How to get from Bangkok to Phuket by train (and bus)

Bangkok and Phuket are two of the most popular destinations in Thailand, both offering a taste of what makes the country so special. Although there are plenty of daily flights between the two, it’s much more of an experience to take an overnight train from Bangkok to Surat Thani, and then complete the journey via a well-established bus route.

Travelling the other way? Check out our guide for taking the train from Phuket to Bangkok.

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Route map and details

The first leg is via train from Bangkok’s Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal Station to Surat Thani. The journey takes around ten hours, with sleeper service available. From there, a bus takes you the rest of the way to Phuket (a distance of 240km).

Timetables

There are ten trains per day from Bangkok to Surat Thani, all of which have Sleeper carriages apart from SP43 and SP39.

Average journey time: 9 hours 52 minutes

Once you arrive in Surat Thani, you have the choice of taking a Grab taxi to the city centre of Surat Thani and then boarding your bus to Phuket from there, or taking one of the less frequent services directly from the train station.

Some of the available options are listed below from the Baolau website, although there are a couple of faster options available on the 12Go website.

Average journey time: 5 hours 30 minutes

How to buy tickets

The easiest way to buy train tickets in Thailand is online rather than going to the station. You do pay a very small commission but the ease and convenience makes it worthwhile in our opinion.

Baolau is the best site to use for buying train tickets, they have access to the live Thai Railways booking engine, so you can easily see availability, timetables and prices.

Payment can be made using international credit card and PDF confirmation tickets are sent to your email address within a few minutes. This is the actual ticket you need to board the train, so there’s no need to exchange it at the station before travel. You may prefer to print the pdf out, but it’s also fine to show it on your mobile phone to the conductors and station staff.

Bangkok to Surat Thani train tickets

Surat Thani to Phuket bus tickets

Onward bus tickets from Surat Thani to Phuket can be booked on the Baolau site, although you’ll need to take a Grab from the train station to the bus terminal (20 minutes).

Alternatively, 12Go also has a few services available from the train station directly to Phuket, avoiding a separate trip into town first:

How much does it cost?

The journey is split into two separate legs, and it’s cheaper to book each one separately, plus you’ll have more choice.

Bangkok to Surat Thani

On the Bangkok to Surat Thani train, you have several different classes to choose from, although our recommendation is a second class berth (AC):

¹ Air-conditioned carriages
² Non-AC berths also available

The prices for each class are:

Surat Thani to Phuket

Continuing on to Phuket from Surat Thani, the bus costs around THB350 with Baolau (plus the taxi fare to Surat Thani bus terminal). 12Go’s options are about the same price, but there are fewer options to choose from.

Total cost ranges from THB600 for third-class set and bus transfer, or THB1650 if you fancy first class. In reality, most travellers will choose a second class berth rather than sitting on a hard seat for ten hours, but even then it’s a very reasonable THB1150 for this memorable journey.