Floating Markets of Damnoen Saduak Cruise Day Trip from Bangkok

Bangkok, Thailand

Experience rural Thai culture and explore the canal waterways outside the capital on this 6-hour day trip to the Damnoen Saduak floating markets from Bangkok. Cruise by long-tailed speedboat with your guide to the floating markets. Discover the ancient canals constructed in the 19th century by Thailand’s King Rama IV. See the vendors selling local produce including fresh fruit and vegetables, traditional sweets and souvenirs. Soak up the atmosphere of the bustling, vibrant markets and gain insight into everyday life in Thailand.

Following a morning pickup from your Bangkok city hotel, meet your guide and travel out by air-conditioned coach to the Damnoen Saduak floating markets. Located a 2-hour drive southwest of Bangkok, the markets sit on a canal waterway created by King Rama IV in the 19th century to promote trade and development outside the capital. Today, they’re widely considered one of Bangkok’s top attractions and offer valuable insight into traditional Thai culture and traditions.

On arrival at Damnoen Saduak, hop aboard a long-tailed speedboat with your guide for an exciting ride through the marshes and stilt-houses to the markets. Once there, listen to a brief introduction from your guide and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Marvel at the colorful fruits, vegetables, sweets, meats and souvenirs on display and take time to capture the market scenery on camera. Watch the traders and customers going about their daily business on this bustling and vibrant part of the canal, and perhaps purchase some fruit or souvenirs for yourself (own expense). Take a ride on a local boat (optional extra, payable locally) through the maze of traditional canoes and soak up the market atmosphere out on the water.

When your time at the Damnoen Saduak floating markets is up, cruise back to your coach and hop back aboard for the return journey to your Bangkok hotel, where your tour will come to an end.

USD $44.00

Review by:   qsea1969,    June 2018
Great tour. Tourist trap but worth it. Watch out for the pythons can take pics with snakes.

Review by:   Lars B,    May 2018
nice experience

Review by:   farshid.nv,    May 2018
This was a memorable and great tour.

Review by:   bacbeth,    May 2018
It was a fun trip, the guide was great, could have skipped the orchid/coconut farm stop. There wasn't much there to see. I would have rather had that time at the market. It's worth it to take the smaller boat once you get off the long tail boat. You won't get the full experience of the floating market if you skip that. It's fun being in the middle of all the action, and the shopping is better. It's an early morning trip and you're back to your hotel before noon, so you still have plenty of time to see other sights.

Review by:   Robin D,    May 2018
This tour is amazing! A must do in Thailand!

Review by:   Keith C,    May 2018
You're essentially paying for transportation to the floating markets. You have to pay additional money to take a small boat to tour the actual floating shops.

Review by:   Omer Mahmut B,    April 2018
Our guide was good...

Review by:   xiomararodriguez.13,    April 2018
This tour was amazing!

Review by:   Diana M,    April 2018
I couldn’t have asked for a better Tour Guide. Peter was very humorous and knowledgeable throughout the entire tour. He also picked up my group and I on time and that was great. The trip to the floating market was quiet and beautiful because of the scenery. Definitely a must when going to Bangkok!

Review by:   Stacey D,    April 2018
Damneon Saduak was a little disappointing as it is exceptionally touristy and this is coming from someone who really enjoys doing touristy things. Things were really packed and the reality looked a lot different than the pictures I had seen. Would aim for another market if possible.

Review by:   Shivarama B,    March 2018
The ride in the speeding long tail boat is exciting and watching the crowd around the boats with produces and other products is fun. Our guide wa very helpful.

Review by:   Dr. LaVoulle,    March 2018
This tour was amazing!

Review by:   Dr. LaVoulle,    March 2018
This tour was amazing!

Review by:   RitaG,    March 2018
So much fun....great intro to this area!!!!

Review by:   bmstaustin,    March 2018
Although it's a heavy tourist spot.. you're a tourist if you're on viator.com, so go in with that mindset and you'll greatly enjoy it. The speedboat ride was very fun/relaxing and the floating market itself was cool to see. Tip: don't buy anything while you're floating along the river. Instead, buy items when you get off the boat and are able to walk through. This will give you more time to bargain and get greater discounts.

