Built around a weekend, because Chatuchak is a weekend market and everything else flexes around it.

Day 1 — Saturday: Chatuchak and Bang Sue

06:00 — MRT Kamphaeng Phet Exit 2. Chatuchak Sections 2–6 while it is cool and the stock is untouched. Cash in small notes.

09:30 — Sections 22–26, the denser older end.

11:30 — Food, water, reassess.

12:30 — Walk to Bang Sue Junction. Floors 3 and 4, in air conditioning, for the next two hours. If it is Friday to Sunday, also do Chatuchak Playground in the same building.

16:00 — Back into Chatuchak for the discount hour if you have anything left in you.

Evening — The Camp Vintage Flea Market on Kamphaeng Phet Soi 1, open until midnight.

Day 2 — Sunday: the kilo shops and the rummage floor

11:00 — Shinjuku Outlet, Lat Phrao. ฿39 per 100 g. Go in with a category. Outerwear and tailoring are the arbitrage.

14:00 — Pattavikorn Market on Soi Nawamin, MRT Pink Line to Ram Inthra KM 9. ฿5 piles, ฿60–80 curated rails, and a 5 kg mystery bag for ฿100 to test your eye.

17:00 — Talad Rot Fai Srinakarin, Thursday to Sunday, opens at five and is at its best around nine. The deepest antiques and collectibles market in Bangkok — cameras, vinyl, tin toys, Bakelite radios. Rod's Antiques at the back is a different price league.

Day 3 — Monday: the curated end and one warehouse

Morning — Warehouse 30 on Charoen Krung Soi 30. Horse Unit for 1950s–60s US and European military, Woot Woot for tees, denim and military-inspired clothing. Note Woot Woot is closed Wednesdays and Horse Unit Mondays, so check before you commit this slot.

Arrive by Chao Phraya Express to Si Phraya Pier rather than the MRT. It is a better approach and it costs nothing.

Lunch — Bang Rak.

Afternoon — Either:

  • Ekkamai and Thonglor for the curated and expensive end: (un)FASHION for 1930s–70s Italian leather, Workmanship General Store for American industrial, the Ekkamai Soi 21 furniture strip, The Vintage Store for luxury; or
  • Update Station, Lat Krabang if you are buying volume. Minimum one sack, over 400 lines, Monday to Saturday 09:00–17:30. Arrange transport.

Evening — Khlong Thom in Chinatown for vintage watches, cameras and electronics, MRT Sam Yot. Cash, small notes, almost no English.

If you have a fourth day

Rong Kluea at the Cambodian border. Leave at five, four hours each way, be back by evening. Only worth it if you are buying by the sack and have transport arranged.

What to carry

Cash in mixed denominations. Water. A bag you can carry loaded. A phone with offline maps. And a category you are hunting, because Bangkok will happily sell you four days of things you half-want.