Bell Bus from Bangkok to Pattaya

[Mr. Plug]

I looked through the other thread on Bell Busses and it seemed like most or all of the info was about taking the busses to or from the airport. And there was no recent info (within the past year at least) about doing the Bangkok - Pattaya route. 

I've used this service at least twice pre-covid, then it appeared that they weren't running anymore during covid. So I was happy to be able to make a reservation again with the same route and service. This was my experience from yesterday. 

The small van (10 seats) picked me up at my hotel on Sukumvit Soi 24, and it was right on time. They then bring you to their office / terminal in Bangkok, were we sat in a waiting room for 15 minutes only to get back on the same van and transported to Suvarnabhumi airport. There we transferred to the large coach bus which would take us to Pattaya, but there was about a half hour wait there also. But a good time to use the hong nam and get food if you needed it. 

I was able to pre-select my seat on the large bus. It had a row of single seats and one side, and two seats on the other. The seats were large and comfortable. It had big picture windows for watching the landscape outside during the trip. I was surprised that for such a large bus how few seats it had. Someone finally figured out that people want to be comfortable and not sit shoulder to shoulder with others, like on airplanes. 

We arrived at the Pattaya terminal and were quickly transferred to individual passenger vans. Each van had the names of the hotels posted in front of it, so it was easy to find the particular van that you would get on. Each van seemed to have not more than 3-4 hotels that it would deliver to. The last step was fighting through the traffic and then getting dropped off at the front door of your hotel. 

The whole process took around four hours, but I don't care cause I have nothing else to do during that time anyway. 

For me, the benefits of making the trip this way versus using a taxi, are that a) I'm not stuck in a small car and (possibly) forced into making small talk with the driver for the next hour and a half, b) I like sitting up high and gazing out the window from the bus as the trip progresses, and c) the cost. But that's just me. If push came to shove, I’d be perfectly content using someone like Nam’s taxi.

The website for booking this is: https://belltravelservice.com/shared-transfer/

Scroll down a little and just hit the button that says, “Book Now”, and then you’ll see all your options and hotels for the shared transfer trip.

Cost was 450 baht plus 50 baht for a piece of luggage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[momo5]

That’s far more transfers and waiting than I’d be willing to put up with.  I typically take the Roong Reuang bus from Ekamai to Pattaya and then either the baht bus or a Grab to my hotel.  131b for the bus and they leave hourly from 0900-2100hs.  I travel light, so BTS to Ekkamai is fine for me … doubt a Grab would be too much. 50-150b from bus to hotel, depending on whether it’s the baht bus or Grab.