How to send flowers to Thailand from abroad

What you need before you order from Europe or the US: a usable Thai address, a phone number that works, a clock that makes sense, and a plan for what happens when nobody answers the door.

Updated November 2, 2026

Start with the person, not the flowers

Most failed deliveries from abroad have the same cause. The sender knows who the flowers are for and what they should look like, but not where the door is. Before you open an order form, collect five things from the recipient or from someone close to them.

1. The full name, in the way the recipient is known at the address. A building guard or front desk may know the person by a nickname or a first name only.
2. The street address, including the soi or building name.
3. A Thai mobile number that the recipient answers.
4. A second contact, if there is one.
5. A short note on when the person is usually home or at work.

If the gift is a surprise, you can get most of this from a friend. Ask for a screenshot of the map pin, not a typed description. A pin settles arguments about which of three similar buildings is meant.

Understand the Thai address

Thai addresses run from small to large, much like a European one, and then add layers that look unfamiliar. A typical urban address has a house or plot number, sometimes a village or building name, a soi, a road, a subdistrict, a district, the province and a five digit postal code. In Bangkok the subdistrict is called แขวง (khwaeng) and the district เขต (khet). Outside Bangkok the same levels are ตำบล (tambon) and อำเภอ (amphoe).

The ซอย (soi) is a side street that branches off a main road. Sois are numbered, and odd and even numbers usually sit on opposite sides of the main road. That means Sukhumvit Soi 11 and Sukhumvit Soi 12 are not neighbours on the same side. In villages and rural areas you may also see หมู่ (moo), a numbered village group, and a rural address can have no street name at all.

The postal code is not decoration. The first two digits identify the province, so a wrong code can point to the wrong part of the country. Copy it from the recipient's own message or a map listing and do not guess it.

When in doubt, give both: the address as the recipient writes it and the name of a landmark nearby. A landmark is a building anyone on the street can point to, not a vague area.

Phone numbers and LINE

The phone number is the most important field in the form. A rider or driver who cannot find the door will call the number, not read your note. Write it in international form: drop the leading 0 of the Thai number and put +66 in front. So a number written 081 234 5678 locally becomes +66 81 234 5678.

Many people in Thailand use the messaging app LINE for daily contact, and reports put its reach at a large share of smartphone users. If the recipient prefers LINE to calls, mention it in the order notes. Do not assume it. Some people never pick up unknown numbers and some never read messages, so a second contact is cheap insurance.

Mind the clock

Thailand runs on UTC+7 all year. It does not move its clocks in spring or autumn. Your own clock probably does, so the gap you remember from last summer may be an hour off now. Check it on the day you order.

The practical point is this. A message you send at the end of your evening arrives in the middle of someone's night, and a question that comes back from the florist may sit unanswered until your next morning. Order early in your own day, keep your phone on for a call or message, and do not plan a surprise that depends on a reply at the last minute. The guide on what to write on the card helps you finish the message part in advance.

Choose flowers with the occasion in mind

Flowers do not carry the same meaning everywhere. White blooms are normal for a birthday in some countries and strongly linked with funerals in others, and certain blooms are tied to temple offerings. A short read of the Thai flower etiquette guide takes five minutes and avoids the worst mistakes. If you are choosing for mothers, fathers or graduates, the guides for those days cover colour and flower choices in more detail.

A checklist before you press order

• Recipient name as the building knows it.
• Address with soi or building name, district and postal code.
• Map pin or screenshot.
• Thai mobile number in the +66 form.
• A second contact.
• A card message that is short and, where possible, checked by a Thai speaker.
• An idea of what to do if nobody is home: leave with the front desk, leave with a neighbour, or hold.

Say plainly in the order notes what you want. For a home, an office or a condominium the answer may differ, and the florist cannot read your mind. The Bangkok page covers how big-city addresses work in practice, and the FAQ collects short answers to common questions.

When something goes wrong

Even a careful order can hit a snag: a recipient on holiday, a gate that needs a code, an address the map cannot find. Decide in advance who to contact. Contact the florist through the usual channel, send the second contact number, and ask a Thai friend to place the call if language is the problem. Keep the original message you sent so that everyone is looking at the same details. If you need help with a particular order, use the contact page.