Visiting the Bangkok International Exotic Plant Show, a first-timer's guide
I've been wanting to visit the Bangkok International Exotic Plant Show for a few years now, and I finally got to go this year with my friend Ana. I first heard about the show through Only Plants on YouTube, and that kind of sparked it for me to want to go and see it. Ana and I started talking about it more seriously late last year, and ended up booking everything in spring. The flights were unfortunately a lot more expensive than they normally would have been because of the war, but it still felt worth it.
It was honestly one of the most exciting plant experiences I've ever had, so I thought I'd write down some thoughts on the show itself and how it all works, in case it's helpful for anyone thinking about going themselves.
This post covers the show, the practical side, and what to expect. The actual grower visits we did and the shipping side are getting their own posts, so I won't really go into either of those here.
What the show is and where it's held
The full name is the Bangkok International Exotic Plant Show and Sale. The edition we visited was the 21st, and apparently they've been running for a few years now and keep adding more shows per year. There are something like six or eight per year now, so they happen pretty often. The dates for each one are listed on their Facebook page, which is also the best place to see which sellers are going to be at each one.
The show is held at Central Chaengwattana, which is a mall, and the actual show is on the 5th floor in a hall at the other end of the building. It's easy to find once you're inside, just follow the signs. But the mall itself is not in central Bangkok at all. Depending on traffic, getting there from the city center can take about an hour, so if you're going mostly for the show, I'd really recommend staying somewhere close to the mall rather than in the tourist center.
If you're also planning to do tourist things in Bangkok, it might even be worth thinking about staying in two different places, because the traffic between the show area and the central tourist parts of the city can really eat into your day.
There's no entry fee. The booths are pretty costly to rent for sellers, so the show stays free for visitors.
Booking and timing
We booked our flights in spring, which felt late and was reflected in the price. For the hotel I actually booked less than a week in advance, because June is low season in Bangkok, and I got a really good deal on a hotel close to the mall. So depending on when you go, hotels can be pretty flexible.
When to go: which day is best
The show runs Thursday through Sunday. Thursday is technically setup day, but you can still walk in, and the advice we got was to go early afternoon on Thursday. That turned out to be exactly right.
Thursday is when most sellers are unpacking and putting their plants out, and a lot of the people who came to the show as sellers themselves are also there to buy. So if you want first pick of the best plants, Thursday afternoon is the day. We arrived around one o'clock and stayed until seven in the evening, and that was when we did the most damage to our wallets.
Friday was more chill. By then we'd done our big purchases, and the day was mostly walking around again, just taking everything in. It's kind of crazy being surrounded by all these plants you normally only see on Instagram, and you can't really take it all in at once, so going on multiple days really helps and you keep spotting new plants as you walk around.
Saturday is when the prices start to get more flexible. A lot of sellers don't want to fly back with the plants, or take them all the way back to their greenhouses, so they get more open to negotiating. We didn't end up going on Sunday at all, so I can't really speak to that day.
Planning before you go
The Facebook page lists the sellers who are going to be at each show. I'd really recommend going through that list a week or two before, looking each seller up on Instagram or Facebook, and getting a sense of what they grow. A lot of sellers do pre-sales for the show too, which you can usually see on their stories or feeds.
If you see something specific you want, message the seller before. You can ask what they're planning to bring, see their pricing, and sometimes get a slightly better deal because they know the plant is already sold and don't have to worry about whether it will sell at the booth. They'll just bring it for you to pick up.
Doing some research beforehand also really helps with knowing what's a good price and what isn't. For me, because we don't see that many variegated Anthuriums in Europe, I genuinely didn't know what the market rate was for a lot of the plants I was looking at. The more you can calibrate your sense of prices before you go, the easier it is to make decisions in the moment without just buying the first thing you see.
Visiting growers before or after the show
We ended up visiting growers first, and then went to the show with what was left of our budget. There are pros and cons either way.
The advantage of visiting growers first is that you get to see their entire collection, not just the plants they decided to bring to the show. You can buy from anything they have to offer and see mother plants from which the plants came from. They can also clean and process the plants properly for export before handing them over, which is nice. And especially if you buy a couple of plants from them, you might be able to get a better price than at the booth.
The advantage of going to the show first is that you get to see everything that's going to be available across all the sellers at once. So you're not making decisions based on just the first grower you happened to visit. You can compare across the whole show, see what the price ranges look like, and then decide.
The downside of doing growers first is that you might run out of budget before getting to the show. And the downside of doing the show first is that going to visit a grower afterwards without buying anything is a bit awkward, because they're often hosting you for hours and showing you everything they have.
The other thing worth saying is that you don't have to do both. It can be worth going just for the show, or just to visit a couple of growers, depending on what you're after. Doing both at the same time is kind of incredible because you see so much, but it also makes the budgeting and decision-making more complicated.
Cash, budgets, and ATMs
Almost everything at the show is cash only. Most sellers don't take cards or transfers, so you'll need to plan for that.
