Pattaya is 150 kilometres from Bangkok, and there are more ways to travel Bangkok to Pattaya than any other route in Thailand: a coach every hour from two terminals and both airports, minivans that leave when full, a ฿31 train slower than the bus, a Grab at ten times the coach fare, and an airport at the far end that no Bangkok flight will ever use. Here is each one costed for October 2026 — where it really leaves from and where it really drops you (the North Pattaya terminal is not Jomtien) — with a verdict.
The short version: walk out of Ekkamai BTS, pay Roong Reuang around ฿150 and be at the North Pattaya terminal two and a half hours later. From Suvarnabhumi, skip the city: the airport bus from Level 1 near Gate 8 is the same money and skips Bangkok; Don Mueang has six 999 coaches a day. Three or more with luggage, or a Jomtien hotel and a late flight: book a car at ฿1,200–1,800. Take the train once, for the story. Read our Pattaya daytime guide and the Chon Buri province profile first — the beach you want is probably not the one the bus stops at.
Bangkok to Pattaya: every option costed for October 2026
One adult, one way, October 2026; “door to door” is central Bangkok or the airport to a hotel on Beach Road, Second Road or Jomtien. Counter fares first; 12Go and the operators’ sites add ฿30–60 for a reserved seat. A compass, not a quote.
| Mode | Door to door | Cost | When it’s right | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ekkamai coach (Roong Reuang) → North Pattaya terminal | 3–3.5 hours | ฿140–160 (฿185–200 online) + ฿30–150 last hop | Starting on Sukhumvit; the default | Buses on 12Go |
| Mo Chit 2 coach → North Pattaya terminal | 3.5–4 hours | from ฿155 + last hop | Sleeping north of the city | Buses on 12Go |
| Minivan, Ekkamai / Mo Chit 2 → South Pattaya | 3–3.5 hours | ฿180–220 + ฿15 baht bus | Walking Street hotels, small bags, late evenings | Minivans on 12Go |
| Suvarnabhumi airport bus (Roong Reuang; Bell Travel to your hotel) | 2.5–3.5 hours | around ฿140–150; Bell more, hotel drop included | Straight off a flight; the smart move | Airport bus on 12Go |
| Don Mueang 999 coach | 3–4 hours | around ฿167–183 + last hop | Six a day; time the flight to one | Don Mueang buses on 12Go |
| Train, Hua Lamphong → Pattaya station | 4–4.5 hours | ฿31 third class; about ฿170 weekend railcar + ฿100 Grab | Once, for the story; never with a suitcase | Trains on 12Go |
| Taxi, Grab, private car or hire car, Motorway 7 | 2–2.5 hours (4 on a Friday evening) | ฿1,200–2,000 per car + ฿105–155 tolls; hire ฿900–1,500 a day | Families, groups, Jomtien, late flights | Private transfers on GetYourGuide |
| Fly | — | — | No Bangkok service; U-Tapao serves Chiang Mai, Phuket, Samui | Not an option from Bangkok |
The Roong Reuang bus from Ekkamai to North Pattaya: the sensible default
Roong Reuang Coach — RRC, who also run the airport buses — own this route. Air-conditioned coaches leave Ekkamai’s Eastern Bus Terminal, two minutes from Exit 2 of Ekkamai BTS, roughly hourly from about 06:00 to 22:00; the old every-half-hour timetable has not fully returned since the pandemic, whatever the concierge remembers. The counter fare has sat at ฿140–160 all year (฿144 and ฿148 are the numbers we keep seeing), cash only, for a numbered seat and a suitcase in the hold. Two and a half hours to the Pattaya bus terminal on North Pattaya Road via Motorway 7, nearer three on a Friday afternoon or before a public holiday.
The window is fine outside long weekends, when everything fills; 12Go’s Bangkok to Pattaya page holds the same seat for ฿185–200 and shows what actually leaves at your hour.
Verdict: the answer for one or two people with a bag each: cheaper than the Grab to Ekkamai, an hour quicker than the train, and the only option here that behaves like a timetable. It fails only Jomtien guests, who arrive at the wrong end of town, and anyone who confuses the Eastern Bus Terminal with the Northern one.
