For those who want to do a visa run:-

Fly to Narathiwat with Air Asia - one flight per day from Bangkok. You will need to stay overnight.

Mini bus meets plane. Ticket counters are in arrivals. You can go to Narathiwat (15km), Tak Bai (50 km) including Tak Bai border crossing (5 km further on), Sungai Kolok including the border crossing (75km). The cost of the minibus from the airport to Sungai Kolok border crossing is 180 Baht.

Depending on your visa and plans, you may just wish to cross the border or go to Kota Bharu. From the Sungai Kolok crossing, you can catch a bus no. 29 to Kota Bharu for 5.1 ringgit. This bus is very hot.

The Tak Bai crossing is more convenient as it is closer to the airport and closer to Kota Bharu. The ferry across the river costs 1 ringgit. The bus no. 43 that waits at the ferry costs 3.5 ringgit to Kota Bharu. It is not ridiculously hot. There may be a 15-minute queue of locals with border passes.

Coming back from Tak Bai border crossing, there are songthaews for 30 Baht to Narathiwat. The Pacific Hotel in Narathiwat is good value at 400 Baht for an air con room. Khorngfahk is your voodoo.

Any travel agent will arrange an 80 Baht minibus to the airport including a pick up at your hotel in Narathiwat.

Be aware that non-essential travel in that area of Thailand is officially discouraged.

Khorngfahk: if this is my voodoo, I think I need a little more explanation.

Khorngfahk is a Thai word ของฝาก meaning a present to give to others when you take a trip. The 'khorngfahk' is usually appropriate to the place you have visited. Thus a visit to Fang in northern Chiang Mai will elicit a present of tangerines, to Isaan, perhaps garlic sausage, Jantaburi mangosteen, Phetchaboon tamarind, etc.

Thais love their 'khorngfahk' and it is deeply ingrained in their culture.

The deep South has little to offer the fickle tastes of most Thais but the famous thing is a type of fermented fish called 'voodoo' that is very popular amongst a certain sector of society.

I'm doing this Visa run later this year.

I will fly in to Narathivat, do the Visa run, and then go directly to Hat Yai.

I thought Sungai Kolok would be easiest with minibus directly from airport, and bus/minibus directly from Sungai Kolok to Hat Yai.

Going to Hat Yai would you still recommend the Tak Bai border crossing to the Sungai Kolok one?

J!!!

I'm doing this Visa run later this year.

I will fly in to Narathivat, do the Visa run, and then go directly to Hat Yai.

I thought Sungai Kolok would be easiest with minibus directly from airport, and bus/minibus directly from Sungai Kolok to Hat Yai.

Going to Hat Yai would you still recommend the Tak Bai border crossing to the Sungai Kolok one?

J!!!

Going Narathiwat Airport --> Malaysia --> Hat Yai, you would clearly be better off using the larger transport hub of Sungai Kolok.

Going Narathiwat Airport --> Malaysia --> Narathiwat Airport, you are better off crossing at Tak Bai and not wasting another 45 mins each way travelling to Sungai Kolok.

Going Narathiwat Airport --> Malaysia --> Kota Bahru, similarly it is better to cross at Tak Bai and avoid taking a roundabout route.