Bangkok is one of my favourite cities and a great place to shop. Here are my 5 Top Bangkok Shopping Spots for hunting and gathering. Pack light and go nuts.

Top Bangkok Shopping Spots

1) Chatuchack Weekend Market

Be warned- this is one mother of a market. It’s home to over 15,000 stalls and spread out across 27 acres. You can find pretty much anything here – clothes, puppies, furniture, souvenirs, plants, fabric, home wares and pretty much anything else you need (or not need for that matter). In an attempt to organise things a bit it’s split up into 27 different sections. That being said, everything is still sort of tangled up together in a huge sweaty maze of STUFF.

It’s huge and hot and confusing and freaking AMAZING. There’s maps available and information spots to help those who have been swallowed up in the madness. There’s also plenty of food and cold drink vendors scattered amongst the stalls to keep your energy up. This is a whole day ordeal so be prepared to leave the weak or young ones behind and dive right in. It’s also a covered market so a good option for rainy days but it gets pretty hot so maybe try and get there early.

This is one of my favourite shopping spots in the whole entire world. Personally I love this market for the local Thai designers and huge range of vintage clothes, shoes and bags that somehow make their way over from America and Japan.

As the name suggests, Chatuchak is only open on the weekends. Catch the BTS northern line all the way to the end and hop off at Mo Cit Station. The market is pretty much next to the station so just follow the masses.  Its the unmissable Bangkok shopping spot, a must see for those visiting Thailand.

www.chatuchak.org

2) Siam Paragon

If you’re looking to escape the grime and sticky heat of Bangkok, you should visit one of the hundreds of shopping centers scattered across the city. Paragon is the greatest of all shopping centers. It has a great 5 floor department store offering all your usual department store-ish kind of things andfor some reason always has n excuse for some kind of store-wide sale. The rest of the shopping centre is made up of the usual suspects (Mango, H&M, Forever21) and some fancy high-end stores (Chloe, Hermes, Chanel) selling beige lackluster clothes that pretty much no one can afford. My favourite bookshop, Kinokuniya, is upstairs and offers 1000s of books, magazines and stationary that’s too pretty to use. The top floor has probably the best cinema in SE Asia. There’s an Imax and regular cinema that show all the new releases in english (Thai subtitles). The seats are incredible but be warned that it can be very loud and very cold so come prepared. The whole lower floor is a food court, offering a huge range of street food (minus the street), things on sticks, cafes, restaurants and a fancy expat supermarket.

3) MBK

MBK is one of my favourites and is perfect if you’re on the look out for a bargain but can’t stand the thought of sweating it out at another market. Made up of market-like stalls, MBK is the place to go for clothes, shoes, souvenirs and high quality fake leather bags and clothing. Competition is high between stall holders so shop around and bargain hard. There’s a whole floor dedicated to electronics where you can buy cheap phones, computers or get them fixed if you have any technical issues mid-trip. If you’re not quite ready to head back into heat, there’s a pretty good food court and $3 movies on the top floor. Catch the BTS to National Stadium and you’ll see it. It’s also across the road from the Bangkok Art and Cultural centre which is also worth a visit.

4) Terminal 21

Terminal 21 is the new kid on the block. It only opened recently and is yet another freezing shopping mecca for locals and tourists alike- with a difference. The complex 9 floors split up into themed sections each featuring world famous destinations, all under one roof. You can find yourself strolling through the lantern lined streets of Hong Kong or through the pokey markets of Istanbul. Instead of mainstream shops, the “streets” and “lanes” of each section are lined with over 600 tiny stalls featuring both local and international designers. It’s easy to get lost amongst the hundreds of stalls but it’s so pretty you almost don’t mind. Unless you lose someone or need to wee- then you’re in trouble. Downstairs there’s a few other major shops and the same branch of fancy expat supermarket as at Siam Paragon. To get to Terminal 21, catch the BTS to Asok or catch the MRT to Sukhumvit.

5) Street-side Markets

Once the sun goes down Bangkok truly comes alive. The streets all over the city fill up with food vendors and market stalls. Regardless of where you’re staying, you are bound to stumble upon a street somewhere close by that is filled with food, clothes, jewelry, shoes, bags, makeup and pirated DVDs. Street-side is also the best place to haggle and bag a sweet bargain. The Bangkok shopping experience really isn’t complete with buying something on the street.

 So, those are my top Bangkok shopping spots.  But I’m sure  there are plenty of places around Bangkok with bargains galore that I have missed out on.  Please let me know below!