Mo Chit 2, and the minivans that beat the bus to Walking Street
Roong Reuang also runs from Mo Chit 2, the Northern Bus Terminal behind Chatuchak, 05:00 to about 18:00, from ฿155. Use it if you sleep north of Victory Monument or have landed at Don Mueang and missed the 999: the A1 airport bus drops you at Mo Chit BTS for ฿30, then a ฿60 motorbike taxi, because Mo Chit 2 is not at Mo Chit station — a fact that has cost more tourists an hour than any scam.
Minivans are the other animal. T Tour and its rivals load in the van bays at Ekkamai and Mo Chit 2, charge ฿180–220, leave when full or to a loose afternoon-and-evening timetable, and finish in South Pattaya near Walking Street rather than at the North Pattaya terminal: a ฿15 baht bus to the hotel instead of a ฿150 Grab. The price is one small bag, twelve fellow passengers and a driver who treats the hard shoulder as a fourth lane. The ฿300–400 “VIP van” sold on Khao San is the same Toyota Commuter with an hour of hotel pick-ups bolted on; our scams guide has the rest of that repertoire.
Verdict: Mo Chit 2 only if it is nearer than Ekkamai. Minivans: fine for South Pattaya hotels and small bags, and the honest way to arrive after the last coach; both are on 12Go if you want the seat held.
Straight off the plane: the Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang buses to Pattaya
If Pattaya is the first stop, do not go into Bangkok. Suvarnabhumi is already on Motorway 7’s side of the city, and Roong Reuang’s airport coach leaves from Level 1 near Gate 8 — the pink counter — roughly hourly from 06:00 to 22:00 for around ฿140–150, two hours to RRC’s North Pattaya office. Bell Travel Services sells at the same counter, every two hours from 08:00 to 18:00 in peak periods, and its coach is met by a minibus that delivers you to the hotel driveway, Jomtien included: a few hundred baht more, the figure moves with the season, read the board. Buy Bell with children and a Jomtien booking. Land after about 21:00 and you are racing the last coach; after that it is a Grab. Our Suvarnabhumi arrival guide has the Gate 8 geography; hold a seat on 12Go’s Suvarnabhumi to Pattaya page in high season.
Don Mueang is on the wrong side of Bangkok, which is why its direct bus is worth planning a flight around. Transport Co. — the government “999” coaches — runs six a day from the service hall beside Terminal 1: 06:30, 07:30, 10:30, 12:00, 13:30 and 17:30 on the June 2026 timetable, ฿167 (some agents quote ฿183), about two and a half hours by the outer ring road. Miss the 17:30 and it is the A1 to Mo Chit for the last Roong Reuang coach or a ฿1,500-plus taxi (our Don Mueang arrival guide has the geography). Seats on 12Go’s Don Mueang to Pattaya page.
Verdict: from Suvarnabhumi, the best value on this page — Bell for Jomtien. From Don Mueang, excellent when your flight lands within an hour of a departure, a slow afternoon when it doesn’t; which airport you’ll land at is in BKK vs DMK.
The train from Hua Lamphong to Pattaya: ฿31, four hours and the weekend railcar
The Eastern Line still leaves from Hua Lamphong — the 1916 station, not Krung Thep Aphiwat, which took the northern and southern trains in 2023 and left this one behind. Ordinary train No. 283 departs at 06:55 daily, ambles through Chachoengsao with the windows open and reaches Pattaya station around 10:30 on its way to Ban Plu Ta Luang: third class, fans, ฿31, tickets sold only on the day; No. 284 brings it back mid-afternoon. Cheapest by a factor of five, slowest by an hour, which is the correct order of priorities for a train.
At weekends and on public holidays the State Railway also runs an air-conditioned Special Express railcar — 997 down in the morning, 998 back in the evening — reserved second-class seats around ฿170, about three and a quarter hours. It has appeared, vanished and reappeared on the timetable more than once since 2023, so check your date on the SRT’s D-Ticket site before setting an alarm; both trains show on 12Go when running. The catch is the arrival: Pattaya station sits on the Sukhumvit Road side of town, three kilometres from the sand, then a ฿60–100 motorbike taxi or a ฿100–150 Grab.
Verdict: once, on a weekday, without luggage, for the paddy fields and the ฿31 ticket. As transport it is a bus with worse timing; the Hua Hin railcar is the train worth planning a trip around.
