The Travelling Feet

The Aranyaprathet border in Thailand is considered to be one of the famous borders when anyone wants to cross the border going to Siem Reap or Phnom Penh in Cambodia. The border in Aranyaprathet serves as a traveller’s exit gate to gain entry to Poipet, Cambodia when one is headed to the Kingdom’s key cities or when someone simply wants to go on a visa run.

Unknown to many, there are different ways to travel to the Aranyaprathet border especially for those who want to travel from BKK to Siem Reap. Whether you travel in style, or you travel on a budget during your last minute holidays planning on your way to Siem Reap from Aranyaprathet, there’s surely different options to choose from.

Here are 6 ways to travel from Bangkok to the Aranyaprathet border in Thailand on your way to the Poipet border crossing or when you go on a visa run.

1. Travel by TRAIN at the Hua Lamphong Station

There are only 2 train schedules if you travel by train to cross the borders in Aranyaprathet going to Siem Reap or Poipet, Cambodia. Budget travellers will find this cheapest mode of transportation favorable when going on an overland border crossing from Bangkok to Siem Reap.

Travelling by train will let you breathe in the fresh countryside air of Thailand since the train is non-air conditioned. But during Thailand’s summer months, travelling by train can be very humid. The train also stops at every train station to pick up passengers, which explains the long time it takes to reach the Aranyaprathet.

For those who are not in a hurry and wouldn’t mind sitting in a non-reclining chair, for those who wanted to take photos of Thailand’s plain countryside, or for those who are travelling on a budget, this is your best mode of transportation when you go on a visa run at the Aranyaprathet border or when you travel to cross the borders going to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Once you arrive at the Aranyaprathet Train Station, you still need to hire a tuktuk or motorbike to bring you to the border, which is approximately 6 kilometers. The motorbike fare starts at around 50 baht and the tuktuk starts at 60. You are likely to pay an exorbitant fee if you do not haggle. You can also ride a songthaew, a truck converted into a passenger vehicle, going to the border for only 15 baht. Just walk a few meters to the main road and wait for one.

For those who wants to cross the border, it is better to take the 5:55am schedule to avoid getting stuck on either of the two immigration check points (Aranyaprathet or Poipet) since those offices are likely closed by the time you reach the Aranyaprathet border if you take the 13:05H train schedule.

Fare: 48 baht
Length of Travel: 6 – 6.5 hours
Travel Schedule: 5:55 and 13:05
Reservations? No reservations needed. The train station opens at around 5am and you can buy your tickets going to Aranyaprathet when the doors of the Hua Lamphong Train station open.

How to Get to the Hua Lamphong Station?

Hire a cab, tuktuk, or ride a public (government bus) to reach the area. You can also ride the BTS and switch trains at the MRT Interchange link to reach the Hua Lampong Train Station.

2. Ride a MINIVAN in Khao San Road

Khao San Road is the backpacker’s mecca in Bangkok. With the influx of tourists in the area, you will see travel agencies almost everywhere where you can schedule your travel. Before you purchase your transportation to Aranyaprathet from those travel agencies, be sure to hop from one agency to the next since they will give you different rates. The cheapest is 250 baht for a one-way trip but you might get rates as high as 400 baht for the same mode of transportation.

If you travel in groups of 3 or more, try to use your charms and ask for a discount.

The minivans that travel to Aranyaprathet are air-conditioned. This mode of transportation is comfortable. There will be one gasoline and toilet stopover. You will arrive near the border after 4 hrs of travelling. However, the driver will bring you to a secluded place where you will be offered to take your lunch before proceeding to the border where meals cost 70 baht up instead of the normal 40 baht.

A tout will convince you to take their services in case you are going to Siem Reap. They will charge 700 baht (approximately $22) per head for the trip. Do not listen to them. You can hire a taxi for $48 at the Poipet Bus Terminal where you can split the cost among 4-5 travellers and only pay approximately $12 each (if split with 4 heads). You can even haggle for $30-$35 for the taxi or pay $7/head, but this one’s a little bit more complicated

After all the passengers have taken their lunch (will usually last for an hour), the driver will take you to the Aranyaprathet border and will drop you off beside the 7-Eleven store. You can walk a couple of steps to reach the gates of Thailand’s immigration checkpoint.

Fare: 250 baht up to 400 baht
Length of Travel: 5 hours
Travel Schedule: 7:30 am
Reservations? You need to book for your trip 1 day ahead.

For those in a hurry to get to Siem Reap, I wouldn’t recommend this mode of transportation because of the “lunch” stop over.

