A Visit To Pranburi Saturday Market

After long hearing how great the Pranburi Saturday market is, we managed to finally, after many years, to get over there to take a look at the colourful attraction and we are glad we did.

The market is located on the narrow streets behind Pranburi train station, about 35km south of Hua Hin and 9km from Pak Nam Pran.

Arriving a little early, around 3.30, we were in time to see 60% of the stalls set up and the rest in progress, so you may want to arrive around 5pm if you plan to go. Having whizzed through the streets many times on a motorbike paying more attention to avoid any soi dogs than the surroundings, we were very pleasantly surprised to take a slow walk around and take in the traditional Thai wooden buildings, cute antique shops and the many various offerings on the stalls.

Ranging from the usual suspects: plenty of food & drinks, mobile phone accessories, clothes, shoes, plants, and toys, to the more interesting: random Bric’a’Brac, posters, wood carvings, real antiques, colourful photo points, and hand made goods, I should mention my husband is the worst shopper in the world, but he could probably spend up to 2 hours there so long as the beer Leo is cold, and there were no complaints on this trip even without the beers!

One corner of the market is devoted to a large food court with dozens of food stalls and is surrounded by lush mature trees and vegetation giving it a great atmosphere and good spot for a drink or snack. You may also find some musicians playing acoustic sets and we even went past a functioning karaoke station, although thankfully, that had not yet started while we were there.

The locals were friendly and several approached my husband to practice their English, young children and smiling elders also, which delighted him.

We would definitely recommend visiting the Saturday market if you are in Pranburi, and there are plenty of great restaurants not far away that are well worth exploring afterwards, Hua Pleng and Krua Pee Nay to name just a couple.