Pattaya to Phuket

U-Tapao, signed as U-Tapao Rayong–Pattaya International Airport, is about 30 km south of Pattaya. It has one flight to Phuket a day, Bangkok Airways' 13:00, which lands at Phuket International at 14:40. It has flown every day through October 2026 and 12Go sells it on every November and December date I checked. Bangkok Airways is a full-service airline on this route, so the fare includes a 20 kg checked bag, a meal and seat selection. Thai Airways and Etihad sell codeshare seats on the same aircraft. Other airlines that turn up in a Pattaya to Phuket search are connections, usually via Bangkok, and many take most of a day.

The trade-off is price. On 12Go the nonstop came to about ฿4,700–5,700 for dates in late November, three to five times what a Bangkok to Phuket ticket costs booked a few weeks ahead. With a bag, a family's worth of luggage or only a few days to spend, the nonstop is worth it, because it saves the two-hour coach ride and Suvarnabhumi's queues. To make the 13:00, leave central Pattaya by about 11:00. It's about 40 minutes by Grab or taxi, a little less from Jomtien, and 12Go's pre-booked cars from a Pattaya hotel to U-Tapao run about ฿800–1,000 for a sedan.

If the 13:00 doesn't fit or the fare is too much, fly from Bangkok. Roong Reuang runs coaches straight from Pattaya to Suvarnabhumi, hourly from 06:00 to 22:00 from the Jomtien terminal on Jomtien Second Road (฿158) and seven times a day from the North Pattaya terminal (฿135), and both drop you opposite Door 8 on Level 4, the departures level, in about two hours. From Suvarnabhumi, Thai Airways, Bangkok Airways, Thai VietJet and some Thai AirAsia flights go to Phuket in 1 hour 20 to 1 hour 35, part of about 50 Bangkok to Phuket departures a day across both airports, with fares from about ฿1,000 booked two to four weeks out.

Don Mueang has the low-cost carriers, Thai AirAsia, Nok Air and Thai Lion Air, and sometimes the lowest fares, but it's harder to reach from Pattaya. Transport Co.'s pink bus 999 leaves its Sukhumvit Road office near Soi 45 six times a day for ฿167 and takes about two and a half hours. Allow two hours for the coach, the airport's own check-in time and the flight, and it's six to seven hours from a Pattaya hotel to a Phuket one, against about five for the nonstop. The Pattaya to Bangkok guide has every coach time to both airports.

One bus company runs the whole way without a change. Sawasdee All Thai (12Go files it as Sawadee Tour) leaves its own office on Pattaya Third Road at 15:00, check-in 30 minutes before, and reaches Phuket Bus Terminal 2 at about 08:00 the next morning. It stops for a meal in the night. A traveler who filmed the ride in July 2024 clocked 17.5 hours. The double-decker has roomier VIP 24 seats on the lower deck and cheaper seats upstairs, which 12Go sells as Express, about ฿1,930 and ฿1,450 with its fee, while busonlineticket lists the two at ฿1,056 and ฿792.

The catch is the calendar. For the week of 17 to 23 November 2026, 12Go listed the 15:00 on the Tuesday, Saturday and Monday and not on the other four days, and Omio shows it on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. So check your date before you plan around it, and if it isn't there, take the bus through Bangkok below, which runs every day. Terminal 2 is north of Phuket Town, 30 to 60 minutes by taxi or Grab from Patong or Kata.

Phuket's overnight coaches leave Bangkok in the evening, so the daily overland route is a midday ride to Mo Chit, Bangkok's Northern Terminal, and a seat on one of them. 12Go sells it as one ticket. Saharat and Pannipa vans leave their offices in central Pattaya at 12:00, 14:00 and 15:00 and reach the Mo Chit area about two and a half hours later, or Roong Reuang's bus leaves the North Pattaya terminal at 10:00, 12:00 or 13:00. Then a Transport Co. coach runs south overnight to Phuket Bus Terminal 2, arriving between 06:00 and 09:00, for about ฿1,040–1,210 in all.

These are self-connect tickets, so the change at Mo Chit is yours to make and a late van means a missed coach. I'd take the earlier departure for a two- or three-hour cushion. You can also buy the legs yourself, Roong Reuang's ฿155 bus from North Pattaya to Mo Chit 2 and then an evening coach from Mo Chit or the Southern Terminal, where Sombat Tour's VIP coaches leave at 18:00 and 18:50. The Bangkok to Phuket guide lists every southbound operator.

No railway reaches Phuket. The nearest station is Surat Thani's Phun Phin, and getting there from Pattaya means a bus to Bangkok, a sleeper train south and a four- to six-hour bus west, well over a day for no saving. There's no ferry either. The 'ferry' results on route planners are bus-and-boat trips through the Gulf islands that take more than a day, and the Seahorse car ferry that older forum threads mention from Sattahip moved its sailings to Bangkok in 2024 and goes to Koh Samui, not Phuket.

Flights land at Phuket International, at the north end of the island, about 30 minutes from Bang Tao, 50 from Patong, an hour from Kata or Rawai and 46 minutes from Phuket Old Town in normal traffic. The Smart Bus to Patong, Karon, Kata and Rawai is ฿100 flat, and the airport bus to Phuket Town is ฿100 too. Every bus from Pattaya ends at Phuket Bus Terminal 2, on the northern edge of Phuket Town. From there it's 30 to 60 minutes by taxi or Grab to Patong or Kata, and less to Phuket Old Town.

The return nonstop leaves Phuket at 15:10 and lands at U-Tapao at 16:50, and Sawasdee's bus leaves Terminal 2 at 15:00 for Pattaya at about 08:00, picking up along the road north through Thalang. The Phuket to Pattaya guide has both, the flights to Suvarnabhumi with the last coach to Pattaya, and how long to allow from your beach to the airport.