Review by:   muthayak,    March 2018
As many others mention, the Damnoen Saduak floating market is really more for tourist than for locals. But if you go to Thailand and not experience this market, then you are really missing out. The hustle and bustle add to the fun atmosphere, as does the haggling with the vendors. Plus, the food here is delicious!

Review by:   Ben A,    March 2018
Day well spent. Hotel pickup, bus and friendly tour guide made this a great introduction to Thailand.

Review by:   Alberto L,    March 2018
This tour was amazing!

Review by:   Marco,    March 2018
It's nice to see a floating market even if it became just a tourist attraction.

Review by:   Fabio D,    February 2018
We had a great expereince, the tour was enjoyable, the guide was very entertaining, polite and informative. It was very safe.

Review by:   Art,    February 2018
Fascinating. Bus ride was a time investment but view of countryside was worth that time.

Review by:   Robert Schoenbachler,    February 2018
Fun and very enjoyable. Must do if only in Bangkok for a short period

Review by:   TRAL,    February 2018
Nice and interesting experience

Review by:   Dana S,    February 2018
It was awful, We were stuck in the boat for 1/2 of the time in hot weather and smelly from another speed boat

Review by:   Niu Y,    January 2018
Damnoen Saduak is still a good place to visit, though very much commercialized. The tour guide was very enthusiastic and funny!

Review by:   LAUREN C,    December 2017
We are so glad we were able to go to the floating market. We had a great guide, wonderful food and a great experience.

Review by:   oscarsilvar,    December 2017
So many things went wrong with this tour. First of all, our Viator voucher said that the tour started 7:10 AM. We arrived at the pickup destination 7:05 AM, but the bus had already left. The lady at the front desk was in a not my problem, call Viator kind of mood.

Review by:   Don A,    November 2017
It was good. I didn't buy anything at the market but it was definitely a cool experience. A bit out of the way, though.

Review by:   nasha31,    November 2017
Awesome!

Review by:   Jclancy1,    November 2017
Long trip to gathering point and a second, even longer trip to the boat. Go only if you want to buy souvenirs.

Review by:   hellion,    November 2017
Liked this tour a lot. Guide Lucky was good - very caring. The food we had we had to buy ourselves, but it was cheap and amazing - far and away the best fried rice we had in Bangkok. Fun ride in the long boat along the canals. Lots to look at and buy.Recommend this one.

Review by:   caroline d,    November 2017
This tour was amazing!

Review by:   Jason C,    November 2017
Great experience for this solo traveler. It offered more then just going to the floating market. Our tour guides name was Luck and she offered great descriptions of sites along the way. We also stopped to 2 places which offered additional not included activities. For example one was a small zoo where you can ride the elephants, see the liger, and much more. The market was great to see but you do have to pay extra to get a small boat to the actual floating market area. This was on the details but should of been included for the price it was only an additional small fee.

Review by:   Ronald S,    November 2017
No contact the day before the trip as promised. Had to get up at 0600 on the day and phone, only to be advised that we were to make our way to a different hotel to meet the main party. Ultimately convinced the operator to send a cab to collect us which they did! The trip itself was great and the young lady we had as our guide could not have been more helpful and courteous. Would strongly recommend but hopefully our bad experience of notification failure is taken onboard.

Review by:   Sharal V,    October 2017
It's was okay for the experience. The shops on land are like everywhere you go-souvenirs. Water market on rolling boat is a better experience with extra pay but only last 30 mins. It's a little crowded so it's difficult to have to boat with your likes to come to your rolling boat for purchase. I did have a noodles soup and it was a highlight of my day

Review by:   Jennifer L,    October 2017
I loved this experience! Was very authentic and able to see the Thai people going about selling their products and food. I had the most yummy coconut ice cream. No pressure to do anything.

Review by:   LOIS B,    October 2017
I thoroughly enjoyed this experience. The guide was great and gave us all the time we needed for shopping and to actually enjoy all the sights included with this tour.

