Where to Shop in Bangkok Sorted by Purpose Not Postcode

Where to Shop in Bangkok Sorted by Purpose Not Postcode

The woman next to you at Pak Khlong Talat at 3am is not buying a handbag. She is buying orchids by the crate at wholesale price before the sun raises the temperature past 30°C. The man across the road at Sampeng Lane is buying twelve dozen hair clips. Nobody in Talat Noi is buying either of those things. They are pulling motorcycle engine blocks out of a shop that smells of grease and old steel. A Bangkok shopping guide by item maps this city by what you actually want to carry home, not by which BTS stop you get off at.

The One Question This Page Answers

Which Bangkok shopping area actually sells what you are looking for, from vintage engine parts to gold to air conditioned luxury. If you want a 4 ply Thai silk scarf from Jim Thompson, you go to Siam Paragon. If you want raw celadon bowls for 200 THB, you go to the ceramics zone at Chatuchak Weekend Market. If you want a tailor to make you a suit in 48 hours, you walk past any man who approaches you near a major hotel and you go directly to the shop yourself. Every district here excels at one thing and fails at several others. Here is which is which.

How Bangkok Shopping Breaks Down by What You Actually Buy

Chatuchak Weekend Market: What To Buy And How To Survive 15,000 Stalls

Chatuchak Weekend Market is open Saturday and Sunday from 09:00 to 18:00, with some zones staying open until 19:00. It has approximately 15,000 stalls across 27 sections. The question you need answered before you arrive is which gate to enter. If you want clothing and accessories, enter via Gate 2 near BTS Mo Chit and walk directly into sections 5, 6 and 10 through 24. If you want antiques, handicrafts and furniture, enter via Gate 1 for sections 7 through 9. If you want plants and gardening tools, sections 2 through 4 are your area. If you want books, section 27 is where you go, and you can reach it directly from MRT Kamphaeng Phet, which exits into that section. Arrive before 10:00. Later than that the temperature inside the covered alleys reaches above 35°C and the crowd density makes movement slow. The BTS stop is Mo Chit. The MRT stop is Chatuchak Park. The alternate MRT stop is Kamphaeng Phet. Bring water. Wear shoes you can walk in for three hours. Bargaining at Chatuchak is standard: open at 30 to 40 percent of the asking price and expect to settle around 50 to 60 percent.

Pak Khlong Talat Flower Market: The 3am Visit Is The Right One

Pak Khlong Talat is a 24 hour flower market. The best time to arrive is 3am. That is when the wholesale shipments arrive from the provinces and the prices drop below retail. You buy by the bundle, not by the stem. A bucket of marigolds costs less than a single bouquet at a hotel gift shop. The market runs along both sides of the road and extends into the covered arcades. Bring cash in small bills. The stalls do not take cards. If you arrive at 10am you are seeing the leftovers and paying tourist prices. Go at 3am.

Yaowarat Road Gold Shops: Buying Bullion In Chinatown

Yaowarat Road is Bangkok's gold district. The shops line both sides of the street from the Traimit Temple intersection to the river. You buy gold by weight here, not by design. The price is marked per baht weight unit and it changes daily based on the global gold price posted at the front of each shop. You do not bargain for gold. The price is the price. The shops are open from approximately 09:00 to 17:00. If you want jewellery that is craftsmanship rather than investment, the same shops also sell Benjarong enamel work and jade. The piece you buy here will cost less than the same item in Silom or Sukhumvit because the rent on Yaowarat is lower and the competition is higher.

