New Vip Busservice Hua Hin-Subvarnabhumi

[soi41]

Good news for us living in and around Hua Hin. Let us give this company our custom, so they stay in business!

www.airporthuahinbus.com

[hhfarang]

I can't see them being able to fill a bus like that (unless it is a very small one) every two to four hours. I suspect it will be a seasonal service starting around the first of December (November 29th this time) running through the end of January when there are lots of international tourists flying in to visit Hua Hin. Imho there won't be enough demand for them to break even during the other months.

They also need to have a good marketing campaign so that people at both ends know of the service if they expect to be successful.

It will be nice to see some rider's reports back on here to see if it is being used to anythng near capacity.

Edited November 30, 2012 by hhfarang

[wpcoe]

The terminus is listed as the bus station at Soi 96/1. I assume they come down Petchkasem Road through town, and wonder if they would drop passengers off along the way?

PS: Just noticed a link for "Help Us Serve You Better / Share Your Thought" which leads to a "page not found" error. Guess they really want feedback, huh?

Edited December 2, 2012 by wpcoe

[charlie1968]

The terminus is listed as the bus station at Soi 96/1. I assume they come down Petchkasem Road through town, and wonder if they would drop passengers off along the way?

PS: Just noticed a link for "Help Us Serve You Better / Share Your Thought" which leads to a "page not found" error. Guess they really want feedback, huh?

will try the service in the new year

charlie

[hasseigoteborg]

I photo inside the bus.

hf

[hasseigoteborg]

This is the same company running one bus AP to Pattaya. And the yellow busses.

hf

[tricolor]

I photo inside the bus.

hf

Looks good and c/w seatbelts.

[SamSipEt]

I used this bus yesterday and the service at Swampy was ok.

Pros:

The bus was spotlessly clean and the air-con was set to cool instead of the usual "freeze your nuts off".

A sensible driver gave us a safe ride.

Cons.

On boarding we were told that the journey would take 3.5 hours and not 3 hours as advertised on their site (we left 10 minutes late but arrived on time).

The bus would not stop anywhere except at the Hua Hin bus station which meant that most passengers will have to get transport back into Hua Hin from the bus station.

The seats can not be adjusted so that the back of the seat is vertical and are at about a 20 degree recline at best - you can lower it further but can not sit upright in the chair.

305 baht one way, plus another 100 baht from Hua Hin bus station makes it twice the price of the mini van from Victory Monument.

Would I use them again? No - mainly because of the uncomfortable seating position. Would I recommend them? Not whole heartedly but they are a viable option for people arriving at Swampy.

I'll be taking the train back to Bangkok tomorrow - about the same price, no air-con, takes longer but is much more fun :-)

[wpcoe]

Cons.

On boarding we were told that the journey would take 3.5 hours and not 3 hours as advertised on their site (we left 10 minutes late but arrived on time).

The bus would not stop anywhere except at the Hua Hin bus station which meant that most passengers will have to get transport back into Hua Hin from the bus station.

The seats can not be adjusted so that the back of the seat is vertical and are at about a 20 degree recline at best - you can lower it further but can not sit upright in the chair.

305 baht one way, plus another 100 baht from Hua Hin bus station makes it twice the price of the mini van from Victory Monument.

Would I use them again? No - mainly because of the uncomfortable seating position. Would I recommend them? Not whole heartedly but they are a viable option for people arriving at Swampy.

I'll be taking the train back to Bangkok tomorrow - about the same price, no air-con, takes longer but is much more fun :-)

I don't know why they advertise three hours, either, because the four times I've used the bus, it was 3.5 hours, plus/minus five minutes.

I agree about the odd position of the seat when it is "upright." It is an awkward position. But, I found by reclining it just a little, it was more comfortable as a recliner. Still, odd that it doesn't have a true upright position.

Even at twice the price of a minivan from Victory Monument, I feel MUCH safer and more comfortable on the big bus, plus you have to factor in the price (and effort) to get between the airport and VM.

I have mixed feelings about not making other stops. I'd rather not be making a half dozen stops for one person to get off at each, especially since it's an airport bus and will probably involve time spent retrieving luggage from down below. However, I personally would like to be dropped off at the top of my soi.

I'm a train person, as well, but only take air con second class, and those trains generally don't run a times I want, and again, there is the add-on and hassle to get to/from the airport in Bangkok. If I am staying in the city, my favorite is the ~400pm air con all-Second Class diesel rain car to Bangkok.

[hhfarang]

...my favorite is the ~400pm air con all-Second Class diesel rain car to Bangkok.

Does that train end at a station near the BTS or MRT?

[UKJASE]

...my favorite is the ~400pm air con all-Second Class diesel rain car to Bangkok.

