Pattaya to Phnom Penh - Cheapest Way?

[cigar7]

What is the cheapest total cost of traveling from Pattaya to Phnom Penh Cambodia for 2 old retired men? We have lots of time, but want a safe trip. Cost of the trip includes transportation obviously but also the Cambo visa, tuk-tuks, and over night accommodation if necessary. We've heard the Cambo visa going through Trat (Had Lek) - Koh Kong costs 1500b while going through Aranyaprathet - Poipet costs US$30.

Should we back track to Bangkok and take the train to Aranyaprathet or a bus from Ekkamai? Is it easier, faster and cheaper overall to go through Koh Kong?

[inzman]

Bus from Bangkok seems pretty cheap and comfy.

[cigar7]

Bus from Bangkok seems pretty cheap and comfy.

Is there a direct bus from Bangkok to Phnom Penh? Do you know any details like:

1. which bus station it leaves from in Bangkok?

2. Time is leaves?

3. Cost?

[inzman]

Yes direct bus to Phnom phen. I believe it leaves from Morchit several times a day. You can google it, they don't hide this info.

[mike2011]

The bus Pattaya to Aran is 250 baht per person. Yellow bus from Pattaya Nua to Aranyaprathet. That's the cheapest option to the border.

Train: 48 baht from BKK to Aran. Problem: you need to take the airport bus from Jomtien 130 baht and then 1 stop ride on the airport train to get to Ladkrabang and take the 48 baht train. Difficult, much slower and no savings.

From the bus station in Aran take a tuktuk for 80 baht to the border.

Visa: You need USD, and 1 passport photo. No photo and you pay 1 USD extra. The official price is USD 30 but they try to charge 35. Stand your ground or pay. Now: The Electronic Tourist Visa will cost you 37 USD total (that includes the fees).

Cambodian side: Walk or pay 1 USD for the moto to the night bus to PP which leaves at 8 PM, cost 9 USD, you can stretch out, it is a sort of sleeper bus.

This is the cheapest for the Poipet route.

[TheSiemReaper]

I wouldn't want to do Pattaya to Phnom Penh in a single bus journey that would be awful... better to break the trip in Siem Reap. :-)

[phuketrichard]

The bus Pattaya to Aran is 250 baht per person. Yellow bus from Pattaya Nua to Aranyaprathet. That's the cheapest option to the border.

Train: 48 baht from BKK to Aran. Problem: you need to take the airport bus from Jomtien 130 baht and then 1 stop ride on the airport train to get to Ladkrabang and take the 48 baht train. Difficult, much slower and no savings.

From the bus station in Aran take a tuktuk for 80 baht to the border.

Visa: You need USD, and 1 passport photo. No photo and you pay 1 USD extra. The official price is USD 30 but they try to charge 35. Stand your ground or pay. Now: The Electronic Tourist Visa will cost you 37 USD total (that includes the fees).

Cambodian side: Walk or pay 1 USD for the moto to the night bus to PP which leaves at 8 PM, cost 9 USD, you can stretch out, it is a sort of sleeper bus.

This is the cheapest for the Poipet route.

the Evisa online is $40 ( $3 credit card charge)

the train leaves early morning and u get to see local life 5 hours

its a LONG day if u go all the way to PP

[TheSiemReaper]

A very, very long day. Given the endless attempts to rip you off and force you to buy from cafes etc. It can take 10-12 hours (much longer than advertised) from Bangkok to Siem Reap. Throw in another 8-10 hours (again much longer than advertised) to Phnom Penh and it's nearly a whole day on a bus.

[mike2011]

The question was about the cheapest way to get to PP. Breaking the trip in Siem Reap is not the way to go plus you get 7-8 hrs on that horrible road.

The train is very nice, but I would take the afternoon train, NOT the morning. The morning train gets you right into rush hour at Poipet. In the evening not 1-2 hrs wait at all and much less scams (the buggers are almost all gone). Same holds true for early morning crossings.

Thus one could break the trip in Aran where fan rooms run at 175 to 250 (aran garden 1 or 2), clean ones.

In Poipet decent rooms run around 10 USD = 320 baht.

The night bus is ok, nothing great but one stretch a bit. I prefer the day time buses, safer and one can take a look.

Cigar should let us know if he likes to take a look at temples or not. That could impact his choices.

[cigar7]

The question was about the cheapest way to get to PP. Breaking the trip in Siem Reap is not the way to go plus you get 7-8 hrs on that horrible road.

The train is very nice, but I would take the afternoon train, NOT the morning. The morning train gets you right into rush hour at Poipet. In the evening not 1-2 hrs wait at all and much less scams (the buggers are almost all gone). Same holds true for early morning crossings.

Thus one could break the trip in Aran where fan rooms run at 175 to 250 (aran garden 1 or 2), clean ones.

