Krabi Airport To Nst?

[Captain Haddock]

Does a gov't bus or private minivan stop at Krabi airport to take folks to Nakkon Si Thammarat? Or do you have to get a ride into Krabi town and go from there?

Cheers.

[CPH]

There is a minibus from Krabi town to NST. You have to take bus or taxi from airport to Krabi Town.

[redfish44]

We live on Koh Lanta, and over the last 2 years I have become increasingly frustrated with Krabi airport and its continually reduced transport options that continue to rise in price. Even my Thai boyfriend has problems there.

Last week we flew in and I asked at the information counter first for some straight answers, as they are the only ones not yelling at you. You still have to buy tickets for taxis buses etc from the yelling people though.

There are a few counters inside in arrivals, with shuttle busses to Krabi town, Ao Nang etc. There are also 'taxi' options, but at 2300 Baht for a cab to Lanta it is just ridiculous. All the staff at these outlets also yell and scream at you, which I find so repulsive. Over the years I have tried ALL of them. Most of them will try and take you somewhere else. They also have more staff outside the door yelling at you, and only leave you alone if you light up a smoke.

Bad experience examples:

When trying to meet the ferry, the 'bus' quite often drops you at a guesthouse and makes you wait until a truck picks you up and you barely make the ferry (I think these ere the blue shirted ones, maybe yellow).

Another tried to take me to the old pier where the ferry stopped running years ago and tried to get me to buy a ticket from some shifty guy, and I only got out of it by calling my bf who gave him a barrage in Thai and told him I better be on the ferry fromt eh main ferry terminal or the police would be looking for his license plate later.

One took us directly to the ferry terminal (once!), but then we found out the ferries had stopped running 2 days before, so we had to call another taxi back to the bus station.

The bus station:

Is in Krabi town (well just outside), and is run down, but they seem to be building a new one next door.

All buses in and out of Krabi are still running from there, to Naratiwat, Bangkok, Phuket, Lanta, anywhere.

To get to the bus station by shuttle bus:

The first counter in the airport arrivals has a red Shuttle Bus sign, and their staff will yell at you, but you can get a ticket for 90B to the bus station.

Unfortunatley when you get to the bus station or before, the staff in the bus start telling everyone that oh no the bus to where you want to go doesn't go from there, you will have to come to our office in town - rubbish.

They tried to do this to us, and a group of tourists coming to our island and didn't want to let me off the bus, but I got out while my bf argued with them in Thai, and the guy who I have bought bus tickets for 2 years was outside and recognised me and said 'hey welcome back - bus to Lanta leaves in 20 minutes", so we got off and took it, but the stupid tourists didn't.

We spoke to the bus guy we have known for years about this and he has suggested next time we try the following:

As the buses south go past the airport (and many to Krabi also), you can just walk to the little sala (waiting thing) by the main road near the airport gate and they can arrange a bus to pick you up there to save the trip into Krabi.

He said to call this number when you arrive at the airport and he will let you know when the next bus can pick you up, so you can plan your walk to the road:

085-0687-388 (Krabi - is there one to many digits there? darn it...)

075-684-408 (Lanta)

My bf will be giving it a go in a couple of days, so can let you know what happens with him. If I don't have a lot of luggage I will do it next time (take an unbrella just in case), as I am so over the Krabi airport rudeness and unreliability.

If you find a good solution, please let me know. The best way is getting a friend/guesthouse to pick you up.

[Captain Haddock]

Wow, many thanks for the feedback! I thought it would probably be a case of going to town first as only expensive taxis otherwise. I've used the minivans from Krabi before, from a place just near the Pier on the front, but that was a few years ago. It would be interesting to know if it's possible to get a bus from outside the airport. In NST, you just wait along the bus route and flag down the gov't bus at a sala to get on. Does the gov't bus or minvan going to NST go past Krabi airport?

Minivans usually stop to cram as many passengers in as possible once they've left the pick-up point, as the extra passengers' money goes straight in the driver's pocket and not back to the company. I've paid for an extra seat before when going to Penang to try and avoid being more sardine-like than absolutely necessary...