After visiting southern Thailand’s magical locations, many travellers find themselves in Surat Thani needing to head back to the capital city, Bangkok. This well-established traveller route has plenty of train options between the two cities, with the sleeper services the ones we’d recommend the most.
Travelling the other way? Check out our guide for taking the train from Bangkok to Surat Thani.
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Route map and details
The journey from to Surat Thani train station to Bangkok’s Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal Station takes around ten hours, with sleeper service available.
You’ll notice that all but one departure leaves after 6.00pm, so you may want to time your arrival into Surat Thani to take advantage of these late departures. The later ones are usually slightly more popular as they arrive into Bangkok at a more reasonable hour of the morning.
Timetables
There are ten trains per day from Surat Thani to Bangkok, all of which have Sleeper carriages apart from SP40 and SP44.
| Train number | Surat Thani | Bangkok |
|---|---|---|
| SP40 | 09:00 | 18:05 |
| SP44 | 18:25 | 03:45 |
| RP168 | 18:32 | 05:10 |
| EX86 | 19:31 | 06:10 |
| EX84 | 20:23 | 07:05 |
| RP172 | 20:55 | 07:30 |
| SP32 | 22:24 | 08:10 |
| SP38 | 22:50 | 09:05 |
| SP46 | 22:50 | 09:05 |
| RP170 | 23:28 | 10:50 |
Average journey time: 9 hours 52 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.
Surat Thani to Bangkok train tickets
How much does it cost?
On the Surat Thani to Bangkok train, you have several different classes to choose from, although our recommendation is a second class berth (AC):
| Train | 1st class berth (AC) | 2nd class berth (AC) | 2nd class seat | 3rd class seat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP40 | – | – | ✓ 1 | – |
| SP44 | – | – | ✓ 1 | – |
| RP168 | – | ✓ 2 | ✓ | ✓ |
| EX86 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| EX84 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| RP172 | – | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| SP32 | ✓ | ✓ | – | – |
| SP38 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| SP46 | – | ✓ | – | – |
| RP170 | – | ✓ 2 | ✓ | ✓ |
1 Air-conditioned carriages
2 Non-AC berths also available
The prices for each class are:
| Class | Cost |
|---|---|
| First class berth (A/C) | 1300 – 1600 |
| Second class berth (A/C) | 720 – 1010 |
| Second class berth (Fan) | 490-530 |
| Second class seat (A/C) | 520 |
| Second class seat | 350 – 440 |
| Third class seat | 210 – 300 |
Useful reads before you go:
Top 10 tips for Southeast Asia train travel
7 reasons why you should travel by train around Southeast Asia
5 AMAZING train journeys in Southeast Asia
10 essentials experienced travellers always take on trains in Southeast Asia
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