In Poipet decent rooms run around 10 USD = 320 baht.

The night bus is ok, nothing great but one stretch a bit. I prefer the day time buses, safer and one can take a look.

Cigar should let us know if he likes to take a look at temples or not. That could impact his choices.

Thank you for recommendations. I see train 275 leaves Bangkok 5:55 and arrives 11:35; train 279 leaves 13:05 and arrives 17:35 in Aranyaprathet. It seems 1st train takes 5 hours 40 minutes, 2nd train 4 hours 30 minutes. I heard trains always arrive late.

We plan to stay overnight at the border. I heard rooms and food is cheaper in Cambodia than Thailand, for the same quality. So we were thinking to stay in Poipet not Aranyaprathet. Can you recommend nice clean hotel in Poipet? I was thinking Hotel City Poipet, about 1 km from the border for US$12 large AC room or Poipet Phnom Pich Guest House, opposite old train station, AC room for US$11, or fan room for 200b.

Which company has best day bus to Poipet to Phnom Penh?

[cigar7]

The bus Pattaya to Aran is 250 baht per person. Yellow bus from Pattaya Nua to Aranyaprathet. That's the cheapest option to the border.

Train: 48 baht from BKK to Aran. Problem: you need to take the airport bus from Jomtien 130 baht and then 1 stop ride on the airport train to get to Ladkrabang and take the 48 baht train. Difficult, much slower and no savings.

From the bus station in Aran take a tuktuk for 80 baht to the border.

Visa: You need USD, and 1 passport photo. No photo and you pay 1 USD extra. The official price is USD 30 but they try to charge 35. Stand your ground or pay. Now: The Electronic Tourist Visa will cost you 37 USD total (that includes the fees).

Cambodian side: Walk or pay 1 USD for the moto to the night bus to PP which leaves at 8 PM, cost 9 USD, you can stretch out, it is a sort of sleeper bus.

This is the cheapest for the Poipet route.

Thank you for your recommendations and information.

I checked price of yellow bus, at bus station 3 days ago, now the price is 263b Pattaya to Aran. I was planning to take bus Pattaya Nua to Ekkamai (119b), then BTS to Asoke and MRT to train station, estimated cost 70b. Then train to Aranyaprathet for 48b. I'm retired, so need to rush travel.

[watcharacters]

This site can be very useful:

http://www.seat61.com

[mike2011]

Hi again,

sorry cant help with hotels in Poipet. I used Aran Garden 1 and 2. The better of the two wants 250 for a fan room while the other, not so nice 175 baht.

Bus Poipet-PP. I usually use Capitol bus. More choices and rather good buses. No break downs so far and I use them a lot.

Bus from Pattaya: I thought it was 263 as posted on a website but one member here paid 250. The lower sum would be in line with the fare reductions.

Train: No need to Hualamphon station! You take the BTS as planned to Asoke and then take the MRT in the other direction (= north) for 1 stop. You exit at New Petchburi Road. There you walk RIGHT at the railway tracks and wait on the platform for your train. This is cheaper and gives you more time. Google maps shows the airport link station which is left of the road. Google earth is of little help as the airport rail link blocks the view.

The train supposedly arrives 15 minutes after leaving the central station. Never happened to me. A 5.35 PM arrival is also highly unlikely. Add an hour. Same speed and same track and same road crossings in BKK - so no miracles happening.

Since you expressed your wish to save as much as possible:

You can take the 2nd class bus to ekkamai. That's the one with an orange stripe. It does not leave from Pattaya Nua bus station but stops at the intersections of Pattaya Tai (that;s the terminus I think) as well as Klang and Nua. The bus picks up passengers along the way and does not use the sky way. It takes much longer but you save some baht which might serve your purpose. In BKK, assuming you still have time, you could take a bus up Sukumvit. You will see how the traffic situation is and decide accordingly. Noonish should be ok. 8-10 baht to Asoke and there is also a bus up Asoke to Petchburi MRT station. This way the connection in BKK will be under 20 baht.

Perhaps even better: Exit Ekkmai bus station and use the BTS overpass and go to Ekkamai street (across from the bus station) take a bus up Ekkamai and connect at Khlong Tan railway station. Even cheaper and faster. You enter the train station from new Petchburi road.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Khlong+Tan+Railway+Station/@13.7432801,100.5901881,17z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x30e29e458e8fb9ed:0x9e12025783d69e6b

Another possiblity: 130 Baht Jomtien to airport bus. THen take the free shuttle from the terminal to the bus station which is called Public Transportation center or maybe the bus takes you there direct (never did that as I had to take a flight). From the bus station a motorbike to train station maybe 3 kms. (30 baht?).

