Chatuchak: a guide to the weekend market and the parks
Chatuchak is the north Bangkok district that gives its name to the city's largest market. On Saturdays and Sundays the Chatuchak Weekend Market, known to locals as JJ, draws tens of thousands of people to a grid of covered alleys selling clothes, ceramics, plants, pets, antiques, art and food. Next to it are three linked parks, a premium food market and the main northern transport hub. It takes a full morning at least, and it is best started early.
The weekend market
Chatuchak Weekend Market is laid out in numbered sections around a central clock tower, with a ring road and narrow sois between the stalls. The map boards at the entrances help, but getting lost is part of it. Broad rules: clothing and streetwear cluster near the Kamphaeng Phet MRT entrance and along the main sois; ceramics, homeware and handicrafts in the sections behind the clock tower; antiques and furniture at the far end; plants and gardening along the outer edge; pets in their own section. Art stalls and small galleries are gathered in one part and are a good source of cheap original prints.
It is hot and crowded by late morning. Arrive when it opens, drink water, take breaks at the fruit-shake stands, and go on Saturday if you want the full range of stalls. Haggling is normal for anything without a price tag. The weekend markets post compares it with the smaller ones.
Plants midweek
On Wednesdays and Thursdays the market's outer lanes become a wholesale plant market, with orchids, succulents, pots and garden tools and almost none of the weekend crowd. It is worth a visit even without a garden to take things home to, and the atmosphere is calm.
Or Tor Kor Market
[Or Tor Kor](/?q=Or Tor Kor), across Kamphaeng Phet Road from the weekend market, is a covered fresh market run by the agricultural cooperative, with top-grade fruit, seafood, curry pastes and prepared food laid out neatly and priced accordingly. The cooked-food section at the back is one of the best places in the city for a plate of curry and rice. It trades every day, which makes it the better choice if you are not in Bangkok at a weekend.
The parks
[Chatuchak Park](/?q=Chatuchak Park) runs along the market's western side, a long strip of lawns and a lake used by joggers in the morning. Beyond it, Queen Sirikit Park has botanical gardens and the Children's Discovery Museum, a free hands-on museum that is a good break for families; see Bangkok with kids. The largest of the three, Wachirabenchathat Park, known as Rot Fai or Railway Park, has a cycling loop with bike hire, a butterfly garden and plenty of shade. Together they form one of the biggest green areas in the city and the parks and running routes post covers the loops.
Around the market
JJ Mall and the indoor Mixt Chatuchak building on the market's edge are air-conditioned alternatives with similar stalls, useful when the heat gets too much. The old JJ Green night market that once ran beside Chatuchak Park closed some years ago; the city's night markets now are listed in the night markets post. To the north, the Krung Thep Aphiwat central rail terminal (Bang Sue) is the new departure point for long-distance trains, and the Northern Bus Terminal at Mo Chit is a short taxi ride away on Kamphaeng Phet 2 Road, not at the BTS station of the same name.
Getting there
Three stations serve the market. [BTS Mo Chit](/?q=Mo Chit) on the Sukhumvit line and MRT Chatuchak Park on the Blue Line are linked and open onto the park side; walk through the park to the market's main entrance. [MRT Kamphaeng Phet](/?q=Kamphaeng Phet) is the better choice: its exit opens directly into the market and across the road from Or Tor Kor. From Siam, Mo Chit is eight stops north. Leaving on a weekend afternoon, the stations are crowded; a taxi from the Kamphaeng Phet Road side is sometimes quicker. Ari, two stops south, is a good place to recover with coffee; see the Ari guide.