Suvarnabhumi Airport (1)

Suvarnabhumi airport is the main international airport for getting in and out of Thailand. When you first get here or plan to come to Thailand, you might wonder how to get into town after your arriving. Let me show you how.






Suvarnabhumi airport terminal is a single buidling where arrival hall is on 2nd floor and departure on the fourth floor.

If you have someone to pick you up, meeting point is near gate 3 on you right-hand side when you get into the arrival hall.
Otherwise, there are several ways to get to the city. 

1. Airport Rail Link - ARL
The train link between Suvarnabhumi airport and central bangkok which offer 2 options for you, the express line and the city line.

For express line, train leave every half an hour then run non-stop in just 15 minutes from airport to City Air Terminal in Makkasan and cost 100 baht.
The city line , commuter train, run between airport and Phayathai in about 30 minutes with 8 stops along the route.  Promotional fare until end of  2010 is  15 baht.

Both lines operate between 6.00 - 24.00 hr.

Inside the city line.

At both end of the train, there are space for laggage.

Train station located on basement of airport terminal.

Follow sign down to the station.

There is no direct access from Makkasan to skytrain or Metro system.  But for Phayathai, there is path link between ARL and skytrain which will be open later this year (2010).

2. By Airport Express Bus(SERVICE SUSPENDED!!!)

Another way to get into town is by Airport Express Bus which have 4 routes :
    AE1 To Silom
    AE2 To Khaosarn Road
    AE3 To Sukhumvit
    AE4 To Hualamphong railway station

The popular route is AE2 which directly bring you to Khaosarn Road - the hub of backpackers in Bangkok

To get the bus, go down to the 1st floor.

Walk to Gate 8

Buy ticket at this counter outside Gate 8
Bus fare is 150 baht each and it operates between 5.00-24.00

The bus is clean and very comfortable with luggage rack at the middle.

3. By Taxi
Taxi stand is on 1st floor so from arrival hall you have to go down one level.

Walk outside and queue for public taxi.

State your destination at the counter and they will write it down in Thai in the slip. One part is for taxi driver, other part is for passengers with complaining information. Keep this part with you and don't give it to the driver.

All the taxi here are metered taxi, so insist that the meter must be turned on.
Fare to downtown should be around 300 baht but can be vary up to your destination and traffic condition. Meter start at 40 baht and running up according to distance and time if standstill in the traffic.

Additional airport surcharge 50 baht must be paid on top of taxi fare to taxi driver.

Toll fees also paid by passenger. If you go to downtown you have to pass 2 toll gate. The first toll is 25 baht and the second one is 45 baht or total of 70 baht.

4. By Limousine 
Operate by Airport Authority of Thailand - AOT

5. By Public Bus
There are several route intend mainly to serve airport workers so they have no luggage rack on the bus but if you travel with a backpack you can take this option as the way of cheap transportation.
Passengers who need bus services have to go to bus terminal.

The front of the bus has some space for your backpack.

To get to and from bus terminal, there is free shuttle bus service running around the clock at the interval of 5 to 20 minutes.

Getting to the bus terminal, you can wait for the shuttle bus at 2nd and 4th floor. The bus stop located between gate 5-6 on both floor. But for arrival floor, the bus stop is on the outer lane.

Buses waiting at the bus terminal.

Some buses running round the clock but leave once an hour during midnight till 5 a.m. The other run from 5 a.m.- 11 p.m. Bus fares may vary between 34-36 baht.

Detail of each bus route can be found at AOT Site.

Take bus no.556 if you want to go to Khao Sarn area or Southern bus terminal at the cost of 34 baht.
(They've change bus no.556 route so you have to get ARL train to Makkasan station to get bus there)

You can see that bus no.556 use different kind of bus with limit space for luggage so take seats on the right near the door then you can get off the bus easier.

If you want to take this bus to Khao Sarn but worry for where would you get off the bus, just take a right-hand seats (of course near the door).

When you see this monument, ring the bell and get off at the next bus stop.

You will be at Rajchadamneon Ave., then walk ahead to the intersection.

Cross the avenue.

Walk into Tanao road just for a few steps.

Entrance to Khao Sarn road will be on your left.

If your accommodation is along the BTS or MRT line, take bus no.551 which end its route at Victory Monument and get BTS at Victory Monument station.  (Anyway, in this case ARL must be a better choice.)

BTS and MRT have several interchange stations so check with map at the station for the nearest one.

6. By Minivan

Minivans is another options here at bus terminal. They run the same route and carrying same number as the buses but with faster service as they less stop to pickup passenger along the route or use the expressway.

For example, Minivan no.551 run on the expressway all the way to its destination (Victory Monument) so you safe a lot of time at the cost of 40 baht, just a little bit higher than 35 baht for the bus.

Minivans don't provide luggage space. It's a problem if you travelling with a large one but for a backpack you can put it at the space behind the driver's seat.

Fare is 40-70 baht up to the route. Buy ticket at the driver.

At the bus terminal you can also catch the inter-city bus running to eastern part of Thailand like Chonburi,Rayong, Chantaburi,Trat (Kho Change) etc.

Two routes are originated from this Suvarnabhumi bus terminal.
     Suvarnabhumi-Rong Kluea Market 8.00 14.30
     Suvarnabhumi-Nongkai 21.00

Buses to other destinations are originated from North-Eastern bus terminal (Morchit) or Eastern bus terminal (Ekamai) so you need to buy ticket at least half an hour before departure time so they can inform the bus in time to pick you up.

More info please call Tel. 02 134 4099

To get inter city bus, you may buy ticket and wait for the bus at this counter near the gate 8 on the 1st floor.

Bus time table
      Aranyaprathet  7.15  9.30
      Udon Thani  20.40
      Nongkai  21.00
      Laem ngob  8.20  10.20
      Rayong  13.40
      Trat  11.40

Also, they have bus leave for Pattaya every 2 hour from 7.00 - 21.00 hr. operated by Roong Reuang Co. under license from Transport Co. http://www.airportpattayabus.com/