The floating market is one of the main highlights and attractions at Samut Songkram.
I went there with several colleagues from my office on a 1 night trip to this province and planned to visit this one of many famous floating markets of the province “Talad Nam Damnoen Saduak”.
This is my first time visiting this place and I was very excited to experience the real floating market.
It may sound a bit ironic as I am Thai by birth but I never truly experienced the floating market.
In my little experience outside of Bangkok, the floating market is where sellers are on the boat, sailing along the river or canal and offering something to the buyers on the shore.
But at this authentic floating market, both parties are on the boat! Yes, like life in the old times people were riding boats along rivers or canals like a street and the transaction was mostly done without leaving your boat.
We rented a van for the whole trip and the van took us to the entrance of the Damnoen Saduak floating market.
Here on the shore there were many souvenir shops and restaurants for you to sit and relax. We decided to skip these shops and straight to the canal tour service.
There were two choices to choose, the traditional rowboat or the motorboat. We instantly went for the traditional one. At first I thought we needed to do the rowing by ourselves as well, but the service fee already included a person who did the rows for us.
It was a small narrow body boat which accommodated only 4-5 people. The boat we got had a small roof or a shade to protect you from the sun. We slowly stepped on the boat and started to sit on it. It shook a bit when a chubby colleague went on, as the boat is quite small and very light.
After we entered the boat, the rider who did the rowing part, led us along the canal. It was a super amazing experience.
The weather outside was hot, but when it started to go away from the pier, I could not feel any heat at all. The water cooled you down and you can feel the light winds against your face as the boat went ahead.
Along both sides of the canal, there were shops offering mostly souvenirs and handmade local products for home decor or traditional items for home use. Some on shore shops were big enough to accommodate people or big enough for you to climb up and have some food on the shore.
The neighboring boats sometimes can be food sellers, like street vendors but in a boat format, where you can buy and eat on the boat along your trip.
We never asked the rower to stop at any shop as we really wanted to see the whole area of the floating market.
After about 15 minutes, the rower took us far away from the center of the floating market. Here we started to see the plantation on both sides of the canal, which was amazing. It was such an immersive experience for a Bangkokian city guy like me to be very close to the plantation by riding along the canal.
At some point, the rower stopped and asked us to go inside a house on the shore. It turned out to be a souvenir shop which was probably the destination of this canal tour service.
After we bought some souvenirs and tasted the “coconut flower drink” which is a unique and famous drink of this province, we headed back to the original pier we came from. The coconut flower drink tastes like coconut water, but more intense and with the smell of a flower. I really recommend you try it once you visit here.
The trip lasted for about an hour and after that we headed for lunch somewhere else with happiness on everyone’s face.
Opening Hours
Damnoen Saduak floating market opens daily from 7:00-13:00. It is better to arrive at this place first if you come from Bangkok.
Entrance Fee
You can enter the market and walk around for free.
Canal tour service has 2 prices:
- Rowboat 500 THB (~15.5 USD) per boat per hour including the rowing person.
- Motorboat 850 THB (~26.5 USD) per boat per hour including the driver.
I highly recommend the traditional rowboat to feel the real feeling of the floating market and keep the vibe of the canal nice. The motorboat is very noisy and sometimes pollutes the nearby boat with black smoke as well.
An on shore restroom charges 5 THB (~0.15 USD) per person per time. Please prepare some coins as there is no change at the restroom.
How To Get There?
If you are planning to visit there from Bangkok, I highly recommend hiring a van for one day from Bangkok from any local travel agency. It should take around 2 hours if your journey starts from the hotel in the commercial district of Bangkok like Asok.
