Exploring Thonburi by boat
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The most popular way to explore the sights of Thonburi is by boat, taking in Wat Arun and the Royal Barge Museum, the continuing along Thonburi’s network of small canals. The easiest option is to take a fixed-price trip from one of the piers on the Bangkok side of the Chao Phraya, and most of these companies also feature visits to Thonburi’s two main floating markets, both of which are heavily touristic and rather contrived. Wat Sai floating market happens daily from Monday to Friday but is very commercialized, and half of it is land-based anyway, while Taling Chan floating market is also fairly manufactured but more fun, though it only operates on Saturdays and Sundays. Taling Chan market is held on Khlong Chak Phra and is easily woven in to a private boat tour as described below; it’s held in front of Taling Chan District Office, a couple of kilometers west of Thonburi train station, and can also be reached by taking bus #79 from Democracy Monument/Ratchadamnoen Klang to Khet Taling Chan.
Arguably more photogenic, and certainly a lot more genuine, are the individual floating vendors who continue to paddle from house to house touting anything from hot food to plastic buckets: you’ve a good chance of seeing some of them in action on almost any private boat tour on any day of the week, particularly in the morning.
Fixed-priced trips with The Boat Tour Centre at Tha Si Phraya cost B800 per boat or one whistle-shop hour, B1500for two hours and go either Wat Sai (for which you need to be at the pier by about 8am; Mon-Fri only), or around Thonburi canals, taking in Wat Arun and the Royal Barge Museum (can depart any time). The Mitchaopaya Travel Service, operating out of The Chang, offers trips of varying durations that all take in the Royal Barge Museum and Wat Arun: in one hour (B800), you’ll go out along Khlong Bangkok Noi and back via Khlong Mon, in ninety minutes (B1000) you’ll come back along Khlong Bangkok Yai, while in two hours (B1200) you’ll have time to go right down the back canals on the Thonburi side and visit an orchid farm. From Monday to Friday, all of these Mitchaopaya trips stop off at the tiny so-called “Thonburi Floating Market”, which even their won staff can’t recommend, but on Saturdays and Sundays they take livelier Taling Chan floating market.
It is also possible to organize you won longtail boat trip around Thonburi from other piers, including Tha Oriental (at the Oriental Hotel), the pier at the River City Shopping Centre, Tha Wang Nah, next to the Bangkok Information Centre on Thanon Phra Athit in Banglamphu, and the Tha Phra Athit pier that’s across the Ricky’s Coffee Shop on Thanon Phra Athit (200m south of the N13 Tha Phra Athit express boat pier), but bear the above prices in mind and be prepared for some heavy bargaining. An enjoyable 90-minute loop from Tha Phra Athit, via Khlong Bangkok Noi, Khlong Chak Phra and Khlong Bangkok Yai, should cost B700 for a private two-person trip and will take in a variety of different khlongside residences, temples and itinerant floating vendors, but won’t include any stops.
