Every visitor asks the same question in a slightly different accent: which night market should I go to. Every hotel receptionist says the Night Bazaar, because it is open every night and easy to point at. I have lived a songthaew ride from the Chiang Mai night markets my whole life, and the Night Bazaar is the right answer only if the question was “where can I buy a wooden frog that croaks”.
The real markets run on a weekly rhythm: a Sunday one, a Saturday one, a nightly cheap-dinner one with no shopping, a flower market that peaks after midnight, and a “night market” that opens at half past six in the morning. Get the day wrong and you will stand on an empty Ratchadamnoen Road on a Tuesday wondering what the fuss was about.
The short version: Sunday Walking Street on Ratchadamnoen Road on a Sunday, Wua Lai Road on a Saturday, Chang Phueak Gate for dinner on any night at all. Treat the Chang Klan Night Bazaar as a covered arcade on the way to something better. Budget ฿150–250 a head for a proper dinner at any of them. For daylight, our things to do in Chiang Mai and Chiang Mai breakfast guides have you covered.
Chiang Mai night markets by night of the week
Hours are what happens on the street, not what the tourism board prints: stalls trade an hour before the official start and the food is gone an hour before the finish.
| Market | Days | Hours | What it is for | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday Walking Street (Ratchadamnoen Rd) | Sunday | 16:00–22:30 | Crafts, temple-yard food courts, the whole city out for a walk | Do it |
| Saturday Walking Street (Wua Lai Rd) | Saturday | 16:00–22:30 | Silver, same food, two-thirds of the crowd | Do it |
| Chang Phueak Gate food stalls (north moat) | Nightly | 17:00–24:00 | Dinner only, ฿50 plates, no shopping | Do it |
| Chiang Mai Night Bazaar (Chang Klan Rd) | Nightly | 18:00–23:00 | Souvenirs, tailor touts, beer | Do it, with a caveat |
| Kalare / Anusarn / Ploen Ruedee | Nightly (Ploen Ruedee Mon–Sat) | 18:00–24:00 | Covered food courts, shows, live bands | Skip it, unless it is raining |
| Warorot / Ton Lamyai flower market | 24 hours | Flowers peak 22:00–02:00 | Flowers, fruit, wholesale, zero tourists | Do it, after 22:00 |
| Chiang Mai Gate food stalls (south moat) | Nightly | 16:00–24:00 | Locals’ dinner, second choice to Chang Phueak | Do it, with a caveat |
| Malin Plaza / Kad Na Mor (front of CMU) | Nightly | 17:00–23:00 | Student dinner, ฿40 plates, ฿100 clothes | Do it, with a caveat |
| One Nimman evening market | Fri–Sun (flea market Mon–Tue) | 15:00–22:00 | Craft brands, photographs, air-con nearby | Do it, with a caveat |
| Jing Jai (JJ) weekend market | Sat–Sun | 06:30–13:00 | Farmers market, coffee, breakfast | Do it, in the morning |
Sunday Walking Street on Ratchadamnoen Road
This is the one. It runs a kilometre west from Tha Phae Gate along Ratchadamnoen Road to Wat Phra Singh. The road closes at 16:00, the stalls are trading by 17:00, and at 18:00 the national anthem plays and four thousand people stop dead in the street. Stand still. It lasts a minute.
The best food is in the temple grounds, not on the road. Wat Phan On, 300 metres in from Tha Phae, has the biggest food court: khao soi ฿50–60, sai ua (the herby northern sausage) ฿20–30 a chunk, grilled pork skewers ฿10–15 each, fresh pomegranate juice ฿30–40. Mango sticky rice is ฿60–80, the tourist rate; the Thai rate is ฿40 and you will not get it on a Sunday. Our Thai noodles guide explains why khao soi is northern and pad thai is not.
