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Floating markets are one of the most interesting attractions in Bangkok. Unfortunatelly they are quite far from the city centre what makes them more difficult and expensive to access. The most visited one is in Damnoen Saduak. Prices of organized tour bus from Bangkok range from 500 baht on (excluding the boat around the market.)
This article shows how to get there on budget and how to avoid crowds!

 

Public bus to Damnoen Saudak departs from Southern Bus Terminal. You can get there by city busses (which are the cheapest transport.) There are plenty of busses that go there from near Sanam Luang Park. On the bus stop pointed out on picture below right, you can take at least three busses - 79, 127, 511. City busses start to run at 5am. It takes around half an hour to get to Southern Bus Terminal ("Sai Tai Mai" in thai) and cost 9 baht.

 

At Southern Bus Terminal the bus will drop you off in front of SC Plaza (blue dotted line.) There you have to change to bus no. 78. 
The bus is parked on a station right of the SC Plaza looking from the road. Bus then go around gas station and stops again near the place where city bus droped you off (green dotted line), pick up the passangers and continue towards Damnoen Saduak (red dotted line.) I payed 64 baht one way.

 

First bus leaves at 6am. The best time to visit floating market is between 8 and 10am. And if you want to avoid crowds it's better to be there as soon as possible. Bus takes almost 2h to arrive to Damnoek Saduak, so early waking up and boarding the first one is a good idea.
Bus drops you off on unpaved parking lot near pier where you can hire a boat for a ride in canals.

 

As mentioned you can get from parking lot to floating market either by boat (green dotted line) or on foot (orange dotted line.)

If you choose a boat, the official price is 2000 baht per hour. Anyway when I stepped out of a bus a woman approched me and offered a ride for 1000 baht straight away. I denied it because I planned to go on foot anyway and she dropped the price to 800 very quickly. 800 baht looks to be official price for Thai people.
But unless you really don't want to walk I recomend going there on foot. You can still hire a much cheaper boat there. Besides that, there are also stalls on the banks that you can't access from boat.

 

On foot just head from parking lot back to the road and turn to the left. You have about one kilometer of walking and you'll get to the market place. The most scenic canal is marked with yellow line on the previous map. There is a small bridge with viewing platforms, you just can't miss it :)
At the canal you can hire a boat around the market too. Here you can negotiate down to 200 or even less baht per person for one hour.

 

I used the public transport only one way, but the return trip should be the same. From the bus station where bus no. 78 dropped you off, you can catch another (with the same number) back to Southern Bus Terminal.

 


Telling short:
1. Take a city bus to Bangkok Southern Bus Terminal - Sai Tai Mai (from Sanam Luang - 79, 127, 511; 30 min; 9 baht; from 5am on)
2. Change to bus/coach no. 78; 2h; 64 baht; from 6am on)
3. From bus station head back to the road and turn left. Follow the road for cca. 1km.
4. You'll reach a bridge with a nice viewpoint. Welcome to Damnoen Saduak floating market.

 

Last update on: 11/13/2016



IMPORTANT:
If you found this article useful and managed to get to Damnoen Saduak by it, please let me know using contact form. That way other travelers can see the information is still valid. If anything changed, like bus routes or similar also let me know, so I can update article. Thanks for understanding and your help!

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