Thai addressing system

Address parts

With the exception of the initial plot and house number, Thai addresses are mostly in the Western order, starting from the smallest unit and progressing to the largest. The general format, as codified by the Universal Postal Union, is:

Plot/House number, Village Road Subdistrict, District Province Postal Code THAILAND

Plot, house and village

Thai muban (หมู่บ้าน) correspond only loosely to actual settlements, which may well have separate names, but these are not used for addresses. They are divided into groups mu (หมู่), often transliterated moo or abbreviated "M", which are divided into numbered plots (บ้านเลขที่ ban lek ti), which may (or may not) contain multiple houses. All numbers are assigned in the order they were originally registered, and generally do not follow any geographical or logical sequence.

In cities, a large named building often plays the role of "village", which is then followed by the apartment number.

Road

Roads do not correspond with administrative divisions, and they are consequently the most complicated and non-standardized part of a Thai address.

Main thoroughfares are thanon (ถนน), often abbreviated "Th" or glossed as "Road" in English. Smaller sois are soi (ซอย), which are numbered in increasing order, although odd and even sois are on different sides of the street. New sois added between old ones may receive annexes: for example, soi 7/1 would be located between soi 7 and soi 9. Large sois have names, e.g. Soi Ekkamai for Soi 63 off Sukhumvit Rd, and these sub-sois can have their own numbered sois, e.g. Soi Ekkamai 4 for Soi 4 off Soi 63 off Sukhumvit Rd.

District

Districts are called amphoe (อำเภอ), divided into subdistricts, tambon (ตำบล).

In Bangkok only, amphoe and tambon are replaced with khet (เขต) and khwaeng (แขวง) respectively.

Postal code

The postal code follows the province changwat (จังหวัด), or the special administrative region of Bangkok. Thai postal codes consist of five digits, where the first two digits identify the province, the third digit the district, and the remaining two the subdistrict. There are however several cases where more than one district shares the same third digit, or some muban have the postcode of a neighboring subdistrict. Nine-digit codes in the format NNNNN-NNNN are possible, but rarely used.

Examples

In practice, addresses in urban areas typically omit the village number, while rural addresses often have only the village number without a road. Often only one of town and district is used, since one or the other is usually sufficiently specific. For example, the address of the headquarters of Thailand Post is:

Thailand Post Co., Ltd. 111 M.3 Changwattana Road Laksi Bangkok 10210-0299 Thailand

This corresponds to house number 111, Mu 3, Changwattana Road, Thung Song Hong Subdistrict (omitted), Laksi District, Bangkok Province.

On the other hand, a typical address in Phuket might be:

7/22 Moo 5 Soi Ta-ied (Soi Chaofa 50), Chaofa West Road Chalong Phuket 83130 Thailand

This corresponds to house 22 on plot 7, Mu 5, Soi 50 off Chaofa West Road, Chalong Subdistrict, Mueang Phuket District (omitted), Phuket Province.

Whereas the address of a guesthouse in rural Thailand is:

273 M.5 Chiang Dao Chiang Mai 50170 Thailand

This corresponds to house 273, Mu 5, Chiang Dao Subdistrict, Chiang Dao District, Chiang Mai Province.