buying a train/bus ticket for travel bangkok to here

[stevehaigh]

my daughter is comming and wants to take the train from bangkok

is there any place on the island i can book a ticket and hopefully have it available for pickup somewhere in bkk?

thx

[4evermaat]

There was a time you could book tickets directly on thai railway website, up to 2 hours prior to departure. But they must have taken that offline for some reason.

But you cannot travel directly to Phuket. You would have to travel to Surat Thani and then take a coach bus or minibus to Phuket; seat61 has more information:

http://www.seat61.com/Thailand.htm#Phuket

Hopefully other forum members will advise the best course for buying the ticket. Maybe your daughter can buy it at train station in Bangkok. I think you can reserve up to 60 days early.

[keestha]

It is quicker and more convenient if she takes a direct bus from the Southern Bus Terminal (Saitaaimai). She should buy the ticket at the bus station and not at a travel agency. Buses are leaving early morning and in the evening. Tourists purchasing a "ticket to Phuket/Khao Lak" at a Bangkok travel agency are usually put on a bus to Surat Thani, where they have to wait for some kind of usually slow connection.

[stevehaigh]

It is quicker and more convenient if she takes a direct bus from the Southern Bus Terminal (Saitaaimai). She should buy the ticket at the bus station and not at a travel agency. Buses are leaving early morning and in the evening. Tourists purchasing a "ticket to Phuket/Khao Lak" at a Bangkok travel agency are usually put on a bus to Surat Thani, where they have to wait for some kind of usually slow connection.

quicker and cheaper to fly but she likes the idea of the train

[keestha]

Sure, and she's not the only one. Continuously I have to talk it out of tourist's heads to use the train as a means of transport to go from Bangkok to Khao Lak. The southern lime is often heavily booked, and advance train booking has become difficult since the online booking system is not in place anymore. And you have to get off in Surat Thani, and go on a long bus ride after that.. If she insists, she should take a somewhat later train (from about 18.00 on), in order to arrive in Surat early in the morning. Timetable can be found here