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0“All in all, a visit to the Train Market will ensure that you have a relaxing and enjoyable night whether you are enjoying a stroll, shopping for some interesting finds, listening to fabulous music, or enjoying delicious food.”
In an area known primarily for large malls (Seacon and Paradise Park), and the largest park in the city (Suan Luan Rama 9), lies another less well known, but absolutely phenomenal place. Known as Talaat Rot Fai in Thai, the Train Market is a great place to spend a weekend evening whether you are just passing through Each Thursday through Sunday evening, one will find streams of people flocking to our favorite night market in the city, located just behind Seacon Square. There you can find shopping, fabulous street food and endless people watching opportunities.
Similar to the more famous Chatachak Weekend Market, it is only open on the weekend. (Thursday through Sunday). However this is where the similarities end. The Train Market has a totally different ambiance than other tourist markets that I have been to in the city which adds to it’s appeal.
Attracting a more hipster crowd, there are numerous tattoo parlors, hair salons and shops selling a variety of Western and Thai goods (or very good copies of Western name brands). Oft
en times there is live music and there is always great food and interesting things to look at and shop for.
We spent this past Saturday night exploring the market again, prompted my Hubby breaking his sunglasses. So, we went shopping with our minds set on purchasing some sunglasses, and having some tasty smoothies and Thai food. We brought along my good friend Liv who we wanted to spend some sweet time with before she goes back to Canada. Miss C is really going to miss her favorite babysitter!
When to Visit
We generally show up early, around 5 or 5:30, because of bedtime for Little Miss C. But the market really gets hopping much later and starts closing down sometime after midnight. As we were leaving on Saturday (around 7:30 pm), we were definitely moving against the flow of traffic entering the market and tons of people were pouring in. So, if you are looking to have the market a bit more to yourself, I would suggest going earlier. However, if you are a person who thrives in crowds, and more of a party environment, I would suggest you go a bit later in the evening.
It does seem that all of the stalls sell the same things after awhile, but if you are a shopper like me, you will enjoy perusing and checking out things that are often a bit different than other markets in Thailand. It is a great place to pick up a pair of used western tennis shoes or Converse, some cheap knock off sunglasses or an interesting T-shirt or two.
Joel was able to replace his sunglasses, and I also picked up a pair! Miss C enjoyed checking out all the shops selling loads of stuffed animals and dancing to the music. She also adored a passion-fruit and mango smoothie that we shared with her.
Speaking of food, the train market has any type of thai street food you could imagine as well as a few food trucks and stand alone restaurants selling anything from kabobs to burgers to pizza. We took the budget friendly Thai food option. Liv and I had a stir fried veggie with rice and Joel had a similar dish but added pork to his.
All in all, a visit to the Train Market will ensure that you have a relaxing and enjoyable night. Whether you are enjoying a stroll, shopping for some interesting finds, listening to fabulous music, or enjoying delicious food.
How to get there
Taxi is the simplest way to get there, and drivers anywhere in the city will have heard of Seacon Square (the market is located just behind Seacon). However, in Bangkok’s traffic, it may be faster to take the BTS to OnNut or Udomsuk station and then take a taxi from there. If budget is more of a concern than time or comfort, then you can take a Songtaew from BTS OnNut – generally “Seacon” is written in Thai only, so if you cannot read Thai, just ask the driver or a fellow passenger if it goes to Seacon. Seacon is also served by buses number 145 and 207.
