Travel to Thailand

Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi Airport is an international hub for air travel, and the most convenient way to reach Thailand is by air. The city is also well-connected with Singapore and Malaysia by a rail network that spans the country. By car or bus, roads can get you to the Thai capital from Cambodia, Malaysia and Laos.

Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi Airport is 18 miles (30kms) east of the city and one of Asia’s largest hubs. Almost every airline flying to Asia also flies to Bangkok. The approximate flight time to Bangkok from London is 11 hours, 35 minutes; 19 hours, 20 minutes from New York; 2 hours, 15 minutes from Singapore; and 9 hours, 25 minutes from Sydney.

Alternative Transportation

Thailand has a reasonably good network of roads and highways designated by numbers that trunk from international routes throughout the country. National Highway 3 arrives in a southeast direction from Malaysia; national highways 32 and 17 vein into the city from Cambodia and Laos via the northern parts of the country. Roads from Myanmar are not officially open to tourist traffic.

Thailand’s sole international train service links the city to Butterworth and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, continuing all the way to Singapore. It is a slow ride that takes close to 48 hours, and you’ll have to change trains twice. Otherwise, the luxurious Eastern and Oriental Express runs along the same route once per week.

Bangkok has several bus terminals. Buses from the Thai-Malaysian border terminate at the Southern Bus Terminal, while buses from Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in the north and Ubon Ratchathani and Nong Khai near the Thai-Laos border in the northeast terminate at the North/Northeastern Bus Terminal (Mo Chit).

There are passenger ferry crossings between Thailand and Laos at several points along the Mekong River. Ferries also cross from the Malaysian island of Langkawi to Satun in southern Thailand, with the occasional cruise from Malaysia and Singapore docking in Bangkok.