Bangkok Ekkamai to Pattaya - instructions and some questions

[sifil]

I took the bus from Bangkok's Eastern Bus Terminal near Ekkamai BTS station recently.

At Ekkamai BTS, look at the signs for "Eastern Bus Terminal" to find the correct exit. I believe it's exit 2. Go there, take the steps down to the left then do a 180 turn and walk for about 2-3 minutes and the bus station is on your left side. It's impossible to miss.

I read the counter for Pattaya is on the right and when I entered I immediately saw Pattaya. It was the first counter on the right side. It's counter 28.

While I was in the queue, I was surprised that the price was 108 Baht. I read there are different buses to Pattaya. The first class buses with AC and the cheaper second class buses without AC for about 20 Baht less. I thought the first class buses were around 120-130 so I was worried I was about to buy a ticket for the wrong bus but the counter clearly said first class. I asked if it's non-stop and she confirmed so I went ahead and bought the ticket.

Later I saw that counter 8 also has tickets to Pattaya and they are 130 Baht.

Boarding is at stop 1 which is the first stop. I read there's a bus every 30-40 minutes but on Sunday early afternoon it was every 10 minutes.

You get at ticket for your suitcase when you load it into the bus. The seat number is printed on your ticket and the number can be found on the back of the seat.

Despite paying 108 and not 130 Baht, the bus had AC. It went straight to Pattaya. When we got close to Pattaya, we dropped off two people. They had no luggage so it was a quick stop. I don't know if we took a detour.

We then stopped at the bus terminal in Pattaya. I read the bus stops at the North Terminal but according to Google Maps we stopped a little bit further east. The bus terminal said "Terminal to Bangkok" or something like that.

At the bus terminal, you could either take a motor taxi or a Baht bus. For 50 Baht they take you (and other passengers) to the hotel.

Taking the bus was easy. I hope these instructions are useful.

My questions:

• What is the difference between the 108 and 130 Baht bus?
• Are there two north bus terminals or was Google Maps wrong to indicate we stopped further east of where the North terminal should be?
• How do I get back to the bus station? It seems I have 3 options: take a taxi (around 100 Baht?), take a 10 Baht bus to Dolphin junction and then another bus going east, or convince an empty Baht bus to take me to the bus station for some money (maybe 50?)
   

[bangna]

A mate paid 250 bt for a private hire baht bus from Soi Lenkee to the north bus station

[striderman]

last jan i walked up from the dolphin to the bus station as on principle i was not going to pay more to reach it than the fare all the way to bkk. but that's just me, and i was off to a funeral so had no luggage to drag

[Lambik]

370 ThB with BellTravel, from your hotel in Bangkok till your hotel in Pattaya, and vice-versa.

There is a huge hotels list in both cities.

[taylor1975]

1 hour ago, Lambik said:

370 ThB with BellTravel, from your hotel in Bangkok till your hotel in Pattaya, and vice-versa.

There is a huge hotels list in both cities.

....and about 5 hrs door to door. Convenient but very time consuming.

[cutecutepillow]

I just took it today to come from Bangkok to Pattaya, the only problem you may find is an overbooked bus so you need to take the next one (every ~30 minutes) , today I have found 2 overbooked ones.

- Arrived Ekkamai at 13:00, was purchasing the ticket (108thb) at 13:03 minutes, but the first bus available was 14:20.

- Arrived to Pattaya (direct) around 17:00PM, 2h something depending on traffic.

 

Quote

Are there two north bus terminals or was Google Maps wrong to indicate we stopped further east of where the North terminal should be?

Yep, Google shows the AC terminal or something like this, the bus stops 1 kilometer or 2 from there, near the main road.

Quote

How do I get back to the bus station?

I took Uber last time, all taxis tried to rip off.

Walking from Soi 6 is around 30 minutes.

[Scuba+]

I walked to/from North Pattata bus station to/from Big C Extra. Like Striderman i wasn't going to pay 100 baht taxi when the cost to Bangkok (Mochit) is around 117 baht. Seems to be two buses available one for mochit and one for Ekkamai

 

Air Conditioned Bus Terminal to Bangkok

Pattaya City, Bang Lamung District, Chon Buri 20150

038 410 369

 

https://goo.gl/maps/v65BMzXeUeB2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lambik]

1 hour ago, taylor1975 said:

.and about 5 hrs door to door. Convenient but very time consuming.

Indeed,

However if you have to take a taxi in Bangkok to the bus station, than take the bus to Pattaya bus station, and take again a taxi there to your hotel, not sure you can do it in a lot shorter time.

 

Will see next Wednesday, Bell pick me up at Thonglor at 8.30 a.m., I expect to be at my condo in Pattaya off 3rd.Road, before 1 p.m..

[thinkingallowed]

3 hours ago, sifil said:

What is the difference between the 108 and 130 Baht bus?

As a naïve chap a long time ago I took the same journey as you and choose my ticket by looking for the highest price. Unfortunately this turned out to be a very nice bus but one that stopped everywhere down the road #3 rather than highway #7.

I asked a friend how I had messed up and his explanation was that express, non stop buses are sometimes cheaper than the ones stopping everywhere as they take a shorter route and the fare is worked out by distance.

Not sure if what he said was correct or not but I've always asked about stops and journey times since.

[yugot]

4 hours ago, sifil said:

What is the difference between the 108 and 130 Baht bus?

