A wealth of shopping opportunities await visitors, and bargains abound throughout the Country in traditional handicrafts, textiles, gems, jewelry and antiques, as well as more contemporary items. But it isn’t only the variety of creatively designed and meticulously crafted products that so captivates the traveler. The shopping experience itself is a pleasure in its own right as one explores from upscale shopping malls and department stores to high streets and back streets and bustling markets.

What’s more, frequent promotions involving definitively Thai variations on myriad product themes hold out the prospect of acquiring a better selection for a lower outlay. And to top it all, foreign visitors to Thailand can often look forward to receiving a further price reduction in the form of a healthy tax refund on department; the perfect way to round off a memorable stay.

As part of the year-end shopping celebrations, TAT, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, and members of the private sector representing hotels, department stores, shopping malls and other business interests around Bangkok’s famous Ratchaprasong Intersection have joined hands to make the area a colorful shopping street with bright, fresh and fun look decorations.

There are shopping discounts, special offers and festive celebrations as well as leisure and entertainment extravaganza held throughout the period. The highlight is the “Bangkok Countdown” held in front of the Central World Plaza on New Year’s Eve in which Thai and foreign visitors gather and join the rest of the world in welcoming the New Year.

The harsh lines of the buildings are softened with trees, plants, landscaping, and a touch of Thai to make the area aesthetically appealing. All electrical wiring is buried underground. Street furniture and new lighting are installed and sidewalks smoothly paved with all the shopping malls in and around the intersection linked by covered elevated walkways.