Northern Thailand - Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Northern Thailand - page 830

Relatively frequent minivans also departing from outside the arrivals hall link Don
Muang and Suvarnabhumi (50B, 40 minutes, from 5.30am to 5pm).
Public buses stop on the highway in front of the airport. Lines include 29, with a stop at
Victory Monument BTS station before terminating at Hualamphong Train Station (24
hours); 59, with a stop near Th Khao San (24 hours); line 538, stopping at Victory Monu-
ment BTS station (4am to 10pm); and line 555, bound for Suvarnabhumi International
Airport (4am to 11pm); fares are approximately 30B.
Taxi As at Suvarnabhumi, public taxis leave from outside the arrivals hall and there is a
50B airport charge added to the meter fare.
Train The walkway that crosses from the airport to the Amari Airport Hotel also provides
access to Don Muang Train Station, which has trains to Hualamphong Train Station every
one to 1½ hours from 4am to 11.30am and then roughly every hour from 2pm to 9.30pm
(5B to 10B).
BOAT
Once the city's dominant form of transport, public boats still survive along the mighty
Mae Nam Chao Phraya and on a few interior klorng (canals; also spelt khlong ).
Canal Routes
Canal taxi boats run along Khlong Saen Saep, from Banglamphu east to Th Ramkham-
haeng. Fares range from 10B to 20B and boats run from approximately 5.30am to 8.30pm
(to 7pm on weekends and holidays).
River Routes
Chao Phraya Express Boat ( 0 2623 6001; www.chaophrayaexpressboat.com ) runs up and down
Mae Nam Chao Phraya with boats stopping at different piers depending on their designa-
tion: express (from 10B; indicated by yellow, orange or green flags), local (without a flag)
and the larger tourist boat (40B per trip) that stops at piers convenient for sightseers.
There are also small flat-bottomed boats that do cross-river trips to Thonburi (3B per trip).
The main pier (called Tha Sathon or Central Pier) is near Saphan Taksin BTS station, and
services run from approximately 6am to 10pm.
BTS & MRT
The elevated BTS ( 0 2617 7300, tourist information 0 2617 7340; www.bts.co.th ) , also known as
the Skytrain , whisks you through 'new' Bangkok (Silom, Sukhumvit and Siam Sq). The
interchange between the two lines is at Siam station, and trains run frequently from 6am