Shopping in Thailand

Bangkok’s malls cluster around Siam and Chit Lom BTS, linked by the elevated Skywalk. Siam Paragon is the flagship, with luxury brands, the Gourmet Market food hall in the basement and the Sea Life aquarium below that; Siam Center and Siam Discovery next door carry Thai designers and streetwear. CentralWorld, one of the largest malls in Asia, has 500 shops and the plaza that hosts the New Year countdown; Central Embassy beyond it is the luxury mall, with the Eathai food court in its basement a good lunch stop. MBK Center at National Stadium BTS is the opposite end of the scale: 2,000 small shops over eight floors selling phones, cases, clothes and souvenirs, where prices are negotiable and fakes are common. Terminal 21 at Asok BTS has a themed floor for each world city and the cheapest mall food court in Bangkok (Pier 21, 40 to 80 baht a dish). EmQuartier, Emporium and Emsphere at Phrom Phong BTS are the upscale Sukhumvit trio.

Chatuchak Weekend Market (JJ Market) is the one market to see, with around 15,000 stalls in 27 numbered sections on 14 hectares. It runs Saturday and Sunday from about 9am to 6pm, with a Friday-night wholesale session from 6pm; take the MRT to Kamphaeng Phet (exit 2 lands you inside) or the BTS to Mo Chit. Sections 2 to 6 are vintage clothes, streetwear and sneakers; 7 is art; 8 to 26 are homeware, ceramics, furniture and handicrafts; the pet section is best skipped. Go early, carry cash in small notes, bargain gently (10 to 30% is normal), and when the heat gets to you cross to the air-conditioned JJ Mall or to Or Tor Kor market for lunch. The Chatuchak Plant Market on the same site runs Wednesday and Thursday.

Pratunam is Bangkok’s fashion wholesale district, a 15-minute walk from Chit Lom BTS or two stops on the Khlong Saen Saep canal boat. Platinum Fashion Mall has 2,000-plus stalls over six floors selling clothes, bags and accessories at wholesale prices if you buy three or more pieces (T-shirts 100 to 200 baht, dresses 200 to 400), and the street market on Ratchaprarop Road and the lanes behind it runs from early morning until evening. Indra Square and the Baiyoke towers nearby sell the same goods; Pantip Plaza, once the IT mall, has faded.

Floating markets are more theatre than shopping, but three are worth the trip. Damnoen Saduak, 100 km south-west of Bangkok in Ratchaburi province, is the famous one: paddle boats selling fruit, noodles and souvenirs along canals from 7am to about noon, best before the tour buses arrive at 9. Amphawa, 15 km further on, runs Friday to Sunday from around 3pm to 9pm, feels far more Thai, and adds firefly boat tours after dark. Taling Chan and Khlong Lat Mayom, in Bangkok’s Thonburi suburbs, are weekend canal food markets 30 minutes from the centre by Grab.

Chiang Mai is Thailand’s craft capital and its best city for buying handmade things at the source. The Night Bazaar on Chang Khlan Road runs every night from about 6pm to midnight, with hundreds of stalls of textiles, carvings, lanterns, T-shirts and copies, plus the Kalare, Anusarn and Ploen Ruedee food courts; quality varies and bargaining is essential. The Sunday Walking Street along Ratchadamnoen Road inside the Old City, from Tha Phae Gate westwards, is the better market: 4pm to around 10pm, closed to traffic, with artisans selling their own hill-tribe textiles, ceramics, soap carvings and paintings, and food courts in the grounds of the temples along the route. The Saturday Walking Street on Wualai Road in the silversmiths’ quarter of Wualai is smaller and heavier on silver and northern food.

