 |
Getting
Around
|
 Buses
to Ban Don from Phun Phin train station leave every 10 minutes
or so from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. for 6 baht per person. Some of
the buses drive straight to the pier (if they have enough
tourists on the bus), while others terminate at the
Ban Don bus station, from where you must get another bus to
Tha Thong (or to Ban Don if you’re taking the night ferry.)
If you arrive in Phun Phin
on one of the night trains, you can get a free bus from the
train station to the pier, courtesy of the boat service, for
the morning boat departure. If your train arrives in Phun
Phin when the buses aren’t running (which includes all trains
except No 41), then you’re out of luck and will have to hire
a taxi to Ban Don for about 60 to 70 baht, or hang out in
one of the Phun Phin street cafes until buses start running
around 5.15 a.m.
Orange buses run from Ban
Don bus station to Phun Phin train station every five minutes
from 5 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. for 6B per person. Empty buses also wait
at the Tha Thong pier for passengers arriving from Samui Island
on the express boat; ready to drive them directly to the train
station or destinations further a field.
Around town, shared tuk-tuks
cost 5 baht and samlors are 10 baht.
Getting away to nearby provinces
By Bus
Phunpin Bus Terminal
operates air-conditioned buses to Ranong, Chumporn, Nakorn
Srithammarat, Hat Yai, Krabi, Phuket and non air-conditioned
buses to every province in the south. There are public buses
and share taxis departing from the Talaat Kaset 1 or 2 markets.
Muang Tai Bus Company has an office in the lobby of
the Surat Hotel and provides air-conditioned bus tickets
to several destinations in Southern Thailand, including VIP
buses to Bangkok. Phantip Travel handles minivan bookings.
Contact number: +66 77 311
213.
By Trian
You can catch
trains to Naratiwat, Trang, Nakorn Srithammarat, Yala,
Chiya, Chumporn and Huahin from Phunphin station in Surat
Thani. Contact number: +66 77 311 213 for more information.
It is rather difficult to
get long-distance trains from Phun Phin to other provinces
in the south. You are better off taking, especially heading
south. The trains are very often full and it’s a drag to take
the bus 14 km from town to the Phun Phin train station
and be turned away. You could buy a “standing room only” 3rd
class ticket and stand for an hour or two until someone vacates
a seat down the line. Advance train reservations can be made
without going all the way out to Phun Phin station at Phantip
travel agency on Talaat Mai Rd in Ban Don, near the market/bus
station.
Getting away to nearby locations
Samui Island
There are two ferry
companies and three ferry piers on the Surat Thani coast providing
service to Samui Island. Songserm Travel runs express ferryboats
from Tha Thong, 6 kms northeast of central Surat, and slow
night boats from the Ban Don pier in town. The express boats
leave from the same pier in Ban Don as the night ferry when
the Tapi River is unusually high. Samui Ferry Co runs vehicle
ferries from Don Sak or Khanom. You can get most of
the bus/boat and some of the train/bus/boat combined tickets
from this company.
Songserm Express boats operating
the trip between Nathon and Thathong pier leave Thathon pier
at 8.00 a.m. arriving in Nathon at 10.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m.
arriving at 5.30 p.m. You can return from Nathon to Thathong
at 7.15 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. departure. It costs 150 baht for
one way.
Samui Ferries operate a ferry
service connecting Nathon with Donsak. The ferries depart
Donsak at 6.00 a.m., 8.00 a.m., 10.00 a.m., 12.00 a.m., 2.00
p.m., 4.00 p.m., 5.00 p.m., 6.00 p.m., 7.00 p.m. for a trip
taking one and a half hours.
There are night boats leaving
from Ban Don, Surat Thani at 11.00 p.m. and taking 6
hours and the return trip departs from Nathon at 11.00 p.m.
Pangnga Island
You can take a slow
night ferry direct to Phangan Island from the Ban Don pier
in Surat Thani. It leaves nightly at 11 p.m. and takes almost
7 hours to arrive at Thong Sala with the cost of 100 baht
on the upper deck and 60 baht on the lower.
Tao Island
On every Wednesday,
depending on weather conditions, boats run between Surat Thani,
Tha Thong pier and Tao Island, Ban Mae pier. The trip takes
7-8 hours for 220 baht one way. Boats depart from Surat at
11 p.m. and from Ban Mai at 9 a.m.
Back
to Top |
