Damnoen Saduak Floating Market: Day Tour Travel Experience and Guide

Thailand is known for floating markets. The most famous floating market in Thailand is the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market located 100 km west of Bangkok, at the Ratchaburi Province.

To go to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, you have to travel around 2 hours from Bangkok. We booked a tour online, through Day Tours Bangkok. The tour organizer picked us from the hotel and we came to the place through a van (which they also call a mini bus).

The 32 km long Damnoen Saduak canal was built on 1866-1866 by the order of King Rama IV to connect the Mae Khlong and Tha Chin rivers. Many floating markets arose from the canal. The main floating market, Lad Plee, was active until 1967, when the need for water transportation was replaced by land transportation. At the old times, many civilisations lived near the rivers because it was the place for water, food and trade.

Despite our expectations of seeing a lot of boats selling food and goods in the river, the floating market actually consists of shops on stilts and there are only some boats which sell goods (mostly food). The shops on stilts sell souvenirs. To see the shops and the floating market, you have to take a paddle boat which costs 150 THB per person. Good thing our tour provider already took care of the paddle boat. The floating market, although previously used as a local market for the trading of goods, is now more of a tourist attraction. The area relies mostly on the tourism industry which attracts local and foreign tourists. This can be observed as most shops sell souvenirs, and not local/everyday goods. The floating market shops have souvenirs, tea, spices, artworks, bags, and other things that usually tourists buy.

Some of the floating market shops accepts credit cards, Mastercard and VISA.

On your paddle boat ride at the Damnoen Sadoak Floating Market, be careful while you are on the boat. As it is only a small paddle boat, make sure you do not touch or cling to the sides as the boat may topple over. Do not be clumsy or make too much movements. The foreigners that was with us on the boat moved a lot, we were afraid that the boat would topple over. There was no life vest, and you wouldn’t want to swim in the river water. Be careful of the long tail paddle boat as the long tail (yes it literally has a long tail) with the motor blades at the end of it can hurt you. Some of the boat drivers are not careful with the long tail.

After the paddle boat ride, we walked in the market. There is a market on land and not just at the side of the river. If you’re really planning to buy something, it is cheaper in the land market versus the floating market.

The Story of the Elephant

When we were still at the paddle boat, taking a look at the floating market shops, I tried to ask for the price of the small elephant souvenir they were selling. I asked because my mom loves elephants, and I wanted to compare prices in the floating market vs in Bangkok. The lady said, 899 baht! I was shocked so I said, too expensive! Then she said, 700 THB, 500 THB. I still said, “too expensive”. The boat wouldn’t leave the front of the store even though I was already waving no. It was not like other shop/market experience like Chatuchak because you couldn’t walk away when you do not like the price. The lady was probably holding our boat so we couldn’t leave, or the boatman was stalling so that we could buy. The lady was giving me a calculator for me to give my price but I refused. She was already offering 300 THB for the elephant from the original price of 899 THB but honestly I still think it was expensive for the small elephant. Last price she gave was 200 THB. She was really persistent. I couldn’t say no so I finally bought the elephant at 200 THB (even though I wasn’t planning to).

When we went at the land based shops in Damnoen Saduak, I saw a similar elephant and it was only 190 THB. You could imagine how frustrated I was, I was still thinking that the elephant was expensive and I could buy two blouses with 200 THB in Chatuchak Market instead.

However, upon my realization, these people in the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market only have small profit that is why most of the goods are overpriced. People go to the floating market for sightseeing and not really to buy something. Honestly, as a tourist you would still buy from Chatuchak Weekend Market or the other malls in Bangkok. So, I just thought that this elephant I bought from the lady was a big thing for her. Somehow, I helped her get through the day. I was just wondering if the floating market shops gain commission from all the tours and paddle boat rides because there was no entrance fee and they were the main attraction. I just hope the shop owners also gain profit from that and not only the tour organizers.

View of the Floating Market

We took a nice photo at a bridge near the road, overlooking the floating market. There are a lot of tourists taking a photo here so you’d have to wait for your turn to get a nice photo.

Long tail boat ride

We went back to the meeting point at around 11:15 AM and we took a long tail boat ride to another location. The long tail boat ride was a 10-20 minute boat ride which took us in the canals of the Damnoen Saduak. From there we saw the Thai Village residing at the river canals. Be careful because you might get wet once the long tail boat speeds up.

After the Floating Market tour, we changed vans for the River Kwai in Kanchanaburi Province tour. You can read more about our River Kwai in Kanchanaburi Province tour here.

Because the Floating Market is far from Bangkok, we booked a joiner or group day tour online through Day Tours Bangkok. You can also book half day floating market tours through Klook as they also offer different floating market experiences. Use code Q9PAU in your first Klook booking so that you can have discounts.

What are your thoughts about the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market? Have you been to other floating markets in Bangkok? Share with us your experience!

Any thoughts, questions, comments, or opinion? Share them with us through the comments below!

Photo credits to: Tyrone Enova.Check out his Instagram at @enovatyrone.

Have a Bright Adventure!