Usually, the flights from Krabi to Bangkok are cheap and very convenient, but when I wanted to do this trip, they were not cheap at all, so I decided to go by bus from Krabi to Bangkok. It is a long journey indeed, but it is done during nighttime, so you can always sleep on the bus.
From Ao Nang to Krabi
The ticket from Ao Nang to Bangkok (Khao San road) included pick up at the hotel and cost me 850bh. Because the demand was not high, they only had one bus departure per day so I had no choice but to join the one that would pick me up at the hotel at 2 pm. The fact is that someone showed up to pick me up 1 hour later, which was pretty stressful even tho I know it can happen often. I’m always afraid that they will forget about me haha
I booked my ticket directly from Ao Nang to Bangkok because I have a heavy load with me, but you could definitely find a cheaper option if you go by Songthaew to the Krabi bus station (60bh) and buy your bus ticket directly there. Therefore you could avoid the stress of waiting for someone to pick you up.
From Ao Nang to Krabi I was all by myself in a minivan. As they picked me up so late, I thought that maybe they had forgotten me and this van came on purpose just for me. But maybe not, because on board the bus from Krabi to Bangkok we were no more than 10 people, all foreigners.
So, 1st they transfer me from Ao Nang to Krabi where I wait about 1 more hour to be transferred to the bus that is going to Bangkok. I hopped on the bus from Krabi to Bangkok not much before 7 pm, so look at all the time I have wasted!!! Don’t recommend you do the same. Probably buying an online ticket might also be a good idea. You can do it HERE!
From Krabi to Bangkok
From Krabi to Bangkok the bus took about 10h and it made a stop to eat at about 1 am, which was terrible. So better just to have dinner before boarding. As the bus was so empty, I could enjoy 2 seats by myself so sleeping was not so hard. This bus from Krabi to Bangkok is supposed to arrive at about 5 am on Khao San Road, and it did. 5 am is a very discouraging time to reach anywhere, but I had no other option at that time. I’m sure that now with more tourists visiting Thailand, they have more departures daily, but at that time it didn’t make sense to have more buses running. As I mentioned mine was almost empty.
I thought that reaching Bangkok at that hour would be terrible as I would have no way to move cause everyone would be sleeping. I couldn’t be more wrong. The sun didn’t take much longer to turn the darkness into daytime and the streets already had many cars and motorbikes on the move. So, reaching Bangkok at this hour will not pose a problem to find transportation to wherever you want to go. Apps like Grab or Bolt are very useful, but there were also some tuk-tuks on the streets. I ended up taking one to my hotel which was not that close to Khao San road. The tuk-tuk was definitely the most expensive option I could take, but whatever, I was so sleepy and tired that I didn’t care much, just wanted to arrive at my hotel where I slept on the reception sofa until I could check-in. Gladly they had some comfy sofas at the reception haha
