Private Tour: Damnoen Saduak Floating Market and Bangkok City Temples

Experience the best of Thai city and country life on this diverse full-day tour led by a private local guide. After pickup at your Bangkok hotel in the morning, travel in an air-conditioned minivan through the sprawling city suburbs and into the beautiful countryside characterized by rice patties, salt fields and plantations. Along the way, learn about Thailand's agricultural industry with a visit to a farmhouse, where you can watch workers extract coconut sugar.

Midmorning, arrive at the famous Damnoen Saduak floating market, located southwest of the capital in Ratchaburi province. Take in the colorful scene of vendors hawking fresh produce and specialty goods out of traditional wooden boats that crowd a historic canal system. Learn about the background of this ‘Venice of the East,’ and get tips on bargaining and buying if you’d like to make any purchases. On the return trip to Bangkok, enjoy a typical Thai lunch and stop at a wood-carving factory for insight into the local crafts industry.

Back in the capital, make the most of your afternoon by visiting three of the city’s most important temples (wats). At the Grand Palace, marvel at the magnificent 151-feet (46-meter) reclining buddha of Wat Pho, see the world’s largest solid gold sitting buddha at Wat Traimit and admire the ornate red-and-gold tiered roof and Carrara Italian marble columns of Wat Benchamabophit. See some of Bangkok's distinctive neighborhoods while traveling between sites, and learn all about the history behind these spectacular places of worship.