Breakaway Destination Guides (International)

A trip to the Damnoen Saduak floating market is worth doing. Totally chaotic, small 'khlongs' or canals are filled with flat boats piled high with fresh produce, each jockeying for position and paddled by ladies ready to stop and bargain at a moment’s notice.

One of the most famous, and perhaps one of the most visited tourist sites around Bangkok, is the infamous Floating Market. The original Floating Market, Damnoen Saduak, is so popular numerous have been developed around Bangkok for tourists to enjoy, and is located 110 kilometres from Bangkok in Ratchaburi province. This is one of the best places to buy. Both quality, quantity and price. (Local markets in Bangkok can hardly beat this place)

Fruits, snacks, hats, T-shirts, vegetables, silk dress, toys, your spoilt for choice. Here they sell everything. You can have Thai style snacks or breakfast on your boat.

Getting to the Floating Market takes between one and a half to over two hours from Bangkok depending on traffic conditions. We recommend, if your time in Bangkok allows you, to do this tour at the weekend to avoid spending an unnecessary amount of time in traffic.

Day in and day out from about 8 a.m. to about 11 a.m. the Floating Market is routinely crowded with hundreds of vendors and purchasers floating in their small rowing boats selling and buying or exchanging their goods.The fruit and vegetable are mostly brought from the vendors own orchards. They usually travel on their small rowing boats. The long-tailed boats were very popular, people tended to use them. (Because of the shortage of fuel today long-tailed boats are quite unavailable compared to a few years ago)

Rent a water taxi at 300 Baht, for an hour. The traffic is horrendous in Thailand. Unlike cars, the boats don't care, butting each other. Without traffic police or traffic light, boats squeeze through the canal merrily. No Traffic Jams.

Damnoen Saduak in Ratchaburi about 109 kilometres south of Bangkok or approximately 2 hours drive. To get to the floating market you will need to leave early as the market closes early, around mid-day. The market was full of tourists and some feel it's too commercialized and has lost some of its original charms. But its still a good experience. Definitely one of the high points of your visit to Thailand.

Historically, Damnoens Saduak was actually the name of the canal dug in the reign of King Rama IV by the military men and the people of Rajburi, Samutsakorn and Samutsongkram Province directed by Phayasrisuriyawong, the minister of Defence. In those days without rivers and canals, transportation was almost motionless; King Rama IV with his great concern over the country's future economic growth, he finally had the canal dug to connect the Taachin River in Samutsakorn Province and Maklong River in Samut Song Kram Province together.

Nowadays Damnoen saduak is one of a provincial district of Rajburi Province. Most people live densely along both sides of the canal from one end of the canal to another. The majority of this people are agriculturists. They grow several different kinds of fruit and vegetable. (i.e. oranges, grapes, papayas, cabbages, bean, onions etc). The land in this area is naturally fertile. Apart from providing transportation, Damnoen Saduak Canal also provides farmers with adequate water for agricultural purposes for the whole year. More than 200 small canals were dug by local peasants to connect with it to get water to splatter their land. Moreover; these small canals also become propitious ways of taking their agricultural products to the markets in neighbouring provinces and Bangkok.

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