Maeklong Railway Market

Train times, from the State Railway timetable

06:20 · leaves

The first train out of Mae Klong station, back through the market toward Ban Laem.

08:30 · arrives

The 07:30 from Ban Laem. Catching it from Bangkok means leaving Wongwian Yai around 05:30.

09:00 · leaves

Mae Klong to Ban Laem.

11:10 · arrives

The 10:10 from Ban Laem, the practical train if you come by rail from Bangkok.

11:30 · leaves

Twenty minutes after the 11:10 arrives, so you can watch the market fold twice in one stop.

14:30 · arrives

The 13:30 from Ban Laem.

15:30 · leaves

The last train out of Mae Klong.

17:40 · arrives

The 16:40 from Ban Laem, the last pass of the day.

Maeklong Railway Market sits on a working railway line in Samut Songkhram, about 80 km southwest of Bangkok, and its whole appeal is the moment a train arrives. Stallholders sell fish, fruit and vegetables from trays laid across the tracks under awnings that reach almost to the rails. When the horn sounds they pull the awnings back and slide the trays a few centimeters, the train passes at walking pace with its footplate inches from the produce, and everything is back in place before it has cleared the platform. Locals call it Talat Rom Hup, the umbrella-folding market.

The train is the point, so plan around it. On the State Railway timetable, trains from Ban Laem roll in through the market at about 08:30, 11:10, 14:30 and 17:40, and trains leave Mae Klong station back through it at 06:20, 09:00, 11:30 and 15:30, eight passes a day. Timetables do change, so I'd still check the board at the station end of the market when you arrive. The 11:10 arrival and the 11:30 departure come 20 minutes apart, which is the easiest way to see it twice, and I'd stand a little back from the rails on the station side, where the awning trick is easiest to watch.

Doing it yourself takes two trains and a ferry. Trains to Mahachai leave Wongwian Yai station in Thonburi roughly hourly from 05:30 to 20:10, take about an hour and cost ฿10, or ฿25 in the few air-con cars. At Mahachai the ferry across the Tha Chin river costs ฿3, and Ban Laem station is about a 10-minute walk from the far side. The Mae Klong train from there takes another hour for ฿10. The 10:10 from Ban Laem is the practical one, because catching the 07:30 means leaving Wongwian Yai around 05:30. Minivans from Sai Tai Mai, Bangkok's Southern Bus Terminal, take about 90 minutes instead.

Entry is free, since it's a public street market, and it trades from early morning into the afternoon (07:00 to 16:00 on Google, 06:00 to 18:00 on the Tourism Authority of Thailand's listing). Between trains it's a good wet market, with cheap fruit, dried seafood and a few noodle stalls, and it takes twenty minutes to walk end to end.

Most visitors come on a half-day tour that pairs it with Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, about 30 minutes away by road, which works on any day because Damnoen Saduak is a morning market. On a Friday, Saturday or Sunday I'd pair it with Amphawa Floating Market instead, 7 to 10 km away by blue songthaew, which opens at 14:00 and runs into the evening. Go early whichever you choose, because the crowd on the tracks at the popular passes can be thicker than the produce.