Complete Guide to the Prachuap Khiri Khan Weekend Market
Every weekend, sleepy Prachuap Khiri Khan transforms for two nights into a bustling market town full of people, shopping, and FOOD! We love this market and come here every time we’re in town. Seriously, nothing beats strolling past stall after stall, breathing in the incredible aromas of hundreds of local foods, picking out your favorites, and eating them while sitting on the sea wall with waves crashing behind you.
Basic Details:
When: Friday and Saturday nights, officially from 5 PM to 11 PM. On quiet nights, though, the market starts closing around 9 PM, so don’t count on going too late.
Where: along the waterfront in downtown Prachuap Khiri Khan. Walk to the pier and you can’t miss it!
If you’re here during the week and this amazing weekend market isn’t going on, but you’re still craving street food and a market atmosphere, head to the night market on the way to the train station.
Prices:
Prices are incredibly reasonable, especially by Western standards. Most individual items (a sausage skewer, a bag of deep-fried sweet potato puffs, a baseball-sized fried rice ball) are anywhere from 10 to 30 baht, or $0.33 to $1 USD for a snack-sized portion. Larger dishes are typically around 30 baht ($1 USD) and up.
General Food Style:
Most of the food available here is snack-style relatively small bites. Think chicken skewers, fried fish balls, and similar three- to five-bite items. You can buy what you want, then take a seat on the sea wall a few steps away to eat it before going on to the next snack.
You’ll find a couple of stalls that serve larger meal-sized portions and have tables and chairs, but they’re definitely in the minority here. Instead, we recommend going along with the spirit of the market by trying snack-sized portions of a bunch of different amazing foods!
Recommended Dishes:
Our recommended dishes are hard to pick, because just about everything we’ve had here has been amazing! With that said, some of our particular favorites include the vermicelli sausage, the khanom khrok (custardy coconut pancakes), and the khanom khai nok krata (deep-fried sweet potato balls). We also love to finish off the night with a blended coconut smoothie to sip as we walk back to our hotel.
Khanom Khai Nok Krata at the Prachuap Khiri Khan Weekend Market
Shopping:
We come here almost exclusively for the food, but you can do other shopping as well if you want! You’ll find everything from toys and souvenirs to clothes and shoes. While I don’t shop much since we tend to travel light, I got a beautiful pair of full-length cotton pants here from the very last stall to the south. If you’re looking for colorful Thai-style clothes that are less touristy than the typical clingy elephant-patterned pants, definitely check this stall out. My pants were 350 baht (about $11.50 USD) and well worth the price.
Overall Geography:
The northern end of the market is mostly for shopping, although there are a handful of food stalls mixed in, especially at the very north.
The north-central part of the market, immediately north of the pier, is focused pretty exclusively on food (and this is where we find most of our favorite dishes).
The south-central part of the market, immediately south of the pier, also focuses on food! You can find some great treats here, but for some reason, we tend to have better luck in the north-central section overall.
The far south end of the market has maybe two or three shopping stalls at the very end, after all the food stalls.
Photography Etiquette:
If you couldn’t tell by now, we love taking pictures at this amazing market! And once you see the incredible food on display, we think you’ll want pictures, too.
In general, the vendors here are very open to pictures of themselves and their booths. But please be polite and ask before taking pictures! This is as simple as smiling at the vendor and gesturing to your camera, then waiting for a nod of approval before you start shooting. (We’ve never been refused here, but I promise you that this extra step of asking gets a better reception than if you just walk up and start shooting. Remember, these people are hard at work, so act the way you would want to be treated if a curious tourist came to your office and wanted pictures of you.)
If you take more than one or two pictures at a stall, especially if the vendor was particularly helpful in facilitating good shots, buy something from them! This helps build a positive relationship instead of one where you’re just taking without giving, and you might discover an incredible new food that you love.