Amphawa Floating Market Tours

An Amphawa floating market tour leaves Bangkok around lunchtime and gets you back after dark, because Amphawa is an afternoon-and-evening market that trades only Friday to Sunday. Most tours pair it with the Maeklong Railway Market, the root-wrapped temple at Wat Bang Kung and a boat trip to look for fireflies. Our pick is the Maeklong Railway & Amphawa Floating Market Day Trip by TripGuru: groups of up to 9, a firefly boat included, from $44 per person and rated 4.3 from 756 reviews. Amphawa, Maeklong and Bang Khonthi were among the districts hit by floods in October 2026, so check current conditions with your operator before you travel.

Amphawa is a canal-side food market, not a boat market

Set your expectations before you book. At Damnoen Saduak the vendors sit in boats and you shop from the water. Amphawa works the other way round: restaurants, snack stalls and shophouses line both banks of the canal, and only a handful of cooks sell grilled seafood or noodles from small wooden boats moored at the edge. TripGuru’s own listing says it plainly: Amphawa is a canal-side market with only a few vendor boats.

What Amphawa does well is food and atmosphere. It is mostly visited by Thais, it feels less staged than Damnoen, and the menu runs from grilled seafood and boat noodles to Thai desserts and evening barbecue. Guests on the shared evening tour who expected a market on the water left disappointed reviews; guests who came to eat and wander along the canal tend to rate the day well.

If vendors paddling between boats is the picture in your head, book a morning trip from our Damnoen Saduak tours page instead. Our guide to Damnoen Saduak vs Amphawa sets the two side by side.

Friday to Sunday, from mid-afternoon into the evening

Amphawa trades on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from mid-afternoon into the evening, and Saturday is the busiest day. A few shops open earlier, but on a weekday you find a quiet canal town. That is why the tours here leave Bangkok around midday. TripGuru’s day trip runs only Friday to Sunday. If you only have weekdays in Bangkok, a morning Damnoen Saduak trip is the realistic option. Our opening days and hours guide lists every market by day.

The drive from central Bangkok takes around 1.5–2 hours each way, so even a short visit is a full afternoon and evening.

Fireflies: a bonus, never a promise

The firefly boats leave from Amphawa at dusk and follow the canals and the Mae Klong River to trees where fireflies gather. They are best in the rainy months, roughly May or June to October, and on moonless nights. Sightings vary from night to night, and no operator can guarantee them.

The shared tour on this page includes the firefly boat. Some TripGuru guests say much of the boat time went on waiting for darkness, with only a short spell among the trees, while others describe trees lit up from end to end. The private Thailand Insight Travel tour includes a boat trip at Amphawa, but its listing does not mention fireflies, so ask before you book if they matter to you.

The Amphawa evening tours compared

The Maeklong Railway & Amphawa Floating Market Day Trip by TripGuru is the one to start with. It covers Maeklong (about 1.5 hours), Wat Bang Kung (1 hour), Amphawa (about 2 hours) and a 1.5-hour river boat with a firefly trip, in groups limited to 9. It runs Friday to Sunday only, offers free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead and has drop-offs across central Bangkok. It has more reviews than any other Amphawa tour on this site, 754, but a lower rating at 4.3: guests mention mix-ups over hotel pickup zones, so keep the MBK Center meeting point as your fallback, and a market that is not on the water. Meals are not included. The same trip is also sold on Viator at $42. See our review.

The Amphawa Boat Ride & Railway Market private tour suits families and anyone who wants a guide in their own language: English, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, French or German. It starts at Ban Kalong station beside the salt farms, visits Wat Bang Kung and ends at Amphawa with a boat trip; dinner is extra. It is rated 5.0 from 39 reviews. See our review.

To set your own pace, the Floating & Maeklong Markets private charter gives you a car and driver for 8, 10 or 12 hours, from $138 per car for up to 3 people. Amphawa firefly watching is one of its suggested stops. A guide costs extra, and bigger vehicles and longer hire cost more. More options are on our private floating market tours page.

Watching the train or riding it

Four trains arrive at Maeklong and four depart each day, roughly in the morning, late morning, mid-afternoon and early evening, so the timetable shapes every tour. The shared Amphawa tour stands at the market and watches a train squeeze through. The private tour’s description says you board at Ban Kalong and ride into the market, but its inclusions list “watch the train coming out from the railway market”, so confirm which one you are getting. If a ride through the stalls is the priority, the morning Floating Market and Train Market Experience lists a train ride, though it visits Damnoen Saduak, not Amphawa. Our floating market and railway market tours page sorts the tours by watch or ride.

Wat Bang Kung

The tour and the private tour both stop at Wat Bang Kung in Bang Khonthi district, where the ordination hall is enveloped in the roots of a banyan tree. The temple is linked to a Thai military camp that fought Burmese forces in the 1760s, and the Fine Arts Department registered it as an archaeological site in 1996. Shoulders and knees need to be covered, so bring a scarf or sarong.

Going without a tour

Amphawa is easy to reach on your own. Minivans leave from the Southern Bus Terminal (Sai Tai Mai), take about 90 minutes and cost around 70–100 baht. From Maeklong town, Amphawa is about 7 km away, roughly 15 minutes by songthaew. Shared firefly boats are reported at about 60–80 baht per person. The catch is the ride home late in the evening, which is what the tours solve. Our how to get to Amphawa guide has the details, and the Amphawa floating market guide covers what to eat once you are there.

Ready to choose a weekend date? Check availability for the TripGuru Amphawa tour.