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Thailand Frontier

Routes

Bangkok to Chiang Mai

The overnight sleeper is the one route in Thailand where the slow option is the better one: a berth is about a thousand baht, it replaces a night's accommodation, and it puts you in Chiang Mai at breakfast.

630 km by rail

Train

Time
11h to 13h overnight
How often
Several evening departures, roughly 18:30 to 22:00, arriving 06:30 to 09:30
From
About 940 THB for an upper berth, 1,040 THB for a lower, second class air conditioned

Trains leave Krung Thep Aphiwat, not the old Hua Lamphong station, which is a mistake worth not making with luggage. The newest sleepers, the ones everyone calls the red trains, leave around 18:40 and arrive around 07:15. Berths sell out weeks ahead in high season.

Flight

Time
1h to 1h 20m
How often
Many daily, from both Bangkok airports
From
Not published

Faster door to door than it looks on paper only if you are already near Don Mueang. From central Bangkok the train station is closer than either airport.

These times and fares come from booking agents and route aggregators, not from operator timetables. Most Thai ferry and minivan operators publish no English schedule. Treat every figure as a planning range and confirm it before you build a day around it. Last read on 20 August 2026, from State Railway of Thailand, Thailand Trains and Richard Barrow's Thai Train Guide.

Both ends of this route

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Every route we have checked