How to get to Bangkok on your own cheap – 12 tips
We have prepared an overview of popular ways to get to Bangkok on your own at minimal cost.
Non-stop flights from Russia
Direct communication between the regions of Russia and Bangkok allows tourists to fly with increased comfort and in a short time. You can fly from Moscow Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo, St. Petersburg airport and other large settlements of the country. The easiest way to look for a suitable option for a flight is on thematic ticketing websites. We will use the well-known resources of Aviasales and Skyscanner and see what they offer us. For example, Aeroflot, S7 Airlines, Qatar planes depart from the capital every day. The average cost of a ticket in the direction is 17-19 thousand rubles. In terms of time, it is the domestic company that offers the best conditions. On Aeroflot planes, it takes only 9-9.5 hours to get to Bangkok without transfers!
Similar offers can be offered by a domestic company for tourists from St. Petersburg. The cost of a direct flight will be slightly more than for their metropolitan counterparts (the average ticket price from the company is 18,800-19,500 rubles). A little more time will be needed for the trip itself – 12-13 hours.
Looking for the cheapest deals
To find the cheapest flight deals, we recommend using Skyscanner's Deals Finder. For example, if you have not decided on a specific departure date, you can select the appropriate month from the drop-down menu of the search bar.
Enter the point of departure “Russia”, the destination “Bangkok” and select the month “May 2016”. In a few seconds, a window with search results will appear in front of us, which will indicate a list of Russian cities from which flights are made to this Thai city, the number of transfers in the direction (or the absence of any will be mentioned). Here you can also see a calendar of available prices, with which it is possible to create the cheapest route option.
As you can see, in the search results, in addition to the already named Moscow and St. Petersburg, air travel services can also be offered by airports in such settlements of the country as Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, Samara, Ufa and others. Note that for May 2017 direct flights are offered by Moscow, St. Petersburg, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk. All other offers include stopovers at airports in third countries.
Let's choose, for example, a flight from Irkutsk. The low price calendar that appears shows the best price offers of the month. After analyzing the information provided, we understand that it is cheapest to fly on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays. But the highest prices for flights fall on Friday and Sunday. Here is a list of companies that fly to the selected destination.
When is the best time to fly
In addition to using the low price calendar function, it is worth paying attention to the peculiarities of tourist trips to Bangkok at different times of the year. It's no secret that trips at the height of the tourist season will always cost more than in the off-season. In the case of Bangkok, it is cheapest to plan your vacation in the spring or early summer. Starting from August – September and until the end of the year, the prices for air tickets and accommodation in Bangkok will only increase.
Although, if you book tickets for the fall in advance (for example, in May-June), you can purchase them at almost the same price as that offered for flights today. This little trick is used by experienced tourists. There is only one important nuance – you need to be 100% sure that nothing will prevent your trip on the chosen date.
Flying with transfers
The advantage of flights with transfers is their more affordable price (although this is not always the case). As a rule, tourists choose routes with transfers that run through the United Arab Emirates, China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Such a journey has its undeniable advantages. First of all, tourists get the opportunity to visit 2-3 countries at once within one trip. Given that the transfer time is sometimes delayed for several hours, it is possible to take a short tour of intermediate cities or visit a long-noted exhibition complex (another attraction).
As a rule, an intermediate stop is made in the country that owns the carrier airline. Foreign airlines suggest following such routes to vacationers from Moscow, Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnoyarsk and other cities of Russia. For example, S7 Airlines and Emirates regularly fly from Krasnoyarsk, making intermediate landings in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Novosibirsk. The cost of such a one-way flight will be at least 21 thousand rubles.
And from St. Petersburg with one stop in Doha, planes of the Qatar company regularly depart, the price of which services is 20-21 thousand rubles.
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From the Far Eastern regions of Russia
But tourists from Khabarovsk and other regions of the Far East will have to fork out. It will take them longer and more expensive to get to Thailand. Thus, the domestic Aeroflot offers flights costing from 33 thousand rubles with 2-3 transfers in Vladivostok, Hong Kong and Phuket. The time of such a trip is at least 25-26 hours. The only exception to this rule is a flight from S7, which provides for only one transfer in Novosibirsk, and the ticket price is a record 15.5 thousand rubles for the region!
Sharing tips
Every self-respecting tourist is simply obliged to be able to use different means to find profitable tourist offers. Using the search engines mentioned above, it is not at all enough to simply enter the initial data and grab the first offer that comes across. You need to be able to analyze the prices and conditions offered by each carrier, monitor the dynamics and skillfully use filters.