Sunday is the place for handmade things: paper umbrellas from Bo Sang (฿150–300), indigo-dyed cotton shirts (฿150–350), soap carved into orchids for ฿50. Elephant-print trousers are ฿100–150; anyone saying ฿250 has identified you as fresh off the plane. A foot massage on a plastic chair in a temple yard is ฿100–150 for half an hour and the best value item in the city.
The catch is people. From 19:00 to 21:00 the Tha Phae end moves at the speed of a funeral. Arrive at 17:00 and be walking out by 20:00, or come in from the Wat Phra Singh end, a third as busy with the same vendors. Verdict: do it.
Saturday Walking Street on Wua Lai Road
Wua Lai runs south from Chiang Mai Gate, outside the moat, through the old silversmiths’ quarter. The market fills the road from 16:00 to 22:30 on Saturdays only. It is half the length of Sunday’s, narrower, and two-thirds of the vendors will be on Ratchadamnoen the next evening, so do not feel you have to do both.
What Wua Lai has that Sunday does not is real silver and aluminium repoussé from the workshops behind the stalls: hammered panels ฿200–500, plain silver rings ฿300–600, bowls into the thousands and worth it. Wat Sri Suphan, the silver temple, is on the road and lit up at night; its ordination hall does not admit women, a rule and not a suggestion. Read our temple etiquette piece before arguing with a monk about it.
Food is Sunday’s menu, a shade cheaper: grilled squid ฿40–60, khanom krok coconut pancakes ฿20–30 a tray, khao kha moo ฿50. Verdict: do it. If you dislike crowds and have one weekend night, this is it.
The Night Bazaar strip: Chang Klan Road, Kalare, Anusarn and Ploen Ruedee
Chang Klan Road, east of the old city towards the river, never takes a night off: 18:00 to about 23:00, every day, since before I was born. That longevity is the problem. It is the same pavement of fridge magnets, Muay Thai shorts, “Same Same But Different” t-shirts, fake handbags and the croaking frog, priced at double what anything is worth and staffed by the tailor who follows you for forty metres.
Behind the pavement are three covered compounds. Kalare has a food court with a free Thai dancing stage and dishes at ฿80–150. Anusarn is seafood priced by weight, a cabaret show and quieter stalls since Covid. Ploen Ruedee, the container-style food garden with live bands, runs Monday to Saturday from 18:00 to midnight; expect ฿100–200 a plate and ฿150-plus for a craft beer. The strip is midway through a twelve-billion-baht corporate redevelopment, so hoardings appear and things move; check Ploen Ruedee’s Facebook page before crossing town for a band.
Verdict: do it, with a caveat. Go once, at 19:00, eat pad thai at the Anusarn end for ฿60–80, buy nothing you could buy at Warorot for half, and leave by 20:30. It is the best wet-weather market because most of it has a roof. A night market food tour typically starts here and ends somewhere better.
Chang Phueak Gate: the best cheap dinner in the old city
Chang Phueak Gate is the north gate of the moat, and every evening from about 17:00 the pavement opposite becomes twenty-odd food carts with plastic tables. Nothing to buy. Nobody performs. It is where the old city eats, and the answer to the Monday question and the “I have ฿100 left” question.
The famous cart is Khao Kha Moo Chang Phueak, run by the woman in the black cowboy hat who has chopped braised pork leg here for two decades. A small plate of rice, pork, pickled mustard greens and chilli-garlic sauce is ฿50, the large ฿60, a boiled egg ฿10 more. The 18:30 queue moves in five minutes. She sells out by about 21:00, earlier on a Sunday. Around her: boat noodles ฿40–50, pad see ew ฿50, som tam pounded to order ฿40, grilled chicken ฿30–40 a piece, khanom jeen nam ngiao (the northern tomato-and-pork-blood noodle) ฿40. Drinks come from the 7-Eleven across the road.
The south equivalent is Chiang Mai Gate, a similar cart line with a proper indoor market behind it, slightly less overrun, but the cowboy hat is the reason you came. If carts worry you, our is Thai street food safe piece has the rules: busy cart, hot wok, cooked in front of you. Verdict: do it, any night. A guided Chiang Mai street food tour will bring you here anyway, so come alone and spend the saving on a second plate.
