Bangkok to Pattaya

Roong Reuang Coach (locals just say the Pattaya bus) has run this route for decades, and it is the answer for almost everyone starting in the city. Its Ekkamai buses are the ones to know about. The Eastern Bus Terminal on Sukhumvit Road is a two-minute walk from BTS Ekkamai, so any hotel from Siam to On Nut is one Skytrain ride from the bus. Tickets are ฿144 at counter 13 on Level 1, the bus leaves from platform 1, and there are 16 departures a day, at 05:00 and 06:00 and then every hour from 09:00 to 22:00. Note the gap, because there is no 07:00 or 08:00 bus, which is exactly when a lot of people turn up. The coaches are full-size, air-conditioned, four seats across with a toilet at the back, and they run non-stop up Motorway 7 to the North Pattaya terminal on Pattaya Nuea Road, near the Sukhumvit junction, in about two hours.

Mo Chit 2, the Northern Terminal in Chatuchak, has the same buses hourly from 05:00 to 18:00 for ฿155 (counter 34, platform 42). It's the right choice if you're staying in the north of the city or arriving from Don Mueang, and the wrong one from Sukhumvit, because Mo Chit 2 is a taxi ride from the BTS station of the same name and the bus loops back through the city before it reaches the highway. The third option most guides miss is the Bangna counter on Bang Na–Trat Road by the expressway ramps, ฿144, with a 06:30 bus and then departures at half past every hour from 09:30 to 21:30; it's counter sales only, no online booking, and it suits anyone staying at the Bearing or Bang Na end of the Skytrain.

Two things about the tickets. First, the company says its buses are usually sold out at least an hour before departure and asks you to book online; the reseller fare on 12Go is ฿164, and Roong Reuang's own site sells at the counter price. Second, a booking confirmation on your phone does not get you on the bus. You take it to the counter, they exchange it for a printed ticket with a seat number, and then you board. Show up 30 minutes early and this is painless; show up at departure time with a screenshot and you'll watch the bus leave. Luggage is one bag of up to 20 kg in the hold plus a small bag inside, with ฿20 to ฿200 for anything over that, and tickets are non-refundable.

Minivans still run to Pattaya from Ekkamai, Mo Chit and the Victory Monument stands, ฿200 to ฿430 on 12Go depending on the van and whether it drops you at a hotel, leaving when full, usually within the half hour. They're marginally faster and markedly less comfortable, with knee-room and luggage-tetris trade-offs, and with the coach this frequent I'd only take one if it's boarding as you arrive.

If Pattaya is your first stop after landing, skip Bangkok completely. On Suvarnabhumi's Level 1 (arrivals, one floor down from the exit level) near Gate 8 there is a row of bus counters, and Roong Reuang's sells two different Pattaya services. The North Pattaya bus (฿135) runs seven times a day, at 07:30, 09:30, 11:30, 13:30, 15:30, 17:30 and 18:30, and terminates at the bus terminal on Pattaya Nuea Road. The Jomtien bus (฿158) runs hourly from 06:00 to 22:00 and is the better one for most hotels, because it comes off the highway onto Sukhumvit Road and stops for North and Central Pattaya, again opposite Big C South Pattaya, and ends at the Jomtien terminal on Jomtien Second Road near the beach. The last bus of the night, the 22:00, ends at North Pattaya instead. Either takes about two hours, tolls included, and the company asks you to be at the counter 15 minutes before departure. Allow an hour to clear immigration and collect bags before you pick a departure.

Bell Travel Service, which is the same company's door-to-door brand and shares the counter area, runs the airport-to-hotel version, a shared van from the airport at 08:30, 10:30, 12:30, 14:30, 16:30 and 18:00 that drops you at your Pattaya or Jomtien hotel, on 24-seat VIP coaches with three seats across for the highway leg. It quoted ฿300 for the bus with a hotel drop at one end and ฿450 for pickup and drop at both ends at its Pattaya office in November 2025; 12Go lists it at ฿460. Bell also runs 10:00 and 14:00 departures from Bangkok hotels for about the same money, which is the only scheduled way to get from a Bangkok hotel to a Pattaya hotel without a terminal at either end.

