Phuket to Bangkok

This usually doubles or triples, maybe even more the air fare relative to the announced price. This is not only for Bangkok to Phuket flights, its for almost any flight of Air Asia, on top of it they are the "Asia champion" in delays and very reluctant to do anything about, such as refunding ticket or rerouting tickets because of the delay.

A other airline serving the route is Bangkok Air, but they are always the most expensive on any of their routes.

A alternative to travel from Bangkok to Phuket by flights is make the tour

by bus, prices, times and hours are already indicated above. A for sure interesting variant would be to rent a car in Bangkok and travel to Phuket via Hua Hin by road.

Naturally you could do this travel also out of Phuket. If you choose getting from Bangkok to Phuket this way consider to travel both ways with the rented cars.

To start at Phuket or Bangkok and drop the rented car at the other destination becomes difficult and expensive.

A trip from Phuket to Bangkok or vice versa is for sure a great experience and give you a visual to what's going on on the roads. If you have some time on your Thailand vacation do this journey by bus, the bus service is very comfortable. Considering that the bus to Phuket or Bangkok takes about 12 hour driving its necessary to think if you do it in the night if you are not so much interested in the pictures along the road. If you want to do it faster take the flights from Phuket to Bangkok.

Many people ask about a train Phuket to Bangkok, but there is no train. The train to Bangkok runs along the southern Thailand east cost and Phuket is at the west coast. If you are a train aficionado you need to get off the train either at Chumphon or Surat Thani City and take a bus from there. From Surat Thani to Phuket they operate small buses called microbus, they take about 3 hours to reach Phuket and cost about Baht 300,- this also applies for the vice versa trip.

Chumphon is also the drop off point for Kho Tao and Surat Thani is the ferry point to Koh Samui and Koh Phangan. Both ferries start at Don Sak a pier a little bit south of Surat City. After you end up again at Krung Thep, as Bangkok is know in Thai language take a original Bangkok massage with all blows and whistles your body really will need it.

The is also a good travel service Pattaya Bangkok which even become better after the new airport started since the airport is an the motorway between Bangkok and Pattaya. For a ticket to Bangkok always go to the bus terminal, there are several depending on the travel route you take. If you want to have it more exotic you might even try to travel from Penang to Bangkok and to Kuala Lumpur , for Penang Georgetown its the same routing.

Also the travel to the northern Thailand is very easy and quite cheap. Try Chiang Mai to Bangkok or maybe Sukhothai. Sukhothai is a must see destination in Thailand and from there its easy to reach Mae Sot at the Thailand Myanmar border. After travel down to Umphang a great Thailand outdoor destination with marvelous waterfalls, jungle, river rafting and so on. On the way are also some Karen refugee camps. The road runs just beside the biggest camp on the way to Umphang but its encircled by the Thai military they wont let anyone in our out unless with special permission, be also careful to make pictures or videos they don't like it around the Karen refugee village.

There are enough attractions along the road from Bangkok to Phuket to make this travel idea a good choice. You could start at Bangkok, travel

southwards to Hua Hin

and from there to Phuket via Chumphon.

At Chumphon do a right turn to Ranong and reach the Andaman Sea coast there. Spectacular panoramas are waiting, driving through lush tropical mountain jungle after Chumphon almost all the way to Ranong and Khao Lak..

After about 8 km behind the first intersection to Prachuap Kiri Khan

is a road sign pointing to Myanmar. Have a look, the border is closed to foreigners, but open to locals. The reason is, on the Myanmar side there is no immigration office, only a military outpost.

But there is a huge orchid growers market just in front of the Thai border post. The Myanmar’s come over every day to sell their flowers. There is also a beautiful lake just in front.

The Myanmar’s try to make some money with their exotic orchid plants on this market. But if you are a amateur be very careful since about 80% of the orchid plants have some kind of disease, usually by fungus.

You can easily spot this by checking for yellow leaves or brown spots at the leaves. Don’t touch it since the fungi can easily be transmitted via hand contact. If you touch any, go and have a hand wash with soap afterwards.

At the orchid market on your tour from Bangkok to Phuket they have all kind of exotic orchids, its worth to have a look, on top of it , you wont get as close to rural Myanmar anywhere along the Thailand Myanmar border.

Have a look its a great experience, no problems !

Stop for a night at Ranong its real great. Ranong is the biggest port of Thailand on the west coast. Mainly

used for the Thai fishing fleet in the Andaman Sea and the Indian Ocean.

At your journey from Bangkok to Phuket you could do a trip from Ranong to Kawthaung in Myanmar.

There are absolute no problems to do this trip, its just about 30 minutes with the long tail boat out of Ranong harbor.

Costs are about Baht 300,- per person, naturally this is negotiable.

This short trip is a journey back in time, Kawthaung is still somehow similar as it was during English colonial time, the English name for the area around there was Victoria Point.

The Myanmar immigration is happy to see you, don't believe anything contrary people might tell you. In Myanmar you will only find helpful and nice people as long as you are not on a crusade.

The Myanmar visa costs US$ 10,- and you are entitled to move around in the town as you wish, there are also some hotels there but with this visa you only can be in Kawthaung and no way to go elsewhere. As mentioned before a real great sidestep on jour travel from Bangkok to Phuket.

After take the excellent coastal road from Ranong via Takua Pa and Khao Lak to Phuket. Near Takua Pa is one of the best Thai National Parks around the huge reservoir.

Khao Lak has kilometers of beautiful beaches, warm emerald shaded tropical waters and a marvelous green hinterland.

Behind Khao Lak its only about 100 km to Phuket. The whole distance driving from Bangkok to Phuket via Ranong is about 900 km.

We will show you further down driving back from Phuket to Bangkok via a different travel tour.

Leaving Phuket on the road over the Sarasin Bridge and doing a right turn after some kilometers in the direction to Phang Nga.

A good 4 lane highway with dangerous curves and bends leads to Phang Nga City. Just before Phang Nga City is a right turn to Phang Nga Bay. This is just behind the Phunga Hotel which is on the right side of the highway. This hotel also could be a good choice if you run into the night. Night travel from Phuket to Bangkok is very dangerous since nobody cares about anything on the road. On top of it many cars or motorbikes drive without lights, others on the wrong side of the road and so on.

The other day I drove from Phuket to Bangkok in the night and counted 9 heavy accidents, with at least 3 dead people, that means every 100 km one

At the end of the road Phang Nga Bay opens and you arrive at the jetty.Usually several long tail boats are around. One of the long tail boat guys will approach you and offer you a ride. Its about Baht 800,- to 1300,- for a 3 hour ride to see the area.

beaches are around the limestone islands plus real marvelous panoramas.

After coming back to the Phang Nga Bay jetty do a right turn at the intersection and drive towards Phang Nga City. Just before the city turn right again in Surat Thani direction.

Now the Phuket to Bangkok ride is through a green landscape with palm oil and rubber plantations. From time to time a river is crossed, driving through mangrove forest and the limestone hills pop out from the green carpet.

If you come into the night be aware that most petrol stations in Thailand close between 9 -10 pm, only at the main through roads like Petkassem Road -that's the name of the main north south highway in Thailand.

After this time there are only 2 petrol stations open on the whole distance from Phuket to Surat Thani. This 2 petrol stations are both just behind Phang Nga Bay.

At Surat Thani City the sign posts are up for Don Sak, no need to enter Surat Thani town. Don Sak is the small harbor where the ferries for Koh Samui and Ko Phangan are leaving. Look close to drive into the right lane since this is not marked very clear.