At a quarter to six on the main road through White Sand Beach, a woman with a charcoal brazier the size of a shoebox starts threading pork onto bamboo. Twenty minutes later there are forty braziers along two hundred metres of pavement and a queue for the mango sticky rice. That is the closest thing to a Koh Chang night market, and it is nothing like Chiang Mai or Hua Hin: smaller, cheaper, and gone by half past ten.
The island does not really have a night market. It has five things that get called one, plus a proper night market on the mainland in Trat. Here they are, with hours, baht prices and a verdict, as of September 2026.
The short version: eat on the White Sand Beach food street between six and nine any night; do Kai Bae Walking Street if you want bars with your noodles; skip Bang Bao pier’s restaurants unless someone else is paying; and if you pass through Trat, its night market beats anything on the island for a third of the price. Our things to do in Koh Chang guide covers daylight, and Koh Chang’s beaches tells you which end of the island puts which dinner within walking distance.
Kai Bae Walking Street and its night market
Kai Bae Walking Street is a short lane off the main road at the northern end of Kai Bae village, and the name promises more than it delivers. It is twenty-odd small bars and cheap restaurants in two rows, Thai live-music places at one end and ฿80-beer expat bars at the other, open nightly all year from about 6pm until the last customer leaves, 1am in high season and 10pm in August.
The market part is where the confusion starts. For years Kai Bae ran a weekly stall market on this street, food carts and clothes, on a Thursday. Whether it still runs every Thursday in 2026 or has folded into the nightly bar trade with a few carts, we could not confirm; the island sites we trust disagree. What is certain is the December festival, when the street closes to traffic from 4pm to 9pm for ten nights around 19 to 28 December. Otherwise it is a bar street where you can also eat: pad krapao or fried rice ฿60 to ฿90, a grilled chicken leg ฿50, a Chang ฿70 to ฿90. Kai Bae is the sensible base, halfway down the west coast; Agoda’s Koh Chang listings filter to it. Verdict: do it, for a drink and a plate, not an evening.
White Sand Beach’s evening food street and beach barbecues
This is the one to plan around. Every evening from about 5pm the pavement along the main road through White Sand Beach (Hat Sai Khao) fills with carts and folding tables, and by 6.30pm it is a proper food street: pork skewers ฿10 to ฿15 a stick, chicken satay ten for ฿60, whole grilled squid ฿80 to ฿120, pad thai ฿50 to ฿70, som tam ฿50, roti ฿40 to ฿60, mango sticky rice ฿80 to ฿100 in season. All gone by 10.30pm. The stalls are island families, the customers half Thai, and everything is cooked in front of you, which answers most of the questions in our guide to whether Thai street food is safe. Nothing to buy except dinner, eaten on the kerb with motorbikes passing at elbow height.
The other White Sand Beach dinner is the beachfront barbecue: low tables on the sand along the northern half of the beach, candles in jars, the day’s catch on ice. Prawns ฿400 to ฿600 a kilo, whole snapper or sea bass ฿400 to ฿600, squid ฿250 to ฿350. Have the fish, skip the ฿1,500 lobster. Verdict: the food street is the Koh Chang night market. Do it, twice. The barbecue is a once-a-trip thing.
Klong Prao night market: the village one
Klong Prao is the long, spread-out village in the middle of the west coast, and its market, on the main road near Wat Klong Prao from late afternoon, is the most local thing here. One 2026 island source gives it as Monday to Saturday, 4pm to 9pm; older guides call it weekly, and the Wednesday in several itineraries is probably the full-size version. It trades most evenings, Wednesday is the safe bet, and reception will know. The food is the cheapest on the island: curry with rice in a bag ฿40 to ฿50, half a grilled chicken ฿70, khanom krok ฿20 a tray, and a whole barbecued fish that costs ฿450 on the beach for ฿150, in newspaper. Carry it back to the balcony like everyone else. Verdict: do it if you are staying in Klong Prao or Kai Bae. Not worth a songthaew from elsewhere.
Bang Bao pier: seafood restaurants, not a market
Bang Bao is the fishing village on stilts at the southern end of the west coast road, and its long wooden pier is on every list of Koh Chang night markets. It is not one. It is a boardwalk of souvenir shops, dive operators and half a dozen seafood restaurants over the water, busiest at lunch. By evening only the restaurants and a very good sunset are left.
