Bangkok flower market (Pak Klong Talat)
With flowers so cheap it was unbelievable, we bought bagfuls of orchids for our hotel room when we visited the famous Bangkok flower market.
Whenever we visit foreign lands we love to see the local flower markets, and Bangkok was no exception. Bangkok Flower Market (Pak Klong Talat) is the biggest wholesale and retail fresh flower market in Bangkok.
The flower market is open 24 hours, 7 days a week, but is busiest between 12 midnight and dawn when it’s a bit cooler, and all the wholesalers bring in their truckloads of colourful flowers from all around the country. It’s also when the retail traders, hotels and restaurants come to buy their supplies for their shops or premises. So, you can imagine, it’s a bustling busy place at that time of early morning with flowers being traded in bulk amounts. A bit like the wholesale fish markets in Tokyo, visitors at this time are encouraged to stay out of the way and just observe what is going on.
After dawn however, the market is very quiet and vendors are much more amenable to visitors poking around and perhaps buying flowers in smaller amounts.
We got there around 9.00am and there were very few other visitors wandering around. The Bangkok flower market is located on Chak Phet Road in the old city part of Bangkok just south of Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha) so we combined it with visits to see the Golden Buddha at Wat Traimit, the reclining Buddha and grounds of Wat Pho and (finally) The Grand Palace (after our scam-diverted first attempt to see it a couple of days earlier).
Inside the market, stalls sell a huge variety of flowers, mostly bagged into bulk packs (e.g. 50 or 100 blooms). Orchids, roses, lilies, marigolds, chrysanthemums…it’s a vivid array of colour.
We couldn’t resist buying some orchids to take back to our hotel-apartment where we used one of the trays from the fridge as a vase. Two bulk bags of sprays of orchids for a total of 40 baht (about $1.50 AUD)…when a single orchid spray at a florist in Melbourne would generally cost a minimum of $5!
It was definitely a flower-lover’s heaven and a very photogenic addition to any Bangkok itinerary.
The details
Pak Klong Talat (Flower Market)In Thai: ปากคลองตลาด (flower market – show this to a taxi driver).
Opening hours: 24 hours, 7 days a week, but busier at night
Address: Chak Phet Road
How to get there: Take a taxi or Chao Phraya Express boat from Saphan Taksin ferry stop (take Skytrain to Saphan Taksin) to Rajinee (N7) stop.
Wear: footwear with good grip, as the floor is awash with water
Want to refer to this post later? Pin the image below to Pinterest!
