Sukhothai And Kanchanaburi: Bus Links Without Travelling Through Bangkok

[jarman_ah]

We are beginning our holiday in Thailand in Chiang Mai and ending in Bangkok; as we travel south, we thought we'd try to see Sukhothai and the River Kwai Bridge at Kanchanaburi.

We were pleased to see that there are several buses daily going from Chiang Mai to Sukhothai, removing the need to travel first to Phitsanulok by train and then take a couple of buses to get to the old city. This discovery will save us both doubling-back and valuable time, so, flushed with the success of this discovery, we sat down to try to puzzle out a bus link between Sukhothai and the River Kwai Bridge without the need to go all the way into Bangkok and then catch the normal tourist train out again.

On paper, it looks fairly straightforward: Sukhothai, Nakhon Sawan, Singhburi, Ang Thong, Suphanburi, Kanchanaburi. The problem is, while buses from major centres like Bangkok and Chiang Mai have schedules published on the net, as soon as we get to places like these above, there seem to be no published timetables. I'm not even sure one can actually travel by bus between some of these centres. Maybe such an odyssey would take us several days!

I realise that on these routes we can't expect tourist-class air-con coaches with reclining seats, etc, but this worries me less than the fact that there may only be one or two buses (or fewer!) a day. Can anyone give me any information about buses to/from these towns, and whether I should even be consdiering travelling by this "back-roads" route? Should I just hop the train to Bangkok and then do a day trip?

If there is either a map showing Thailand major bus routes or a website where one can play with point of origin and destination and come up with a schedule, I would really love to know about this!

Thanks for all replies!

[realviking48]

there are buses between the towns u mention. Don't know of any schedules. also bus from lopburi to suphanburi

[jarman_ah]

Thanks for that reassurance.... I guess if worst comes to worst I can just go into Phitsanulok, hop the 1508 train to Lopburi (it arrives about 1900), and see if I can make it to Suphanburi by bedtime. Should only be a small journey from there to Kanchanaburi!

[asanee]

Itas FAR easier as you think it is.

1ANY Thai provincial town has a DIRECT buslink to BKK. thus also Suk, to that behemoth Mochit terminal.

2.since last year a DIRECT bus, but not that frequent, runs also MOCHIt-Kan'buri. the nr is 9918. leave EARLY from Suk, to aim for a mid-aftern. arrival.

3.The normal buses/route still runs every 10 mins BKK/SaiThai=souterhn terminal to Kan'buri, and there are freqeunt MINIvans direct Mochit-SaiThai.

dont bother with complicated train trips, esp. since they had 2 big crashes with passengers killed whithin the last 2 monthes now.

[Kan Win]

see Sukhothai and the River Kwae Bridge at Kanchanaburi.

Welcome to Sukhothai

and to Kan

Yours truly,

Kan Win

P.S. See it is not too far on "ThaiVisaDotCom" is it.

[qualtrough]

Itas FAR easier as you think it is.

1ANY Thai provincial town has a DIRECT buslink to BKK. thus also Suk, to that behemoth Mochit terminal.

2.since last year a DIRECT bus, but not that frequent, runs also MOCHIt-Kan'buri. the nr is 9918. leave EARLY from Suk, to aim for a mid-aftern. arrival.

3.The normal buses/route still runs every 10 mins BKK/SaiThai=souterhn terminal to Kan'buri, and there are freqeunt MINIvans direct Mochit-SaiThai.

dont bother with complicated train trips, esp. since they had 2 big crashes with passengers killed whithin the last 2 monthes now.

The two crashes you referred to killed a total of 3 railway employees. Want to guess how many people have died in bus crashes in Thailand in the last two months, including city buses?? Bus it or go by train, it is up to you, but if you think buses are safer than trains here you are wrong.

Edited January 15, 2007 by qualtrough

[jarman_ah]

"It as FAR easier as you think it is."

Asanee, that was just the kind of news I was hoping to hear! I am now, thanks to you and everyone above, scouring the net for bus timetables (have found one or two), and am putting together a route which goes from Chiang Mai - Sukhothai, Lopburi, has Suphanburi as a place to stay -- and leave our bag -- while we go on to the Kwai and then back, en route to Ayutthaya and ultimately Bangkok.

Thanks to everybody... but, please, don't stop now! This is getting exciting!

[Kan Win]

Then take a trip around Thailand as I did:-

Thailand as I see it

Yours truly,

Kan Win

[jarman_ah]

On the same subject, does anyone know if there is a bus direct from Sukhothai to Lopburi, or must one first go into Phitsanulok and then organise either a train (not many in the middle of the day!) or bus to Lopburi?