The restaurants sell by weight from tanks and ice trays at the highest prices on the island: tiger prawns ฿600 to ฿900 a kilo, crab ฿500 to ฿800, a whole steamed fish ฿450 to ฿700, squid ฿300 to ฿400, lobster ฿1,800 to ฿2,500. The set menus for two at ฿1,200 to ฿1,500 are the honest way to eat here, because nothing is weighed out of your sight. Otherwise confirm weight, cooking charge and total first; as our Thailand scams guide puts it, nothing here is a crime, it is a price you did not ask about. And the last scheduled songthaew leaves around 5pm, so after dark it is ฿300 to ฿500 for a truck back. Verdict: go for the sunset, have one beer at the end of the pier, eat somewhere else.
Lonely Beach after dark: the bar strip and its food
Lonely Beach is the backpacker end, and the one place on Koh Chang where the evening is the point. The action is in the village behind the beach, a single lane of bars, tattoo studios, hostels, pop-up bars in bamboo huts, and a couple of clubs that open Friday and Saturday in high season. Beer ฿70 to ฿100, buckets ฿250 to ฿350. The food is better than it needs to be: from about 6pm the lane has carts doing ฿50 to ฿70 plates of pad krapao, khao pad and a decent khao soi, and a whole grilled fish for ฿200 to ฿250, the cheapest on the west coast after Klong Prao. Carts run to midnight in high season, 10pm in low. Verdict: do it if you are under thirty or pretending to be. Everyone else, eat here once and sleep elsewhere.
Bailan, Klong Son and the east coast: Salak Phet and Dan Mai
Bailan, the quiet bay between Lonely Beach and Bang Bao, has a small evening market that appears in some 2025 and 2026 listings and none from before: a handful of food stalls by the village, some evenings in high season, nothing to plan a night around. Klong Son, the first village after the ferry pier, has a daily fresh market from dawn and a weekly market reported as Thursday afternoon into the evening, a Thai talat nat of clothes, plastic goods and food carts; we would check before crossing the island for it. Dan Mai, the administrative village, and Salak Phet, the fishing village on the big southern bay, have morning fresh markets and noodle shops that carry on into the early evening, and Salak Phet’s restaurants over the water sell the same crab and prawns as Bang Bao at half to two-thirds of the price, closing by 9pm. Neither has a night market; what they have is a ฿60 bowl of noodles on a pier at sunset with nobody else there.
Trat night market on the mainland: the honest comparison
The best night market within reach of Koh Chang is not on Koh Chang. It is in Trat town, twenty minutes from the ferry piers and an hour from the beaches including the crossing, a couple of minutes’ walk north of the covered day market in the town centre, under a bilingual overhead sign. The street sells produce until late morning and reopens with food stalls from about 3pm until 10pm every night; on Saturday evenings it becomes a walking street with handmade goods alongside the food. It is cheap in a way the island cannot be, because nothing has crossed the water: massaman, green and jungle curry in bags at ฿20 to ฿30, grilled catfish, tilapia and snapper at ฿60 to ฿100 a fish, prawns with morning glory ฿60, son-in-law eggs ฿20, a ฿60 beer from the corner shop. Some maps refer to a Rakhang night market in Trat with Wednesday and Thursday dates; we could not tie that name to this market or a separate one, so go by “night market, town centre” and the sign. The Trat travel guide covers the town and the Trat province page the other islands. Verdict: do it. The best meal in this guide and the cheapest.
Koh Chang night markets by day of the week
Two things to read the table with. First, songthaews, the shared pick-ups that are the island’s only public transport. They run hourly from Bang Bao between 7am and 5pm and on demand after that, ฿50 to ฿100 a head by day between the west-coast beaches. After dark an empty truck flagged down is a private hire with a two-person minimum, so a solo passenger pays double, and after 10pm every fare carries a ฿50 surcharge. In practice a night ride between beaches is ฿100 to ฿150 a head, or ฿300 to ฿500 for the truck if you are the only fare. Get a driver’s number on day one.