Another variation: Take the 2nd class bus only to Chonburi and switch there to a 2nd or 3rd class (fan) bus to Chaosensao (or on google: CHachoengsao). There a motorbike ride to the train station. google maps shows a wrong location for the bus station. This should be the cheapest route. It depends a bit on your luggage of course. The train leaves there at around 2.20 (or later if delayed).

These variation seem to be confusing at first sight. However if you think about it you are making a huge Uturn. It starts at Chaosensao and ends at the central train station. Wherever you can cut this 60-70 KM Uturn short you win time and money. No need to get all the way into central Bangkok.

I like Klong Tan station as it has facilities unlike the stop near Asoke, Chaosengsao is a big station as well. You wont be allowed to talk to the hundreds of university students there as this is my exclusive privilege .

http://www.railway.co.th/checktime/checktime.asp?lenguage=Eng

Today Check 2,410 [ All 7,009,171 ]

Train No.

279

Type

Ordinary

Start-Final

Bangkok - Aranyaprathet

No.

Stop Station

Arr

Dep

1

Bangkok

00:00

13:05

2

Phayathai

13:12

13:13

3

Rachaprarop

13:14

13:15

4

Makkasan

13:16

13:17

5

Asoke

13:19

13:20

6

Khlong Tan

13:23

13:24

7

Hua Mak

13:29

13:30

8

Ban Thap Chang

13:35

13:36

9

Lat Krabang

13:41

13:42

10

Pra Chom Klao

13:45

13:46

11

Hua Takhe

13:47

13:48

12

Khlong Luang Phaeng

13:54

13:55

13

Klong Udom Chonlajorn

13:58

13:59

14

Preng

14:01

14:02

15

Khlong Bang Phra

14:07

14:08

16

Chachoengsao Junction

14:13

14:21

17

Phrong Akat

14:31

14:32

18

Bang Nam Prieo

14:35

14:36

19

Khlong Sip Kao Junction

14:41

14:42

20

Khlong Yi Sip Et

14:45

14:46

21

Yothaka

14:51

14:52

22

Ban Sang

15:00

15:01

23

Nong Nam Khao

15:07

15:08

24

Ban Pak Phli

15:13

15:14

25

Prachin Buri

15:21

15:22

26

Khok Makok

15:31

15:32

27

Prachantakham

15:38

15:39

28

Nong Saeng

15:44

15:45

29

Ban Dong Bang

15:50

15:58

30

Ban Phrom Saeng

16:02

16:03

31

Ban Ko Daeng

16:06

16:07

32

Kabin Buri

16:11

16:12

33

Kabin Kao

16:15

16:16

34

Nong Sang

16:22

16:23

35

Phra Prong

16:31

16:32

36

Ban Kaeng

16:36

16:37

37

Sala Lamduan

16:41

16:42

38

Sa Kaeo

16:49

16:50

39

Tha Kasem

16:57

16:58

40

Huai Chot

17:03

17:04

41

Watthana Nakhon

17:13

17:14

42

Ban Pong Kom

17:20

17:21

43

Huai Dua

17:26

17:27

44

Aranyaprathet

17:35

00:00

[mike2011]

This is just a short addition on the train connection to Aran from Pattaya.

It is not necesssary to get into BKK. For those hardline trainlovers: Take the bus to Chaosensao bus station, exit to the left, down the road follow it to the right turn and a further 200 meters. There is the train station. So it is a 500 meter walk or a short ride. This much easier than any hassle in BKK or at the airport.

[losworld]

The bus Pattaya to Aran is 250 baht per person. Yellow bus from Pattaya Nua to Aranyaprathet. That's the cheapest option to the border.

Train: 48 baht from BKK to Aran. Problem: you need to take the airport bus from Jomtien 130 baht and then 1 stop ride on the airport train to get to Ladkrabang and take the 48 baht train. Difficult, much slower and no savings.

From the bus station in Aran take a tuktuk for 80 baht to the border.

Visa: You need USD, and 1 passport photo. No photo and you pay 1 USD extra. The official price is USD 30 but they try to charge 35. Stand your ground or pay. Now: The Electronic Tourist Visa will cost you 37 USD total (that includes the fees).

Cambodian side: Walk or pay 1 USD for the moto to the night bus to PP which leaves at 8 PM, cost 9 USD, you can stretch out, it is a sort of sleeper bus.

This is the cheapest for the Poipet route.

DO NOT TAKE YELLOW BUS. repeat DO NOT TAKE YELLOW BUS. I took it once to mukdahan and it averaged 50 km per night on and empty road and they have countless breakdowns. Old and uncomfortable buses.

[mike2011]

Losworld,

are we talking about the same buses I regularly see at the North Pattaya Road bus station? They looked ok to me if not very good. I took several times in the past and the trip to Aran was as good as any 1 class aircon bus trip in Thailand, maybe better.