We recommend that you subscribe, thanks to which you will be able to receive interesting and relevant offers from carriers by e-mail. Rest assured: sometimes the cost of tickets for the same week, but on different dates, can drastically differ (by 30.50, 70%). We also advise you to analyze prices by city of departure/arrival. Sometimes you can get to a neighboring settlement by train or bus, thereby reducing the cost of a plane ticket. Also, it is not at all necessary to look for a flight with an end point in Bangkok. The resorts of Krabi and Phuket can also be suitable for such a trip, and getting from them to Bangkok is not difficult!
Please note: those who buy round-trip tickets at once can save a lot of money. You can purchase tickets with a discount of up to 60-70%. By doing so, you automatically save yourself the risk of not getting a ticket on the right day of departure. This is especially true for vacationers who go to the eastern countries at the peak of the holiday season. In addition, in winter, Thai tour operators tend to inflate prices for the return trip for Russians.
Do not neglect the opportunity to book a hotel via the Internet. Today there are many resources that provide such services. Using them, you not only get a guarantee of the availability of a room upon arrival, but you can also become participants in a profitable promotion!
Why you need a return ticket
Remember that without a visa, you can only stay in Thailand for one month. After that, tourists must leave the country. That is why, when passing through border control, tourists may be required to show a return ticket. If it does not appear, you can forget about the beaches of Bangkok and soon you will find yourself in Russia.
Discounts and promotions
Sometimes you can buy a ticket to Thailand for a promotion. Most often, such sales are held for residents of the capital and St. Petersburg, but tourists from the regions should not despair. Such sales are regularly organized by Qatar Airways, Etihad, Emirates, Vietnam Airlines. Some carriers manage to discount up to 50% of the ticket price and arrange such sales 1-2 times a month. In order not to miss profitable offers, you should follow the news of companies.
Charters
Do not forget about such a profitable opportunity for a flight as the services of a charter company. Such offers can be found in many popular tourist destinations. The easiest way to follow such offers is through the site tourdom.ru.
The only drawback of such offers is that they appear only a few days before the date of departure, which allows them to be used only by those tourists who are not burdened with work or other obligations, and are also “easy on their feet”. That is why most often the services of charters are used by young people.
Another drawback of such proposals is the need to call travel agencies and confirm the relevance of information found on the Internet. You will have to pick up tickets in person at the company's office.
Flight to Thailand through third countries
Sometimes tourists choose this option of travel. This practice is especially common among tourists who live near the state border – residents of St. Petersburg, the Far Eastern regions, etc. For example, residents of St. Petersburg can get to one of the Baltic airports by land transport, from where they can successfully take a direct flight to Bangkok.
Residents of regions that border Asian countries choose the path through Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, India, Malaysia, etc. The fact is that local Asian companies offer more favorable conditions for travel. There are also budget low-cost airlines operating in the region, which systematically arrange sales for popular destinations. Just imagine that a flight between two Asian countries can cost tourists only 1000-2000 rubles!
The leader in this regard is Malaysia, which is famous for its lowest prices in the region.
Bangkok airport
One of the largest airports in the region has a difficult to pronounce name – Suvarnabhumi. It has one terminal, which is designed to receive passengers, both domestic and international flights. The building consists of four floors, each of which is reserved for a specific area. So, the first floor accommodates a stop for regular buses, a first-aid post, bathrooms and a cafe. Passport control desks are located on the second tier. On the third one, you can have a good rest and a bite to eat, and the last floor is reserved for the departure zone.
It is on the last floor that there are check-in desks for passengers who plan to take off on domestic or international flights.
How to get from the airport to the center of Bangkok
Remember: in order not to waste time in long queues before passport control, you need not to waste time and immediately after landing, move to the indicated counters marked Foreign. Here you will be required to present a migration card, put a stamp in your passport.
If you bought a tourist tour with a transfer to the hotel, the travel agency will take care of your delivery. Otherwise, you will have to get to the city on your own.
There are three main ways to quickly get to the center of Bangkok – use the Aeroexpress service, taxi or buy a ticket for a regular bus. The services of a private cab will cost the most – you will have to pay 200-400 units of local currency for the trip. Don't forget to bargain! The disadvantage of such a trip is the presence of traffic jams. Therefore, the travel time often exceeds 50-60 minutes.
For those who do not speak the local language, it is worth using the services of Public taxi. Its essence lies in the fact that at the counter (first floor of the airport) a special person acts as an intermediary between the tourist and the taxi driver, explains to the latter where the passenger should be taken. Such services cost an additional 50 baht.
It will be more economical to travel by bus or minibus. Such a trip will cost tourists only 20-45 baht. But most often tourists prefer to travel by Aeroexpress. You can reach the city center in this way in just 30 minutes, passing six stops. And the fare will pleasantly surprise you – it is only 15-45 baht, depending on the final destination.