THE 1-MINUTE VERSION
Hygiene fabric softener is the number one thing to carry out of a Thai supermarket, and almost no guide mentions it. Buy the refill pouch, not the bottle — same product, a third of the weight. Big C Ratchadamri is the branch to use because it is opposite CentralWorld and connected to BTS Chit Lom by skywalk. CentralWorld is for eating and air conditioning, not for souvenirs; the identical items cost more there. And the VAT refund you have heard about almost never applies to a supermarket basket.
1. Where to actually go, and why
Big C Ratchadamri is the one. It sits directly opposite CentralWorld and connects to BTS Chit Lom by skywalk, so you can fold it into an afternoon in the malls without ever touching street level. It carries the full range and it is priced normally.
Lotus's is effectively the same shop with a different sign. If one is closer to your hotel, use it.
CentralWorld is not a souvenir destination. It is a mall with an excellent food floor, a supermarket in the basement that charges mall prices, and brand stores. Go for the food court on the sixth floor and the air conditioning. Buy your gifts next door.
The airport is the most expensive place to buy every single item on this list, by a wide margin. Only buy there for what you forgot.
The VAT refund does not do what you think
You need to spend 2,000 baht in one enrolled store on one day, and 5,000 baht in total, and the shop must display a VAT REFUND FOR TOURISTS sign. Supermarket baskets rarely qualify and convenience stores never do. Treat souvenir shopping as something to buy cheaply, not something to reclaim tax on.
2. The ranking: 20 things, rated
Rated on the gap between the Thai price and the price at home, and on whether you can get it at all. Five stars means put it in the basket now.
01Hygiene fabric softener āđāļŪāļĒีāļ★★★★★
Buy the refill pouch. This is the sleeper hit.
Intensely scented, lasts through several washes, and comes in colour-coded varieties. Thai households buy it by the crate. The refill pouch is a third of the weight of the bottle for the same liquid, which matters at the check-in desk. Warning: the scent is strong. Buy one variety first and see how you feel before committing to three.
02Vaseline lotion★★★★★
Half the price, twice the range.
Manufactured in Thailand, so the local line-up includes formulations that never reach Western shelves, at roughly half what you pay at home. Anything labelled for cooling or brightening is a Thai-market product.
03Poy-Sian inhaler āļĒāļēāļāļĄ★★★★★
Buy a dozen. They cost nothing.
Menthol nasal stick. Weighs nothing, costs nothing, and is the souvenir people come back asking for. Cheaper here than at 7-Eleven.
04Tiger Balm★★★★★
Buy both colours.
Red is warming and for muscles. White is cooling and for headaches and insect bites. Also sold as patches and roll-on sticks, which travel better than the tins.
05Zam-Buk★★★★★
The one Thai people actually carry.
A small flat green tin for insect bites. This is the standard household remedy here and it is far more effective on tropical bites than anything in a Western first aid kit.
06Doi Kham dried mango āļāļāļĒāļāļģ★★★★★
The safe choice, every time.
A royal project brand with consistent quality, stocked everywhere. Squeeze the bag — thicker slices are better. Very intense orange suggests colouring; naturally dried mango is paler. Heavy white powder means a lot of added sugar.
07Counterpain★★★★☆
Red cap warms, blue cap cools.
Muscle cream, sold everywhere, a fraction of the price of Western equivalents. The two caps do opposite things — check before you rub it on.
08Taokaenoi crispy seaweed āđāļ้āļēāđāļ่āļ้āļāļĒ★★★★☆
Buy the multipack here, not singles at 7-Eleven.
Same product, significantly cheaper in a supermarket multipack. The rolled spicy version is the good one.
09MAMA noodles, packets āļĄāļēāļĄ่āļē★★★★☆
Packets, not cups. Half the price.
Tom yum is the signature. A supermarket packet costs a fraction of the convenience store cup and tastes identical. Buy ten.
10Mae Ploy curry paste āđāļĄ่āļāļĨāļāļĒ★★★★☆
Green curry. This is the brand.
The curry paste Thai kitchens use. Green, red and massaman all come from the same brand. One tub makes a great many dinners and it survives the flight in checked baggage.
11Mae Pranom pad thai sauce āđāļĄ่āļāļĢāļ°āļāļāļĄ★★★★☆
Do not try to mix it yourself.
