Getting to Hua Hin
Whether you’re travelling to Hua Hin from Bangkok or coming up from Phuket in the south, this is a great place to stay and spend a few days by the beach. Traveling by land to Hua Hin is a great option as the train and bus stations are located in town and very easy to walk to. Below are some transport options and details of my experience arriving by sleeper train.
Transport bewteen Hua Hin & Bangkok
Bangkok is the closest big city to Hua Hin and a lot of locals from Bangkok regularly book 2 days in Hua Hin for their weekend getaway.
There are three easy options to get between Hua Hin & Bangkok.
*These prices are based on my travels from Hua Hin to Bangkok, in May 2022.
Driving yourself or taking a private taxi will take approximately 2.5 hours
Train travel is always a reliable and cheap option in Thailand, ticket for this journey will cost 44THB per person for a seat and will take 6 hours.
The minivan transport is a great in-between option, not as long as the train and not as expensive as a private car. The Mini Van from Hua Hin to Bangkok was 200THB per person and took close to 4 hours. Then when the bus arrives in Bangkok it’ll stop in the area of Ekkamai.
Phuket to Hua Hin
Traveling from Phuket to Hua Hin the options are similar to if coming from Bangkok, it’ll just take a lot longer.
The quickest and cheapest option to get from Phuket to Hua Hin is by bus. This trip will take about 10 hours and expect to pay around 480THB per person.
To break up the drive there is also the option to get a bus to Surat Thani and then the sleeper train from there to Hua Hin. This would be more comfortable but will end up taking a few hours longer and be more expensive.
Then if you aren’t excited about spending so many hours on the road, there is also the option to fly to Bangkok and travel down from there. But overall this will end up taking a lot longer and more expensive, so not a route I would recommend.
Getting to Hua Hin from Surat Thani
I went to Hua Hin after spending a few incredible days in Khao Sok National Park.
The closest city to the Khao Sok is Surat Thani & we got a sleeper train to Hua Hin from there.
The 84 express train left Surat Thani at 20:14 & was scheduled to arrive at 04:10, although it was 50 minutes late.
Depending on your budget there are a few different classes available, ranging from a seat to a flatbed in a semi-private cabin. We booked ‘class 2’ sleeper and this cost 620THB per person.
Class Two was good, the carriage is a single aisle with a row of bunk beds down either side. Each bed has a curtain for privacy & includes bedding.
Assuming you’re travelling with luggage, your bags will stay with you the whole time. In the carriage, there are some small storage areas but our big bags ended up on the ground in the aisle. Luckily, this never seemed to bother anyone. I kept my small backpack, containing valuables, with me the whole time. It was annoying having it on my bunk but better to be safe than sorry.
Tickets can be booked online at 12GO or directly from the station. We booked with the staff at the station a couple of hours before departure but apparently, we got lucky that it wasn’t already booked out.
When booking the tickets you’ll receive a seat/bed number & if available I would recommend booking the lower bunk as these are slightly bigger.
At Surat Thani railway station there aren’t any fids screens displaying the trains arriving & departing, so you’ll need to be aware of the time. Also, if you have a paper ticket don’t lose it, if you do you won’t be allowed on board or given a replacement.
Sleeper Train Toilets and My Phobia of Bathrooms
After having bad experiences on sleeping trains in India I decided to fast before my journey to Hua Hin. I went to the bathroom at the train station just before we departed.
It cost 3THB and the man taking the money pulled me out three generous squares of toilet paper. They were all squat toilets and to avoid any part of my overalls touching the ground or the toilet, I took them off & wrapped them around my neck. 😂
Hoping that was it for the night I got comfortable in my bunk on the train. But unfortunately ended up laying awake, needing to pee & fearing what the toilets on board would be like.
Eventually, I had no choice and had to go, but the toilets on the train were absolutely FINE. Omg, all that stress for nothing haha. The bathrooms in my carriage were all clean and had everything you’d need (you know, like soap and toilet paper).
I don’t remember the train stopping too many times but each time it did locals would jump on and walk up and down the aisles selling food & drink. Their yelling was kind of annoying while you were trying to sleep, but also very convenient if you ever got hungry.
10 minutes before the train arrived at Hua Hin the staff came to our bunks to let us know that we were nearly there.
From start to finish I found this train journey awesome and all the staff super helpful.
Book tickets online at 12GO or check out Thailand Rails website for timetables.