Hat Yai is the biggest commercial city in southern Thailand, and the top food-and-shopping crossing for Malaysian and Singaporean visitors. This guide walks four markets, tells you straight which one is biggest, which is best for souvenirs, and which only opens at weekends — plus the southern Thai dishes you shouldn't miss, with real prices.
Picture this: a Saturday evening in Hat Yai, Malaysian licence plates parked along the kerb, families wheeling big suitcases into the Greenway night market, the smell of Hat Yai fried chicken and steaming dim sum rolling out. Stalls of roasted nuts, Chinese-style pastries and dried fruit line up in rows, and people queue to fill big bags of souvenirs to take home. This is after-dark Hat Yai — the city that shoppers from Penang and Singapore cross the border for every weekend.
Hat Yai doesn't have just one market, and each one does something different and opens on different days — the biggest runs most evenings, the souvenir market runs daytime into the evening, and the floating market only opens at weekends. The heroes here are Chinese-southern Thai food, Hat Yai fried chicken, dim sum, and the souvenirs people take home by the bagful. We take you to four main markets, ordered from the biggest night market, to the indoor souvenir market in the centre, and finally the floating market out of town that sells genuine southern Thai food — with honest notes on which opens when, which is worth it, and where to compare prices. To get to know the whole city, read our Hat Yai travel guide alongside this.
Ordered from the biggest night market, to the downtown souvenir market, then the weekend floating market out of town
This is the heart of grazing and shopping after dark in Hat Yai — the city's biggest night market, which many call the ASEAN Trade Night Bazaar. It opens in the evening most nights and is busiest on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, when Malaysian and Singaporean visitors fill it out. There are a long food zone, a clothes-shoes-bags zone, and a souvenir zone, so you can do everything in one place.
What to look for: Hat Yai fried chicken, crisp-skinned and topped with fried shallots · hot steamed dim sum · grilled skewers, pad thai, chicken rice and punchy southern dishes, with sweets and fresh juice to finish. The clothes and souvenir zones suit anyone shopping to take home by the bagful — though, honestly, the clothes and bags are market-grade, so choose carefully and be ready to bargain.
If you're buying souvenirs to take home, Kim Yong Market is the first stop — a historic indoor market in the centre where Hat Yai locals and Malaysian and Singaporean visitors have shopped for dried goods for years. It runs from daytime well into the evening, an indoor market hall you can browse out of the heat, leaning towards dried-goods souvenirs rather than a sit-down food market.
What people take home most: roasted nuts, cashews and baked snacks · dried and preserved fruit · cosmetics and imported dried goods · Chinese-style pastries and local sweets. You can browse the whole market, then walk straight on to the nearby Santisuk and Plaza Market area.
The Santisuk and Plaza Market area sits right in the centre next to Kim Yong, an easy walk on in the same district, leaning towards a mix of food and souvenirs. The mood is the lanes of a working town market that Hat Yai locals genuinely use — good for anyone who wants to graze single-plate Chinese-southern dishes, then shop for souvenirs in the same trip.
The food covers chicken rice, noodles, dim sum, bak kut teh and grills, plus the town's old sweet shops — easy to wander once and decide. Pair it with Kim Yong from late morning into the afternoon and you can walk both back-to-back, since they're close, before heading to the Greenway night market in the evening.
Not every Hat Yai market is in town — Khlong Hae is a floating market where vendors paddle boats selling food along the canal. It's in Khlong Hae sub-district, about 8–10 km out of the centre, and opens Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings only. The mood is clearly different from the town markets: you walk the canalside, watch the boats sell their food, and sit and eat by the water in the evening.
The draw is southern Thai food and local sweets that are harder to find in the town centre — southern khanom jeen, grills, old-style Thai sweets and punchy southern dishes, at easy-going prices. You can graze the lot in one round. It suits anyone who wants to see a floating market and genuine southern food more than shop for souvenirs.
Found across all four markets above — just point and order, or point and buy
A sample weekend route from midday to evening — adjust to your appetite and souvenir budget