Food & drink · 13 October 2026 · 9 min read
Chiang Mai's big daytime market by the river: what is in each building, what to eat, and how to fit it into a morning.
Warorot Market, known locally as Kad Luang, is Chiang Mai's big daytime market: a multi-storey hall on Wichayanon Road, between the old city and the Ping, the river that runs through the city. The ground floor sells northern specialities by weight, mostly to take away; the floors above sell clothing, fabric and household goods, and there is a food court upstairs. Around it, the streets of the city's Chinese quarter are lined with shops selling tea, dried goods and gold. A market has stood on this site since around 1910; the present building went up after a fire in 1968.
Come in the morning or at lunchtime to taste northern food, look at textiles and kitchenware, and walk through the flower and produce markets next door. This guide covers what is in the building and around it, what to eat, when to come and how to get there.
| Names | Warorot Market (ตลาดวโรรส), known locally as Kad Luang (กาดหลวง). The market's own signs now spell it Waroros. |
|---|---|
| Where | Wichayanon Road, in the Chinatown streets between the east side of the old city and the Ping River. About 1.3 km on foot from Tha Phae Gate, 15 to 20 minutes. |
| Opening hours | Daily, from early morning to late afternoon. Published hours differ, mostly between 5 or 6 am and about 6 pm, and each shop keeps its own. |
| Best time (our advice) | Morning, before the midday heat. Weekday mornings are calmer than weekends. |
| Time to allow | About an hour for the main building; two to three hours with Ton Lam Yai, the flower market and the streets around. |
| Type of visit | A working market, free to enter. Mostly cash, mostly food to take away, with a food court upstairs for a seated meal. |
Warorot is the name of one building; Kad Luang is what most people call it. Kad is the northern Thai word for market, and luang means great, and can also mean royal, which fits a market founded by the ruling family. In everyday use the name often stretches to the whole cluster around it: Ton Lam Yai across the road, the flower market on the riverbank and the stalls in the streets between them.
The market was built around 1910 on Khuang Meru, the ground where Chiang Mai's ruling family had cremated its dead. Thai sources credit Princess Dara Rasmi with moving the royal remains to the Wat Suan Dok area and building a market on the site. It was named after her half-brother, Chao Inthawarorot Suriyawong, ruler of Chiang Mai. Accounts differ on who paid for what; they agree on the site, the period and the name.
The location follows the river. Before roads and railways, goods reached Chiang Mai by boat and raft, and trade settled on the bank outside the walls. The streets around the market became the city's Chinese quarter, built largely by Chinese merchant families, many of them from the Teochew (Chaozhou) region of southern China, alongside Sikh cloth traders, and that is still the district you walk through.
The building you see is not the first one. On 13 February 1968 a fire that spread from neighbouring Ton Lam Yai destroyed Warorot, and the rebuilt market reopened on 19 March 1972. It is run today by a company owned by a local merchant family, which has resurfaced the floors, improved ventilation and toilets, and in October 2025 replaced an escalator that had been out of use for close to fifty years. The river still sets the limits: when the Ping reached a record 5.30 metres on 5 October 2024, Warorot was one of the first places in the centre to flood.
Why the city's trade grew on the riverbank and not inside the walls
Warorot anchors a small district of markets, and on the ground the line between them is easy to miss. Shops move and floors get rearranged, so read what follows as what each space is mainly for, not as a floor plan.
One detail saves confusion upstairs: Thai signs count the ground floor as floor 1, so floor 2 on a sign is the first floor up from the street.
Inside, expect stairs. The escalator goes only to floor 2 (the first floor up), and we could not confirm that there is a lift, so plan for steps if you use a wheelchair or a pushchair. Aisles are narrow and crowded at busy times; a baby carrier is easier than a pushchair.
The ground floor is food: northern sausage, chilli relishes, pork crackling, dried fruit, snacks and dried goods, with fresh produce at the edges. The floors above are mostly clothing, fabric sold by the metre, hill-tribe and indigo clothing, tailors, bags and household goods. Floor 2, as the signs count it, also has a food court. Since October 2025 an escalator runs from the ground floor to that floor; elsewhere, it is stairs.