Perhaps another detail that might come in handy:

The 11.30 bus departure from the airport to Rongklua was in my case a Van not a bus. It took the short cut south of Kabinburi thereby by-passing Kabinburi and Sakeow joining that highway before Aran. The 200 baht were well spent as I made it to the 3.30 pm bus to PP. Thus morning arrivals at BKK can make it to PP by night.

[mauroest]

Hi Cigar7 ! Did you followed suggestions and made the trip ? I will do the same if ok

[Tomtomtom69]

Bus from Bangkok seems pretty cheap and comfy.

Is there a direct bus from Bangkok to Phnom Penh? Do you know any details like:

1. which bus station it leaves from in Bangkok?

2. Time is leaves?

3. Cost?

Yes. It leaves once daily.

1. Mo Chit

2. From Bangkok, 1.30am (yes am!). Previously it left at 23.50h and just a few months ago it was 8.30am. Not sure why they changed as I hate overnight journeys by public transport. Return journey to Bangkok leaves from Phnom Penh at 23.00h.

3. 900 Baht, but recent promotional fares have been as low as 750 Baht

I noticed your question is 6 months old, but I figured I should reply anyway for the information of those interested in travelling to Phnom Penh by bus, as schedules have changed twice already over the course of just 8 or 9 months.

[Tomtomtom69]

A very, very long day. Given the endless attempts to rip you off and force you to buy from cafes etc. It can take 10-12 hours (much longer than advertised) from Bangkok to Siem Reap. Throw in another 8-10 hours (again much longer than advertised) to Phnom Penh and it's nearly a whole day on a bus.

That's why you either catch a van to the Thai border and then grab a taxi on the Cambo side, or you catch the international bus service from Bangkok to Siem Reap. This takes around 7 hours including 1-2 hours at the border.

The Phnom Penh bus now leaves in the middle of the night, starting at 1.30am and reportedly takes 11 hours. My friend took this bus late last year when it was still departing at 8.30am and it took roughly 12 hours according to him. However, much depends on how much time is spent/wasted at the border. Usually it's around 2 hours including lunch. Perhaps that's why they decided to re-time it to an overnight service so they can get to the border around 6 in the morning when it opens and avoid the crowds.

[melvinmelvin]

If you end up taking the bus from BKK to Aran you should take one of the buses going to Rongklua, the big market by the border.

Would save you the tuktuk from Aran bus station to the border.

From Rongklua market you can walk to the border, 200 meters or so from where the bus stops.

If you wanna save further you could always take the train from Pattaya to BKK, cheap, but takes ages.

When you have entered Poipet you will find some cheapish hotels in the sois to the left when you walk down the main road.

The reason why the Pattaya --> BKK train takes ages is that it doesn't go ChonBuri-Samut Prakhan-BKK but cruises through large portions of ChaSoengChao.

I don't know, but I would assume that somewhere in ChaSoengChao the Pattaya-BKK train crosses or shares a station with

the BKK-Aran train. That would be a suitable place for you to change train.

But you would have to consult the maps (if they exist).

[steven100]

"Cambodia for 2 old retired men? We have lots of time," - But not lots of money ??

JUST DO THIS .....

The bus Pattaya to Aran is 250 baht per person. Yellow bus from Pattaya Nua to Aranyaprathet. That's the cheapest option to the border.

If you can't afford this then you shouldn't be in Thailand ...

Heck, let me know and maybe I'll buy you the ticket ...

Then .....

Cambodian side: Walk or pay 1 USD for the moto to the night bus to PP which leaves at 8 PM, cost 9 USD, you can stretch out, it is a sort of sleeper bus.

[mauroest]

where is the bus departure point in Pattaya?

[mike2011]

Steven, just let board members decide themselves how they will spend their money and do not come to conclusions that are not necessarily right. If people want to spend less, so be it.

I had earlier posted that

there is also a 3.30 PM bus from Poipet to PP. No need to wait for the night bus in case anyone takes the morning train.

As for Chaosengsao: bus and train stations are close to each other. You can walk or it takes a single motortaxi ride.

Cheapest from BKK: morning train to Aran, the pickup truck/bus to the border (no a toyota but a converted truck), then a walk in Poipet 50 meters from the immigration (pass the roundabout) and negotiate your fare to PP. The bus leaves at the other end of town and the company collects its customers. No need for a 1 USD motorbike ride.

total price 11 USD, maybe 12.

As for Pattaya it is the yellow bus from northern bus station. An alternative for the price conscious might be to join a Rayong - Korat service on Sukumvit and switch to the train at Chaosengsao. This would generate some very small savings but it takes a lot of time. On the other hand, food is good in Chaosengsao and it might be a nice break.

[NotWhatItWasnt]

MK Tours do a nice VIP coach which goes all the way to the border poi pet

Pick up from the caltex garage. close to Tesco lotus top of Thepprasit Road

There number is 0818675003

Best you ask someone who speaks Thai to call on your behalf