Pattaya to Bangkok

The North Pattaya bus terminal is on Pattaya Nuea (North Pattaya) Road a few hundred meters in from the Sukhumvit junction, about 2 km from Beach Road: a covered hall with fans, toilets, coffee stalls and a departure board, with the songthaews to and from town charging a flat ฿50 a head and a Bolt from a Beach Road hotel costing ฿80 to ฿120. Roong Reuang's Ekkamai buses leave from here 15 times a day, at 04:30, then every hour from 08:00 to 20:00, and a last one at 22:00, for ฿144. It's the bus for anyone staying anywhere near the Sukhumvit Skytrain line, because the Eastern Terminal at the other end is a two-minute walk from BTS Ekkamai: five stops to Asok, ten to Siam, with your bags on the train rather than in a taxi in traffic.

The same terminal has buses to Mo Chit 2, the Northern Terminal, for ฿155, which is the right bus for Chatuchak, Ari and the Don Mueang side of town, and to Bangna for ฿144; both run less often than the Ekkamai service, so check the board or 12Go. Mo Chit 2 is a taxi or a city bus from BTS Mo Chit and MRT Chatuchak Park, not a walk. Tickets at the counter are cash, and on a Sunday afternoon in high season the next two or three departures can be sold out, which is when booking on Roong Reuang's site or 12Go the day before earns its fee; an online booking is exchanged for a paper ticket at the counter before you board. One 20 kg bag rides free in the hold.

Minivans to Bangkok also leave from Pattaya through the day, ฿200 to ฿210 on 12Go with 13 departures from 08:00 to 18:00, bound for Mo Chit, Ekkamai or the Victory Monument stands. They leave when full, they are quicker by a few minutes and they are cramped with luggage. With the coach this frequent I'd only take a van if it happens to be boarding.

Flying out of Suvarnabhumi, do not go via Bangkok. Four separate coach services run straight from Pattaya to the airport in about two hours, and they all drop you at the same place: opposite Door 8 on Level 4, the departures level. The busiest is Roong Reuang's Jomtien service, from the Jomtien terminal on Jomtien Second Road next to Foodmart, hourly from 06:00 to 22:00, ฿158 at the office (cash only, up to five days ahead in person or a month ahead on the company's site), four seats across with a toilet, first come first served for seats, and it does fill: a November 2025 6:00 departure left full with people already buying for the 06:30. Roong Reuang also runs an airport bus from the North Pattaya terminal, ฿135, at 08:00, 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 18:00 and 21:00, sold from the Hua Hin window (counter 2) and boarding at gate 4, with allocated seats and slightly newer coaches.

Bell Travel Service is the same parent company's premium brand, with its own white office building at the North Pattaya terminal: 24-seat VIP coaches with three seats across and real legroom, departures from 06:00 to 19:00, ฿190 for the seat alone, ฿300 with a minivan pickup from your Pattaya hotel, and ฿450 for pickup in Pattaya and a drop at a Bangkok hotel at the far end. The fourth option is the one almost nobody uses: Transport Co., the government's pink buses, from its office on Sukhumvit Road near Soi 45 (opposite the Father Ray Foundation), at 06:30, 10:30, 14:30 and 16:30 for ฿122, four across, rarely full, and with a fridge of ฿10 water in the office.

Which one? Jomtien if you're staying in Jomtien or Pratumnak and want a departure every hour; North Pattaya's ฿135 bus or Bell's ฿190 coach if you're in central or north Pattaya; Bell's ฿300 pickup if you have suitcases and no wish to see a terminal; and Transport Co. if the times fit and you like a bargain. Allow two hours for the ride, the airport's own three hours for check-in on a long-haul, and an extra 30 to 60 minutes on a Sunday evening. Landing back from the airport, the desks for all four sit together on Level 1 by Gate 8.

Don Mueang, for AirAsia, Nok Air and Thai Lion, is the far side of Bangkok, and Transport Co. runs the only direct bus: route 999 from its Sukhumvit Road office near Soi 45 at 07:00, 10:00, 12:00, 14:30, 16:00 and 17:00, ฿167, about two and a half hours on the outer ring road to the airport's Terminal 1 forecourt. It is popular, so buy the ticket the day before if you can. The pink buses that serve Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang leave from the same office and are labeled for either, so confirm with the staff which one you're boarding.

