How To Get From Bkk Bus Station To Airport?

[CMExpat79]

I am taking the overnight bus from Chiang Mai to Bangkok tomorrow night, I will then be heading to the airport (Suv.) for a flight out of Thailand...has anyone done this before ie from the bus station in BKK to the airport and can maybe advise me how to get there? ie are there plenty of buses connecting to the airport, cost of taxis etc?

Thanks!

[siam2007]

that is an extremely risky adventure, as the arrival-times of those buses are unpredictable. hope your schedule is not tight.

when getting off the bus IGNORE the touts that will surround every arrival and look for "victims" and head for the official Taxi stand (not difficult to find as it is still inside the Bus station), where you will usually see a plethora of cabs lining up. If you arrive at BKK on a public holiday in the early morning (and from what you wrote I understand it is like that), it should be no problem to go to the Airport by Taxi in no more than 40 minutes.

the far should be around 250 Baht, not including Tollway-fees.

I would NOT recommend public Buses, as some may not yet start operating at the early morning time you arrive in BKK. so better spend 250 Baht on a cab and be rather safe than sorry.

there are some of those public 55x - series buses (which all go to the Suvannabhumi Bus station but NOT to the actual terminal) which leave from Rangsit Depot, and if you would know Bangkok well, have a lot of time, and are on a budget, you could get off the Bus at Rangsit or Don Mueang, and then catch one of those 55x - buses, but as you probably are not very familiar with BKK, this is certainly not an option.

Oh, I have to add, as far as I know, there is no such 55x-Bus line going from Mor Chit Bus Station to Suvannabhumi - at least not listed in my relatively up-to-date Bus-map

Edited December 4, 2010 by siam2007

[Xircal]

There's a free shuttle bus which you can take from the bus terminal you arrive at from Chiang Mai. They are the white buses which are located at the end of the terminal your bus arrives at. .

There's no problem with them at all. I took one when I arrived from Sakaeo a couple of weeks ago. I took "Line A" which is the first one in a row of four, but I think you can take "Line B" as well.

The service runs 24 hours a day, so it doesn't matter what time your own bus arrives. See Shuttle Bus for more details.

[whybother]

An alternative to a taxi to the airport is using the BTS and airport city line. That depends on when you're arriving, and whether or not you just want to get into a taxi.

[CMExpat79]

Thanks for all these replies - I do not know Bangkok very well at all so all advise is appreciated.

The shuttle service is of great interest may I ask do I need to just show my airline ticket? and do I have to pay nothing at all!? wow if so...and will this take me straight to the airport? My flight isn't until around 3pm so I should be OK for time ...unless I get lost of course

[afarang]

The shuttle bus service referred to is Internal within Swampy. Let me be very clear it only operates within the confines of the airport.If you arrive at Morchit 2 , then your best bet ,is taxi. Please do not trust any bus service, if you can find it. You will not know where it goes, nor how long it will take to get there. There are many touts at Morchit 2 who will throw you on "their bus", for their financial betterment. Taxi, only safe way

[siam2007]

There's a free shuttle bus which you can take from the bus terminal you arrive at from Chiang Mai. They are the white buses which are located at the end of the terminal your bus arrives at. .

There's no problem with them at all. I took one when I arrived from Sakaeo a couple of weeks ago. I took "Line A" which is the first one in a row of four, but I think you can take "Line B" as well.

The service runs 24 hours a day, so it doesn't matter what time your own bus arrives. See Shuttle Bus for more details.

you didn't exactly understand that he is arriving at MOR CHIT

[siam2007]

Thanks for all these replies - I do not know Bangkok very well at all so all advise is appreciated.

The shuttle service is of great interest may I ask do I need to just show my airline ticket? and do I have to pay nothing at all!? wow if so...and will this take me straight to the airport? My flight isn't until around 3pm so I should be OK for time ...unless I get lost of course

there is no shuttle Bus from Mor Chit to the Airport !

don't let you fool or misslead by people who were not even able to read your thread properly.

do yourself a favour, hop on a cab and leave the hassle behind you

[lomatopo]

An alternative to a taxi to the airport is using the BTS and airport city line. That depends on when you're arriving, and whether or not you just want to get into a taxi.

This kind of advice is a little bit crazy. <You'd have to take a taxi from Mo Chit bus station to Mo Chit BTS, take the BTS presumably at morning rush hour, then change to to SARL at Phaya Thai.> Ignore it and take a taxi from Mo Chit bus station. You are ~ 200 M from the tollway entrance at the bus station and a clean shot to SBIA. Not sure about total cost with all tolls, but ~ 350-ish all in should do it.