A pre-blended pad thai sauce that gets you 90 percent of the way there. Mixing tamarind, palm sugar and fish sauce at home is a project with a low success rate. This is not.
12Nam prik pao āļ้āļģāļāļĢิāļāđāļāļē★★★★★
The most underrated jar in the shop.
Chilli paste in oil. Stir a spoonful into tom yum and the colour and depth change completely — this is the difference between home tom yum and restaurant tom yum. Also good stirred through rice. Almost nobody takes this home and everybody should.
13ChaTraMue loose leaf tea āļāļēāļāļĢāļēāļĄืāļ★★★★☆
The orange bag. Brew it strong.
This is where the colour and flavour of Thai iced tea comes from. Cheap, light, and unavailable at most Western supermarkets.
14Twin Lotus herbal toothpaste★★★☆☆
Divisive. Buy one tube first.
The black herbal one. Some people switch permanently; some cannot get past the taste. It is cheap enough to find out.
15Dentiste toothpaste★★★★☆
Much cheaper here than at home.
A premium brand in export markets and an ordinary supermarket item in Thailand. The price gap is large.
16Sunsilk hair treatment★★★★☆
The orange tub.
Visitors clear this off the shelf and there is a reason. Thai-market formulation, very cheap, works in humidity.
17Prickly heat powder★★★★☆
Better than it sounds.
Cooling body powder in a distinctive tin. In this climate it does something no Western product does, and it costs almost nothing.
18Soffell insect repellent★★★★☆
Use it in daylight too.
The mosquitoes that carry dengue bite during the day, which surprises most visitors. Cheap, effective, available everywhere.
19Snail White cream★★★☆☆
Fine. Not the bargain people claim.
Widely hyped, genuinely popular in Thailand, but the price gap against home is smaller than for everything above. Buy it if you want it, not because it is a steal.
20Paracetamol, bottles of 100★★★★☆
A quantity you cannot buy at home.
Sold in bottles that would require a prescription or simply do not exist in many countries. Check the dosage instructions and ask the pharmacist if you take other medication.
3. CentralWorld: what it is actually for
If you are going anyway, here is the floor logic so you do not circle the same level twice.
| Floor | What is there | Worth your time |
|---|
| Basement | Tops supermarket, food court | Groceries at mall prices. Big C next door is cheaper. |
| Ground | Cosmetics, luxury, event plaza | Only if you are buying brands. |
| 2–3 | Womenswear, Zara, H&M | Same shops as home, similar prices. |
| 4 | Menswear, sportswear | Same. |
| 5 | Electronics, books | Worth a look for Thai-market gadgets. |
| 6 | Food court and restaurants | Yes. This is the best value floor. |
| 7 | Restaurants and cinema | Yes. Thai cinemas have reclining seat tiers. |
Some food courts here run a prepaid card system: load it at the entrance counter, spend it at the stalls, refund the balance on the way out. Do not walk off with a loaded card.
Step out towards the Grand Hyatt Erawan and the Erawan Shrine is right on the corner. People are actively praying there. Photographing worshippers head-on is rude. You do not need to remove your shoes, but cover your shoulders.
4. Packing this home without ruining your suitcase
Every liquid and cream goes in checked baggage. Carry-on is 100ml and they will take it off you.
Double-bag the fabric softener and the fish sauce. This is not a suggestion. One leak and every item of clothing you own smells of it for months.
Cartons and pouches beat cans and glass on both weight and survival odds. Coconut milk in a carton will not dent; a can will.
Curry paste needs refrigerating once opened and does not last as long as you expect. Check the dates.
Liquids are heavy. Budget airlines out of Bangkok often cap checked bags at 15 to 20 kilos and weigh them properly. Work out your allowance before you fill the trolley.
WHAT TO BUY FOR WHOM
One stop, gifts for everyone: Hygiene refill pouch, a handful of Poy-Sian inhalers, Taokaenoi seaweed multipack. Light, cheap, and nobody at home has any of it.
For parents: Tiger Balm, Counterpain and Zam-Buk. Unglamorous and they will actually get used.
For yourself: Vaseline, Sunsilk treatment and Dentiste. The largest price gaps on the list.
If you cook: Mae Ploy green curry paste, Mae Pranom pad thai sauce and a jar of nam prik pao. That is a functioning Thai kitchen.
Living in Thailand: detergent, toothpaste and paracetamol in the largest size available. The saving compounds.
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