Pattaya floating market (ตลาดน้ำ)

GPS coordinates: 12°52’03.6″N 100°54’17.4″E (12.867675, 100.904841)

Entrance: 200 THB, free for residents of Thailand (valid for 2019).

Opening hours: 9.00 – 20.00

Pattaya floating market was opened in 2008 as a tourist attraction. That’s why it’s not a traditional river market, but a village on a lake. So make your own choice, if you want to see it or not, as there’s a big difference between traditional local market that began to focus on tourists and a market that was created for tourists.

From the other hand it is the first (and the biggest) man-made floating market in Thailand.

You won’t find here numerous vendors selling their goods from boats and unique goods – everything that is sold here can be found in Pattaya for lower price. The idea of this floating area was to introduce culture & traditions (goods, cuisine, crafts) of all 4 regions of Thailand to tourists. Even houses on the map are painted in 4 different colors according to it. But in fact floating market is a single architectural ensemble – it reduces regional differences even for people that are interested in Thailand as much as me.

In Pattaya floating market one can:

• Have a ride on long tail boat, amphibious vehicle (that looks like boat with wheels) and one strange thing, I’ll show you it in a picture in the end of article.
• Feed fish, baby goats, sheep & elephant (make pictures).
• Walk over suspension bridge and put your own lock on a special bridge of love.
• Have a zip line ride, 100 THB.
• Watch shows (monkey-show, dancing, Thai box etc) and traditional way of life (like silk production, Thai cooking or Thai massage). All these entertainments are held in different parts of village, the first one starts ~10.00 and the last one finishes ~18.00. There are breaks between shows, but not longer than 30 min. Check time-table at the entrance.
• Visit shops, restaurants, toilet and a little sanctuary.

Note: the price of simple ticket includes only entrance fee + hop on/hop off tram service around floating market (feel free to ask driver to stop anywhere you like to). The time of your visit is limited only with opening hours. Other entertainments are paid separately. Also there are VIP excursion packages at cashier desk with price up to 800 THB.

Some history

At first here was a small restaurant serving crab dishes for locals that passed it by via Sukhumvit highway. Due to its location in lowland area, this place had been experiencing floods in rainy season turning it to a little lake. It became the reason for the owner to expand his restaurant and change the name to “Lake View Restaurant”.

The business went well. But this swampy area next to restaurant seamed to be forlorn, no one had any interest in it. And the owner invented his own way: he filled the area with excavators that made the lake even deeper. And in 8 month out of artificial pond appeared a wooden village – Pattaya floating market.

Map

Take Pattaya map with you – just click the star and it will be saved in your Google account. Any locations in this region that I will add later will appear on your map.