3. Ride a MINIVAN at the Victory Monument

You can find a minivan or a shuttle bus at the Victory Monument. Once there, simply ask anyone where the shuttle bus travelling to Aranyaprathet is stationed. They will point you to the right direction.

The minivans going to the Aranyaprathet border are the same type of vehicles from Option # 2. However, I am uncertain if it follows the same stopover system as that of Option # 2.

Fare: 230 baht
Length of Travel: 4 hours
Travel Schedule: 6am onwards
Reservations? No reservations needed. Just buy as you go.

I have not tried this mode of transportation yet but will give you an update as soon as I get to ride on one.

4. Take a GOVERNMENT BUS at Morchit Bus Terminal Station

You can find a Government Bus that travels to Aranyaprathet at the Morchit Bus Terminal in the Northern District of Bangkok.

The government bus is air-conditioned with comfy seats. You will be given a free small drinking water and two mini cupcakes when you buy your bus tickets.

Since this a government bus, the bus will stop at every bus terminal it passes by on its way to Aranyaprathet, which explains the length of the travel time.

Once in Aranyaprathet, the bus will drop you off at the Rongkluea Market Bus Terminal, approximately 2 kilometers away from the border. You can either hire a tuktuk or a motorcycle to bring you to the border. Fare starts at 40 baht. You can also walk the 2 kilometers going to the border if you want to.

Fare: 212 baht
Length of Travel: 6 hours
Travel Schedule: every 30 minutes starting at 3:30 am
Reservations? No reservations needed. Just buy as you go.

How to Get to the Morchit Bus Terminal in Bangkok?

To reach the Morchit Northern Bus Terminal in Bangkok, you can either hire a taxi or ride a government (public) bus. You can also ride a BTS up to the Mochit Terminal Station in Chatuchak and hire a cab there. Bus #3, #136, #104 will take you to the bus terminal from Chatuchak. You can also ride the MRT all the way to the Kamphang Phaet Station and take a cab, motorbike or public bus to reach the bus terminal. Just remember that almost all public buses in Bangkok end their route at the Morchit Bus Terminal. To be sure, do not hesitate to ask. Fare of these public buses start at 6.50 baht up to 20 baht. BTS and MRT fares start from 15 baht up to 40 baht.

5. Ride the BUS at Lumphini Park

Lumphini Park is situated at the heart of Bangkok. Although there is no bus terminal in this park, you will see buses bound for Aranyaprathet at one of the park’s bus stops. These buses are often referred to as casino buses. Those who are going on a visa run prefers this mode of transportation when going to the border in Aranyaprathet.

The buses stationed at Lumphini Park are airconditioned with comfortable seats. Coffee and free drinking water are served. The 1st trip leaves at 6am but leaves immediately as soon as the bus gets full regardless of the time.

Once in the border, the bus will drop off passengers across the 7-Eleven store, a few meters away from the Aranyaprathet Immigration Office.

the bus travelling from Lumphini Park to Aranyaprathet

Fare: 200 baht
Length of Travel: 3 hrs – 3.5 hours
Travel Schedule: 6:00 am till 9:00 am
Reservations? No reservations needed. Just buy as you go.

How to get to Lumphini Park?

Since you would want to catch the 1st trip going to Aranyaprathet, it is best to travel to Lumphini Park by taxi or camp out around the park area the night before.

For those who are in a hurry to get to the border, this is the best way to travel to Aranyaprathet. And if you wanted to travel to Siem Reap, taking the bus at Lumphini Park gives you the chance to reach Siem Reap by lunch time since it will take another 3 hours to reach Siem Reap from Poipet.

6. Hire a TAXI cab

Forums have mentioned that hiring a taxi cab is an alternative way to reach the Thailand border in Aranyaprathet. There are available taxi cabs for hire almost anywhere. It’s just a matter of looking for one and agreeing the right price to bring you to the border.

This mode of transportation is often preferred by those who wanted to travel in comfort, those travelling with an elderly or those who are in a hurry to reach the border.

Fare: starts at 1,600 baht up
Length of travel: 3-4.5 hrs
Travel schedule: Anytime

I have not tried this mode of transportation yet but will give you an update as soon as I get to ride on one.

Aside from those 6 ways to travel from Bangkok to the Aranyaprathet border, anyone can also reach the border via a private vehicle (or even a chopper too!). If you own a car or a motorcycle, you can also travel to Aranyaprathet and drive your vehicle as you cross the border to Poipet and all the way to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

I hope this South East Asia Travel Guide to Travel in Aranyaprathet on your way to do an overland border crossing in Poipet will help you travel easily and help you travel faster and travel on a budget.