The catch is that ATM withdrawal limits in Thailand are usually around 30,000 baht per withdrawal, so if your budget is bigger than that you'll need to do multiple withdrawals over multiple days. There are a lot of ATMs at the mall itself, which makes this much easier, but you'll also lose a bit of money on each withdrawal because conversion rates from your bank are usually lower than what Google shows you, and there's almost always a fee on top.
If you see a plant you want and don't have the cash on you, the seller will usually hold it for you while you go to the ATM. That part isn't stressful.
Two practical things to plan for: check your bank's daily withdrawal limit before you go, because some banks have limits per day which can really mess up your plans.
I'd also say honestly, don't bring more money than you can think of losing. The import process is risky, the plants travel a long way, and not everything always makes it back in good shape. I'll write more about that in the shipping post, but it's worth bringing into your budget thinking from the start.
What to expect on prices
It really depends on what you're buying. There's a lot of more affordable stuff at the show, like pretty big plants for €50 or €100, and that exists across most of the sellers. But for the more rare for example variegated speciality plants, the prices can go up into the thousands of euros pretty quickly.
In general, prices in Asia felt a bit higher than what I see in Europe for comparable plants, though it's honestly hard to compare because Europe doesn't have the same range of really good variegated material that they have in Asia. So you're often comparing to things that don't have an obvious European equivalent.
Sellers also mark up a bit at the show because the booths are expensive, and many of them have to fly the plants in without knowing what will sell, which is a real cost they have to factor in.
What's available (June 2026)
The biggest focus right now is variegated and silvery plants. The Asian market is really into the silvery pinks and the blush types, which is sort of the opposite of what we tend to gravitate toward in Europe, where the trend is more dark velvets, elongated shapes, flat sinuses, that kind of look. The sellers were really aware of this difference too. Several of them mentioned knowing what European collectors usually want.
It's not just Anthuriums either. There were some incredible Nepenthes, variegated bananas, variegated Begonias, a lot of staghorn ferns, and so many variegated Philodendrons. The Philodendrons in particular seem to be more for the local everyday growers and landscaping, less for the international collector crowd.
Negotiating and etiquette
Some sellers have fixed prices and don't discount at all. Others are more open to negotiation, especially as the show goes on. The general (obvious) rule is don't be rude. Show interest in the plant and the seller, compliment what you like, ask questions, and then if the price feels high you can ask about it. That kind of soft negotiation is fine, especially on the later days. Just demanding a lower price would not go over well.
For photos in growers' greenhouses, I always asked first, especially if I wanted to share anything publicly or if a person was in the shot. At the show itself it's a bit different because you don't always see the seller, and they generally seem fine with people taking photos of their booths. Mentioning or tagging the seller when you share the photos is a nice thing to do.
Language and the social side
A lot of the sellers speak English, and in groups there's usually someone who does and can translate. Definitely go in with an open mind and show genuine interest. These people know a lot about growing Anthuriums and most of them are really happy to talk about it.
The social side was honestly one of the best parts of the whole thing. It was so fun to see how the sellers all know each other, share booths, visit each other's spaces, and buy from each other. It really is a community, and as a visitor you sort of get pulled into that. We also met people in person that we'd only ever talked to online before, and that was one of the most special parts of the whole trip.
What surprised me
A few things that surprised me in the best possible way.
The first was the social atmosphere. I knew there would be a community there, but actually being inside it was more meaningful than I expected. There was so much joy in admiring everyones collections and the fun side of plant collecting, I just absolutely loved it!
The second was that the show wasn't as busy as I thought it would be. I think it also acts as a wholesale event in some ways, with a lot of live selling happening from the booths to buyers in other countries. So in some ways it's more of a working trade show. The hefty prices due to oil supply constraints might have been part of the reason, apparently there are a lot fewer tourists in Thailand at the moment in general.
The third was just the variety. I knew there would be a lot to see, but actually being there and being surrounded by all of it was really exciting and motivating. The amount of stuff I would have loved to bring home makes my wallet cry.
Would I go again, and who should go
Yes, most definitely. I think it's worth it for so many reasons: the experience of the show itself, meeting people, getting to see what's hot currently, and all the amazing plants.
Worth saying though that the trip itself is expensive between the flights, hotel, food, the plants, and the whole exporting process. So I'm not sure it's worth going purely just to see the show as an experience, unless you can build it into a bigger Bangkok or Thailand trip. But if you can align your travel with one of the shows, even just experiencing it once is worth it, especially for getting to see all the Anthuriums and other plants we don't get to see or have easy access to in Europe.
If you're going purely to source plants, it's worth going with a good budget. And bring it with the understanding that import is risky and every plant might not make the trip back. That's the unfortunate reality of buying plants that have to go through the harsh process of importing, and when you're buying from multiple growers you don't have the same kind of protection as buying from an EU seller or an established seller who deals with the import themselves.
I'll write more soon about the actual growers we visited and what arriving home with the plants was like once I've been through the whole shipping process. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions, or let me know if you've visited the show yourself and how you liked it.
