Boat tours or canal tours in Bangkok often take place in Thonburi neighborhood. With so many tour operators offering similar experience, you want to go with the one that designs the most distinct route and program. Consider our Thonburi Food & Canals Adventures. This tour provides what travelers to Bangkok enjoy the most – a long-tail boat ride in Thonburi district and several delicious Thai dishes!
“Thailand is a food obsessed nation.” The fact has inspired our tours. Our job is to feed you as many tasty Thai dishes as we can. If you’re ready for this food and boat combo adventure, read on!
Understanding Thonburi Area & Its Canal Networks
Thonburi is a district of Bangkok, located on the western side of Chao Phraya river. It was a capital of Siamese Kingdom (ancient Thailand) before Bangkok. Once Bangkok was founded, Thonburi was merged into Bangkok. Since Thonburi dates over 250 years, it’s teemed with ancient temples. The area has avoided much of the modern development seen elsewhere in Bangkok. It’s full of greenery, orchards, wooden houses on stilts, and rural rustic atmosphere that contrasts to the landscape of modern Bangkok. Bangkok feels like 50 years away when you’re in Thonburi!
Thonburi is home to several canals that the locals used to use for transportation, communication, and trade. Though there are good paved roads today, these canals are used every day by the residents of Thonburi.
Why Choosing our Canal Tour in Bangkok?
1. The program of our canal tour in Bangkok is different from other operators’. It’s unique. It’s a boat tour plus food tour! You’ll be eating and learning about so many delicious Thai dishes within just a few hours.
2. This tour is a value for money! Most canal tours in Bangkok start at 55 USD (2019) for one person. Ours cost only slightly more but we feed you until you drop! We got your breakfast and lunch covered.
3. Our tour guides are Thai food experts and they are fun. They can give you useful pieces of advice for your holiday in Thailand.
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Where We Go on Our Food & Canal Tour in Bangkok
Wat Klang Temple and Talad Phlu Train Station
Simply put – one food market at the start, another at the end, a boat ride and sightseeing in between. The rhythm of the tour is like a classic score, several slow pacing notes then a climax towards the end! We start in rural and quiet neighborhoods and finish at a busy bustling market, leaving you still in awe.
Salacca fruit and a pork vendor in Talad Phlu Market
The first market sits deep in the Thonburi district, sandwiched between a train track and a canal. Such wet market is the best place to see what ingredients go to Thai kitchens: tropical herbs, spices, vegetables, and exotic fruits. Colorful produces, vendors calling for customers, and trolleys pushing their ways through busy alleys are as real as a Thai way of life can get. The area is home to Bangkok’s best few Thai-Chinese dishes thanks to these restaurants which have served their old family recipes. For Thai foodies, this market is clearly the Chinatown of Thonburi.
A variety of Thai street food you’ll find at the second market!
The second market is the best day-time street food market (if Chinatown crowns as the king of Bangkok’s evening street food markets) The market is a maze-like alleys full of traditional Thai ready-to-eat dishes, snacks, and sweets offered by street carts and street-side restaurants. Our of our customers described the market and the tour experience as
“I have never been exposed to this many street food in a single place. And never eat such variety of Thai food within few hours” (Amit Tripuraneni from India, 2017)
A monitor lizard (right)
Between the market, a long-tail boat takes you onto the snaky Bangkok Yai canal. You can feel tranquility reign the community as you drift past wooden homes on stilts, old-fashion shops, Buddhist temples, and the locals going about their routines. If you have never seen a monitor lizard, you might see one here.
The Artist House Art Gallery
We stop at The Artist House, a charming art gallery/souvenir shop with laid-back atmosphere. The wooden house on stilt itself is a sample of how houses in the neighborhood looked like 200 years ago. Then we leave the canals of Thonburi to Chao Phraya river. The busy traffic on the river draws you back to the reality of Bangkok metropolis, like an alarm waking you up from a tranquil dream.
Grand Palace (left) and Wat Arun Temple as seen form the long-tail boat
What Do We Eat on Our Canal Tour in Bangkok?
The food part of this tour ranges from soup and noodles, to curry, to hot and spicy Northeastern Thai dishes the country is so famous for!
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Stewed beef soup with rice. The meat is so soft it almost melts on your tongue. The delicious flavor owes to the pot burned for generations!
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Chinese fried dough and traditional coffee or tea in an old-school cafe in the middle of a wet market. This is where seniles and retirees socialize and spend sumptuous time on their breakfast.
Traditional Thai coffee and Chinese fried dough
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Award-winning red curry with prawn on steamed rice
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Stewed pork organs in rolled flat rice noodle soup.
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Spicy (or not) raw papaya salad, deep-fried pork, grilled chicken, and sticky rice
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Super refreshing dessert: mung bean threads and water chestnut balls in iced coconut milk syrup
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