The buses stop at 22:00. Landing later, or with a family and four suitcases, a fixed-fare transfer from the airport is the sane option. The local firms charge ฿1,000 for a Camry, ฿1,200 for an Innova and ฿1,800 to ฿2,000 for a ten-seat Commuter to any Pattaya hotel, tolls included, and on 12Go a booked sedan is mostly ฿1,600–1,800 and a nine-seat van about ฿2,750. A metered airport taxi is possible (the drivers will quote ฿1,500 to ฿2,000 flat and add the tolls), but at that price the pre-booked car is simply better.

Don Mueang, where AirAsia, Nok Air and Thai Lion land, is on the far side of Bangkok from Pattaya, and the direct bus is the thing to know about. Transport Co., the government coach company (Bor Kor Sor, the pink buses), runs route 999 from the airport to Pattaya six times a day, at 06:30, 07:30, 10:30, 12:00, 13:30 and 17:30, for ฿167. The counters are at Terminal 1 Gate 1 (international) and Terminal 2 Gate 11 (domestic) on the ground floor, the ride is about two and a half hours around the city's outer ring, and the bus makes four drops along Sukhumvit Road in Pattaya, at the North, Central and South Pattaya junctions and at Thepprasit, so tell the driver which one is nearest your hotel. It's a plain four-across coach and it fills up, so buy the ticket the moment you're through arrivals.

If the timings don't work, the two alternatives are the A1 airport bus (฿30, every 15 minutes from Terminal 1 Gate 6) to BTS Mo Chit and then the Roong Reuang bus from Mo Chit 2, which is slow but cheap, or a fixed-fare car. The transfer firms charge ฿1,400 for a sedan from Don Mueang, and on 12Go a booked sedan is mostly ฿2,050–2,300 and a nine-seat van about ฿3,250, which is what I'd do on a late arrival or with children.

Almost nobody knows there is a train to Pattaya, and the ones who do usually get two facts wrong. The first is where it leaves from. Bangkok's long-distance trains moved to Krung Thep Aphiwat in 2023, but the Eastern Line to Pattaya still departs the old Hua Lamphong station in Chinatown, which is on the MRT Blue Line and, for what it's worth, the prettiest station in the country. The second is the days. Ordinary No. 283 runs every day of the week, not just weekdays. It leaves at 06:55, calls at Pattaya at 10:34 and Pattaya Tai (South Pattaya, the more useful stop for Jomtien and Pratumnak) ten minutes later, then continues to Chuk Samet by the navy beaches at 11:40. It is third class only, wooden or plastic bench seats, ceiling fans, windows that open onto rice fields and Chonburi's backyards, hawkers walking through with fried chicken and iced coffee, and a squat toilet at the end of the carriage. Tickets are ฿31, sold at the station on the day, no reservations, and you will not be short of a seat. As transport it is slow and the 06:55 departure suits almost nobody. As a 90-cent slice of old-school Thai rail it is wonderful, and every person I know who has done it once talks about it for years.

On weekends there is a faster answer. Special No. 997 is an air-conditioned Sprinter railcar that leaves Hua Lamphong at 06:45 every Saturday and Sunday, reaches Pattaya at 09:13 (about two and a half hours) and continues to Chuk Samet at 10:10, ฿170 in a reserved second-class seat. SRT relaunched it in May 2026 as a one-day weekend escape, and it is bookable 30 days ahead on the D-Ticket site and app, which matters, because an October 2025 rider who turned up at the station on the morning was told it was full. Book it the week before and it's the nicest way to reach Pattaya for a weekend. The return, No. 998, leaves Pattaya at 16:26 and is back at Hua Lamphong at 18:55, so a day trip by train works without touching a bus. On other days the return is ordinary No. 284 at 14:21, arriving 18:15, ฿31.

Pattaya's main station is inconveniently placed, 2 km inland from Beach Road on the railway road beside Sukhumvit, so plan a ฿100 Bolt or a songthaew from the station to your hotel. Pattaya Tai, one stop on, is closer to Jomtien. And if you have a spare afternoon, stay on the ordinary train past Pattaya. Chuk Samet station is 300 m from Nang Ram Beach in the navy's Sattahip enclave, one of the cleanest beaches on this coast, for an extra ฿9.