If the six times don't fit your flight, the reliable alternatives are the Suvarnabhumi coach plus the free inter-airport shuttle (about an hour, from Suvarnabhumi's Level 2 Gate 3), or a fixed-fare car: ฿1,400 for a sedan from the local firms and $62 for a sedan or $104 for a ten-seat minibus on Kiwitaxi, tolls included, about two hours door to door. For an early-morning Don Mueang flight the car is the only thing that works.

Pattaya's railway station sits on the railway road beside Sukhumvit, about 2 km inland from Beach Road, so budget a ฿100 Bolt or a songthaew to reach it. From there ordinary No. 284 leaves at 14:21 every day of the week and rolls into Bangkok's old Hua Lamphong station at 18:15: third class only, fans and open windows, ฿31, tickets at the window on the day, and a genuinely lovely way to arrive in Bangkok, straight onto the MRT Blue Line for Silom or Sukhumvit. The train starts at Chuk Samet by the navy beaches and calls at Pattaya Tai (South Pattaya) a few minutes before Pattaya, which is the closer station for Jomtien.

On Saturdays and Sundays the air-conditioned Sprinter No. 998 leaves Pattaya at 16:26 and reaches Hua Lamphong at 18:55, ฿170 in a reserved second-class seat, bookable on SRT's D-Ticket site and app; it's the return working of the 06:45 morning train from Bangkok, and the two together make a train day trip. The Sprinter is a special train whose number SRT reissues by period (the current timetable lists it as SP998 through September 30, 2026), so if the app shows another number for the 16:26 Saturday departure it is the same railcar. Note that no train from Pattaya goes anywhere near either airport: for Suvarnabhumi take the coach, and for Don Mueang the coach or a car.

A car is the only option that leaves when you do, and with suitcases or a dawn flight it is the sane one. Pattaya's transfer companies publish the fares: Mike Pattaya Taxi, Cherry Taxi Service and Kim Pattaya Taxi all charge ฿1,000 for a Toyota Camry from a Pattaya hotel to Suvarnabhumi, ฿1,200 to a Bangkok hotel and ฿1,400 to Don Mueang, with an Innova at ฿1,200 to ฿1,600, a Fortuner at ฿1,600 to ฿2,000 and a ten-seat Commuter at ฿1,800 to ฿2,400, tolls and fuel included, booked on WhatsApp or LINE and paid in cash to the driver at the end. Pattaya Express charges a little more and takes cards. Kiwitaxi is the pre-paid version: $54 for a sedan and $80 for a ten-seat minibus to Suvarnabhumi, $62 and $104 to Don Mueang, the driver's name and plate sent ahead, 15 minutes of free waiting at pickup.

Bolt and Grab both quote Pattaya to Bangkok, usually ฿1,200 to ฿1,500 for a four-seat car, and are fine for a daytime run; ask whether the tolls (about ฿150 to ฿200) are in the price. Pattaya's own taxi drivers and the baht-bus charter drivers will quote ฿1,500 to ฿2,000 and up for the same trip, so the app or a booked car is the benchmark. For a 4 a.m. pickup for a 7 a.m. flight, book the car the day before and don't rely on hailing anything.

The Ekkamai bus is the easiest landing in Bangkok: the Eastern Terminal opens onto Sukhumvit Road with BTS Ekkamai two minutes away, so Asok is five stops and Siam ten, and the taxi rank outside is metered. Mo Chit 2, the Northern Terminal, is not the BTS station of the same name; it is a ฿60 to ฿100 taxi or a short city-bus ride to BTS Mo Chit and MRT Chatuchak Park, where the Skytrain and the MRT meet. Vans to the Victory Monument drop you at the stands under the BTS station of that name on the Sukhumvit Line. Both trains end at Hua Lamphong in Chinatown, where the MRT Blue Line is directly underneath (Silom in 10 minutes, Sukhumvit in 15) and the Yaowarat street-food strip is a ten-minute walk.

The airport coaches arrive on Level 4 at Suvarnabhumi, opposite Door 8, which is the departures level, so you walk straight to check-in. If you're not flying but were routed via the airport, the Airport Rail Link in the basement reaches Phaya Thai in 26 minutes for ฿45, and the free inter-airport shuttle to Don Mueang leaves from Level 2 Gate 3. The Don Mueang bus stops on the forecourt outside Terminal 1.