A separate market, where the 1968 fire started. It leans further towards everyday shopping: fresh produce and a wet market below, clothing and souvenirs above. It is a road crossing away from Warorot.
Cut flowers, marigold and jasmine garlands, and the arrangements bought as offerings for temples and spirit houses, the small shrines that stand outside homes and shops. It trades from early morning into the evening; travel guides describe the outdoor stalls here as open around the clock, which we could not confirm with the market. It is busiest before festivals such as Loy Krathong, the November festival of lights.
A narrow, covered lane of textile stalls: embroidered skirts, batik, indigo hemp, and pieces made by the Hmong and Akha hill peoples, some new and some old. It is cramped and dim, and easy to walk past without noticing.
Shophouses (shop downstairs, home upstairs) selling tea, dried goods and household wares, gold shops, and a red Chinese arch across Chang Moi Road that marks the Chinatown district. In the evening, after the indoor market closes, stalls selling fruit and snacks set up on the street between Warorot and Ton Lam Yai.
The ground floor is where the food is: northern specialities sold by weight and bagged to carry home. To eat sitting down, go up to the food court. Here is what to look for downstairs.
Sai ua. The northern sausage: a thick brown coil, flecked with green herbs and red chilli, grilled and sold by weight. Several ground-floor stalls sell it, including stalls named in Thai press reports, such as Damrong, Pa Sai and Pa Yon. It is best warm, sliced, with sticky rice, and you can usually buy a small piece if you only want a taste.
Nam prik num. A pale green relish of grilled young chillies, shallots and garlic, sold in bags and tubs, usually next to the sausage. It is eaten with raw or steamed vegetables, sticky rice and pork crackling, not poured like a sauce. Some batches are very hot, so ask before you buy a tub.
Khaep mu. Northern pork crackling, puffed and sold in large bags, some pieces with a layer of fat still attached. It is the classic partner for nam prik num, and the easiest of the three to carry home.
Dried fruit and fruit crisps. Dried longan, mango, and durian and mangosteen crisps fill many of the stalls. In 2023, Thai PBS reported that many shops which once sold naem (fermented pork), moo yor (a pork sausage) and pork crackling had switched to dried fruit, popular with foreign visitors, Chinese tourists especially.
In the evening, when Warorot is closed, the food markets at the old city gates are the place to eat northern food sitting down.
Sai ua and four other northern dishes, explained
Why northern food tastes salty, bitter and grilled
Beyond food, Warorot sells fabric, everyday clothing, kitchen goods and produce from the northern hills.
Fabric and textiles. Cotton and batik by the metre, indigo-dyed clothing, and embroidered hill-tribe pieces, upstairs and in the textile lane. Tailors upstairs make clothes to measure; ask how long it will take before you commit, especially on a short stay.
Kitchen and household goods. Woven sticky-rice baskets, wooden cups, pots and the small tools of a northern kitchen.
Tea, coffee and dry goods. Arabica coffee and tea from the northern hills, dried chillies, herbs and dried shrimp, in the shophouses around the market and in Ton Lam Yai.
Flowers and offerings. Garlands and arrangements from the flower market, bought by locals for temples, spirit houses and ceremonies.
On bargaining, keep it light. Food is priced by weight or by the bag, and haggling over it is not expected. On clothing and textiles, especially for several pieces, asking politely whether there is a better price is normal; take the answer as it comes. Bring cash in small notes.
No one publishes a single timetable for the district, and the listings below disagree by an hour or two at each end. They agree on the outline: Warorot is a daytime market that opens early and winds down in the late afternoon, and the spaces around it keep different hours.
Our advice is to come in the morning. The food stalls are fully set out, the aisles are cooler than they will be after noon, and you can be finished before the heat peaks. Weekend mornings bring more local shoppers. In the late afternoon, some shops are already closing.