A car is the only thing that beats the bus on time, and door to door it is genuinely quick, 90 minutes from Sukhumvit to Beach Road in light traffic, two hours at a normal hour, longer on a Friday evening. Grab and Bolt both quote Bangkok to Pattaya, typically ฿1,200 to ฿1,500 for a four-seat car and ฿1,500 to ฿2,000 for a six-seater, and you see the fare before you confirm. Some drivers add the Motorway 7 tolls (about ฿150 to ฿200 for the run) and some absorb them, so agree that at pickup. A metered street taxi is the worst version of the same trip, because the drivers rarely run the meter to Pattaya and instead negotiate ฿1,500 to ฿2,000 flat, plus tolls, plus the occasional invented surcharge.

The better move for a family or a group with luggage is a pre-booked car, and Pattaya has a whole cottage industry of them. Mike Pattaya Taxi, Cherry Taxi Service and Kim Pattaya Taxi publish the same rate card, ฿1,200 for a Toyota Camry from a Bangkok hotel, ฿1,400 for an Innova, ฿1,800 for a Fortuner and ฿2,200 for a ten-seat Commuter van, all-in with tolls, booked on WhatsApp or LINE, paid in cash to the driver at the end. From Suvarnabhumi the sedan is ฿1,000 and from Don Mueang ฿1,400. Pattaya Express charges a little more (฿1,399 for a sedan from the city, ฿1,199 from the airport) and takes cards. 12Go sells the booked-and-paid-online version of the same thing from about two dozen firms, mostly ฿1,900–2,100 for a sedan from a Bangkok hotel and ฿1,600–1,800 from Suvarnabhumi, which is what I'd choose for a late-night landing where a no-show would be a real problem. Split four ways any of these costs less per head than the bus once you add the taxis at either end.

Klook's private car is the version to pick if you want to stop on the way, an 8-hour charter from a Bangkok hotel or either airport with a driver, tolls, fuel and hotel pickup included, $103 for an economy car for three and more for an SUV or a nine-seat van, free cancellation up to 24 hours before. Used one way it is the dearest option here; used as a day with stops at the Sanctuary of Truth or Nong Nooch on the way in, it makes sense.

There is no flight from Bangkok to Pattaya. U-Tapao (UTP), the airport 30 km south of the city, has no scheduled service to either Bangkok airport; the 'flights' that Google Flights and Skyscanner return for BKK to UTP connect through Koh Samui or Phuket and take four to six hours, and 12Go lists them at ฿4,540 and up. U-Tapao's real use is arriving from the islands. Bangkok Airways flies Koh Samui to U-Tapao in about 70 minutes and Phuket in about 1 hour 40, so if Pattaya follows Samui in your plan, fly and skip Bangkok entirely, then take a Grab or a metered taxi the 40 minutes into town.

The high-speed line that would link Don Mueang, Suvarnabhumi and U-Tapao with a Pattaya stop is a plan, not a train. The contract was signed in 2019, the Pattaya station was re-sited to a 900-rai plot at Huai Yai in Bang Lamung, and as of 2026 construction has not started; the consortium gave notice in July 2026 to terminate the contract over financing, and the official completion target had already slipped to 2030. Nothing in this guide changes until a track is laid.

Pattaya is about 145 km southeast of central Bangkok by road (the operators round it to 150), 155 km by rail, and about 120 km from Suvarnabhumi, which sits on the Pattaya side of the city. Every bus, van and taxi uses Motorway 7, the Bangkok–Chonburi–Pattaya tollway, which runs from the Srinagarindra interchange past the airport to Pattaya's own exit at the Sukhumvit junction; tolls for a car are roughly ฿105 for the highway plus whatever elevated expressway you use to reach it from the center, about ฿150 to ฿200 in all. The old routes, Highway 34 (Bang Na–Trat) and then Highway 3 (Sukhumvit) along the coast through Bang Saen and Si Racha, are toll-free and slower, and the ordinary train follows roughly the same line inland.

Time on the road is 90 minutes to two and a half hours depending on where in Bangkok you start and when. The two windows to avoid are Friday from about 15:00 to 20:00 toward Pattaya, when half of Bangkok leaves for the weekend, and Sunday from 15:00 to 21:00 in the other direction; public holidays turn both into three-hour runs. Leave before noon or after 20:00 on those days, or take the train.

