Train and Floating Markets Day Trip from Bangkok: Worth It?

This little market-hopping excursion is one of the best day trips from Bangkok. It’s by no means a locals-only secret, but still entirely worth it for the experience. You’ll hop on a bus, train, and boat to visit two unique Thai markets just a couple of hours from the capital city. The Maeklong Railway Market and Damnoen Saduak Floating Market tour is a full-day excursion that’s easy to book last-minute.

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The best way to see the Maeklong Railway Market and Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

You can visit the Maeklong Railway Market and Damnoen Saduak Floating Market as part of a tour, and it’s one of the easiest day trips from Bangkok. We’re not usually tour people unless it’s necessary. But this is one of the cases where it is.

The markets are in a completely diffeent province and there’s no direct public transport route. So to DIY a trip to either or both markets, you’d need to rent a car and be ready to navigate Bangkok’s crowded, lawless roads. We found a tour for 800 THB per person on Get Your Guide and it turned out to be a great decision.

The trip is divided into two main parts: the Maeklong Railway Market in the morning, and the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market in the afternoon. This is the exact tour we did:

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Maeklong Railway Market

The Maeklong Railway Market is where vendors selling fruit, fish, clothing, and trinkets operate like, inches from the active train tracks. The train runs through eight times per day so they all have to pull their awnings and shop displays back to make way.

As part of the tour, you get to see it from both perspectives — on board and track-side. You board the train and ride it about an hour through the countryside and straight into the market.

Then you have a bit of time to wander down the tracks and explore the shops before everything gets put on hold. Find a spot to tuck in and watch the shopkeepers get everything out of the way as the train passes on its way out. Before you know it, the market is back in full swing as if nothing had changed.

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

Then you’re off to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. This was my favourite of the two. The market itself isn’t really floating, but the vendors are. Just as with the Maeklong Railway stop, you get to experience the floating market from two different perspectives. You’ll first hop in a longtail boat down local canals past houses and shops on stilts. Keep your eyes peeled for monitor lizards! I swear I saw the biggest one I’ve ever seen in my life. Like basically Komodo dragon-sized.

(Grim side note: Read my article that investigates whether actual Komodo dragons are drugged in Indonesia.)

The boat will drop you off at the main market area where vendors work from their boats, docked up along the side selling everything from fruit and mango sticky rice to boat noodles. It should come as no surprise that I recommend you have the boat noodles for lunch. Not just any noodles sold from a boat can be called boat noodles… “kuay tiaw ruea” has historical context.

Just to give you a heads up, the broth does include pig blood. If that sounds a little too exotic or rich for your taste, you don’t have to miss out on the full experience, You can still order other noodle soups from the boat vendors. But you should try everything once, and I promise they’re delicious.

Here’s a little video of our boat noodles being made at Damnoen Saduak Floating Market.

The loose day trip itinerary

I say loose itinerary because there are a few tours that do slightly different variations. But everything on our day tour ran very much to schedule and was well-organized. Here’s what to expect on a Maeklong Railway Market and Damnoen Saduak Floating Market day trip.

Meet at a pick-up point somewhere in Bangkok. For us it was Samyan Mitrtown Mall. You can also arrange a hotel pick-up. However, it basically doubles the cost and you can easily get a Grab, taxi, tuk tuk, or take the metro for much less.
Board the tour bus. This was the moment we thought we’d made a huge mistake, we didn’t realize it was that kind of tour. It’s about 30 seats and the guide uses a microphone to communicate, but I swear it wasn’t so bad. Pretty comfy, actually. The bus ride is about 1.5 hours.
Drive to the train station. You’ll board the train here to get to the terminal station where Maeklong Railway Market is.
Arrive at Maeklong Railway Market. Explore the stalls, jump out of the way as the train goes past, maybe pick up a lil souvenir or sip a fruit smoothie. You have about an hour here total.
Visit Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. The drive is about 30 minutes before you reach what I’m going to call a small pier. The boat driver will take you down the canals and to the main market area where you have another hour or so to get lunch and explore.
Drive back to Bangkok.

Our tour started at 8:30 AM and ended at 4:30 PM with pick-up and drop-off at the same meeting point: Samyan Mitrtown Mall. I suggest embracing the fact that you’re a tourist for the day and not an intrepid traveller getting off the beaten path.

Benefits of doing a Maeklong Railway Market and Damnoen Saduak Floating Market tour

If you’re on the fence about the touristy nature of this, I get you. But there were some real benefits to visiting this way (beyond the fact that it’s kind of your only option).

The tour is great value. Consider the transport costs alone and you’d be hard-pressed to DIY the trip for any less. Like, the long tail boat is 2,000 THB per boat for 1 hour and fits max 6 people. So 800 THB for a full day tour is so reasonable in my eyes.
We had a great guide. (Kinda the point of Get Your Guide, no?) She was lively, offered tons of useful information, and was always happy to answer questions. She also took photos of us throughout the day.
It’s a multi-modes of transport day: bus, train, boat (plus tuktuk, taxi, or scooter if you drive to the meeting point).
You get to group activities together. There are other variations of this tour that involve visiting the cool dragon tower you’ve definitely seen on Instagram, or going to the Amphawa, another floating market near Bangkok, Thailand, instead. These activities are just far enough outside the city that it’s difficult to get there on your own, so doing a day tour from Bangkok is the easiest way to see it all.

