Bangkok BTS and MRT Map and Guide

Four lines do almost everything on a first trip. The BTS Sukhumvit Line covers the hotel and nightlife strip from Nana to Ekkamai and runs north to Chatuchak. The BTS Silom Line takes you from the Siam malls through the business district to Saphan Taksin and the river boats. The MRT Blue Line is the one that reaches the Old City at Sanam Chai and Chinatown at Wat Mangkon, and the Airport Rail Link brings you in from Suvarnabhumi.

The Purple, Yellow and Pink Lines and the Gold Line's three stops serve the suburbs and ICONSIAM, and most visitors never need them. When I lived out at Rama 9 and later Lak Song, I rode the MRT to a station within walking distance or to a BTS interchange, planned each trip on Google Maps, and took Grab or a motorbike taxi for the last stretch when the station wasn't close.

Buy a single-journey card from the machines in the station. You pick your destination or fare, pay in coins or notes, or by QR code at some machines, and tap the card at the gate. The exit gate keeps it. Fares run ฿17–47 in the center and up to ฿65 onto the extensions.

For more than a few rides, the ฿150 one-day pass covers unlimited trips on the Sukhumvit and Silom Lines on the day you buy it, from the ticket office. The Rabbit card is the stored-value card, about ฿200–220 at a ticket office with ฿100 of credit, and it needs your passport. Bank cards don't work at BTS gates yet.

The easiest way is to tap a contactless Visa or Mastercard on the gate reader going in and tap the same card coming out, and the fare is charged to your card. It works on the Blue and Purple Lines, the Airport Rail Link and the Red Lines. Use the same card both ways.

Without a contactless card, buy a black plastic token from the machine or the ticket window, tap it at the entry gate and drop it into the slot at the exit. Blue Line fares are ฿17–44.

Siam is the only change you make without paying again, because both lines there are BTS. Everywhere else you leave one system through its gates and enter the other with a new ticket. The changes visitors use most are Asok and Sukhumvit, Sala Daeng and Si Lom, and Mo Chit and Chatuchak Park, each a short walk between stations, and Phaya Thai between the Airport Rail Link and the BTS. Bang Wa connects the Silom Line with the far end of the MRT Blue Line, and the Yellow and Pink monorails meet the other lines at Lat Phrao, Samrong and Wat Phra Sri Mahathat.

A common fare across all the lines, ฿17–45 per trip whatever the changes, is planned from 1 January 2027, but the government says it's for Thai nationals, so visitors should expect to keep paying each system separately.

The Old City is the big gap. Sanam Chai covers Wat Pho and the Grand Palace, but Khao San Road, the Golden Mount and most of Banglamphu have no station, so the Chao Phraya Express boat and Grab fill in. The river itself is the boats' territory, from Sathorn pier at Saphan Taksin up past Tha Tien to Phra Arthit.

Even on the lines, plenty of places are a long walk from a station in the heat. That's what Grab and the motorbike taxis waiting at station exits are for, to get you from the station into the soi. Getting around Bangkok covers the boats, taxis and buses in full.

The operators publish the current maps, and they're the ones to save to your phone before you ride. BTS's Routes and Fares page has the Skytrain map with a fare calculator, and BEM's system map covers the MRT Blue and Purple Lines. Google Maps shows every line and gives the right station and exit for any address, which is how I planned trips when I lived here.