Pattaya Floating Market – A Cultural Canal Journey 

The Experience: Visiting Four Cultural Zones

The Pattaya Floating Market is a huge, stunningly beautiful 100,000 square meter cultural park that has been specially made to provide visitors with an insight into the old-fashioned and water-centric way of life of ancient Thailand. There are four different geographic zones in this market, namely the North, Northeast, Central and South Thailand, each featuring its architecture, arts, dress code and customs.

The whole market is built on a huge network of canals and lagoons. One gets to move around this market through a series of elevated wooden walkways and suspension bridges leading to a series of teakwood stilt houses. For couples and families, it provides a wonderful experience of ancient Thai culture, full of sights, sounds and smells of floating commerce.

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Market Activities, Cultural Shows and Canal Navigation

• Traditional Long-tail Paddle Boat Ride: This is the number one activity in the market. You get an opportunity to be taken round the canals in the market by a local boatman using the traditional long-tail paddle boat. You will enjoy the market from the water level where you can buy from vendors selling various items such as fresh fruits and crafts from their boat.

• Cultural Performances: The market also offers cultural shows that happen every day and include traditional long-drum procession, Thai classical dances performed at the floating water stage and Sea Boxing where the combatants box while balancing on the slippery wood log above the canals.

• Artisanal Street Food Market: The central waterways have cooking boats which make historic dishes for visitors. The recommended foods that you should try are Khanom Krok (crispy coconut rice cakes), mango sticky rice and grilled river prawns flavored with fresh herbs.

Practical Tips for Visitors 

• Early Arrival: To evade the mid-day bus tours as well as the high temperatures, plan to arrive at around 9:30 AM or 11:00 AM. This allows for a relaxed boat journey and walking on the wooden bridges in a cool shaded environment.

• Navigation Tip: Be sure to follow the arrows that have been marked on the wooden floorboards of the walkways. The structure is quite like a labyrinth, and hence, the tracking paths ensure that one visits all four cultural regions.

Get Your Pattaya Floating Market Entry & Boat Tickets 

Grab your entry voucher along with a boat tour of the historical canals via the manual rowing boats. Save time from queueing at the ticket counter with your immediate mobile booking.

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