Warorot, Ton Lamyai and the flower market after dark
Warorot, which locals call Kad Luang, is the big covered day market near the river; its indoor floors shut around 18:00. The streets around it keep going, particularly riverside Ton Lamyai, where the flower market runs twenty-four hours with its real business between 22:00 and 02:00, when pickup trucks arrive from the farms with marigolds still wet.
There is little for a tourist to buy: a marigold garland ฿10–20, a bundle of orchids ฿50, twenty roses ฿80–150. That is the point. Nobody is selling to you, so nobody is performing for you. The Chinese-Thai street kitchens on Chang Moi Road do a wok-fried plate for ฿60–80 until late, and the fruit stalls on the Warorot side sell by the kilo at prices the Sunday market would blush at. Verdict: do it, after 22:00, ideally after a beer at the river. Or come at 06:00 and fold it into our Chiang Mai breakfast route; a Chiang Mai cooking class with a Warorot market walk is the sane version of a food tour.
The student side: Malin Plaza, Suthep Road and One Nimman
Malin Plaza, which the students call Kad Na Mor (“the market in front of the university”), sits on Huay Kaew Road opposite Chiang Mai University’s main gate, nightly from about 17:00 to 23:00. Covered aisles under fluorescent tubes: kaprao and khao man gai at ฿40–60, Korean-Thai fried chicken, bubble tea at ฿30–45, racks of ฿100–200 clothes for nineteen-year-olds. The cheapest market in this guide and the least pretty. Verdict: do it, with a caveat, the caveat being that you will be the oldest person there by fifteen years.
Suthep Road, behind the university’s back gate, is less a market than a nightly strip of khao soi shops (฿50), ฿159–199 mookata barbecue buffets and student cafés. Worth knowing if you are staying that side; not worth crossing town for.
One Nimman, at the top of Nimmanhaemin Road, is the other end of the scale: a brick clock-tower plaza with an evening market Friday to Sunday from 15:00 to 22:00 and a smaller flea market on Mondays and Tuesdays. Craft brands, ฿120 pour-over coffee, ฿250 tote bags, hand-thrown ceramics. Prices are double the walking streets, the quality mostly honest, with an air-conditioned mall attached for when the heat wins. Verdict: do it, with a caveat. It is a gift market rather than a dinner market, and a good Friday night when the old city has nothing on.
Jing Jai: the Chiang Mai night market that happens in the morning
People search for Jing Jai as a night market, so here is the correction: JJ Market on Assadathorn Road, two kilometres north of the moat, runs Saturday and Sunday mornings from roughly 06:30 to 13:00, and the good stuff is gone by 10:30. It is an organic farmers market bolted to a craft market: hill-tribe coffee at ฿60–90 a cup, sourdough at ฿100–150 a loaf, a khao soi stall at ฿60. Verdict: do it, in the morning, then sleep through the heat and do Sunday Walking Street the same evening. That is the perfect Chiang Mai Sunday.
What a foreigner should expect to pay at Chiang Mai night markets
Food is priced on a board and the board is the price for everyone, with three exceptions: mango sticky rice, coconut ice cream (฿40–60) and anything sold within fifty metres of Tha Phae Gate. Two or three plates and a drink is ฿150–250 a head at any market here, ฿300–400 if you sit down for beer at the Night Bazaar. Our Thailand price index lists the fair price for each dish.
Goods are different. On Chang Klan Road the opening price is roughly double; on the walking streets it is 20–50 per cent over, because half the sellers are the makers and have priced fairly. Ask “lot dai mai” (can you reduce) once, take 20–30 per cent, and do not grind a grandmother for ฿10. Most stalls are cash; PromptPay QR works only with a Thai bank account. ATMs charge ฿220 per withdrawal, so take out ฿3,000 at a time and carry ฿1,000 of it in twenties and fifties.
