has anyone driven from up north to phuket (or vice versa) in the last couple of days? are all the roads from chumpon through surat and phang na passable?

thx steve

The road from Phuket to Takua Pa is passable.

The road from Phuket to Takua Pa is passable.

i though about going that way but its a hell of a long/slow drive.

would like to know what the surat way is like

I had a guest arriving by bus from bangkok today. The bus took the road via surat but had to turn around, road was not accessible.

The bus in the end went via Takua Pa, all in all 6 plus hours delay.

I had a guest arriving by bus from bangkok today. The bus took the road via surat but had to turn around, road was not accessible.

The bus in the end went via Takua Pa, all in all 6 plus hours delay.

For the benefit of others, when you say the road via Takua Pa I would guess you mean Highway 4 via Chumpon, Ranong and Takua Pa. Your description could be confused with the route via Surat and Takua Pa (highway 401), which is not quite so slow and really pretty through the National Park in clement weather.

I'm unclear from reports where the latest flooding is. I suspect its on Highway 401 around Surat itself, so that both routes via 401 and via 44 are no-gos.

I had a guest arriving by bus from bangkok today. The bus took the road via surat but had to turn around, road was not accessible.

The bus in the end went via Takua Pa, all in all 6 plus hours delay.

For the benefit of others, when you say the road via Takua Pa I would guess you mean Highway 4 via Chumpon, Ranong and Takua Pa. Your description could be confused with the route via Surat and Takua Pa (highway 401), which is not quite so slow and really pretty through the National Park in clement weather.

I'm unclear from reports where the latest flooding is. I suspect its on Highway 401 around Surat itself, so that both routes via 401 and via 44 are no-gos.

I really don't know which road the bus took, I only worded here what my guest told me.

But I'm glad you know.

i ended up driving down to lang suan and taking the road across via phato, it comes out south of ranong, then drive the west coast road south past takua pa and khao lak

to my surprise, there was virtually no traffic on this road and the drive was no trouble at all. it does take longer than the surat way but the scenery is nice and the extra driving from BKK is maybe one hour

i ended up driving down to lang suan and taking the road across via phato, it comes out south of ranong, then drive the west coast road south past takua pa and khao lak

to my surprise, there was virtually no traffic on this road and the drive was no trouble at all. it does take longer than the surat way but the scenery is nice and the extra driving from BKK is maybe one hour

That must be the best way if highway 41 is impassable near Phunpin (though I don't know whether that is the area of concern that's making buses use alternative more northerly routes). The Chumpon to Ranong route is a real grind through the mountains. If you got through - then they must have fixed the bridge diverts around Khapoe on highway 4. They were impassable this time last week. Perhaps they did a quick completion on the partly constructed replacement bridges.

i ended up driving down to lang suan and taking the road across via phato, it comes out south of ranong, then drive the west coast road south past takua pa and khao lak

to my surprise, there was virtually no traffic on this road and the drive was no trouble at all. it does take longer than the surat way but the scenery is nice and the extra driving from BKK is maybe one hour

That must be the best way if highway 41 is impassable near Phunpin (though I don't know whether that is the area of concern that's making buses use alternative more northerly routes). The Chumpon to Ranong route is a real grind through the mountains. If you got through - then they must have fixed the bridge diverts around Khapoe on highway 4. They were impassable this time last week. Perhaps they did a quick completion on the partly constructed replacement bridges.

Driving south to Phuket from Hua Hin yesterday 04 april. Highway closed in Surat. Small signs up in Thai by Highwaypolice to choose Ranong route (highway 4) from Chumporn. Slow road, much traffic both directions, trip took us 9 hours, usually 6 hours at 140 kmh cruisingspeed. Two new bridges are buing build on this route, and temp road would not be drivable for a Ferrari

Highwaypolice answers questions in Thai language about Highways on phone 1193. Yesterday it was busy all day, so we called 023546722

Driving south to Phuket from Hua Hin yesterday 04 april. Highway closed in Surat. Small signs up in Thai by Highwaypolice to choose Ranong route (highway 4) from Chumporn. Slow road, much traffic both directions, trip took us 9 hours, usually 6 hours at 140 kmh cruisingspeed. Two new bridges are buing build on this route, and temp road would not be drivable for a Ferrari

Highwaypolice answers questions in Thai language about Highways on phone 1193. Yesterday it was busy all day, so we called 023546722

Do you know whether this is for the foreseeable future as I'll be doing the drive next Monday?

Driving south to Phuket from Hua Hin yesterday 04 april. Highway closed in Surat. Small signs up in Thai by Highwaypolice to choose Ranong route (highway 4) from Chumporn. Slow road, much traffic both directions, trip took us 9 hours, usually 6 hours at 140 kmh cruisingspeed. Two new bridges are buing build on this route, and temp road would not be drivable for a Ferrari

Highwaypolice answers questions in Thai language about Highways on phone 1193. Yesterday it was busy all day, so we called 023546722

Do you know whether this is for the foreseeable future as I'll be doing the drive next Monday?

HWP answer day by day if the road is closed or possible to drive with high groundclearance 4x4. My experience is to call morning of departure and then choose route. Fortunateley we have two routes from Phuket

Convoys with army trucks are going south to make temp bridges and flood solutions