Maeklong Railway Market: train times and is it worth it?

The Mae Khlong Railway Market is a 100-metre market built along a working train line in Samut Songkhram Province, about 90 minutes southwest of Bangkok. Eight times a day a train comes through, the vendors pull their awnings in and slide their goods back from the tracks, and the whole thing reopens the second it's passed. It's a popular tourist stop now, with hundreds of people waiting to film the train, and it's still worth an hour. Here are the train times, how to get there and the one way to see it without the crowds.

Check out our video to get a sense of what the market is like and whether you'll actually want to go.

Is the train market worth it?

To be honest, I was staying right by the market and didn't even plan to visit. I was coming back from a morning of monkeys, mangroves and retro wakeboarding in nearby Khlong Khon, and right as I was parking at the hotel we saw the railroad crossing lights flashing. At that point I basically had to go over and check it out. That activity, by the way, is probably the best thing to do in Samut Songkhram; check out our guide to Thai wakeboarding in Khlong Khon.

Note: The Thai name for this market is Talat Rom Hoop (ตลาดร่มหุบ), which translates to something like 'awning put-away market'.

I'm glad I did, because it's a pretty cool thing to see. I love the little ingenious things Thai people figure out, and the tables with wheels that run on their own tracks, so they slide in and out for the trains, definitely qualify. The market is touristy, and a lot of it has become restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops. But most of it is still a functioning market, with fruit, vegetables, fish and everything else being sold to people who live here.

How to get there from Bangkok

The market sits right next to Mae Khlong railway station, at the end of the Ban Laem line, in the middle of Samut Songkhram town.

Minivan - the simplest way. Minivans to Mae Khlong (แม่กลอง) leave from the Southern Bus Terminal (Sai Tai Mai) in Taling Chan, take about 90 minutes down Rama II Road and drop you a short walk from the market. The fare is under 100 baht. Ask for the railway market and the driver will know.

Train - the fun way, and it costs about 23 baht. Take the train from Wongwian Yai station (next to the BTS stop of the same name, not Hua Lamphong) to Maha Chai in Samut Sakhon, about an hour for 10 baht. Walk through the market to the pier and take the ferry across the Tha Chin River, 3 baht. Walk up to Ban Laem station and take the second train to Mae Khlong, another hour and another 10 baht. This line only has four trains a day, so check the times below before you commit. The reward is that you arrive through the market itself, on the train everyone else is waiting to photograph.

Car - straight down Rama II Road, about 80 km. We drove ourselves so we could be the first ones there in the morning.

Tour - if you'd rather have it organised, Take Me Tour's Samut Songkhram trips combine the market with Amphawa.

Train times

Four trains run each way between Ban Laem and Mae Khlong, and every one of them passes through the market. The times are from the State Railway of Thailand's departure and arrival timetables, and they're the same as the schedule posted in the cafe when we visited.

| Leaves Mae Khlong | Arrives at Mae Khlong | | --- | --- | | 6:20 am | 8:30 am | | 9:00 am | 11:10 am | | 11:30 am | 2:30 pm | | 3:30 pm | 5:40 pm |

The awnings are folded away 5-10 minutes before the train arrives and go straight back out after it's passed, so get there a good 20 minutes early. The 8:30 and 11:10 arrivals are the busy ones, because they fit a day trip from Bangkok.

Mae Khlong Railway Market train schedule

The schedule posted in a cafe when we visited. The times haven't changed.

When to go

Most people time their visit for a train, and that's fair, because watching everything get put away and brought back out is the point. But it's also nice to see it work as a normal market. For that, visit between trains, or wait 10 minutes after one passes for the crowds to thin out and things to go back to normal.

If you want to see the train go through with as few other people as possible, be there for the first one of the day, the 6:20 am departure. That means staying in Samut Songkhram the night before; it's a nice town for it, and there are places within walking distance of the station on Agoda. If seeing a train won't fit your schedule, don't worry, the market is still worth a stroll through.

Between trains, it's still a fairly typical Thai market, at least towards the middle

Make a day of it

The market is an hour's sight at the end of a 90-minute trip, so pair it with something. Khlong Khon, 20 minutes away, is the thing we'd pick: mangroves, monkeys and the wakeboarding. Amphawa floating market is 10 minutes from the station and runs Friday to Sunday from the afternoon into the evening; it's touristy but not bad. Tha Kha floating market is the quieter one, Saturday and Sunday mornings only. Damnoen Saduak is in the next province, open every day, and a tourist trap we avoid.

With one day from Bangkok: catch the 8:30 arrival at the market, do Khlong Khon in the middle of the day, and finish at Amphawa if it's the weekend. See our Samut Songkhram guide for the rest of the province.