Chiang Mai advance train ticket booking
Sep 17th, 2009, 09:24 PM
#1
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Chiang Mai advance train ticket booking
The Thailand train online booking service is still "coming soon". An email to them elicited a response saying "Sorry sir if you want to book tickets you have to pick up tickets not later 11.00 am in same day you leave". Problem is, we arrive at 5pm and hoped to catch the overnight train the same night. The booking agencies seem to be very much more expensive. Anyone know if we can get tickets some other way ?
Or should we fly and return to Bangkok by train ?
Thanks much.
Or should we fly and return to Bangkok by train ?
Thanks much.
Sep 17th, 2009, 11:07 PM
#2
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See
http://www.seat61.com/Thailand.htm#How to book
This is a very reputable website and prvides up to dat and accurate advice. It seems as though you may have to email the railway direct or use and agent.
Also, www.thaifocus.com may provide some suggestions for agents.
http://www.seat61.com/Thailand.htm#How to book
This is a very reputable website and prvides up to dat and accurate advice. It seems as though you may have to email the railway direct or use and agent.
Also, www.thaifocus.com may provide some suggestions for agents.
Sep 18th, 2009, 07:05 AM
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Kudos to the above posters for providing ticketing information. I'd like to address the "Or should we fly and return to Bangkok by train?" part.
Just our opinion: 100%, fly BOTH ways.
We were told by locals to fly, but the train whistle beckoned and instead, we took the 2nd class sleeper overnight train Bangkok to Chiang Mai and we were overjoyed not to take the train back.
The train trip was what is was, but we'd never do it again.
1. Booked early enough, flying can be cheaper than than the train fare and it's easy to book and/or change online. http://www.nokair.com
2. Travel time on the train is too damn long. Why travel 12, 13, 14 hours or more (train always arrives late or crazy late) when you can fly in one hour?
For that amount of time, think about a car/driver or driving yourself and checking out a bit of the countryside.
3. The night train especially, nothing to see and you want to sleep anyway.
OK, the day time train (is there an express day? - Who cares!) would be a bit more fun, you can look out the windows or hang out at the doorways with the smokers between cars (cough, cough), but, still, we'd do the car and/or driver thing instead.
Take a late evening flight, eat, sleep, get up the next day - or any flight, it's only 1 hour.
4. 2nd class sleepers seem better than 1st class. The 1st class cubicles are in our opinion, confined. Yeah, private, but, super narrow, restricting (for us) and the air tickets are cheaper than 1st class train.
OK, having said that, for sleeping 1st class could probably be better. You can turn off the lights - in the 2nd class sleeper, the fluorescent lights blaze away all night long with some possible all night drinkers - the train staff LOVES to sell you 180 Bhat beer or anything else for that matter.
Don't buy train food (train ice OK). Instead, make a food run to the 7-11 across from the train station in BKK.
5. Be extra careful choosing your 2nd class seats. From what we saw, heard and unfortunately, experienced, the first set of seats near the garbage and toilets had a good amount of cockroaches crawling around (all sizes).
OK, it's fun to chat up people if you like and who doesn't like riding on trains? But, the time (and now money) is a huge price to pay.
With hotel prices where they are now in Chiang Mai, people don't need to take "overnight" transportation to save money and if you just have to "do" a train, then do it in the day and make it a "visible" adventure
I don't know.. In the "old" days we only had (or could afford) trains and buses for travel and they were fun, educational and seemed to do the job quite nicely.
Maybe we have simply gotten old, but hopping a plane at Don Muang Airport and a one hour flight was just the ticket for us.
Just our opinion: 100%, fly BOTH ways.
We were told by locals to fly, but the train whistle beckoned and instead, we took the 2nd class sleeper overnight train Bangkok to Chiang Mai and we were overjoyed not to take the train back.
The train trip was what is was, but we'd never do it again.
1. Booked early enough, flying can be cheaper than than the train fare and it's easy to book and/or change online. http://www.nokair.com
2. Travel time on the train is too damn long. Why travel 12, 13, 14 hours or more (train always arrives late or crazy late) when you can fly in one hour?
For that amount of time, think about a car/driver or driving yourself and checking out a bit of the countryside.
3. The night train especially, nothing to see and you want to sleep anyway.
OK, the day time train (is there an express day? - Who cares!) would be a bit more fun, you can look out the windows or hang out at the doorways with the smokers between cars (cough, cough), but, still, we'd do the car and/or driver thing instead.
Take a late evening flight, eat, sleep, get up the next day - or any flight, it's only 1 hour.
4. 2nd class sleepers seem better than 1st class. The 1st class cubicles are in our opinion, confined. Yeah, private, but, super narrow, restricting (for us) and the air tickets are cheaper than 1st class train.
OK, having said that, for sleeping 1st class could probably be better. You can turn off the lights - in the 2nd class sleeper, the fluorescent lights blaze away all night long with some possible all night drinkers - the train staff LOVES to sell you 180 Bhat beer or anything else for that matter.
Don't buy train food (train ice OK). Instead, make a food run to the 7-11 across from the train station in BKK.
5. Be extra careful choosing your 2nd class seats. From what we saw, heard and unfortunately, experienced, the first set of seats near the garbage and toilets had a good amount of cockroaches crawling around (all sizes).
OK, it's fun to chat up people if you like and who doesn't like riding on trains? But, the time (and now money) is a huge price to pay.
With hotel prices where they are now in Chiang Mai, people don't need to take "overnight" transportation to save money and if you just have to "do" a train, then do it in the day and make it a "visible" adventure
I don't know.. In the "old" days we only had (or could afford) trains and buses for travel and they were fun, educational and seemed to do the job quite nicely.