Pattaya works as a day trip from Bangkok because the bus runs in both directions all day. Take the 06:00 or the 09:00 from Ekkamai and you're at the North Pattaya terminal by about 08:00 or 11:00, or on a Saturday or Sunday take the 06:45 Sprinter from Hua Lamphong, which reaches Pattaya at 09:13. Coming back, Roong Reuang's buses leave the North Pattaya terminal for Ekkamai every hour from 08:00 to 20:00, with a last one at 22:00, and the weekend Sprinter leaves Pattaya at 16:26 and reaches Hua Lamphong at 18:55. That's eight to ten hours in town for about ฿290 in bus fares, or ฿340 on the weekend trains.

What fits in a day is one big thing and a meal. The two that justify the trip are Koh Larn, 45 minutes offshore on the ฿30 ferry from Bali Hai pier (speedboats cross in about 15 minutes for around ฿150), and the Sanctuary of Truth. Trying to add the viewpoints, Nong Nooch and Walking Street as well is how a day trip turns into a long day on Motorway 7, so pick one and be back at the terminal by early evening.

Two things decide whether it's pleasant. Friday afternoon toward Pattaya and Sunday afternoon back to Bangkok add 30 to 60 minutes to any road trip, so a Sunday day trip is best done on the train. And for three or four people, a Grab each way (฿1,200 to ฿1,500) or Klook's 8-hour private car with a driver (from $103) costs about the same per head as the bus and lets you pick the hour you leave. If you can spare a night, take it, because the last bus back leaves at 22:00 and a day trip skips the evening entirely.

The Ekkamai, Mo Chit and Bangna buses and the North Pattaya airport bus all end at the North Pattaya terminal on Pattaya Nuea (North Pattaya) Road, a few hundred meters in from the Sukhumvit junction and about 2 km from Beach Road. It has a covered waiting hall with fans, toilets, coffee and a line of dark-blue songthaews outside that charge a flat ฿50 a head into central Pattaya, dropping you as near your hotel as the loop allows; a Bolt to a Beach Road hotel is ฿80 to ฿120. The Jomtien airport bus ends at the Jomtien terminal on Jomtien Second Road, a short walk to the beach and a ฿20 songthaew from most Jomtien hotels, after stopping on Sukhumvit Road for North and Central Pattaya (where a songthaew or a Bolt gets you to Beach Road in ten minutes) and opposite Big C South Pattaya, which is the stop for Pratumnak.

Once you're in town, the songthaew (baht bus) is the transport, and its fares went up in April 2026 for the first time in 30 years, to ฿15 for anything up to 10 km on the fixed loops (Beach Road runs one way south, Second Road returns north), ฿20 for longer runs out to Jomtien or Naklua. The system is simple. Hail one going your way, climb in the back, press the buzzer when you want to stop, hand the driver the fare through the window. The one mistake that costs money is telling the driver a destination before you get in, because that converts your ride into a private charter at charter prices, ฿100 to ฿200 or whatever he thinks you'll pay. If a driver quotes a fare up front, wave him off and take the next one on the loop. Bolt works well in Pattaya and is the honest price for anything off the loops.

The return is the same trip backwards, with two things worth knowing before you plan it. The North Pattaya terminal runs Roong Reuang buses to Ekkamai 15 times a day (04:30, then hourly from 08:00 to 20:00 and a 22:00), ฿144, and to Mo Chit for ฿155, and the daily ordinary train No. 284 leaves Pattaya at 14:21 for Hua Lamphong (฿31), with the weekend Sprinter No. 998 at 16:26. And if you're flying out of Suvarnabhumi, four different coach services go straight to the airport without touching the city. Roong Reuang from Jomtien (hourly 06:00 to 22:00) and from North Pattaya, Bell Travel's VIP coaches with a hotel pickup, and Transport Co.'s pink buses from its Sukhumvit Road office, which also run to Don Mueang. Every one of them drops you opposite Door 8 on the departures level. The full timetable, the taxi fares in that direction and where each bus lands in Bangkok are in the Pattaya to Bangkok guide.