Thailand Transport

Coming and Going

It may be a bit pricey to get to Thailand by air, but once you're there you can take advantage of bargain-basement flights - Bangkok is one of the cheapest cities in the world to fly out of. Just bear in mind that flights in and out of Thailand are often overbooked so confirm, confirm and reconfirm.

Thailand shares land borders with Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar. With improved highways, it is also becoming easier to travel from Thailand to China. Plans for land and rail links between China and member countries of ASEAN, including Thailand, have been increasing since the turn of the new millennium.

Thai-Cambodian border crossings are typically straightforward. Most visitors cross at Poipet (Cambodia) to Aranya Prathet. This is the most direct land route between Bangkok and Angkor Wat.

The Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge spans a section of the Mekong River between Nong Khai, Thailand, and Tha Na Leng (near Vientiane, Laos) and is the main transport gateway between the two countries.

Due to the unrest in the southern provinces of Thailand, many border crossers are opting for flights from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur, Penang or Singapore instead of crossing by land.

The land crossings into Myanmar have peculiar restrictions that often don't allow full land access to the country.

Getting About

The only fault of the trains that ply around Bangkok is slowness - otherwise, they're a delightful option: cheap, comfortable and efficient. Buses are a sterling way to get around. Motorbikes are popular, but if you want to take to the roads, even in a car, beware of the anarchic Thai traffic. A cruisier option is to take one of the many forms of taxis - there are cars, rickshaws (both the motorised and the people-powered varieties), and small pick-ups.