Taxi, Grab or a private car from Bangkok to Pattaya: the door-to-door price
A pre-booked sedan is ฿1,100–1,500 from Suvarnabhumi and ฿1,300–1,800 from a Sukhumvit hotel; a seven-seat SUV or Commuter van ฿1,800–2,500. Motorway 7 tolls are yours: about ฿105 from Lat Krabang to Pattaya, nearer ฿155 if you join the elevated expressway in town. Good operators quote toll-inclusive and take cards; the hotel limousine desk adds ฿500 for the same car. Grab does the whole run — ฿1,200–1,800 depending on the hour, tolls in cash — once two or three drivers have declined the empty return. Ninety minutes from the airport, two and a half hours from the city, four on a Friday evening.
Driving yourself: hire cars ฿900–1,500 a day, about ฿500 in fuel, and a dual carriageway that becomes a car park at the Bang Pakong bridge on Sunday evenings. The baht bus makes a car pointless in town, so only bother if the coast road on to Ban Phe and Koh Samet or Chanthaburi is the real plan. Private cars appear as “taxi” on 12Go’s Bangkok to Pattaya page and on GetYourGuide’s private transfer listings.
Verdict: ฿1,600 for four is ฿400 a head — twice the coach, and it comes to the door, which for a family or a Jomtien hotel settles it. For a couple with rucksacks it is ฿1,300 that buys four night-market dinners. The Price Index has the fair numbers for the arrival arithmetic.
Flying to Pattaya: U-Tapao, and why no Bangkok flight will ever go there
U-Tapao is a naval air base with a passenger terminal 45 kilometres south of Pattaya near Sattahip, and 190 kilometres from Bangkok, so there is no Bangkok service and never will be. What it does, as of September 2026, is let you skip Bangkok: Bangkok Airways flies in from Koh Samui and Phuket, Thai Lion Air from Chiang Mai and, since August, Udon Thani, at ฿1,500–3,500 one way. From the terminal it is 45 minutes to an hour to Pattaya: a fixed-price taxi around ฿1,000–1,200, a shared minibus ฿250–350 when enough people land together, or a car booked on 12Go’s U-Tapao to Pattaya page or GetYourGuide. Sort an eSIM first (our SIM guide).
Verdict: not an option from Bangkok; from the islands or the north it saves a transit and is worth the taxi.
Arriving: North Pattaya bus terminal, Jomtien, the baht bus and the men at the gate
Every Roong Reuang coach ends at the Pattaya bus terminal on North Pattaya Road — Pattaya Nuea — a tarmac yard two kilometres inland from the Dolphin Roundabout at the top of Beach Road and three from Central Festival; nothing you want is walkable in the heat. The blue songthaews, the baht bus, are Pattaya’s public transport: ฿15 on the fixed Beach Road and Second Road loop, ฿20 to Jomtien or Naklua, since the fare rise of 10 April 2026. From the terminal the drivers at the gate run shared trips to hotels for ฿30–50 a head and open with “฿100 per person, special” if you look new: say the hotel name, ask “shared, how much”, wait for the fourth passenger. A Grab to Beach Road is ฿100–150, to Jomtien ฿150–250, and drivers will tell you the app doesn’t work in Pattaya, which it does.
Jomtien is the problem child: the next bay south, quieter, most of the family and mid-range hotels, and on no bus route from Bangkok except Bell Travel’s hotel drop. From the terminal it is 8 km — the Grab above, or a ฿15 baht bus down Beach Road to the Walking Street end and a second ฿20 bus from Second Road along Thappraya Road, forty minutes for ฿20 — which is why guests at the Jomtien Palm Beach Hotel & Resort (from around ฿1,500 a night) tend to book a car for the whole trip. The north end is easier: the Dusit Thani Pattaya (from around ฿4,000) sits on the Dolphin Roundabout and the Amari Pattaya (from around ฿3,500) on the beach beside it, a ฿30 songthaew or ฿80 Grab from the terminal.
The terminal scams — the ฿100-a-head “shared” songthaew, the “your hotel is full” redirect, the tuk-tuk quoting ฿300 for a ฿15 route — all die on knowing the number; the jet-ski one waits at the beach and is in our Thailand scams guide.
