Little India Bangkok: a guide to Phahurat, the textile quarter

Little India Bangkok is a few blocks squeezed between Chinatown and the flower market, centred on Phahurat Road. It is a textile district first, an Indian district second, and both go back a century to the Sikh and Punjabi merchants who settled here to trade cloth. Shops sell saris, bolts of silk and cotton, Bollywood music, bangles and spices; a gold-domed gurdwara rises above the lanes; and the cooking is some of the best North Indian food in the city. It is small enough to do in a couple of hours and best joined to Chinatown.

Phahurat Road and the fabric lanes

Phahurat Road is lined with shops selling fabric by the metre: wedding brocades, cotton prints, curtain material, lace and trim. The lanes behind, running back towards Chakkraphet Road, narrow into a covered market of stalls where the same trade continues at smaller scale. It is where Bangkok's tailors, costume makers and dancers buy, and it rewards slow browsing. Bargaining is normal but gentle.

Chakkraphet Road, the eastern edge, has the Indian grocers: spice shops, sweet counters with jalebi and barfi, and stalls selling samosas and chai from mid-morning.

The gurdwara and India Emporium

Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha is the large Sikh temple with the gold dome that you see from the street. Visitors are welcome if they cover their head (scarves are provided) and remove shoes; the langar kitchen serves free vegetarian meals to anyone, a tradition the community keeps daily. Be respectful and quiet inside.

India Emporium, a short walk away on Chakkraphet, is a small shopping centre of Indian clothing, jewellery and fabric shops, with a food court upstairs. It is air-conditioned, which matters here at midday.

Where to eat in Little India Bangkok

Little India's restaurants are mostly North Indian and Punjabi, with a few South Indian and vegetarian places. The classic order is tandoori chicken, dal, butter naan and lassi in one of the old family dining rooms around Chakkraphet Road; look for places busy with local Indian families at lunch. Street options include samosas, pakoras and sweet milk tea from the stalls near the gurdwara. For Thai food, Chinatown's stalls are a few minutes' walk east, covered in the Chinatown and Yaowarat guide.

Next door: Pak Khlong Talat and Sampheng

Two of the old town's best markets are on the doorstep. Pak Khlong Talat, the 24-hour flower market, is just south across Chakkraphet Road, at its busiest after dark when the lorries arrive with marigolds, lotus buds and jasmine. Sampheng Lane (Soi Wanit 1) starts at the eastern end of Phahurat and runs a kilometre through Chinatown as a wholesale market for everything from hair clips to wrapping paper. The Old Siam Plaza shopping centre, on Phahurat Road, has a ground-floor food court known for Thai sweets. Rattanakosin and the Grand Palace are fifteen minutes' walk north-west; see the Rattanakosin old town guide.

Getting there

• MRT Blue Line Sam Yot is a five-minute walk; MRT Sanam Chai serves the flower-market end.
• Chao Phraya Express boats stop at Rajinee (Ratchini) and Memorial Bridge (Saphan Phut) piers, both a short walk away.
• From Chinatown, walk west along Sampheng Lane or Yaowarat Road.
• The district is tightly packed and traffic is slow, so arrive on foot or by rail rather than taxi.