Hello All,
We are currently in Malaysia but will be in Singapore in less than a week. After spending a few days there, we will be heading North again to Bangkok. We have looked at flights, all of which tend to cost approx £80pp ($127 USD).
Is there a direct bus service from Singapore to Bangkok and does anyone have an idea of how much it costs? So far I have heard you can get a coach to Hat Yai, then another coach up to Bangkok, but does anyone know of a direct service that some of the tour operators run?
Any help would be much appreciated!
[Edited: 2011 Jul 11 14:14 - Mell:49612 - Moved to Asia forum. 😊]
Reply to this I just did a cursory look at the Air Asia site for flights from SIngapore to Bangkok on 20 July...just picked a date in the near future. The price was 57 pounds sterling. Jetstar was a bit more. That seems pretty cheap for that distance. However, I have taken the train from SIngapore to Bangkok, which is more comfortable than a bus if you insist on the overland route.
However, I note from your blog that you started in Bangkok and worked your way down the Malay Peninsula. Why are you going back to Bangkok if your next intended destination is Indonesia, followed by Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam (per your profile)? A flight from SIngapore to Bali is only 62 pounds sterling on Air Asia. And as far as getting to Cambodia, Laos or Vietnam, I would suggest using KL as your hub rather than Bangkok. An Air Asia flight from KL to Siem Reap costs 60 pounds; to Vientiane 57 pounds, and Saigon 59 pounds. You just have to be careful about overweight check in luggage which can add to the cost considerably.
Reply to this In response to: Msg #140069
Thanks for the response!
Yeah I already saw the Jetstar price, does the Air Asia price include a free checked baggage allowance or do I need to pay additional fees?
Also with the train, I wasn't aware of a direct train line which went all the way up? If so it's great news for us!
Yeah our profile needs updating as we aren't going into Indonesia now - it's such a huge country that we're going to tackle it in another trip in the future. Instead we're heading back up to Bangkok and from there doing Northern Thailand before heading into Laos.
Reply to this I believe you need to take two trains - one from Singapore to Malaysia (Butterworth) and then the other from Malaysia (Butterworth) to Bangkok. You can go on a train to Kuala Lumpur instead, but then you will still need two more trains (again changing at Butterworth) to get there. Check out the Man in Seat 61 website, it has plenty of information.
However, on the Singapore-Malaysia route it is cheaper going from Malaysia (as it is charged in Malaysian Ringgits) then from Singapore (charged in Singapore Dollars). You may find it easier to get to Kuala Lumpur by bus (5-6 hours) due to the far mroe frequent departure times and then change to train for the rest of the journey.
Reply to this If you are going to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, there is a direct flight from Singapore for 95 pounds. Anyway, the last time I flew Air Asia the free baggage allowance was 15 kilos. ALso, if you have more than that, by paying when booking the ticket rather than upon arrival at the airport, the price was much cheaper. Good luck. I'm enjoying following your travels.
Reply to this Thank you both for your help!!
We calculated that it would cost us £54 per person by train with three changes... then we found flights via e-dreams for £118 for both of us (£59pp), flying with Transbrazil- happy days! That's our luggage too.
Thank you again for taking the time to help us, and thank you Bob and Linda for following our travels!
Reply to this For future reference, we just booked air asia flights to Bangkok from HCMC and had to pay for checked baggage but not for the 7kgs you can take in the cabin. There are different prices for different weights: 15kg, 20 or maybe 25 kgs and then about 30kgs. As Bob says, it's cheaper to book a higher amount on the web than at the airport so if you think you are going to be overweight (i.e. someone in your party is thinking about shopping...) then book more. You can pay for different weights in each direction too, so if you are shopping then it might be worth paying for less on the onward than on the inward.
Sometimes the 'full fare' airlines have deals on that beat the total price from the budget when you add baggage costs. It's worth checking the likes of skyscanner to find out. A while back we booked KL to Bangkok on Malaysia airlines and got a ticket at 75% less than the total price because the plane was practically empty.
For the forthcoming Bangkok flight we just paid for one bag between two of us along with the 7kgs each of handluggage - so that's 29kgs total. Now we just have to draw straws over who carries the bigger one!
Reply to this It seems that the flight we booked through Edreams didn't even exist and we've had a lot of trouble with them being unco-operative... But that has given us an extra day in Singapore though! Unfortunately the last minute prices for flights are pretty high now so we're taking the bus 😞
So, for reference:
Singapore to Bangkok- 26hrs/ change to van in Hat Yai / $85 / leaves Singapore at 6pm & and arives in Bangkok at 8pm the next day
Singapore to KL- 6hrs / leave at 7.45am, 3pm and 7.30pm / $23
Singapore to Butterworth- $45 / leaves at 10pm and arrives at 7am
Singapore to Hat Yai- $40 / leaves at 6pm and arrives at 8am
*prices are in Singapore dollars and these are the best prices we found departing from the "Golden Mile Complex" close to the Mudlim Quater in SIngapore.
Hope this helps someone in the future 😊
Reply to this It seems that the flight we booked through Edreams didn't even exist and we've had a lot of trouble with them being unco-operative...
Thanks for the information. Perhaps another point of reference could be to not use Edreams.
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