Note you can also book a private tour or pay a higher price for a small group tour if you reallllly can’t stand the idea of a coach bus.

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A few tips for the day

Keep these tips in mind when exploring Maeklong Railway and Damnoen Saduak Floating Markets:

Do not interact with the people holding snakes or slow lorises. These tourist traps are straight up animal abuse, and the only reason they exist is because tourists keep paying for the photos. Slow lorises look cute, but the poor things have their teeth ripped out so they’re no longer dangerous. Just ignore the handlers — they will ask you for money to touch the animals or take a picture, and it’s not worth it.
Bring sunscreen and a rain coat. It’s Thailand, so the sun is hot but it can also rain at any moment — we had both. You have the same tour bus all day so you can leave your stuff on board if you don’t want to carry it around. The tour would be fun rain or shine — we actually had heavy rain for the floating market part of the day and it was honestly a vibe. (But we were happy we bought ponchos!)
Pack headphones if you’re interested in the free audio guide. Tbh I just looked at it briefly, but it didn’t seem that good to me. It’s read out by an AI voice and there isn’t really any time to listen because the guide was talking on the bus. However, the audio guide is offered in several languages so it could be useful in this way. It’s a webpage you can access from your phone, so you can use your own headphones.
You don’t have to buy anything. We only spent an extra 300 THB each on several coffees, snacks, and lunch (boat noodles and mango sticky rice) throughout the day. Our guide was very helpful in explaining that there’s no pressure to buy anything even if the boat driver docks you up next to his friend’s shop at the floating market lol.

Most of the souvenirs at both markets are pretty tacky, but you do you.

FAQs about the Maeklong Railway and Damnoen Saduak markets

Here are a few other questions you might have about this train and floating market day trip from Bangkok.

Are there any hidden costs?

Not on the tour we did! The price felt a little low and I was half-expecting there to be something, but no. Other than lunch, everything is included. We spent the same on our boat noodles at the floating market (60 THB each) as we would have if we’d stayed in Bangkok and eaten in Chinatown.

We gave our guide a 100 THB tip, but she never asked and lots of people got off the bus without tipping. I also don’t think you can really count a tip as a “hidden cost” unless the guide is super pushy about it or something. She never brought it up.

How far is Maeklong Railway Market from Bangkok?

The Maeklong Railway Market is about 75 kms (46 miles) from Bangkok. And the Danoen Saduak Floating Market is about 85 kms (52 miles) back to the city.

The drive from the meeting point in Bangkok to the Maeklong Railway Market was about 1.5 hours. It can take longer if there’s heavy traffic — so omg please don’t book a flight on the same day — but we went on a Sunday and it was smooth sailing.

What are some other good day trips from Bangkok?

Here are some great alternatives if this double-market experience isn’t calling to you:

Ancient City and Erawan Museum: This one is an easy DIY trip you can do with the metro, or join a tour for simplicity.
Amphawa Floating Market: ONLY open on weekends, this is another beautiful floating market about 2 hours from Bangkok. It’s possible to hop in a mini van and go on your own — I did it years ago — but it’s more complicated to say the least. Now there are lots of tours that will bring you there and back as well.
Ayutthaya: This is a stunning area with ancient temples and its own nearby floating market, so you get a bit more variety than with the two back-to-back market visits.
Khao Yai National Park: I’d argue this is better as an over-nighter. But if you only have one day, it’s possible to visit the national park as a day trip from Bangkok.

How to get to the Maeklong Railway and Damnoen Saduak Floating Market without a tour

It’s almost not worth knowing how to get to the Maeklong Railway Market without a tour because it’s not something I recommend. But if you’re stubborn, there are two other options:

Rent a car. You can find car rentals in Bangkok for under 1,000 THB per day. But have you seen the city’s traffic? Once you’re in the countryside it’s not so bad, but getting to/from the rental place just seems like a nightmare to me.
Book a 12Go. I like 12Go, but in this context it’s basically just a tour without the helpful guide.
Hire a private driver. Check out Grab, look at services like Go Thai Transport, or put out a call on a Bangkok Facebook group (you will be bombarded with messages though).

It’s the same for how to get to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. It’s not really possible, or at least not practical, as a DIY trip. Just embrace the laid back, hands-off nature of a day trip and enjoy visiting these unique markets near Bangkok!

Naomi Lai

Naomi is a Canadian travel editor and writer with 13 years of international travel across Southeast Asia, Europe, South America, New Zealand, and beyond. She covers everything from budget backpacking to luxury travel — always from personal experience.

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