Can someone please advise the cheapest option to go get a VOA from Bangkok at the moment.

A link to a website and cost would be very helpful.

Thanks

cheapest way is do it yourself.train from hualamphong to aranyaprathet ,motobike taxi to border and back on train or bus if you miss the train.can be done for1200-1300 baht (including visa fee)if my memory seves me correctly.

The bus/lunch/visa seems to run 1,800 to about 2,200 baht from Bangkok using one of the scheduled services that advertise in local newspaper classified section.

If your plan is to stay a night there in Aranyaprathet, you might want to check out the ARAN GARDEN 2 Guest House. Lovely little place and very affordable. I take the wife and kids there a couple times each year, They love it too. Lots of fine memories there, that Aran Garden 2.

Correct me if i am wrong (and i may well be ) but for cost over comfort and if you have a passport that will give a free VOA in malaysia - then this may be the cheapest.

You can get a 3rd class ticket from bkk to had yai for around 200-300bt then i beleive there is a bus service (or maybe another 3rd class train) to get to padang besar (or another point in malaysia) - then you just go over and come back. Go back the same way. Total cost could be as low as 600bt approx.

This would take 3 days and youd be sleeping on a seat on the train or in a railway station (may not appeal to everyone!).

I dont have the exact details but this way it is just travelling costs and there are no visa fees.

I am not at all sure there is any 3rd class train to Hat Yai but if there is I would sure not be on it. Up to 2 hours maybe - longer than that would be torture. I recall in the 95 floods had to take 3rd class from Bangkok to Nakhon Pathom as tracks were covered with several feet of water and would not have wanted to take any further.

All the above are good.

Air Asia to Penang and back is around 3000 baht, if you choose your days carefully.

Thai Railways does not publish the 3rd class services on the english timetables they provide - however look at the Thai timetables and you will see alot more services !

In other words TR does not want non thai readers to know about the 3rd class services. Personally I like the cheapest services as I have a much better time and see less rich Thai and farang faces. They are not uncomfortable.

Your idea of comfort, I suspect, is a lot different than mine. I see many pickups with 10 people in the back but it is sure not how I would choose to travel. 3rd class is most assuredly uncomfortable for most tourists for any time longer than an hour or two. It is cheap, however.

I guess the best way still is the Casino bus from Suan Lum to Poi Pet (combining cost efficiency and comfort).

THB 300 return including lunch. Of course you have to pay the Cambodian visa fee of 1000 baht (Malaysia: free).

If you go by train:

2 x THB 48 baht = THB 96

Tuk Tuk return = THB 150

A little cheaper than the Casino bus, but no so comfortable and very slow. Plus you have to run to get the train back.