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Bangkok
to
Phuket
by bus
and
flights.
This
is one hour by air for 900km and 12 hour by road, by
train it's not possible since there is no train, the train from
Bangkok to the south and further to Malaysia runs along the east coast
of southern Thailand that's about 200km east of Phuket. |
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Thailand
bus
travel
is cheap and comfortable, an
alternative is, use the aircraft, hire a car and to certain destinations
take the train. At car rental is not possible to do a drop off at any
destination it always needs to go back to the starting point or you pay
a car rental employee to pick up and bring the car back. There are two
routings possible, when coming from the north behind Chumphon are 2
roads could be taken, either through Surat Thani or through
Ranong.
Since airfares are relatively low, usually below $ 100,- for one
way with Air Asia, this could be even minimized by advanced booking but
changing a ticket more or less costs the same as a new ticket. On public
holidays (almost one every week) flight prices jump up. Bangkok to
Phuket flights are the most convenient way between the two cities. If
they try play games at Phuket Airport by telling there is no taxi and no
bus (rather normal) go to the airport police and complain. |
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The
people there are trying all kind of dirty tricks to get you into a
private car or a very expensive limousine, this are mafia structures,
the same is with the Tuk-Tuk's elsewhere on the island.
A good idea could be
Bangkok to Phuket by bus
from the southern Bangkok bus terminal
behind the BTS terminal station at Wongwian Yai at the eastern side of
the city. It takes around 12 hours and most buses start at around 4pm,
5pm and 6pm, there are several companies serving this route. A one way bus ticket
from Phuket to Bangkok is from Baht 500,- / Baht 670,- (2011) for
the regular with 32 seated, other are so called VIP buses with 24 seats,
ticket for around Baht 940,-. |
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There are plenty attractions along the
road which could make this trip a great one.
Since the distance by bus is rather long for road travel a interesting
alternative could be to take the bus to Hua Hin, around 250km south east
and stay there for a day or two. No need to worry about none schedule trips, e.g. at arriving at Hua
Hin there are already taxis and motorbike taxis waiting which let you
forget heavy luggage, a little tip will easy any problem it only needs
to book the hotel the day before.
At Hua Hin hotel prices are rising
from late Thursday, when the Bangkok crowd moved in until Monday. Even
when no advance booking just take the taxi and get from one hotel to
another until a orderly is found, all this is very easy in Thailand. |
Bangkok
to
Phuket
by bus |
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From Hua Hin it
goes straight to the south via Prachuap Kiri Khan to Chumphon. At
Chumphon the road splits into two directions to Phuket, one is via
Ranong and the other is via Surat Thani. With the bus through Ranong it
will take around 3 hours more as via Surat. Using the Surat direction is
the right link when maybe Ko Samui or Ko Phangan is on the travel plan,
both islands are reached via the the ferry link. It you intend to go to
Ko Samui by airplane check first how much the current airport charges at
Ko Samui are, that is a private airport owned by Bangkok Air and they
have sometimes the highest airport fee in whole Asia. |
Bus from Bangkok. |
Bangkok Air has a strategy
to
carve out the monopole on a certain rout and milk the foreigners
badly, they also do this on the routing from Bangkok to Siem
Reap and Phnom Penh where their airfare is usually two up to
four times higher that Air Asia. Bangkok Air has the monopole on
the Bangkok to Siem Reap route (that's Angkor Wat) and they lets
the pax bleed for that.
Actually there is a bus from Bangkok airport to the Cambodian
border, every day at 7am and at weekends also in the afternoon
and from there to Siem Reap, it just takes all around 5 hours,
costs less than 20% of the Bangkok Air ticket and gives a good
insight |
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into the Cambodian countryside.
When taking the routing via Ranong do a
stopover for 2 days and have a look around, Ranong has the biggest
harbor on the Thai west coast, its a very busy fishery town. Also very
convenient when the visa expires and it needs a visa run to Kawthaung,
that's the Myanmar city on the other side of the bay. |
The road down from Ranong to Phuket
is
via Khao Lak another top tourist destination in southern
Thailand, there is a great scenery along the coast, when using
the bus from Chumphon to Phuket via Ranong and Khao Lak it is
possible to used the free WIFI in the bus. It is also very
interesting to watch the people coming into and leaving the bus,
many are Muslims.
Also at
Khao Lak a stop would make sense and spend a day at one of the
best Thailand National Parks, that is
Khao Sok, tours are every day
since it's only around 100km distance. Probably the best
Khao Lak
day trip is an excursion to the
Similan Islands, a Thailand
National Marine Park with great islands, beaches and one of the
top scuba diving destination on earth, its really worth a visit
and here again go to the travel agent or |
Ranong Harbor. |
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the hotel reception and let them handle it,
all this can be done within a day notice.
They use speed boats to reach the
archipelago quickly and stop at the best places and beaches, that
includes some drinks and something to eat. There is also a dive ship
leaving the pier close to Khao Lak every day with all necessary supply
on board, also a ideal way to do a dive certification. |
Similan Islands |
This Similan islands and underwater
world are absolute top notch, that matches easily the Maldives
and Seychelles and more. One of the most important is there is a
working infrastructure around which really only breaks down at a
Tsunami (the Khao Lak area had the highest fatality count in
Thailand during the Tsunami) or heavy storm.
Clearly, this routing
could be a destination by itself,
means the way is the target, since there so many great places
along, easily reachable and good connected. Its the
infrastructure, scenery, food, nightlife, water sports, National
Parks, good hotel and resorts which makes Thailand a great
travel destination and this is one part of it, other
destinations at
Thailand travel. About 100km
south of Khao Lak is Phuket, a very important subject when doing
road travel is, almost all roads are in good conditions
and the main through roads are always 4 or six lanes which makes
moving over long |
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distance
relatively quick, just consider from the Capital to Phuket are
almost exactly 900km, the bus makes this in 9 hours. |
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thailandsouthern.com |
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