Bangkok

Popular Tours around Bangkok

Floating Market : Damnoen Saduak

This large and popular floating market is about 100 km southwest of Bangkok in Ratchaburi province. Photos of this vibrant market featuring many small boats laden with colourful fruits and vegetables and paddled by Thai women wearing bamboo hats, are among the most often published in travel magazines and brochures of Thailand.

The Damnoen Saduak canal was ordered to be built in 1866 by King Rama IV of the Chakri Dynasty to facilitate waterborne travels between Ratchaburi and Samutsakhon Provinces. It was finished and opened to the public in 1868.

Nowadays, apart from providing transportation, Damnoen Saduak canal also provides local farmers with adequate water for agricultural purposes. A number of canals were dug to connect with it by local peasants to get water to splatter their land. As the excellent quality soil along the canal is very fertile, the area has a high potential for producing various kinds of fruits and vegetables.

The Floating Market is routinely crowded with hundreds of vendors and purchasers floating in their small rowing boats selling and buying agricultural products and local food, which are mostly brought from their own nearby orchards. Therefore, it is a very attractive place for tourists to see this old style and traditional way of selling and buying goods.

Around this area, boat trip services are available for sightseeing along smaller canals branching off from the Damnoen Saduak canal. Visitors can observe Thai traditional houses and the way they live as well as tasting exotic fruits, local food and refreshing drinks along the waterway.

There are bus services to Damnoen Saduak from the Southern Bus Terminal on Borommarat Chachonnani Road starting at 6 a.m. You'd better get there as early in the morning as possible to escape a crowd of visitors.

Related Articles

• Floating market story
• The Traditional Ways of Canal Trading
• Coconut Sugar Production

Duration of visit	About 2-3 hrs.
Open	Early morning daily. Most boats will be there up to about mid-morning.
Accessibility	Recommended to contact tour agent
Thai name	ตลาดน้ำดำเนินสะดวก ราชบุรี

Related Tour Programs		Duration
	Around Bangkok tour program code S-06 Coconut Sugar Farm, a long-tail boat trip to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Royal Thai Handicraft Centre	Half Day (a.m.)
	Around Bangkok tour program code S-29 Coconut Sugar Farm, a long-tail boat trip to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Royal Thai Handicraft Centre, Crocodile Farm and Rose Garden Riverside (Thai Village)	Full Day
	Around Bangkok tour program code S-30 Coconut Sugar Farm, a long-tail boat trip to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Royal Thai Handicraft Centre and Rose Garden Riverside (Thai Village Show)	Full Day
	Around Bangkok tour program code S-31 A speedboat trip to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, River Kwai Bridge (Death Railway), lunch on a floating restaurant	Full Day
	Around Bangkok tour program code S-32 Coconut Sugar Farm, a long-tail boat trip to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Royal Thai Handicraft Centre, elephant show and crocodile wrestling at Samphran Elephant Ground and Zoo	Full Day
	Bangkok tour + accommodation package code P-12 Grand Palace & Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Vimanmek Mansion, a long-tail boat trip to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Coconut Sugar Farm, Royal Thai Handicraft Centre, Rose Garden Riverside (Thai Village Show), Death Railway	3D2N
	Around Bangkok tour + accommodation package code P-18 Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, River Kwai Bridge, a long-tail boat trip to resort, Dinner with Mon Dance Show, Lawa Cave, Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum, Kanchanaburi War Cemetery and JEATH War Museum	3D2N
	Bangkok tour + accommodation package code P-24 Chatuchak Weekend Market, Grand Palace & Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Flea Market, Siam Niramit, Dream World Amusement Park, Dinner Cruise, Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Crododile Farm and Rose Garden Riverside (Thai Village Show)	5D4N
	Bangkok tour + accommodation package code P-25 Outstanding temples, Wat Traimit, Wat Pho, Marble Temple, Grand Palace and Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Gems Factory, Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Calypso Cabaret, Crocodile Farm and Elephant Theme Show	5D4N