Getting around · Airports · 1 of 8Topics ▾

Getting around · 01 of 8

Airports & arrival

Which airport you land at changes everything that happens next.

Information changes. Times, prices and ways of doing things are a guide only.

Bangkok has two, and they are 50 km apart:

  • Suvarnabhumi (BKK) — almost all long-haul, including every routing from Sofia. Connected to the city by the Airport Rail Link.
  • Don Mueang (DMK) — low-cost and most domestic flights. No rail link; taxi or bus only.

Allow three hours if you have to change between them, and never book a self-transfer with less. They are separate airports on opposite sides of a city with serious traffic, and a missed connection between them is not the airline's problem.

Other airports you may land at: Phuket (HKT), Chiang Mai (CNX), Koh Samui (USM), Krabi (KBV) and U-Tapao (UTP), which serves Pattaya.

Before you join the taxi queue: file your TDAC, have your hotel address written down, and ignore anyone who approaches you inside the terminal offering a ride. The official taxi rank is outside, downstairs, and it is metered.