Thai Markets: How to Shop Fresh, Floating, Night and Weekend Markets

Every Thai town has a market, and most have several. They are where cooks buy their chillies and fish, where office workers pick up dinner in plastic bags, and where families spend a slow evening eating their way along a row of stalls. Supermarkets and convenience stores are everywhere now, but for fresh food and good cheap cooking the market is still the heart of daily life.

Markets come in several kinds, and each has its own hours, its own crowd and its own way of doing things. Knowing which is which makes it much easier to find the food you are looking for.

The fresh market

The talat sot, fresh market, is the everyday market for produce, meat and fish. It is usually a large covered hall, sometimes with an open area around it, and it starts early. Traders arrive in the dark, restaurant cooks come to buy for the day, and by the middle of the morning the busiest part is over. Many fresh markets stay open into the afternoon, but the best fish and herbs are gone long before then.

Inside, the stalls are roughly grouped. Vegetables and herbs sit in one area, often in neat piles on low tables, with bunches of holy basil, coriander and lemongrass beside heaps of shallots, garlic and chillies. Meat and fish are usually in a separate wet section, where the floor is damp and fish may still be alive in tubs of water. Elsewhere are stalls of dried goods: dried shrimp, dried chillies, palm sugar, rice and noodles. Most fresh markets also have a corner of cooked food, with curries, chilli dips and sweets ready to take home.

This is also where to see the ingredients used in Thai cooking at their freshest and in the greatest variety. Coconut milk is often pressed to order from freshly grated coconut, curry paste is sold by weight from large mounds, and there are leaves, roots and fruits that rarely appear outside the country.

Morning, evening and night

Markets also follow the clock. Thai has names for them by time of day: talat chao, the morning market, and talat yen, the evening market. Morning markets are about raw ingredients and breakfast. Evening markets open in the late afternoon, often in a car park, along a side street or on open ground, and are built around ready-made food for people going home from work: grilled meats, fried chicken, som tam, curries in bags, sticky rice and fruit.

Night markets, talat nat or talat klang khuen, go later and are as much about going out as shopping. Rows of stalls sell clothes, accessories and household goods, with food stalls and seating areas mixed in. In tourist areas they can lean heavily towards souvenirs, while in provincial towns they are mostly for local people and the food is the main event.

Floating markets

The floating market, talat nam, is one of the best known images of Thailand: women in wide hats selling fruit and noodles from small wooden boats. Canals were once the main transport routes in the central plains, and markets on the water were a practical part of life. Most of that trade moved to roads long ago, and the floating markets that survive today exist largely as attractions, though some still feel local.

Damnoen Saduak, in Ratchaburi province, is the most famous and is now aimed mainly at tour groups, with many boats selling souvenirs as well as food. It is busiest in the morning. Amphawa, in Samut Songkhram, is popular with Thai visitors and runs mostly on weekend afternoons and evenings, with grilled seafood sold from boats along the canal. Bangkok has smaller ones too, such as Taling Chan, which is also mainly a weekend market. Opening days and the balance between local trade and tourism change over time, so it is worth checking before making a special trip. Go for the food and the setting rather than expecting a working market from another era.

Weekend and walking street markets

Many towns hold a weekly market on one or two set days, and some close a road to traffic for a walking street market on a Saturday or Sunday evening. Chiang Mai's weekend walking streets are well known. Bangkok's Chatuchak Weekend Market is one of the largest markets in the country, a vast maze of stalls selling clothes, plants, antiques, homeware and food. These markets are good for snacks and sweets eaten on foot, and for crafts and clothes, more than for cooking ingredients.

What to eat and what to buy

Market food is cheap, quick and often excellent. A few things are worth looking for in almost any market:

Grilled skewers of pork, chicken or meatballs, sold with sticky rice and a little bag of dipping sauce.
Curries and stir-fries sold in small plastic bags, ready to pour over rice at home.
Nam prik, chilli dips, with bundles of fresh or blanched vegetables to eat with them.
Khanom, Thai sweets, sold in small boxes and banana leaf parcels, freshly made each morning.
Cut fruit in bags with a dip of chilli, salt and sugar.
Fresh coconuts, juices and iced drinks in bags or cups.

To take home, dried goods travel best: dried chillies, palm sugar, dried herbs and good-quality rice. Fresh produce, meat and many plant products may be restricted by customs rules at home, so check before packing anything fresh.

How to shop

Thai markets are friendly places, and a few simple habits make shopping smoother:

Go early for fresh markets. The atmosphere is at its best and the produce is at its freshest in the first hours of the morning.
Carry small notes and coins. Many traders cannot change large notes early in the day, although QR code payments are now common.
Bring a bag. Traders hand out plastic bags freely, but a reusable bag makes it easier to carry many small purchases.
Point and use numbers. Pointing at what you want and holding up fingers for the quantity works almost everywhere.
Ask the price with tao rai, how much. Many things are sold by the kilo or by the piece, and some fruit and vegetables are sold in ready-made heaps or bags.

Bargaining is a matter of context. Food is usually sold at a fixed, posted or well-known price, and haggling over a bag of curry or a few skewers is not normal. At stalls selling clothes, souvenirs and other goods, especially in tourist areas, gentle bargaining is expected. Keep it light and good-humoured, and stop once a price is agreed.

Hygiene in busy markets is generally sensible. Choose stalls with steady turnover, where cooked food is hot and ingredients are covered, as you would with any street food. Wash fruit you buy whole and peel it yourself if you are cautious.

Most of all, take your time. Walk the whole market before buying, watch what local shoppers choose, and come back on another day. A market that seemed confusing on the first visit quickly becomes one of the most rewarding places to eat in Thailand.