Market Experience | 8.5 hours | SAMYAN MITRTOWN, Phaya Thai Road | Shared group | Boat ride included | 4.9 ★ (3750) | THB 792 |
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| Private Excursion to Maeklong Railway and Floating Markets | 6 to 7 hours | Bangkok hotel pickup and drop-off | Private | Private long-tail, about 20 to 30 minutes | 5.0 ★ (877) | THB 4100 |
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Questions people ask
Is Khlong Lat Mayom open on weekdays?
No. Trading is limited to Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, and Taling Chan keeps the same weekend pattern. Monday to Thursday, the canal market still working near Bangkok is Damnoen Saduak, usually 1.5 to 2 hours away by road, with the Maeklong Railway Market open daily from 07:00 to 16:00.
Do I need cash at the market?
Yes. Plenty of the counters here take nothing but cash, and an ATM stands near the main entrance for anyone who arrives short. Small notes move the queues at the food counters along faster than large ones.
What should I wear if the day also includes a temple?
Keep shoulders and knees covered. A t-shirt does the job, as do long trousers, a maxi skirt or culottes. Bare tank tops and spaghetti straps, short shorts, mini skirts and see-through fabric fail the code, and anyone wearing them can expect to be asked to rent or buy a cover-up. Shoes that slide off without a struggle save time, because footwear comes off at the door of a temple hall.
When is the weather best for eating beside the canal?
The dry months. Rain is a running risk from 3 May to 28 October, a stretch of 5.8 months in which any given day carries better than a 36 percent chance of turning wet. The worst of it is September, with 8.6 inches of rain across about 20 wet days; August is rated muggy or worse on all 31 days, while December averages 0.9 wet days.
Can anyone manage the canal boat?
Boarding is the sticking point. Operators warn that a long-tail can be awkward to climb into and out of for anyone with mobility problems, and children stay the responsibility of the adults with them for the whole trip. The boat here lasts about an hour and leaves from Zone 1, so it is simple to leave out and spend the time at the stalls instead.
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