If you know of other ways to travel from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet that is not included in this list, feel free to leave a comment below so that I can update this post. Thanks!

P.S. $1 = approximately 31 baht

 

 

You might also find these posts useful:

• Crossing Borders: Thailand to Cambodia via Aranyaprathet to Poipet Border
• 4 Ways to Travel from Poipet to Siem Reap

This post is still a continuation of the previous post entitled: Things to Consider When Planning Your Travel Itinerary

My travel story on my trip to Bangkok and Cambodia will be put on hold for now until I answer someone’s question regarding how we came up with the itinerary for our trip. And thanks to you Rayanne for reminding me about it otherwise, I would have completely forgotten about this bit.

In planning for the trip’s itinerary, since most of us do not have the budget needed to check out the tourist attractions in Bangkok, we just settled with checking out the views of the city while travelling and malling since it was free.

As for Cambodia, after seeing the list of places included in the 2 days 3 nights package tour at Bou Savy Guesthouse, I thought that 2 days would be enough to check out the must-see attractions.

For my friends who wanted to see the tourist attractions in Bangkok, I informed them to make sure they visit the Grand Palace, Reclining Buddha and a couple of temples then just check out the tour packages being offered at any tourist agency office (since I got lazy looking for info about Pattaya). I guess the plan worked since all of us enjoyed the trip. But if you were to ask me how to plan your Bangkok-Cambodia itinerary, I’d refer you to the link above on what things to consider when planning your travel itinerary.

Here are a couple of pointers that may be of help too:

Be Flexible

You need to have a lot of patience in planning your trip. You may no longer count the number of times you’ll be scratching off an activity off your list to accomodate your schedule and that of the place you will visit. It is also best to have a back up plan in case your original plan doesn’t work. Doing this will allow you to maximize the time you spend on your travel. Instead of cancelling a scheduled tour, you may want to consider a different option just in case the travel/transpo fees are too high, it rains or your train leaves you.

instead of going to a zoo in Pattaya, my friends booked for an elephant show instead at a cheaper rate

Consider your Budget

If you have money, you can ride the bus going to Aranyaprathet, Thailand’s border. But if you are on the budget-conscious side, ride a train instead. This also applies when planning where you will stay in Bangkok and Siem Reap. Also bring extra cash or bring your credit card just in case something goes wrong with your accommodations where you end up spending the night at a not-so-cheap place.

comfort vs budget?

Calculate Time

If your plane lands at 1pm, it is not wise to travel to Siem Reap by bus since you will end up spending the night in Aranyaprathet as the Immigration office from both borders closes at around 5-ish (not sure about the exact time). In cases like this, you have to plan if you will spend the night at a cheap hostel or stay at the train station and create your own makeshift beds there like the rest of the locals.

you won’t be alone if you decide to spend the night at the Hua Lamphong Train Station

Be Familiar with Your Destination

If you decide to go on a packaged tour in SR, tendency is the one who will arrange for the tour already knows where you need to go so you wont have trouble here. If you decide to hire a tuk-tuk driver and explore the city on your own, they are also knowledgeable. Determine if you would want to hire a tour guide or not.

There are a lot of tourist attractions in Bangkok and its nearby provinces. It’s up to you to decide what places you will pick. Remember that you do not have the luxury of time to visit all of them (unless you are staying for a month here). So knowing how long it will take to reach one destination and the costs involved is a must unless you will let a travel agency decide for your trip, which in this case, is one flourishing business in Bangkok. You will see a lot of them there. It’s just a matter of finding the cheapeast tour packages.

You can either let a tour agency in you travel from Bangkok and SR take care of your trip details or you can follow your own itinerary. You can even have it arranged before you leave, courtesy of your travelling agency here. But be sure to research so that you will know what to expect when you arrive there. This is also important to determine how to spot scams. Just like here in our country, there are also scammers both in Bangkok and SR. I think they exist anywhere. So being prepared and knowldegeable of their culture and place will be very advantageous.

left side: Khao San Rd, home to a lot of budget hostels; all major temples surround it too
right side: malls, MRT, BTS Sky Train, Hua Lamphong Train station, a couple of budget hostels
be wise in deciding where you want to live for the next couple of days in Bangkok

Brainstorm with your Travel companions (if you have one)

A successful trip relies on great teamwork with your travel companions. Sometimes, a trip gets ruined if your travel companion whines all the time. You need to discuss with them the type of food you will eat, the amount of money you need to spend, the place where you will spend your nights and the places where you will go. If Traveller A wants to stay in an air conditioned room and if you can’t afford it even if you share the rent of the room (since you only saved up for a fan room), let the person know that so you can both decide. Who knows, you might end up not paying at all as Traveller A “might” offer to shoulder the expenses just to get the airconditioned suite at some posh hotel

After you have done all of that, then it is time for the next step…

Reservations!

