Asiatique is Bangkok’s premier night market, beautifully set alongside the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River, where you can stroll along Thailand’s longest riverfront boardwalk.
Sanitised it may be compared to the old Suan Lum night bazaar, its nearby, more crowded predecessor, but 2012-opened Asiatique is a pleasant evening out, with decent shopping, plentiful restaurants and various diversions to be found, such as the kingdom’s tallest ferris wheel—yes, Asiatique is the land of the superlative. There are maps, clean bathrooms and the clothes shops may even have dressing rooms: This is not your usual Bangkok market experience.
One of Asiatique's top draws. Photo: Samantha Brown
We suggest catching the free Asiatique shuttle boat from Saphan Taksin pier for the 10-minute ride here so that you arrive in time to catch the photogenic sunset over the river along the 300-metre long boardwalk (the boat starts at 16:00).
Check out the art installations, such as sculptures of old-style port workers eating and lugging rice bags around; there’s also the “Juliet Love Garden”, which features an original statue of Juliet from Verona and a fence with thousands of attached love lockets.
Sunset prawns, ideal fuel for shopping. Photo: Samantha Brown
Then allow yourself a few hours for browsing the more than 1,500 shops and restaurants set out in four very organised, and sprawling, zones. The bazaar hosts a diverse range of shops and stalls offering everything from expensive (and real) name-brand sunglasses to cheap fake ones, chic designer clothing boutiques to simple racks of 100 baht dresses, and hand-made traditional Thai mask galleries to standard T-shirt and souvenir shops. Though it gives a purely upmarket first impression, Asiatique in fact caters to all budgets, both for shopping ... please log in to read the rest of this story.
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By
Samantha Brown.
Last updated on 28th August, 2017.
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How to get there
Asiatique is a couple of kilometres south of Saphan Taksin BTS station in the vicinity of Charoen Krung Soi 74. The easiest way to reach it on quieter nights is by a free boat shuttle that leaves every 20 minutes from Sathorn pier, next to Saphan Taksin BTS station, which can also bring you back free of charge. However the queue for the free shuttle is often extremely long, in which case a taxi can get you there from Saphan Taksin BTS for around 60 baht.
Location map for Asiatique
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