Chatuchak Weekend Market

Chatuchak turns a corner of northern Bangkok into a weekend city: some 15,000 stalls in roughly 27 numbered sections, a claimed 200,000 visitors between Saturday morning and Sunday night, and a fair title as the world's largest weekend market. The inventory is Thailand entire - antiques and opium weights, indigo workwear and vintage denim, orchids and ceramics, incense, rattan and street fashion by young designers - stitched together by food lanes running coconut ice cream, grilled everything and iced tea against the heat. The clock tower serves as the traditional lost-and-found landmark, and the section map rewards a screenshot. Midweek, the plant sections run their own quieter market, and the neighbouring Or Tor Kor hall grades some of the country's finest produce. Arrive by BTS or MRT, early, with cash and a willingness to get lost.

History

The market dates from the 1940s; in 1948 a government policy required every province to have its own market and Bangkok chose Sanam Luang; it moved briefly to Sanam Chai and returned to Sanam Luang in 1958. From 1975 Sanam Luang was to be kept for recreation and ceremonies, and the market was given railway land on the south side of Chatuchak Park, while waste from the Din Daeng rubbish mountain went into landfill for the new park. By 1983 all the traders had moved; the market, first called Phahonyothin Market, took the name Chatuchak in 1987, the year its clock tower was put up for King Bhumibol's 60th birthday (Wikipedia, Chatuchak Weekend Market).

Highlights

• The maze and clock tower - the labyrinth and its meeting point.
• The antiques and craft sections - old Siam by the stall-load.
• The food lanes - coconut ice cream and grills between the aisles.
• The midweek plant market - the quieter green trade on weekdays.

When to go

Saturdays and Sundays from about nine to six; the first hours and late afternoon dodge the worst heat. Cool-season weekends are the comfortable prime - dress light and drink constantly.

Before you go

It is hot, crowded and disorienting by design - getting lost is the format. Haggle gently since margins are thin, keep valuables zipped in the crush, and carry cash for the many stalls that take nothing else.

Nearby

Or Tor Kor market, Chatuchak Park and the BTS line to the old city's sights.

Key facts