It is best to book for the place where you will stay to ensure you will have a roof to rest once you arrive there especially during peak season.

looking for a place to stay in Soi Rambuttri when we arrived in Bangkok after our SR trip

Actually, we only booked for our accomodations in SR. I didn’t bother booking for one in Bangkok since I saw that there were a couple of cheap guesthouses listed online which did not show any rates and photos. So I decided we’ll find a place to stay in Bangkok when we arrived in the area. This decision worked for us and it doesn’t mean it will also work for you too. But if you want to take that risk of looking for a place to stay when you reach the place, by all means, go ahead and do so, just make sure you accept the consequences.

So if you were to ask me what a typical travel from Bangkok to Siem Reap itinerary looked like, it could be something like this

Eight Day Tour Itinerary: Overland Trip from Bangkok to Cambodia (patterned from our trip)

Day 1 - January 18
Head to airport and travel to Bangkok (Cebu to Clark – 7:20am | Clark to Bangkok – 8:45pm)

Day 2 - January 19
Bangkok to Siem Reap Trip (12-hr trip)
Dinner and tour of Old Market

Day 3 and Day 4 - January 20-21
Tour of temples and explore the town

Day 5 - January  22
Go back to Bangkok (9-hr trip)
Explore Khao San Road/Sukhumvit, go malling or if you are on the more curious side, visit Patpong
night market shopping

Day 6 - January 23
Grand Palace (am not sure if they open on weekends)
Wat Pho Reclining Buddha
Chatuchak Weekend Market (if this falls on a weekend)
Pratinum Mall (an alternative to the Chatuchak Market but airconditioned)
malling at Central World, Siam Paragon, etc.

Day 7 – January 24
Tour Bangkok or its Province

Day 8 – January 25
Early check out at hotel/guesthouse/hostel & leave your stuff there and come back for it in the afternoon
Last minute tour and shopping before heading back to the airport by 6pm for your 11pm flight back home or whatever schedule you have

For a 7-days tour or less, consider which is important. You can tour the major temples in Siem Reap in a day but consider the time it took you to reach that place and try to assess it if you’d be contented with a day tour. If you are undecided, then do not book for a package tour or a 2-nights stay and decide if you’ll extend your trip once you reach the place. If you are really pressed with time, then you can settle to stay in Bangkok and perhaps schedule a trip to SR in the future.

One of the few things that you may like when travelling to Bangkok and Siem Reap is you’ll have 6 stamps in your passport as compared with just settling in Bangkok. That’s if you are collecting

passports stamps you will accumulate when going to Bangkok and Siem Reap, stamp freak!

If you are torn between travelling to certain places, better check out photos of those places published online and decide if you’d really want to miss out on the opportunity of seeing those great structures. Unless you travel out of the country a lot, then you must think hard and prioritize the places you really want to see to avoid getting a headache on how to create your Bangkok to Siem Reap Itinerary.

Goodluck!!! ^_^

This is a series of blog posts documenting my trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap and back in January of 2011. If you haven’t read the first posts, please check on the links below:

** Off to Bangkok and Siem Reap
#1 – The Accidental Trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap in 2011
#2 – Trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap: The Planning Stage
#3 – You are reading this now
#4 – Arriving 5 Minutes Late on our Connecting Flight to Bangkok
#5 – En Route: Clark to Bangkok
#6 – Touchdown Bangkok!
#7 – Suvarnabhumi Airport a.k.a. Bangkok International Airport
#8 – Bangkok Train Station: Waiting for our Train Ride to Aranyaprathet
#9 – My First Taste of Authentic Thai Food

Unfinished Series from my 2008 Trip…
My First Train Ride From Bangkok to Aranyaprathet
Arriving at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok
My First Trip To Bangkok

You might also find this useful:
Modes of Transportation in Bangkok
Things to Consider When Planning Your Travel Itinerary
The Cheapest Way to Bangkok from Suvarnabhumi Airport