The other counter (130 baht) would be a mini bus. The price of the big Roong Reuang bus has been gradually dropping over the last few years.

[Crushed]

4 hours ago, sifil said:

.

 

• How do I get back to the bus station? It seems I have 3 options: take a taxi (around 100 Baht?), take a 10 Baht bus to Dolphin junction and then another bus going east, or convince an empty Baht bus to take me to the bus station for some money (maybe 50?)
   

  What I did last couple of times was catch a baht bus on 2nd road.  Got off at the first grocery store after the bus turns.  (I'm not sure if this is Dolphin junction)  Catch another baht bus.  Some will try it on and ask for more than 10 baht for the short trip to the bus station.  Up to you if you pay it, negotiate or just wait for another baht bus.  I paid 50 baht one time as I just wanted to be in air conditioned bus as soon as possible.

[sifil]

To add to my report:

It's definitely exit 2 at Ekkamai. You have to go left and down the steps and then do a u-turn. To the right you have an escalator which goes up.

Regarding the Pattaya stop, you have to search for "Bus Terminal Pattaya -Bangkok" on Google/Uber.  The North bus terminal or whatever it's called is further to the west.

I took an Uber from Soi 7 and it was 100 Baht.

[hioctane]

A mate paid 250 bt for a private hire baht bus from Soi Lenkee to the north bus station

Use Grab. It is about 120 baht from the Central Pattaya area.

[Lambik]

On 24/01/2018 at 19:18, Lambik said:

On 24/01/2018 at 18:17, taylor1975 said:

.and about 5 hrs door to door. Convenient but very time consuming.

Indeed,

However if you have to take a taxi in Bangkok to the bus station, than take the bus to Pattaya bus station, and take again a taxi there to your hotel, not sure you can do it in a lot shorter time.

 

Will see next Wednesday, Bell pick me up at Thonglor at 8.30 a.m., I expect to be at my condo in Pattaya off 3rd.Road, before 1 p.m.

Just past 1 p.m. when arrived, heavy traffic disrupt by the heavy rain and there was flood on some places.

Not too bad under the circumstances.

[taylor1975]

6 minutes ago, Lambik said:

Just past 1 p.m. when arrived, heavy traffic disrupt by the heavy rain and there was flood on some places.

Not too bad under the circumstances.

How long is the actual bus ride?

[Lambik]

 

7 hours ago, taylor1975 said:

How long is the actual bus ride?

From the BellBus station at BangNa , 2 hours till the BellBus station in Pattaya.

The problem is to reach the station at BangNa from your pickup place in Bangkok, as mention here above the weather conditions in Bangkok Wednesday morning were awful. 

[great mooglie]

I did the trip starting at Nana BTS station today. It was 30 baht from Nana to Ekkamai. Then I paid the already stated 108 baht for the bus to Pattaya. It took 15 minutes from when buying my ticket to being able to board the bus. From the time of boarding to arriving in Pattaya it was 2 hours approximately. Once at the station there is a row of baht buses. Tell them the name of your hotel and they will tell you what baht bus to board. The fare to my hotel ,LK Metropole, was 50 baht. They dropped me of right in front and all was good.

[gmingot]

On 1/24/2018 at 11:00, striderman said:

last jan i walked up from the dolphin to the bus station as on principle i was not going to pay more to reach it than the fare all the way to bkk. but that's just me, and i was off to a funeral so had no luggage to drag

I ended up doing that last trip. Not as a matter of principle but because there didnt seem to be any baht buses heading from the dolphin roundabout in the bus station direction, they would come from Naklua turn left at the Dolphin on to N Pattaya road then almost immediately do a u-turn to head back to the Dolphin and Beach Road.

On previous trips there were always baht buses waiting at the Dolphin roundabout to take passengers all the way down N Pattaya Road to the bus station. Have the baht bus routes changed? or was I just unlucky that day?

[darpra]

19 hours ago, gmingot said:

I ended up doing that last trip. Not as a matter of principle but because there didnt seem to be any baht buses heading from the dolphin roundabout in the bus station direction, they would come from Naklua turn left at the Dolphin on to N Pattaya road then almost immediately do a u-turn to head back to the Dolphin and Beach Road.

On previous trips there were always baht buses waiting at the Dolphin roundabout to take passengers all the way down N Pattaya Road to the bus station. Have the baht bus routes changed? or was I just unlucky that day?

Same here. Wanted to know if that was possible

Also if you arrive from bangkok is it possible to cross the road in front and catch a regular baht bus for 10B down towards beach road and get to the regular baht bus route?

[The Sculptor]

5 minutes ago, darpra said:

Same here. Wanted to know if that was possible

Also if you arrive from bangkok is it possible to cross the road in front and catch a regular baht bus for 10B down towards beach road and get to the regular baht bus route?

YES.  I have done that many times. 

[usexpat46]

On ‎1‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 20:53, Crushed said:

  What I did last couple of times was catch a baht bus on 2nd road.  Got off at the first grocery store after the bus turns.  (I'm not sure if this is Dolphin junction)  Catch another baht bus.  Some will try it on and ask for more than 10 baht for the short trip to the bus station.  Up to you if you pay it, negotiate or just wait for another baht bus.  I paid 50 baht one time as I just wanted to be in air conditioned bus as soon as possible.

Another option for the baht bus is catch one on Sukhumvit going either north or south for10 baht as the bus station is not that far.

[sifil]

Here some photos of the Ekkamai station: