Bangkok to Dawei By Road

[pj123]

I posted this in the Myanmar Travel section but was advised to repost in the General section.

I am interested in making a business trip to Dawei from Bangkok in July and I thought that an option would be to drive up to the nearest border crossing, cross over by foot and hire a car and driver for the road to Dawei.

I understand there is now a border crossing at Htee Kee (Myanmar side) and Phu Nam Ron (on Thai side). This is the border crossing that the new Dawei-Kanchanaburi road will run through. See map attached.

The only other options are (1) by air to Dawei via Yangon or (2) fly to Yangon and then by car to Dawei.

I am interested to see how they are getting on with the new road.

Any advice on this border crossing would be welcome.

[greg71]

You should be fowarding your questions to thaksin via yingluck as these ppl are in the know .

[Tomtomtom69]

OK here is what I know - the Bangkok to Dawei expressway is or soon will be under construction and once completed in 2015? if on schedule, then you WILL be able to cross there (obviously!) and make the overland trip to Dawei. For now, the crossing you describe is not yet an international crossing and they probably won't even allow you to cross for the day (except maybe unofficially near the border area) as I doubt there is even much of a road on the Myanmar side yet, so you would be best to fly to Yangon and then drive down to Dawei which is no problem now that the road all the way down to Myeik is open for foreign travelers.

Another option that may soon be possible would be to cross via Mae Sot and then travel down to Dawei (via Kawkareik and Mawlamyine, no need to travel directly into Hpa-an as there is a bypass road) but it is still unclear whether the road between Myawaddy and Gyaing is open if you are arriving from the Thai side as the Myanmar officials have been putting off the opening of the road to Thai and other foreign travelers since April (strangely, it has been open since March if you travel from Yangon to Myawaddy and then back the same way you came).

Call Zaw Myo Win at Myawaddy immigration on Thailand 082-771 5753 and ask him whether you can cross with a visa in your passport at Myawaddy and that you would like to travel down to Dawei via Mawlamyine. He will be able to tell you more or less if the crossing has now been opened or if it will still take some more months before the Myanmar authorities get their act together. Note that should it be open already or when it does, Mae Sot/Myawaddy will be the only crossing allowing full overland access to the country although soon, 2-3 more crossings should allow that over the next 1-2 years.

[pj123]

Thank you. That's helpful. I think I will do my first trip by air via Yangon.

[BruceBayliss]

As of late August 2013 it is now all open, good trip amazing jungle!

First you need your Myanmar visa

go to Kanchanaburi bus station and catch to bus to Phu Nam Ron - Thee Khee border cost 70 bhat.

then jump on one of the minivans into Dawei, its an amazing town and very unexplored.

for further info on how to get over the border please see link <commercial link removed>