Travelling Overland to/from Bangkok

We strongly recommend that you do not take the tourist bus all the way from Bangkok to Siem Reap as it is is full of scams and takes a long time. If you do want to use this bus then here is some information below:

Taking the bus from Khosan Road (leaves around 7:00am) to the border is not too bad and if you do it this way you will arrive at a restaurant (the bus will wait here for around 2 hours) about 4km from the border. If you only go to this restaurant near the border then take your bags off the bus and take a 80 Baht tuk tuk from the restaurant to the border crossing. From the border we suggest you take the taxi to Siem Reap, so see the "Getting to/from Poipet" section below. Although we do not recommend it, taking the bus to Bangkok from Siem Reap is not too bad, but it still takes at least 10 hours and costs between US$12 and US$15. It leaves around 7:30am. The bus can take longer in the rainy season.

If you are taking the bus all the way to Siem Reap you will have a 2 hour wait at the restaurant, another few hours spent getting across the border, then at least another 5 hours getting to Siem Reap. If you do decide to go all the way from Khosan Road to Siem Reap, then good luck!

Morchit bus station is in the northern part of Bangkok and from here to the town (Aranya Prathet) near the border by local bus takes around 4 to 5 hours. From Aranya Prathet to the border is 6km and you can get to the border crossing by tuk tuk for around 60 to 80 Baht in 20 minutes.

From Bangkok to Aranya Prathet there are two trains daily leaving at 5:55am and 11:35am which take around 5 hours and cost less than US$1.50. The train station is 15km from the border and you will need to get a tuk tuk to the border crossing for around 100 Baht. There are two trains daily going from Aranya Prathet to Bangkok which leave at 6:40am and 1:55pm.

The tourist bus from Poipet to Siem Reap leaves around 2:30pm, if you are lucky, takes at least 5 to 6 hours and you will be sold like cattle to a guesthouse who is paying someone to drop you there late at night, so you will not want to go anywhere else. And for that whole experience they charge US$10, double the price of the other direction.

Neak Krohorm and Capitol bus companies both have buses which leave from Siem Reap to Poipet at 7:30am, but there are no buses from Poipet to Siem Reap apart from the tourist bus.

The taxi from Poipet to Siem Reap costs between US$45 and US$60 with a bit of haggling. The price used to be as high as US$80, but they seemed to have dropped the prices a bit. The taxis were told to put the prices high, so that the local mafia could take a share of the driver’s money off them, but they seemed to have gone a bit quiet of late. You can also take a shared taxi from Poipet to Siem Reap for US$15 per person and usually you will not have to wait long before the taxi fills up. You will do well to get the taxi for less than US$45, but it is no good trying to negotiate with a taxi driver, as he will have probably been warned not charge you anything less. An alternative solution is to take a shared taxi for around US$5 per person to a place called Sisopon and then from there take another taxi to Siem Reap for US$35. If there are 3 or 4 of you though, it is not worth the bother. The taxi from Siem Reap to Poipet costs between US$30 and US$40, but a shared taxi is around US$8 per person (unless you want the front seat then you pay double the price). Your hotel or guesthouse can arrange a taxi for you and it takes around 2 hours.