Chiang Mai to Sukhothai

Buses to Sukhothai leave from Chiang Mai's Arcade bus terminal, which has two buildings facing each other across the road. Win Tour sells from the original one, Terminal 2, and Tara Tour leaves from the newer Terminal 3, so check which one your ticket names before you get a tuk-tuk or Grab out there.

Win Tour runs most of this route. 12Go lists it as Sukhothai Wintour and Sukhothai Thani, and sells Tour with Thai seats from the same Win Tour station. On 12Go's board the buses leave at 07:30 (about ฿500), 08:45, 11:00 and 15:00 (about ฿300–450) and take 5.5 to 6 hours, with first-class departures at 10:00 and 11:50 for about ฿720. Esarn Tour has an 08:00 bus at about ฿324, and Tara Tour runs five buses from 08:40 for about ฿695. Other timetables online add earlier and later Win Tour buses, so I'd treat 12Go and the counter as the ones to trust on the day.

The bus stops for lunch at Lampang's bus station, and some buses then run south by way of Tak and come into Sukhothai from the west. Recent 12Go reviews describe two or three toilet stops and a meal voucher with the ticket. Outside Loy Krathong week in November you can usually buy a seat at the counter the same morning. For that week, book ahead.

Sukhothai is two places. Old Sukhothai is the historical park and the guesthouses along the road outside its gates. New Sukhothai, about 12 km east, is the modern town with the night markets, most of the hotels and the main bus terminal, which sits about 1.5 km outside the center.

Buses that come in from Tak reach the park area first. Some Win Tour departures finish at their own stop by the historical park, and 12Go shows those as arriving at Sukhothai Historical Park. The rest carry on to the New Sukhothai terminal, and a recent 12Go review describes the driver offering a stop near the guesthouses before the terminal. If you're staying by the ruins, buy a park bus, or tell the driver your guesthouse when you board. From the terminal, songthaews run to the park for about ฿30 and take about 30 minutes.

No railway reaches Sukhothai. The closest station on the Northern Line is Phitsanulok, about 60 km east of New Sukhothai. The train I'd book is Special Express No. 8, an air-conditioned day railcar that leaves Chiang Mai at 07:30, crosses the hills to Lampang and reaches Phitsanulok at 13:16, with second-class air-conditioned seats only. Rapid No. 102 leaves earlier, at 06:25, with fan-cooled carriages and open windows, and arrives at 13:40.

From Phitsanulok station, take a tuk-tuk about 2 km to the bus terminal, where buses to New Sukhothai leave roughly every hour and take about an hour for under ฿100. On No. 8 you'd be in Sukhothai by mid-afternoon, about two hours later than the direct bus, in exchange for the views and a toilet on board. The evening trains reach Phitsanulok between 23:00 and 01:00, long after the Sukhothai buses stop for the night.

Phitsanulok is about 48% of the Chiang Mai to Bangkok line, so by SRT's booking rules tickets for this leg should open about 30 days ahead rather than 90.

Both look closer on a map, and neither helps. Uttaradit is on the main line an hour before Phitsanulok, but every timetable and guide I read routes Sukhothai travelers through Phitsanulok, where buses leave about every hour. Sawankhalok, north of Sukhothai, sits on a short branch line with one slow local train a day from Sila At, and I couldn't confirm its current times, so I wouldn't plan around it.

A car is the fastest way, about 4 to 4.5 hours door to door, and the one that lets you stop. 12Go lists cars from about ฿3,500 for an SUV and ฿4,025 for an economy car for up to three people, with more car classes from about ฿4,600. Split three ways that's about ฿1,200–1,350 each, roughly three times the standard bus fare, for a trip about 1.5 hours shorter and a door-to-door drop.

The stop I'd make is Si Satchanalai, the second city of the Sukhothai kingdom and part of the same UNESCO listing, with a fraction of the visitors. It sits about 250 km from Chiang Mai and about an hour north of Old Sukhothai, so it adds about 40 minutes of driving plus the time you spend there. Agree the stop when you book, since drivers price by route.

The direct bus is the easy way back. On 12Go's board, Win Tour buses leave from about 07:00 to 16:30, plus a late one at 23:30, most from the New Sukhothai terminal and two from its stop by the historical park from 09:45. They take about 6 hours to Chiang Mai's Arcade terminal, Terminal 2 or 3, for about ฿290–460 in 12Go's schedule, and some seats it sells online run around ฿700. Esarn Tour has a 16:50 and a 23:50 from the terminal. If you're staying in Old Sukhothai, ask your guesthouse which buses pick up at the park, which saves the songthaew out to the terminal.

By train, take a morning bus to Phitsanulok, about an hour, and the tuk-tuk to the station for Special Express No. 7, which leaves Phitsanulok at 11:58 and reaches Chiang Mai at 17:50 in the same second-class seats as No. 8. The overnight trains north leave Phitsanulok between 00:17 and 04:30 and arrive in Chiang Mai between 07:15 and 11:40, which only suits you if you're already sleeping in Phitsanulok.

A car back costs about the same as the trip down, from about ฿3,450 on 12Go, and the Si Satchanalai stop works the same way in reverse.