• Thai silk: Jim Thompson is the benchmark, with the flagship on Surawong Road in Bangkok and shops in every big mall; scarves 1,000 to 2,500 baht, ties from 1,500, by the metre from 1,200. Isan weaving villages such as Chonnabot near Khon Kaen and the markets of Surin sell hand-woven mudmee silk for a third of that, and the royal “Peacock” mark guarantees Thai origin.
• Benjarong: hand-painted five-colour enamelled porcelain, made around Samut Sakhon and sold at Chatuchak, in Chinatown and in mall craft shops. A single cup or lidded bowl costs 300 to 1,500 baht, a full tea set several thousand.
• Celadon and ceramics: the jade-green crackle-glazed stoneware from Chiang Mai’s San Kamphaeng factories (mugs 150 to 400 baht), the hand-painted chicken bowls of Lampang, and Sangkhalok ware in the tradition preserved at the Si Satchanalai kilns.
• Silver: Wualai in Chiang Mai for hammered bowls and the Karen “hill-tribe silver” sold at 95 to 99% purity; check for a 925 or higher stamp and weigh it, since price follows weight.
• Textiles and homeware: Hmong and Karen embroidered bags and jackets (300 to 1,500 baht), hand-woven cotton, triangular axe pillows (mon khwan, 300 to 800), carved teak and mango wood, and lacquerware from the north.
• Tailoring: Bangkok’s Sukhumvit and Silom and Phuket’s Patong are full of tailors who turn out a suit in 48 to 72 hours. Expect 8,000 to 20,000 baht for a decent wool-blend suit with two fittings; ignore the “two suits, five shirts for $199” touts, insist on seeing the cloth bolts and allow three days.
• Spa and pharmacy: Harnn, Thann, Panpuri and Erb for oils and soaps (300 to 1,500 baht); Tiger Balm-style Golden Cup balm, Siang Pure oil and Poy-Sian or Hong Thai herbal inhalers (20 to 60 baht) from any pharmacy or 7-Eleven. Pharmacies also sell antibiotics, sleeping tablets and ointments over the counter cheaply; check your home country’s import rules before carrying them back.
• 7-Eleven and supermarket food: Lay’s nori seaweed crisps, Koh-Kae coated peanuts, Tao Kae Noi seaweed, Bento squid snacks, Mama tom yum noodles, dried mango, ChaTraMue Thai tea mix, Doi Chaang and Doi Tung coffee and Doi Kham royal-project jams. Big C and Tops stock the full range; a 500-baht haul fills a suitcase corner.

Thailand charges 7% VAT and refunds most of it to tourists who leave by air. The rules: spend at least 2,000 baht (VAT included) in one shop displaying the “VAT Refund for Tourists” sign on one day, ask for the P.P.10 refund form and the original tax invoice at the time of purchase (you need your passport), and reach a total of at least 5,000 baht across all your P.P.10 forms for the trip. Goods must leave Thailand within 60 days of purchase and must not have been used or consumed. At the airport, show the goods and forms at the Customs VAT inspection desk in the departure hall before you check in, then after passport control present the stamped forms at the VAT Refund office (Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Hat Yai, Krabi, Samui and U-Tapao all have one). Refunds up to 30,000 baht are paid in cash in baht on the spot, minus a 100-baht fee; larger amounts go to a card or bank draft with extra charges. High-value items such as jewellery, gold, watches, glasses, pens, smartphones and laptops must be hand-carried and shown again at the refund office. Services, hotels, restaurant meals and anything you used in Thailand do not qualify, and airline crew and anyone who stayed more than 180 days in the tax year are excluded. Thresholds and procedures change, so check the Revenue Department’s VAT Refund for Tourists pages before you go.

Bargain at markets, street stalls, tailors and tourist shops; never in malls, supermarkets, 7-Elevens, pharmacies or restaurants, where prices are fixed. The convention is a smile, a counter-offer of 50 to 70% of the asking price, and settling 10 to 30% below it; at Chatuchak and the walking streets the first price is usually only a little inflated, while at Patpong, the Night Bazaar and MBK it can be triple. Buying several items from one stall gets the wholesale price. Walk away politely if the gap will not close; nobody takes offence.

Hours follow the heat: fresh markets from 5am to late morning, malls 10am to 10pm, night markets roughly 5pm to midnight, Chatuchak weekends only, 7-Elevens 24 hours. Chinese New Year closes Chinatown’s wholesale shops for several days.

Markets are cash, and the smaller the stall the smaller the notes you should carry. Malls, department stores and chain shops take Visa and Mastercard (AmEx less reliably) with no surcharge, but small shops often add 3% for cards. PromptPay QR payments need a Thai bank account, though some Alipay+ and WeChat Pay wallets work at QR tills. Every Thai ATM charges foreign cards a 220-baht fee, so withdraw 20,000 baht at a time, and change cash at SuperRich booths around Siam and Pratunam rather than at the airport.