Buses in Thailand - What You Need to Know

Thailand has a very developed bus network of intercity and international buses, and you can travel almost the entire country by bus, and even visit the country's neighbors. At the same time, bus travel will be the cheapest way to travel around the country, if, of course, you are ready to experience some inconveniences. A similar distance by bus in inexpensive classes will cost even less than by train, not to mention the fact that trains in Thailand will not take you to every place.


What kind of buses are there in Thailand?
In general, all buses in Thailand can be divided into two types:

Tourist buses of Thailand
Minivan in Thailand
Tourist bus in Thailand

These are buses of private companies that organize routes between popular tourist cities at their own discretion and are intended for tourist purposes, i.e. they usually move tourists from resort to resort. Tickets are sold at travel agencies and transport companies, and are slightly more expensive than for regular buses for similar routes. But they are much more convenient, since they usually depart from tourist areas, and not from bus stations (terminals), which have to be reached by local public transport or taxi. In addition, the cost of the ticket often includes a transfer from the hotel to the departure point of the tourist bus, i.e. you are picked up and delivered from the hotel to the hotel.

Among tourist buses, a separate category should be singled out - minivans or microbuses. They are quite convenient for short trips, but they usually do not have a luggage compartment, and traveling with large luggage in them is difficult (you can only get in there with a small backpack). This issue should be clarified in advance, before buying tickets.

Minivan in Thailand
Luggage space in minivans can be limited
However, it is worth telling honestly about the disadvantages of tourist buses, because of which we recommend thinking several times and checking everything before using their services:

Punctuality, or rather its complete absence . Situations when, when buying tickets, you are told that the bus leaves at 8 am, but in reality they will pick you up at 7 or 9 am, are far from uncommon. Also, do not be surprised if, when selling tickets, they convince you that you will arrive at the destination exactly at 6 pm, but in fact you will arrive only at night. The arrival time of buses is specially indicated by travel companies as unrealistically early in order to attract tourists, and along the way they will make many deviations from the route, collecting and delivering goods along the way. We would not particularly recommend counting on minivans if you need to get to the airport or transfer to a train.

Lots of transfers . If the route includes a change of bus or a transfer to a ferry, then this is not very good. It happens that during one trip you have to make several transfers from bus to bus, move luggage, ride almost squatting hugging suitcases. For example, the route on a tourist minivan from Pattaya to Koh Chang Island involves picking up from hotels in a minivan, transferring to a larger bus on the outskirts of the city, arriving on the ferry and getting off the ferry, and transferring to another minivan already on the island.

Not enough space for luggage . This problem occurs both in minivans and in medium-sized tourist buses. Large suitcases sometimes simply do not fit, so they are stacked in the aisles and on the seats, so that there is very little space in the cabin. So you have a chance to suffer a little on the road even because of other people's huge suitcases.
Regular buses of Thailand
Regular bus in Thailand
Bus #999 in Thailand

Regular buses run between almost all cities in the country, are used by local residents, are cheaper and depart from bus stations. That is, these are exactly the same intercity buses as we have at home. Some of the regular buses belong to private companies, but mostly these are state buses or busses of very large companies. They run strictly according to the schedule and arrive on time, or with a little delay.

Regular state bus in Thailand
Regular state bus
But, unfortunately, they also have their downsides:

Complicated online ticket purchase . Tickets for them can usually be purchased either at the stations at the ticket offices or online on Thai websites. And these Thai websites often do not even have an English-language interface, and may not accept foreign cards.

It is difficult to find out the schedule . There are many buses and transport companies, but there is not a single website where you can get complete information about the schedule. In our experience, sometimes the only reliable way to find out anything about the schedule or even whether buses go from the desired city to another desired city is to come to the station in person and ask at the ticket office. Because of this, it is difficult to plan a travel route in advance.