Many people want to take a train to Krabi, Thailand and they ask us how they can do it.
The train system in Thailand is not the best laid-out transportation in the world! There are trains that go from the furthest provinces south up through Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani, and then further up the coast through Hua Hin and eventually to Bangkok.
From Bangkok, you can go straight east to Sisaket and Ubon Ratchathani or you can go to Nakhon Ratchasima and then turn north and go up to Khon Kaen and Nong Khai. We’ve taken all of those trains.
Or from Bangkok, you can go straight north up to Chiang Mai. This is a lovely train ride, especially with the new trains that are VIP-class sleepers. The separate rooms in these trains are really nice!
Did you see me mention Krabi yet?
There’s a good reason I didn’t say Krabi as a destination for the train! Krabi has no train station. The Thailand railway does not come to some of the most beautiful southern provinces like Krabi, Phuket, and Phang Nga. The only reason I can figure is that they wanted the price of travel to Phuket and Krabi to remain very high. The plane to Phuket costs around $100 per round-trip from Bangkok. There must be tens of thousands of flights each year. A train would knock that down really fast!
They wanted people to use the airport in most cases. The option for a bus down to Phuket and Krabi from Bangkok still exists, but that’s a heck of a ride on a cramped bus playing loud music and blasting everyone with ice-cold air conditioning.
Buses in Thailand suck to be honest. Another one just caught fire and burnt alive another 30 tiny children on a school trip and their teachers. It’s a situation the government never cared enough about to resolve. It won’t be fixed now either. It’s 2024 and 30 people are STILL BURNING ALIVE IN BUSES? The bus was 54 years old. Insanity sometimes.
Don’t take buses, I probably don’t need to tell you.
Taking a Train to Krabi
You can take a train from Bangkok to Surat Thani. The station in Surat is called Phunpin. It is south of the capital of Surat by about 10 km. When you arrive there, you can take a van or bus down to Krabi. Sometimes the vans have room and will take you immediately from the train station.
Other times, you’ll have to go back up to Krabi Town and use one of the travel agencies around the bus station and schedule/reserve a bus or van to go all the way to Krabi from there.
It’s a huge pain in the a**, but this is how it’s done.
The Best Way to Reach Krabi?
Krabi has an international airport (KBV), and you can fly direct from Bangkok and Chiang Mai, as well as some other countries. Take the plane, you’ll be so much happier if you did. You’ll save countless hours and save money because the VIP train + a good van or bus from Surat all cost money.
Use the airport instead of the train if you have limited time!