Thanks once more!

[Kan Win]

Suphanburi as a place to stay -- and leave our bag -- while we go on to the Kwae and then back, en route to Ayutthaya and ultimately Bangkok.

A little tip for you.

Come to Kwae and then after that head for Ayutthaya and ultimately Bangkok.

“Suphan”, if you have a place to stay, see relative and/or friends then yes, if not go to “Kan” and skip “Suphan”. Much more life in "Kan" than in “Suphan”.

Just a thought.

Happy Traveling

Yours truly,

Kan Win

[jarman_ah]

Thanks for that, Kan.

I thought maybe Suphan for the night, because we would have to return there anyway, to get to Ayutthaya, and going back late afternoon (and sleeping in Suphan) would mean that we'd be that much closer to Ayutthaya the next morning... which means more daylight hours for sightseeing when we get there! Also, it means that we could check into a hotel in Suphan on the way through, and leave our backpacks there, making the trip to and from Kan a much more pleasant one... we'd move faster and easier!

However, if one can get from Kan to Ayatthuya without going back to Suphan, then, that's a different matter. But is this possible?

Thanks again, and I very much appreciate your help!

[asanee]

On the same subject, does anyone know if there is a bus direct from Sukhothai to Lopburi, or must one first go into Phitsanulok and then organise either a train (not many in the middle of the day!) or bus to Lopburi?

Thanks once more!

I am only doing this site 1/week and only do things that no-one seems to know.

1.NOT direct, youll need to change in Nakorn sawan. But No worry again: you will NOT find all these times on the web/net, simply go to the busstattion EARLY when you wont to go, and wihtin 1 hr youre on a bus and the conductors are there to tell you where to change. NOTE: these are still motsly NORMAL=non air buses.

The DIRECT BKK bus ex SUk does NOt serve LOP, and does not come nearby, these are the big/new/blue all auir 1st class vehicles.

ANY Thai provincial town (luke Lop, Suphan. Saraburi, you name it) will have at least 3 hotels,: medium/middle/higher bracket. Noone will ever be completely full, THATS why you have tuktuks: drivers will know.

But LOP has nothing to offer besides those stealing monkeys running on a few old ruins, hardly worth an hour or 2.

THAi PROVINCIAL buses do NOT run after 18.00=dusk, so the last dep. is such to be able to complete full trip as such. Thats why i always tell to be EARLY, they START running from 5.00

[Kan Win]

But LOP has nothing to offer besides those stealing monkeys

running on a few old ruins, hardly worth an hour or 2.

[jarman_ah]

Thanks for all this extra information. I was sorry to hear that Lopburi has little to offer, as I had read in Lonely Planet that there were a few sights worth seeing, including a Thai dance training establishment where one could watch (for a donation, I have no doubt) as the young dancers were trained in their movements. I thought that might have been worth a visit... maybe it's no longer a "goer".

Looks like I might cut short my half-day-plus-night in Lopburi and leave in late afternoon on a bus bound for Kanchanaburi, via Singhburi and Suphanburi. I wouldn't try to get the whole way, but one of these two "intermediate" stops might have somewhere reasonble to bed down for the night, and starting from there instead of Lopburi would mean that we'd get to Kanchanaburi that much earlier.

I am very grateful for all your replies, and am carefully cutting and pasting everything that everyone says. Thanks to this thread, I feel a lot easier about just turning up at a bus station and asking about transport to the next town, without prior booking. Maybe, from what Asanee says, I should be equally casual about just rolling up at a hotel, without worrying too much about a booking there, either.

[my friend I]

hi

I think Lopburi is worth a visit, especially the old town which is where the train station is. There are 8 older style hotels within 5 minutes walk of the train station. These places have a steady flow of backpackers. The ruins are worth a visit & you will not get hassled like you will in Ayuttya. In the evening there is a street food market along the road next to the railway line.Good food & relaxed atmosphere.

Ther are better hotels in the new part of town. You would need to get transport to go there.

If you can get to Phitsanulok by 10.18am there is a rapid train that goes to Nakhon Sawan at 12.52 & on to Lopburi at 14.48. [ train often runs a bit late] Still give you a good time to look around - plus morning if you wish.

To go to Singburi/Suphanburi it is not necessary to go to bus station. Can get the bus as it comes past near the monkey temple. This is a non ac bus. Interesting things to see along this route.

I agree with Kan Win nothing of interest in Suphanburi unless you can spot a disgraced ex PM.

Lots to see in Kan. Erawan national park waterfall is good.