Your Travel Guide to Thailand
All information & tips to prepare your trip in Thailand
There are no tickets for single journeys: instead, you buy black tokens from vending machines that accept coins and banknotes (the counters mainly provide information, but also sell tokens). The fare depends on the length of your journey. On the touch-screen machines, a network map lets you choose the line by its color and select your destination station; the fare is then calculated according to your route. Don't forget to switch the language to English with the button at the top of the screen – it makes things easier. Then just insert your coins or notes to get your token. At the end of your journey, the exit gate swallows the token to put it back into circulation, so don't lose it!
The MRT Yellow Line connects with the MRT Blue Line at Lat Phrao station, with the Airport Rail Link (ARL) at Hua Mak station, and, at its Samrong terminus, with the Sukhumvit Line of the BTS Skytrain.
Trains run from 6 am to 9 pm.
MRT Hotline: 02 624 5200
Website: metro.bemplc.co.th
Bangkok's Skytrain is called the BTS. Its air-conditioned trains glide above the capital's heavy traffic. It doesn't go everywhere, but combined with the Chao Phraya Express boats, it takes you to Bangkok's major temples.
The Chao Phraya Express boats run regularly along the river that flows through Bangkok and stop near all the monuments and sights on its banks, including Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Pho and Wat Arun, the three must-see temples in Bangkok. Fares are cheap.
The bus is clearly neither the easiest nor the fastest way for a foreign tourist to get around Bangkok, but it is the cheapest. The network is huge and you can go almost anywhere – you just need to be patient.
Bangkok offers the widest choice of public and private transport in Thailand (metro, buses, boats, tuk-tuks...). Because no, there's more than tuk-tuks and pink taxis to get around Bangkok!