Suvarnabhumi Airport To Hua Lamphong Station

[russell1]

Hi, I will be arriving at BKK airport at 0700 hrs on a friday morning and I need to get to Hua Hin.

I normally use the the free shuttle bus to the transportation centre and then bus 556 to the southern bus terminal then catch the bus to Hua Hin from there.

However for a change I want to take the train.

My plan is to catch the airport express bus AE 4 to the railway station, there is a train that leaves BKK at 0920. will I be at the station in time to catch this train?

I can't find out how often the buses leave the airport or how long it takes from the airport to the railway station.

Or is there a better way way of getting to the station from the airport? I don't want to use a taxi.

Thankyou in advance for any advise.

[knocka]

Even if your plane is on time I'd say you won't make it in time.

Min 1 hour to clear immigration & customs. Possible 20-30min wait for the right bus, leaving less than 1 hour in BKK morning traffic to reach Hualamphong.

However there is a better train (2nd&3rd class seats) leaving at 1300, I'd aim for that which you could easily make.

[YuriGuest2010]

you can take a min van after taking the shuttle bus from the airport to the bus terminal in Airport and switch to Mini Van cost 25 baht to Victory Monument. Then you take a Mini Van again from Victory Monument directly to Hua Hin cost about 250 baht and take about 2hrs 30mins to arrive Hua Hin. The last Min Van that leave Victory Monument is 8pm daily

That will safe all the time and transportation delayed. Have a nice holiday then...

[Lakegeneve]

I have 3 suggestions. Firstly, to say if your arriving at 7am that is a good time for inbound flights (few arrivals at that time) and you should clear immigration in 20 mins max.

1) If your keen to take the SRT Train you should make it to Hualumphong by 9:15am catching the AE4 (150 baht) - I believe from memory it departs every 20 mins (?), it takes the expressway all the way to Victory before heading south down Phaya Thai which will be slow at that time,

2) You could however take the Airport Train (Express 100 baht or non-express 20) to Makkasan station (which opens from next Monday 23rd) and then transfer to the MRT station and take the MRT to Hualumphong. This will be quicker and cheaper then the AE4 assuming you take the non-express Airport train (called City Line).

Note: there is no direct interchange nor easy transfer currently between the SRT Makkasan (CAT) station and the MRT Phetchaburi station, expect to walk a few hundred metres with your luggage on the sidewalk.

3) Is to agree with the above poster and suggest that as long as you dont have more than one piece of large luggage, that you take a mini-van from near Victory Monument to Hua Hin for 200 baht. They depart every 20-30mins and will take just over 2 hours compared to the slow SRT train. The vans are new and there are two companies located near each other, one is at the north end of Century Plaza (located to the south end of the BTS station) where there are mutiple van departures. The other company is located just 70ms north immediately adjacent the BTS station (east side), vans with the orange and sky blue strip. (The later terminates in HH more centrally on Sa Song road)

You could either take the AE4, the train (to BTS Phaya Thai then BTS to Victory); a 551 van (40 baht) or 551 public bus (36 baht) both the 551s from the public transportation centre (thus a shuttle bus which adds more time) to Victory.

If it was me after a long flight and wanting to take the quicker option, I would take the Airport train (City Line) to Phaya Thai (20 baht), then the BTS to Victory (15 baht) and walk exit to catch a mini van to HH (200).

You could well be in Hua Hin by 10:30am or 11am at the latest. Your 9:20am SRT train to HH would just past Nakhon Pathom at that stage.

[Lakegeneve]

Also, just to add that going out to the badly located new Southern Bus Terminal (originally it was going to be near Rama 2 which would have been much better) is a huge waste of time for short trips to the south or west. It can take an hour to get there just from the centre of BKK.

You can basically save at least half of your travel time by avoiding it altogether and taking a van to any of the same locations from Victory.

[knocka]

For today, a Friday between 0555 and 0700, 19 international flights landed at BKK, 18 of them wide bodied aircraft.

There's no way in the wide world you will get thru immigration and customs in 20 mins arriving at 0700 on a Friday morning.

[russell1]

Thankyou for your replies, I'm now not so sure about the train. The 13 00 train I imagine gets to HH quite late.

Are the mini vans from Victory Monument easy to find? I think I can get a bus there from the aiport tranportation centre.

Maybe the train next time!

[Aza90]

There is a train that arrives at Lad Krabang train station (under the Lad Krabang airport link station) at 7.42am. This will get you to Hua Lamphong at 8.35am. However, this train will be quite busy and as a previous poster has said, very unlikely you'll be out of the airport in 20 mins. Another option is to get the 8.14am train to Hua Lamphong from the same station. This will not be busy as it starts just two stops back and it will cost you a whopping 7 baht. However, this will get you to Hua Lamphong at 9.20am so you'll be passing the train your wishing to catch. Best option, this train and get train 171 leaving Hua Lamphong at 13.00 which gets you to Hua Hin at 5.10pm.

[lomatopo]

You can also catch the train, to Hua Hin, at Bang Sue.

[wisdomwizard]

I needed the same information about the Airport Express Train and found a video describing the trip in detail.

I hope this helps. It made it very clear for me.

[barryFunk]

Even if it takes you an hour to clear customs, you should still have enough time if you take the airport rail link. Take the express train from the Airport to Makkasan if you have a few extra baht to spend. It only takes 15 mins and runs every 15 mins so even if you have just missed one you will be at Makkasan by 8:30 (assuming it takes an hour to get through customs). From Makkasan it's a 5 to 10 minute walk to the MRT - just keep asking people where to go (essentially you exit to the East and walk under the tracks until you hit the main road. Petchaburi MRT station is across the tracks on the right. From Petchaburi MRT to Hualomphong will take about 20 minutes. You should arrive by 9am even if your customs experience takes an hour (which it never has when I have arrived between 6am and 7am - usually much shorter).

Regarding customs, most flights arriving early in the morning are Thai Airways which tend to park in the C arm of the terminal. There is another immigration hall a 5 minute walk further down the hall that's usually quieter early in the morning. You can check the monitors at the first immigration hall and see a live feed of the second hall. In my experience, it has usually been very quiet.

I'd say the bigger risk is your flight being delayed.

Regards

barryFunk

[Lakegeneve]

BF, your advice is very helpful but it is offered 5 months after the OP arrived! I hope he has made it to his destination by now........

Edited January 19, 2011 by Lakegeneve

[barryFunk]

BF, your advice is very helpful but it is offered 5 months after the OP arrived! I hope he has made it to his destination by now........

Ahhh sh!t!

Massive fail on my part. Apologies.