Local traders name November to February as the busy season for visitors. In the rainy season, remember that this district sits on the riverbank: on 5 October 2024 the Ping's flood put Warorot under water.
| Space | Hours, as published | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Warorot (Kad Luang) | Daily, early morning to late afternoon (listed from 5 or 6 am to about 6 pm) | Northern food, textiles |
| Ton Lam Yai | Indoor hall roughly like Warorot; outdoor stalls described as open around the clock | Produce, clothing |
| The flower market | Early morning into the evening; often listed as 24 hours, not confirmed | Garlands and offerings |
| The textile lane | Daytime; no published hours | Textiles, hill-tribe pieces |
| Evening street stalls | Evenings, about 6.30 to 10 pm in a 2022 guide | Fruit and snacks to take away |
For the evening: which night market suits you
The weather month by month, rainy season included
From the old city. Walk. From Tha Phae Gate it is about 1.3 km, 15 to 20 minutes on foot: east along Tha Phae Road almost to the river, then left into Wichayanon Road.
From the Night Bazaar. Start at the junction of Chang Klan Road and Loi Kroh Road, in the middle of the Night Bazaar, and walk north along Chang Klan Road, which becomes Wichayanon Road: about 750 metres, 10 to 15 minutes. From the southern end of the Night Bazaar, allow longer.
From Nimman or the west of the city. It is close to four kilometres, so take a ride-hailing car through Grab or Bolt, or a red songthaew, one of the shared pickup taxis that run around town, and ask for Kad Luang or Warorot.
By car or scooter. Parking is scarce in the narrow streets around the market, and traffic is slow in the morning. Leave the vehicle further away, or come by Grab.
Some songthaews to towns outside the city leave from Warorot; these are painted other colours, blue for Lamphun or white for San Kamphaeng, according to a 2024 guide. Routes and stopping points change, so ask at the market rather than relying on a printed list. Walking distances on this page were measured along streets on OpenStreetMap.
Songthaews, Grab and fares around town
Warorot and the markets, on the map
Mae Kampong by shared van from Warorot
The market and its neighbours fit into a loop of two hours or so at an easy pace.
1. Warorot. Start on the ground floor with the food, then go up to the fabric floors.
2. Ton Lam Yai. Cross Wichayanon Road to the second market, for produce and everyday shopping.
3. The flower market. Continue to Praisani Road and the riverbank, behind Ton Lam Yai.
4. The riverbank shrine. Pung Thao Kong, by the Ping near the market, which the Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre describes as the first city-pillar shrine (the seat of the city's guardian spirit) built by Chiang Mai's Chinese community.
5. The textile lane. Come back to the southwest corner of Warorot, through Lao Jow lane.
6. Chang Moi Road. Finish under the red Chinese arch, among the shophouses selling tea and dried goods.
With more time, cross the river to Wat Ket, a few hundred metres away on the east bank.
Riverside and Wat Ket, as a neighbourhood
Read nextLanna food: five dishes to eat before you leave ▸
Read nextHow Chiang Mai eats: the day from morning market to evening stall ▸
We checked each fact against the publications below in October 2026. Opening hours come from travel listings, as we found no official timetable; prices are left out, as no dated, reliable list exists.
All four photos were resized, and a WebP copy was added; they are otherwise unaltered.
A day market. The main building opens early in the morning and winds down in the late afternoon. In the evening, the indoor market is closed; stalls selling fruit and snacks set up on the street outside, and the flower market is usually still trading, though we could not confirm reports that it never closes.
Warorot is a daytime market: northern food to take away, fabric, household goods and a food court upstairs. The Night Bazaar, about 750 metres away on foot from its central junction (Chang Klan and Loi Kroh roads), is an evening market of souvenirs and clothing. They are close enough to combine, but they open at opposite times of day.
Yes, but most of the food is sold to take away: northern sausage, chilli relishes, pork crackling and dried fruit. To eat sitting down, go up to the food court.
For a short visit, yes. The ground floor has plenty to look at and taste. The aisles are narrow and crowded at busy times, the escalator covers only one floor and we could not confirm a lift, so a pushchair is hard to use; a baby carrier is easier.
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