Getting back to Bangkok, and the Sunday-evening jam
Return coaches to Ekkamai leave the North Pattaya terminal roughly hourly from 04:30 to 20:00 with a last one at 22:00, and to Mo Chit 2 from 05:00, at the same ฿150-odd (12Go lists ฿185 and ฿197). Roong Reuang’s Suvarnabhumi coaches load at its Thappraya Road office on the Jomtien side and call at the terminal, about hourly, around ฿143, two hours. The 999 to Don Mueang runs six times a day (07:00, 10:00, 12:00, 14:30, 16:00, 17:00) for ฿167–183, three hours, from Transport Co.’s own stop — check the ticket, it is not the same yard — and allow four for an international check-in. Everything is on 12Go’s Pattaya to Bangkok page and the Pattaya to Suvarnabhumi page.
Then Sunday. Half of Bangkok comes down on Friday and goes home between three and seven on Sunday, when the Motorway 7 merges at Bang Pakong and Lat Krabang become a two-hour crawl; a 15:00 coach reaches Ekkamai at 18:30 on a good week, and the 15:00–19:00 departures sell out by lunchtime. Buy the return when you arrive, book it on 12Go, or leave Monday morning like the people who live here. The same goes for the long weekends in our holiday calendar and to cool-season Saturday mornings. Carrying on down the coast? Minivans run from the North Pattaya and Jomtien ranks to the Koh Chang ferry — times in our Bangkok to Koh Chang guide, seats on 12Go’s Pattaya to Koh Chang page — and Koh Samet is an hour away and better.
Bangkok to Pattaya: your questions, answered
What is the cheapest way to get from Bangkok to Pattaya?
The ฿31 ordinary train from Hua Lamphong at 06:55, if you count time as free. For everyone else it is the Roong Reuang coach from Ekkamai or Mo Chit 2 at ฿140–160 plus a ฿30–50 shared songthaew to the hotel: under ฿200 door to door and two and a half hours on the road, as of October 2026.
How long does it take to get from Bangkok to Pattaya?
Two to two and a half hours by coach or car on Motorway 7, three or more on a Friday afternoon or Sunday evening; about ninety minutes to two hours from Suvarnabhumi airport; four hours by the ordinary train. Add 30–45 minutes for the last hop from the North Pattaya terminal to a Beach Road or Jomtien hotel.
Is there a direct bus from Suvarnabhumi airport to Pattaya?
Yes. Roong Reuang leaves from Level 1 near Gate 8 roughly hourly from 06:00 to 22:00 for around ฿140–150, two hours to its North Pattaya office; Bell Travel sells from the same counter every two hours with hotel drop-off, Jomtien included, for more. From Don Mueang the government 999 coach runs six times a day for about ฿167.
Does the bus from Bangkok go to Jomtien?
No. Every Bangkok coach ends at the North Pattaya terminal, 8 km from Jomtien, and the minivans finish in South Pattaya, a little closer. Only Bell Travel’s airport service delivers to Jomtien hotels. Otherwise it is a ฿150–250 Grab, two baht buses at ฿15–20 each and forty minutes, or a pre-booked car for the whole trip.
How much is a taxi from Bangkok to Pattaya?
A pre-booked sedan is ฿1,100–1,500 from Suvarnabhumi and ฿1,300–1,800 from a city hotel, plus about ฿105–155 in Motorway 7 tolls; Grab quotes ฿1,200–1,800 plus tolls; a street taxi with the meter off should settle at ฿1,500–2,000. SUVs and vans are ฿1,800–2,500. Two hours, or four on a Friday night.
Related guides
- Things to Do in Pattaya Beyond the Bars: The Daytime City Most Travellers Miss
- Koh Samet From Rayong: The Beach Weekend That Beats Pattaya
- Bangkok to Koh Chang: Bus, Minivan, Car and Ferry, Costed (2026)
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Hotels: north end or Jomtien decides which bus you want, so pick your Pattaya hotel on Agoda before the ticket. Tours/Boats: Koh Larn boats, the Sanctuary of Truth and the day trips are on GetYourGuide’s Pattaya listings. Getting there: coaches, minivans, the train and private cars side by side on 12Go’s Bangkok to Pattaya page, the Suvarnabhumi to Pattaya and Don Mueang to Pattaya pages from the airports, and our BKK vs DMK guide for which airport you’re landing at. Not sure Pattaya is your beach at all? Our Where to Go in Thailand matcher scores all 77 provinces against your month, your budget and what you actually want.