Does that train end at a station near the BTS or MRT?

i think all trains end their journey at hualampong train station in bangkok..... and from there you can connect with the MRT

the trains are safer and more fun, but on average have always taken me 6 hours to get to bangkok

[SamSipEt]

Just to complete the return journey....I caught the 14:10 departure frm Hua Hin station at 14:20 which only had 3rd class fan carriages. Very busy because I made the mistake of travelling back to Bangkok on Sunday when a lot of weekend visitors to Hua Hin also return to Bangkok. The carriage I was in was full with a couple of people standing most of the 5 hour journey to Bangkok. Hot and humid but for 44 baht a good deal. Worth doing once just for the experience but I doubt if I would do it again. A couple of Thais sitting opposite struck up a friendly conversation in broken English (but still far better than my Thai) and offered me some of the food they had packed for the journey. Typical Thai generosity which makes it such a joy to be here.

IMHO the minivans are down right dangerous, the VIP airport bus is good but (for me) uncomfortable, the 3rd class train was a one off experience which leaves an expensive taxi at 1,500 - 2,000 baht one way or the air-con train mentioned by WPCOE above or the standard buses of which I have no knowledge but perhaps I will give them a try on my next visit in a couple of months.

[wpcoe]

...my favorite is the ~400pm air con all-Second Class diesel rain car to Bangkok.

Does that train end at a station near the BTS or MRT?

Depending on where you are heading in the city, you can either connect with MRT (subway) at either Bang Sue or Hualamphong (terminus) stations.

[up2me4now]

I think this is a great alternative to Pattaya.

Last time there at the Airport stand in December the Pattaya bus was full for the next two journeys and heard around 15/20 people say " don't want to wait lets go to Hua Hin instead for a few nights".

Infact if I did not have people to meet in Pattaya that day I would have joined them. Hua Hin is so much better.

Edited May 3, 2013 by up2me4now

[CDNinKS]

Took this Hua Hin to swampy bus for the first time today. They now advise you that the travel time will be 4 hrs, although this trip which departed right on time (4pm) was exactly 3 hrs and 12 mins. I very much enjoyed the trip and normally I use a taxi service and yes the taxi is a bit quicker and is door to door service, but 2000 baht compared to 310 as well. I found the seats very comfortable and actually had a bit of a snooze for part of the trip. I will be using them again for sure.

I hope they can keep operating as there were only 6 passengers onboard this time.

[hiso1956]

Caught this bus last week and found the service great. Driver was good also. My new mode of transport to Hua Hin.

[darrendsd]

Have heard reports that this bus is sometimes taking up to 5.5 hours to arrive at Swampy

I would advise anyone on a tight schedule re flight times to be wary

Edited May 31, 2013 by darrendsd

[CDNinKS]

I will say that the traffic on the day I took the bus was what you might call "normal" for Bangkok, very slow around the toll booths and such but otherwise flowing pretty freely. I suppose on certain days or times when the traffic is bad it could very well be the 4 hrs they are advising, but 5.5 hrs would have to be some extremity bad traffic. Not saying that is not possible as I have been stuck in Bangkok traffic for 2 hrs not moving more than 50 meters

[tricolor]

Used this service about 6 times in the last few weeks. Usually only about 30-65 % full. You can book direct at their offices in HH a day or two in advance if you don't want to do it on the internet.

It's a great service for 305 Baht taking between 3h15 and 4h30 hours depending on traffic so allow plenty of time if going to the airport.

Seats are spacious and comfortable.

The Chinese manufactured bus (Sunlong) did seem to have rather too soft suspension akin to being in a boat with choppy seas at times but perhaps the shocks were faulty.

No extra stops made in HH but did pick up on the way to and at Cha Am as well as allowing some passengers to exit near the airport transportation centre (bus station).

[CDNinKS]

Took the 13:30 from swampy to HH yesterday, bus was about half full and took about 3.5 hrs including a 5 min stop they made for a toilet break. Also stopped in Cha Am to drop some pax.

They did charge me an extra 100 baht for a second bag (golf clubs) which I thought was suppose to be an extra 20 baht.

Good trip again, will be my mode of choice now as long as the times line up.

[hhfarang]

Too bad they don't have something like this to Don Muang, My wife makes a lot of trips to Issan using Nok Air to Loei out of that airport. There seems to be no cheap, easy way to get to/from Don Muang from Hua Hin.

Edited July 14, 2013 by hhfarang

[CDNinKS]

Too bad they don't have something like this to Don Muang, My wife makes a lot of trips to Issan using Nok Air to Loei out of that airport. There seems to be no cheap, easy way to get to/from Don Muang from Hua Hin.

I have heard there is a free shuttle bus between Swampy and Don Muang. Not as good as a direct bus, but I guess better than the alternatives....

[sydneyjed]

Too bad they don't have something like this to Don Muang, My wife makes a lot of trips to Issan using Nok Air to Loei out of that airport. There seems to be no cheap, easy way to get to/from Don Muang from Hua Hin.

I have heard there is a free shuttle bus between Swampy and Don Muang. Not as good as a direct bus, but I guess better than the alternatives....

Will give it a whirl next Saturday all things well...