The market that folds up for a train

Every few hours, this market folds up for a train. This is Maeklong, about 70 kilometres from Bangkok, where the stalls sit right on the railway. When a train comes, awnings swing back and umbrellas fold, and it rolls through, inches from the stalls. Then the canopies go back up, as if the tracks weren't there. Its Thai name is Talat Rom Hup: the market of folding umbrellas. Four trains a day come in, and four go back out. We tell you everything you need to know about Bangkok. Follow for more!

At the Maeklong market in Samut Songkhram, about 70 km from Bangkok, the stalls sit on the railway. When a train comes, traders fold their umbrellas and pull back their awnings, then put them back once it has passed. Four trains a day come in and four go out.

• The Maeklong market in Samut Songkhram, about 70 km from Bangkok, lines the last stretch of the Maeklong Railway before Maeklong station, and the train runs within inches of its stalls (Seat61, updated 1 October 2026; TAT, 2017).
• When a train comes, traders pull back their awnings and fold their umbrellas, and put everything back once it has passed (Seat61).
• Its Thai name is Talat Rom Hup (ตลาดร่มหุบ): talat is a market, rom an umbrella, and hup means folding up something spread out, as you fold an umbrella (TAT, 2017; the official Thai dictionary).
• As of October 2026, four trains a day run each way between Ban Laem and Maeklong, about an hour each way: they leave Ban Laem at 07:30, 10:10, 13:30 and 16:40, and leave Maeklong at 06:20, 09:00, 11:30 and 15:30 (Seat61). Check before you go.
• From Bangkok by rail it is two lines and a ferry: Wongwian Yai to Mahachai, a few minutes by boat across the Tha Chin river, then Ban Laem to Maeklong (Seat61). By road, TAT calls it a nearly two-hour drive (TAT, 2020).

Walk the Soi · as of October 2026
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Sources:
– Seat61: Train travel in Thailand – Bangkok to Samut Songkhram, the market train (page last updated 1 October 2026): https://www.seat61.com/Thailand.htm
– TAT Newsroom (23 October 2017): Thailand's 12 hidden gems a treasure trove of Thai local experiences: https://www.tatnews.org/2017/10/thailands-12-hidden-gems-treasure-trove-thai-local-experiences/
– TAT Newsroom (March 2019): Training in Thailand: https://www.tatnews.org/2019/03/training-in-thailand/
– TAT Newsroom (August 2020): Samut Songkhram's small size belies its rich attractions: https://www.tatnews.org/2020/08/samut-songkhrams-small-size-belies-its-rich-attractions/
– Thai dictionary, Office of the Royal Society: entries หุบ, ร่ม and ตลาด: https://dictionary.orst.go.th/

Facts and sources: https://soibysoi.com/episodes/the-market-that-folds-up-for-a-train

Train times as of October 2026; check before you go. Drawings not to scale.
General information. Rules, prices and opening hours change: check them before you go.
All music and sound are original, made for the channel.
The narrator’s voice is AI-generated.

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