Siam Paragon Vs IconSiam: The Difference Is Which Luxury You Want

The question of Siam Paragon vs IconSiam comes down to what you intend to spend. Siam Paragon has 300,000 square metres of retail floor area. It sits directly at Siam BTS station. Its key feature is the luxury brand zone on the ground floor and Southeast Asia's largest aquarium in the basement. You go here for fixed price luxury goods, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, and for the aquarium if you have children who need a break from the heat. IconSiam opened on 9 November 2018 and has 525,000 square metres of retail floor area. Its key feature is the indoor floating market called SookSiam on the ground floor and the luxury brand zone called IconLuxe on the M floor. You go here for the same luxury brands but with river access via a free shuttle boat from Sathorn Pier at Taksin BTS stop. IconSiam is newer, larger, and more deliberately designed as a destination. Siam Paragon is older, better connected to transit, and surrounded by other malls you can walk between. If you have time for only one, choose IconSiam for the floating market replica inside an air conditioned building. If you are buying a specific luxury item and want to compare across multiple stores, choose Siam Paragon because you can walk to Siam Center and CentralWorld from the same BTS stop without going outside.

Talat Noi: Vintage Car Parts, Street Art And The Last Real Neighbourhood In Bangkok

Talat Noi is where you find vintage car parts and street art in a single walk. This is not a market in the conventional sense. It is a neighbourhood between Charoen Krung Road and the Chao Phraya River. The vintage car parts shops are scattered through the alleys. You find them by walking and looking. Engine blocks, carburettors, gearbox parts, body panels from 1960s European cars sit in open fronted garages. The street art is concentrated on the walls of the side sois. Some pieces are commissioned murals. Some are tags. The neighbourhood also contains design studios, galleries and boutique hotels clustered around Charoen Krung Soi 28 through 32. This is the only place in Bangkok where you can buy a vintage motorcycle ignition coil and then walk 100 metres to see a gallery exhibition. Arrive in the morning before the heat makes walking unpleasant. The nearest transit is not convenient. Take the MRT to Sam Yan and walk east, or take a taxi to the Holy Rosary Church and walk downhill toward the river.

Wholesale Districts: Pratunam, Platinum, Sampeng Lane And What You Must Know About Minimums

Pratunam Market is wholesale clothing. It operates from 05:00 to 20:00 with wholesale activity peaking between 05:00 and 09:00. The minimum purchase is three pieces per style. The nearest BTS stop is Chit Lom but it is a 1.2 kilometre walk. The nearest canal boat pier is Pratunam Pier on the Khlong Saen Saep canal. Platinum Fashion Mall is the air conditioned version, open 09:00 to 20:00 with a minimum of two to three pieces per style. It has six floors and carries larger sizes than Pratunam. Sampeng Lane runs parallel to Yaowarat Road in Chinatown. It is open 08:00 to 17:00. Most shops close by 17:00. The goods here are accessories, fabrics, stationery and household items sold by the dozen. The minimum purchase unit is one dozen, which is twelve pieces. If you want a single hair clip, do not go to Sampeng Lane. If you want twelve of them, Sampeng Lane is the cheapest place in Bangkok to buy.

You do not bargain at Platinum or at department stores. You do bargain at Pratunam and Sampeng Lane.

What to Skip, What to Avoid and the Traps You Will Be Offered

Several of Bangkok's most famous shopping areas have become souvenir traps that serve the 48 hour visitor and nobody else. MBK Center has eight floors. Floors three and four are mobile phones and electronics. Floors three through five contain a high concentration of counterfeit goods. If you want a legitimate phone, go to a proper dealer. If you want counterfeit products, the quality is variable and you have no recourse if it breaks. Khao San Road in Banglamphu sells T shirts and fried insects. Nobody local shops there. The Amulet Market on Maha Rat Road near the Grand Palace is for serious collectors of Buddhist amulets and sacred objects, not for tourists buying souvenirs. The amulets sold here range from 50 THB to hundreds of thousands of THB and fakes are common. The tailor touts who approach you near hotels and major landmarks offer a special price. That special price includes a 30 to 50 percent commission paid by the tailor shop to the tout. The price inflation on the garment is the same percentage. Walk past the tout without making eye contact. Go to the shop yourself. A basic tailor suit minimum production time is 48 hours with multiple fittings, but the recommended production time is four to seven days with three to four fittings. If you cannot stay that long, buy ready to wear.