THAIest

Shopping in Thailand is an experience to delight various types of shoppers. There are many shopping options for your choice - from huge, modern, air-conditioned malls, to the famous buzzing street markets and the largest weekend market in the world - Chatuchak Weekend Market. There is a large variety of things to buy - everything from cheap clothing, souvenirs and antiquities to designer jewellery.

Street Markets

Thailand boasts a variety of exciting markets that can bring you an unforgettable experience, as well as a fantastic opportunity for some discount shopping. Few are the things you won’t be able to find while shopping in Thailand's street markets - they feature an amazing selection of local street food, unique hand-crafted items and, of course, a wide array of fake designer goods.

Sunday market Chiang Mai

Enjoy local Thailand shopping experience while visiting Best Night Markets in Bangkok.

If you are planning to visit Hua Hin, for unique shopping experience consider going to artistic CICADA Market.

Shopping Malls

If you love shopping in style, Thailand and in particular its capital Bangkok can be the right place for you. There is a huge selection of shopping malls where you can find finest fashion stores, global brands, book shops, speciality stores, accessories stands and all kinds of luxury designer lifestyle goods. Visiting the best Thailand shopping malls provide an entirely different shopping experience than traditional Thai street markets.

Shopping mall in Bangkok

Shopping always comes with eating in Thailand and the best place to eat cheap while shopping at the shopping mall in Bangkok is Pier 21 Food Court at Terminal 21.

Floating Markets

Floating markets are irresistible not only to tourists but Thais too. Floating markets attract crowds on weekends and the main attraction there is food. Most visitors who come to Thailand want to visit a floating market, making some markets so popular that they have simply turned into a photo opportunity, like the famous Damoen Saduak.

If you wish your Thailand shopping experience to be more local, you can find less crowded floating markets not attracting as many tourists. Even if it can be just a few boats parked next to a pier and it might look more of a riverside market, you will be one of a few tourists there and will be shopping just like Thais do.

While visiting Bangkok, consider spending some time at one of Bangkok floating markets for real local Thailand shopping experience.

Bang Nam Pheung Floating Market

Local Fairs & Festivals

Fairs and festivals are numerous around Thailand throughout the year. Usually they have colourful processions, exhibitions and cultural performances. Local fairs and festivals attract large crowds of local people and where is a crowd of Thais, there will always be various local food and shopping opportunities around. The more off the beaten path you go, the more local Thailand shopping experience awaits you.

Shopping at Dok Fai Ban Festival in Loei

It's not unusual to see a local festival taking place at the premises of Thai temple. The temple usually serves not only as a place of worship but as a centre of community for Thais. Temple festivals feature various attractions, food and shopping and are very popular between Thais. If you have an opportunity to visit festival like this, jump on that chance and you will experience local festivity even in such a beaten up place as Pattaya is.

Temple Festival in Pattaya

Fresh Markets

Thailand shopping experience will never be full without visiting Thailand's fresh markets as these markets play an important part in the lives of local Thai people. They offer an array of food items at very low prices - you can find an exhaustive selection of meat and seafood, plus fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices. The fresh markets in Thailand come in all shapes, sizes and specialties.

For good quality fruits and other food products in Bangkok visit Or Tor Kor Market which is located nearby Chatuchak Weekend Market. Or Tor Kor Market was ranked as one of the world’s best fresh markets by CNN.

Bang Kapi fresh market

Check what amazing Thai fruits you should try while shopping in Thailand!

Tips

Different Thai shopping experience awaits you in the markets of various types. Top 10 best places for local shopping in Bangkok are listed here: Best Markets in Bangkok.

There are many options available when looking for something to bring back from Thailand to your friends and family. Find gift ideas in the list of Best Souvenirs from Thailand.

Find tips & inspiration
Follow us
Join our community
Join the THAIest community of travelers by becoming a member of our Facebook group
We use cookies

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential for the operation of the site, while others help us to improve this site and the user experience (tracking cookies). You can decide for yourself whether you want to allow cookies or not. Please note that if you reject them, you may not be able to use all the functionalities of the site.