[mrdome]

If you do not have a lot of time and are not feeling adventurous, take the taxi straight to the airport from Mor Chit.

The alternate and if you do not have a lot of luggage would be to get yourself to the BTS Skytrain station and go to Victory Monument. There look for the cream colored 511 VAN parked in front of the Fashion Mall and buy a ticket at the table. The van takes 20 minutes and used to drop right at the terminal (at least last time I took it).

The 511 van is my preferred way of travel to and from the airport and I will even deal with the wait at the airport for the shuttle bus to the (airport) bus terminal (on the way into town).

[CMExpat79]

Thanks for all of your replies, considering this is my first time outside BKK airport I think I will just opt for a taxi straight there...otherwise I will get lost knowing my luck

cheers again

[whybother]

An alternative to a taxi to the airport is using the BTS and airport city line. That depends on when you're arriving, and whether or not you just want to get into a taxi.

This kind of advice is a little bit crazy. <You'd have to take a taxi from Mo Chit bus station to Mo Chit BTS, take the BTS presumably at morning rush hour, then change to to SARL at Phaya Thai.> Ignore it and take a taxi from Mo Chit bus station. You are ~ 200 M from the tollway entrance at the bus station and a clean shot to SBIA. Not sure about total cost with all tolls, but ~ 350-ish all in should do it.

It's not crazy ... it's an alternative. And it's straight forward.

If it's "presumably at morning rush hour" then wouldn't the expressways be extremely busy too? Meaning a taxi trip could take 1.5 - 2 hours.

The train is direct, and not reliant on traffic. A short taxi ride to the BTS. A few stations from Mo Chit to Phayathai. An easy change to the ARL at Phayathai. An easy trip to the airport.

Yes, the BTS will be busy, but it will be easy to get on at Mo Chit, and going against the traffic (people) at Phayathai.

[lomatopo]

Thanks for all of your replies, considering this is my first time outside BKK airport I think I will just opt for a taxi straight there...otherwise I will get lost knowing my luck

cheers again

Good choice. I've made this connection/transition, off a red-eye bus arriving Mo Chit early AM to SBIA three times. The last thing you want to do, after little sleep and especially with any luggage larger than a purse, is take some arduous multi-step journey utilizing all the major public transportation options in Bangkok. Every time I've made this journey it has been easy, quick, painless, traffic-free, 40 minutes or less and ~ 350 baht. So more or less a no-brainer.

I do go to the bus station at Mo Chit fairly often, either to meet arriving pax or buy bus tickets, so am very familiar with the various options and local traffic patterns. I almost always take the BTS, then a motorcycle taxi and the same to return unless with arriving pax, then always a taxi. The BTS and Bus stations look close on the map ( ~ 2 Km as the crow flies) but are much, much farther if you choose not to walk, as taxis and motorbike have to circumnavigate the park. Getting a taxi from the bus station to the BTS station (at Mo Chit), assuming the driver wants to take you, can take a long time given the traffic density in this area. Then you've got to locate the one up escalator, buy a ticket (I'm assuming your bus arrives after 6 AM when the BTS begins daily service), up another escalator and onto the train. At Phaya Thai you will have to walk down one long set of stairs with any bags, exit the BTS, walk to the Ariport Train (SARL) station, buy another ticket, go up the escalator and take the train to SBIA. While all this walking is definitely healthy not all people are necessarily physically capable of this esp. with baggage.

If you must take the SARL maybe take a taxi from Mo Chit bus station directly to Phaya Thai and board the SARL to the airport. Taxis take some back roads to get from Mo Chit onto Phaya Thai road, IME. Factoring in all the train wait times, ticketing and transition times the taxi will be much quicker and easier.

Mini-vans are an important cog in the transportation machine in Thailand. I take them but only when faced with no other option. You have to wait for the van to fill (but many airport workers use these so they can fill quite quickly), there is really not a lot of room for baggage, unless you buy a 2nd seat, and because of the height of the seat and the typically high-speed NASCAR-like drafting and weaving, can make some a bit queasy. I suspect there are mini-vans plying the Mo Chit-SBIA route but am not certain, nor do I have any details. Ninety-nine percent of the people arriving at Mo Chit bus station will be taking taxis to their final destination(s), with more than a few bound for SBIA.

Have a safe journey.

[tartempion]

Curious to know what the OP did to get to Swampy and how much he paid.

In fact it seems to me all that is not worth the effort, why not just book a flight Chiang Mai-Swampy?

Costs less than 2k with Air Asia.