Full Day Samut Songkram including Maeklong Railway Market

Just an hour outside Bangkok’ metropolitan borders and you’re entering another side of traditional Thailand. The Samut Songkram province has laid low as a major destination for visitors for quite some year but has flourished over the short time, particularly because of the popular Mae Klong Railway Market (called ‘Talad Rom Hoop’ or Closed Umbrella Market). Its proximity to the Gulf of Thailand has made it one of the mainland hubs for the thriving fishing industry. Where there is water, there are canals and much of these mangrove covered waterways offer plenty to see, learn and perhaps even do once you venture with us out and about in this lesser-known yet extremely-interesting province.

After having enjoyed breakfast at your hotel, it is time to meet your guide at the hotel lobby for a long day out. Together with your dedicated driver, you will make your way in southwestern direction and onto the Samut Songkram province. En route, along the main highway, a mix of family-run shops, small factories and the occasional shopping centre provide an impression on how life moves on during the weekend. Depending on traffic, you will reach the famous Mae Klong Railway Market after driving for approximately one hour. Positioned on the railway tracks ahead, one will see the vendors frantically packing away their stalls as the train slowly approaches at around 11:00 hrs, and then once your train has gone through, the vendors setting up their stalls once again on the tracks and reoccupy the iron rails again. The mechanisms included in this daily routine are not only a fabulous sight to admire; it also gives you little time to snap away some images before the train comes to a complete stop.

We board the local train for a short ride before meeting your driver at Bang Krabun and continue drive to Klong Klone for lunch. The afternoon is spent in exploring the mangrove forests off into the rural side of the Samut Songkram province by traditional long tail boat. This is the territory where you will see cockle, mussel and oysters farmers ‘tending to their crop’. Before we make our way to the enchanting Amphawa Floating Market, stopping at a Kateng (bamboo hut) for a panoramic view over the area is something we cannot leave aside on this trip.

Amphawa is a small riverside town located in Samut Songkram province, about 90 minutes south of Bangkok. It is beautiful and atmospheric, full of wooden shop houses, narrow walkways, arched bridges, and has a small floating market that flourishes during the weekend and makes for a fabulous ending of a packed day of being engulfed in the traditional side of Thailand. Spend the late afternoon and early evening enjoying and exploring Amphawa, and watching the boats come in for the floating market in the late afternoon. In the early evening go back to Bangkok by road and expect to arrive back at your hotel at around 20:30 hrs. (depending on traffic)