Second, the season. Everything above describes November to April. From May to October the food street thins to half its carts, Kai Bae and Lonely Beach lose most of their bars, Bailan’s market may not appear, and the village markets carry on as before. Getting to the island is on 12Go, minivan and ferry from Bangkok in about six hours, and GetYourGuide’s Koh Chang evening options are mostly sunset cruises with a seafood dinner aboard at ฿1,200 to ฿1,800, the island’s substitute for a night market.
| Day | Where | Hours | What for | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Every night | White Sand Beach food street | 5pm–10.30pm | ฿50–80 plates; the real night market | Do it, twice |
| Every night | White Sand Beach barbecues | 6pm–10pm | Seafood on the sand, ฿400–600/kg prawns | Once, for the fish |
| Every night | Kai Bae Walking Street | 6pm–late | Bars, ฿60–90 plates; Thursday stall market unconfirmed | Do it, for a drink |
| Mon–Sat (Wed the big one) | Klong Prao market | 4pm–9pm | ฿40–50 curry bags, ฿150 grilled fish | Do it if nearby |
| Every night | Lonely Beach lane | 6pm–midnight (10pm low season) | Bars, buckets, ฿50–70 plates | Do it if under thirty |
| Every night | Bang Bao pier restaurants | 11am–10pm | Seafood by the kilo; not a market | Sunset beer, eat elsewhere |
| Some nights, high season | Bailan roadside stalls | From about 6pm | A few food carts | Only if staying there |
| Thursday (reported) | Klong Son weekly market | Afternoon–evening | Talat nat: clothes, plastic, food carts | Do it, if it is on |
| Daily, mornings | Dan Mai and Salak Phet | Dawn–early evening | Fresh markets, cheap seafood | Detour for the noodles |
| Every night (walking street Sat) | Trat town night market | 3pm–10pm | ฿20–30 curries, ฿60–100 grilled fish | Do it; the best of the lot |
| 19–28 December | Kai Bae Walking Street Festival | 4pm–9pm | Road closed, food, beer tent, Thai music | Do it if you are there |
Three evenings, then: the White Sand Beach food street; a Klong Prao carry-out on the balcony; the Bang Bao sunset with a truck arranged, then dinner in Kai Bae. A fourth night goes to Trat. For the proper ones, see our Chiang Mai night markets, Koh Samui night markets and Hua Hin night market guides, and check any island price against the Thailand price index.
Koh Chang night markets: your questions, answered
Is there a night market on Koh Chang every day?
Yes, in the sense that the evening food street on the main road through White Sand Beach trades every night from about 5pm to 10.30pm, all year, with fewer stalls from May to October. It is a food street rather than a full market: ฿50 to ฿80 plates, skewers and desserts, nothing much to buy.
What day is the Kai Bae night market?
Kai Bae Walking Street’s bars and restaurants open every night. The weekly stall market on the same street was historically a Thursday, and as of September 2026 we could not confirm whether it still runs weekly. The one certainty is the Walking Street Festival, when the road closes 4pm to 9pm for ten nights around 19 to 28 December.
Is Bang Bao pier a night market?
No. Bang Bao pier is a boardwalk of souvenir shops, dive operators and seafood restaurants on stilts, busiest at lunchtime. In the evening only the restaurants stay open, selling seafood by weight at the island’s highest prices, ฿600 to ฿900 a kilo for prawns. Go for the sunset and a beer, and budget ฿300 to ฿500 for a private truck back.
How much does seafood cost on Koh Chang?
By weight at the beach barbecues and Bang Bao: prawns ฿400 to ฿900 a kilo, squid ฿250 to ฿400, crab ฿500 to ฿800, a whole grilled fish ฿400 to ฿700, lobster ฿1,500 to ฿2,500. Klong Prao market sells a whole barbecued fish for about ฿150. Confirm weight, cooking charge and total before it goes on the grill.
How do I get between beaches at night on Koh Chang?
Songthaews run to a loose hourly timetable until about 5pm and on demand after that. After dark an empty truck is a private hire with a two-person minimum, so a solo passenger pays double, and after 10pm there is a ฿50 surcharge per journey. Expect ฿100 to ฿150 a head between west-coast beaches, or ฿300 to ฿500 for the whole truck.
Related guides
- Bangkok to Koh Chang: bus, minivan, ferry and what they cost
- Koh Mak: the quiet island next door
- Bangkok street food: what to eat and where to find it
Book the trip
Some links in this guide are affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you — it helps keep Destination Thailand independent.
A room at the northern end of White Sand Beach or in Kai Bae puts dinner on foot and saves the night songthaew; compare them on Agoda’s Koh Chang page. Minivan-and-ferry tickets from Bangkok are on 12Go, and GetYourGuide’s Koh Chang sunset dinner cruises are the island’s answer to a night market. Not sure Koh Chang is the right island for you? Our Where to Go in Thailand matcher will tell you in about a minute.
