Bangkok To Trat By Bus

[wanderer9020]

Im looking at thailand transport website http://www.transport.co.th/999_timebuseast48.asp about the last bus to trat from bangkok, and it seems there is bus leaving at 2400 midnight.Is this accurate, were going on april.But Im confused because as you can see there is one schedule BKK-TRAT which has distance of 387 kms and the other one 317 kms with different fares and different timings and theyre both written as BKK-TRAT.Care to enlighten me?I really want to take the 2400H bus since Im arriving Suvanabhumi at 2200H.Were heading to Koh Mak.

[allane]

This is a guess, as I don't have a Thai distance grid close at hand here. But, there is more than one way to go to Trat from Bangkok. The longer route may be via Highway 3 and Sathahip, the shorter one via the cutoff which takes off from Chonburi city and rejoins Hwy. 3 at Klang. (Sorry, I can't remember the number of that cutoff Highway.) An off the top of my head guess is that that cutoff would save about 60 km.

If you are going to the end of the line, it doesn't really matter which route ou take.

[retiredusn]

Im looking at thailand transport website http://www.transport.co.th/999_timebuseast48.asp about the last bus to trat from bangkok, and it seems there is bus leaving at 2400 midnight.Is this accurate, were going on april.But Im confused because as you can see there is one schedule BKK-TRAT which has distance of 387 kms and the other one 317 kms with different fares and different timings and theyre both written as BKK-TRAT.Care to enlighten me?I really want to take the 2400H bus since Im arriving Suvanabhumi at 2200H.Were heading to Koh Mak.

You may want to look at buse's too Chanthaburi and then get a local bus to Trat.

[wanderer9020]

thanks guys for the quick response, so it seems, its the same trip but different way, it make sense. ANyway, Im just wondering, how long can you reserve a bus in Thailand, and can I reserve it in Chiangmai bus arcade reservations counter?they can access the system aight?

[allane]

In many years in Thailand I personally have never made advance reservations for the bus. It is not necessary. Service is frequent. On the Bangkok - Trat run, there are probably 5-6 through, A/C buses per day, more if you include ones that go via the slightly longer route, or ones that would require you to change buses in Chantaburi.

On the subject of advance reservations, the information that I have is at least 5 years old, so I stand to be corrected by others with more recent info. If you go to the originating bus terminal IN PERSON, and pay the fare, you can make an advance reservation. You can not make a reservation by telephone, and I do not think that buslines serving various regions of the country are connected online.

In a semi-developed country like this one, you can not give a credit card number over the phone, or online to make a purchase. There would be so much fraud going on that system would soon be shut down. The level of public trust/public morals simply hasn't developed to that point yet. Even if someone tells you that it is possible to reserve by phone or online, take his advice with a large grain of salt.

[Kerry]

There's no midnight bus - we got caught by this about a month ago - the last bus is around 11:30pm, and the next one is at 4am. We ended up getting a taxi all the way there! I suggest getting there as soon as you possibly can. If you're arriving at 22:00 it's going to be close.

[Lilawadee]

thanks guys for the quick response, so it seems, its the same trip but different way, it make sense. ANyway, Im just wondering, how long can you reserve a bus in Thailand, and can I reserve it in Chiangmai bus arcade reservations counter?they can access the system aight?

Typically you cannot buy tickets departing from different places, with some notable exceptions for the more organized companies like Nakhon Chai Air.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there's buses to Trat from Bangkok from three different bus stations: From Ekamai (Eastern Terminal on Sukhumvit), from Mo Chit (Northern & North-Eastern), and from the bus transport terminal at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Now, the last two are of particular interest to you when coming from Chiang Mai; because that means you could take a bus to Bangkok and then connect at the same terminal where you arrive (Mo Chit). That means you can do the Chiang Mai - Bangkok trip overnight, then grab the first bus to Trat, which leaves real early, possibly starting as early as 4-5am. That means getting to Trat while it's still morning, meaning plenty of time to make connections to for example Ko Chang the same day, and get there while it's still not too late in the day.

Or you can fly to Suvarnabhumi (TG or Air Asia), then connect to a Trat bus directly from the airport, again saving time. According to this, http://www.transport.co.th/bussuwanapoom_3.asp , there are buses from Suvarnabhumi to Trat at 06.40, 10.10, 11.40, 13.10, 16.10, 18.10, and to the Laem Ngop pier at 08.25, 10.25 . From Chiang Mai you could easily make the 10.25 departure.. Man is Thailand convenient for travel or WHAT!! And what a great and convenient airport Suvarnabhumi is!!!

I would however call the airport bus station to confirm all this, phone 02-1344099.