Transport: a red songthaew is ฿30 for a hop inside the city and ฿40 out to Nimman or the university; say your destination through the window, climb in the back, pay when you get out. Grab is ฿60–120 between the old city and Nimman and climbs to ฿150 at 22:00 on a Sunday when everyone leaves at once; Bolt is usually a shade cheaper. A tuk-tuk is ฿100–150, agreed before your foot leaves the ground.
Pickpockets exist and are rare; the only place I keep a hand on my bag is the Tha Phae end of Sunday Walking Street between 19:00 and 20:30. The real hazards are the tuk-tuk driver who tells you the market is “closed today for Buddhist holiday” and offers a gem shop instead (it is never closed), and the tailor who becomes your best friend. Our Thailand scams guide has the full list. The old city is the obvious base; the where to stay in Chiang Mai guide or a quick Agoda search for the old city shows what ฿800–1,500 a night buys inside the moat.
The Monday question, rain and the rest
Monday and Tuesday have no walking street, and a surprising number of people arrive on Monday and leave on Wednesday. Your options are the nightly ones in the table. My Monday is khao kha moo at Chang Phueak at 18:30, a songthaew to Chang Klan for a single lap and a beer, and a Grab home by 21:30. Nobody ever asked for it back.
Rainy season, May to October, cancels nothing. Showers hit between 16:00 and 18:00 and are over by the anthem; vendors drop tarpaulins and carry on. A hard downpour at 18:00 on a Sunday halves the crowd, which makes the wet Sunday, perversely, the best Sunday. If it is still pouring at 19:00, that is what Kalare and Ploen Ruedee’s roofs are for. In November the city is full for Yi Peng and Loy Krathong, the markets double in size and halve in walking speed, and you should have booked your room in August.
Last thing: every market is busiest from 19:00 to 21:00. Go at 17:00. From Bangkok, the overnight train and the ฿700-ish buses both land you in town in time for dinner; the 12Go timetable for Bangkok to Chiang Mai shows what is left for your date.
Chiang Mai night markets: your questions, answered
Which Chiang Mai night market is open every day?
The Chang Klan Night Bazaar, nightly from 18:00 to about 23:00, plus the Chang Phueak Gate and Chiang Mai Gate food stalls from around 17:00 and Malin Plaza opposite the university. The two walking streets are weekend-only: Wua Lai on Saturday, Ratchadamnoen on Sunday.
Is the Sunday Walking Street or the Saturday Walking Street better?
Sunday is bigger, with more temple-yard food courts and more handmade goods, and it is the one to choose if you can only do one. Saturday on Wua Lai is shorter, calmer and better for silver. Two-thirds of the vendors appear at both.
What time do Chiang Mai night markets close?
Officially 22:00 to midnight, depending on the market. In practice the walking streets are packing up by 22:00, the Night Bazaar pavement stalls fold around 22:30 while Kalare and Ploen Ruedee run to midnight, and the popular food carts sell out well before that. Arrive by 18:00 for the best of the food.
Is the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar worth visiting?
Once, for an hour, on a night when no walking street is running. It is convenient and mostly covered, but the goods are generic and priced at about double the walking streets. Eat at the Anusarn end, bargain hard, and do not follow anyone to a tailor.
Is Ploen Ruedee Night Market still open in 2026?
Yes, as of this writing: Monday to Saturday from 18:00 to midnight, closed on Sunday. The Chang Klan strip is being redeveloped by its corporate owner, so layouts shift without much warning. Check its Facebook page the day you plan to go, particularly for a specific band.
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Get here on the overnight train or bus from Bangkok, sleep inside the moat with Agoda’s old city listings, and if you want a local to walk you through the stalls on your first night, a Chiang Mai night tour is ฿900–1,500 well spent. Not sure Chiang Mai is even your city? Our Where to Go in Thailand matcher will tell you in ninety seconds.