Review by:   lynn.rogers56,    October 2017
This was a great tour and I am so glad we did it. Make sure you do the optional boat through the actual markets as this is where you feel the true vibe of the floating market. Unfortunately our experience was spoilt by 2 fellow tourists who expected 5 star luxury in the little canoe. They made shopping impossible for the other 4 in the canoe and were very rude in the process. We could however still get the feel of the market and enjoyed the trip to it. Our guide was very good and gave us heaps of information and plenty of time to explore.

Review by:   ALEXANDROS N,    October 2017
Our guide, was a very professional person,excellent english, very friendly and approachable.She explained everything,she created a very nice atmosphere for all of us in the group, excellent driver the minibus was very clean.Thanks to the excellent organizational skills of our guide we had time to see and explore everything,enough time for lunch as well.With regards to the places that we visited,each and every one was worth visiting, very nice places full of energy and historical background.This excursion is highly recommended of you want to escape for a while from the busy city centre of Bangkok

Review by:   Kiarra S,    October 2017
This was a well organize and great early day trip. The market was the perfect experience and the boat ride was so quick but a great time being able to take the boat from outside the market into the area. We even had an opportunity to stop by the elephant camp and coconut area which was nice to see. Our tour guide Jeri was sweet and shared information about the Bangkok yet gave us enough quiet to sleep which was great. I would highly recommend this tour.

Review by:   vijay m,    October 2017
great tour guide Vanda so funny and the outing was pleasant.

Review by:   Ngai S. Sandy Y,    October 2017
We took 4 tours offered by Viator during our one week vacation in Bangkok and this floating market day trip was our least favorite one. The 1 and 1/2 hour drive out of Bangkok to Damneon Saduak was not too interesting. The orchard farm, that we stopped at along the way, had no blooming orchards. Our guide did not accompanied us on much of the floating market tour and we were left to ourselves wandering among the shops or floating on a paddle boat until it was time to travel back again to Bangkok. We got very little information about why people still use these floating markets and what is happening to their way of life besides catering to tourists. As to the goods sold at the floating markets--you can get the same street food, vegetables, and handicrafts in Bangkok city.

Review by:   camartin0510,    October 2017
The tour was an eye-opener for us. We enjoyed the long-boat ride including the walk around the market.

Review by:   Andrew W,    October 2017
Fantastic trip experienced guide.

Review by:   Miho S,    October 2017
I think this tour is falsely advertised. We rode the boat going to the market. And when we arrived in market we were asked to leave the boat. Basically we were on our foot while in the market. You dont get to ride boat and buy stuff in the market unless you pay extra maybe 500 bahts or something.

Review by:   Hans R v,    October 2017
The floating market was not what we expected and actually it was disappointed. Very touristic area. Have the idea that it is kept alive only for tourist. Not worth to visit.

Review by:   Kimberly M,    October 2017
This tour was so great and was the last in our trip to Thailand. It was a great way to end the trip because it was a somewhat low energy, relaxing day exploring the floating market of Damnoen. Our guide was a lot of fun and taught us a lot about Bangkok's historic rivers and how they have had an impact on life there. The floating market itself, while touristy, yes, was still a great way to experience a piece of Thai history/culture and I'm glad we made a stop at the coconut sugar farm because that sugar is to die for seriously, I'd wish I'd brought home more than the one bag I purchased, haha. Would definitely recommend this tour. The pickup and dropoff is easy, there's great food along the way, and it's a unique way to experience more of a great country.

Review by:   Laura W,    October 2017
It was a great experience. We left Bangkok very early to avoid traffic jam and were back at 1 pm so that the afternoon was still available for activities. The market was touristic but to visit it on boat a unique experience. I had a lot of delicious food there, especially sweets._br/_ Our guide was funny and helpful all the time.

Review by:   steven,    October 2017
The floating market could be better. We have not seen many boats. Most the stores are on the bank of the river.

Review by:   Kipp M,    September 2017
You need to see these unique floating markets, even if they have become very touristy. After all, you are a tourist, and these markets have become very touristy, because they are so unique to Thai culture.