Maybe we have simply gotten old, but hopping a plane at Don Muang Airport and a one hour flight was just the ticket for us.
Sep 18th, 2009, 12:03 PM
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First visit to this site for some time - back in annual trip planning mode!
Interesting comments from karenmike - we flew to CM and came back to BKK by train. Whilst I agree that flying is much quicker and a sensible option if you are on a tight schedule, the train is definately an experience not to be missed and alonside local buses, a mode of travel I would opt for every time. Any discomfort is short lived and is more than compensated for by the people you meet along the way, something you can't put a price on.
If you are struggling to book on line you can purchase tickets at BKK station.
Interesting comments from karenmike - we flew to CM and came back to BKK by train. Whilst I agree that flying is much quicker and a sensible option if you are on a tight schedule, the train is definately an experience not to be missed and alonside local buses, a mode of travel I would opt for every time. Any discomfort is short lived and is more than compensated for by the people you meet along the way, something you can't put a price on.
If you are struggling to book on line you can purchase tickets at BKK station.
Sep 18th, 2009, 02:40 PM
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Our experience on the night train:
We chatted for about 3 hours, then everyone set up their beds and soon when to sleep, a restless sleep because of the lights and people continually moving about.
In nearby cars there were two all night parties going on and some of the people in those cars were not so pleased.
The morning was the best part. Cool air and sightseeing. Most were still in bed past 08.00, some others were pretty sleepy. In our case, wondering why we choose to take the beating.
We spent the morning, in the empty dining car chatting up the train employees and sharing their delicious food with our potato chips and crappy 21 Bhat 7-11 sandwiches – most of which were pretty un-eatable, but, stuff they had not tried and we will never try again.
NOTE: We LOVE the raspberry/chocolate 20 Bhat 7-11 ice cream cones. Wow!
You want “Thailand”, then best to take the local day train, with day light, longer and more frequent stops. Maybe you can hope off one train and catch up with another.
Chiang Mai is laid back, I can’t imagine what it would be like arriving in BKK after 14 or 15 hours on that train.
Bottom line, were we glad we took the train? Sure why not?
But, in the end, it was just a bunch of people, many with high expectations of an adventurous trip, sitting in an air conditioned, florescent lit coach, looking at their reflections in a black window (in our case, looking at the black window and drinking beer) then going to bed.
Would we ever take that train again? Never! Especially, if the air fares stay so low.
OK, ok, so I'm still banging away at this topic and of course, without saying, we all know the choice is up to the person…
EXCEPT, when people have limited in country or overall travel experience and do not exactly know their personal favorite choices yet – Sooooo…. they ask questions to get clues – not saying this implies to patfromLA)
… and even though it doesn't read like it, we are big fans of local travel and honestly believe that all forms of travel are "local travel" in the end.
Well almost all… this Africa overland tour "hotel" thing we came across in Zambia, was, for us, a horrible and insane way to get about.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/traveltv/3931933613/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/traveltv/3932707776/
But here, we just looked at one way prices (Don Mueang to Chiang Mai) at Nokair.com, (Sep-Oct departure) for as low as 435 Bhat (without taxes). Return was an unbelievable 249 Bhat (without taxes). NokAir flies 737.
Now, a 2nd class sleeper train is about 800+ Bhat.
NOTE: Bangkok Air is the most expensive airline on the BKK-CNX route.
We chatted for about 3 hours, then everyone set up their beds and soon when to sleep, a restless sleep because of the lights and people continually moving about.
In nearby cars there were two all night parties going on and some of the people in those cars were not so pleased.
The morning was the best part. Cool air and sightseeing. Most were still in bed past 08.00, some others were pretty sleepy. In our case, wondering why we choose to take the beating.
We spent the morning, in the empty dining car chatting up the train employees and sharing their delicious food with our potato chips and crappy 21 Bhat 7-11 sandwiches – most of which were pretty un-eatable, but, stuff they had not tried and we will never try again.
NOTE: We LOVE the raspberry/chocolate 20 Bhat 7-11 ice cream cones. Wow!
You want “Thailand”, then best to take the local day train, with day light, longer and more frequent stops. Maybe you can hope off one train and catch up with another.
Chiang Mai is laid back, I can’t imagine what it would be like arriving in BKK after 14 or 15 hours on that train.
Bottom line, were we glad we took the train? Sure why not?
But, in the end, it was just a bunch of people, many with high expectations of an adventurous trip, sitting in an air conditioned, florescent lit coach, looking at their reflections in a black window (in our case, looking at the black window and drinking beer) then going to bed.
Would we ever take that train again? Never! Especially, if the air fares stay so low.
OK, ok, so I'm still banging away at this topic and of course, without saying, we all know the choice is up to the person…
EXCEPT, when people have limited in country or overall travel experience and do not exactly know their personal favorite choices yet – Sooooo…. they ask questions to get clues – not saying this implies to patfromLA)
… and even though it doesn't read like it, we are big fans of local travel and honestly believe that all forms of travel are "local travel" in the end.
Well almost all… this Africa overland tour "hotel" thing we came across in Zambia, was, for us, a horrible and insane way to get about.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/traveltv/3931933613/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/traveltv/3932707776/
But here, we just looked at one way prices (Don Mueang to Chiang Mai) at Nokair.com, (Sep-Oct departure) for as low as 435 Bhat (without taxes). Return was an unbelievable 249 Bhat (without taxes). NokAir flies 737.
Now, a 2nd class sleeper train is about 800+ Bhat.
NOTE: Bangkok Air is the most expensive airline on the BKK-CNX route.
