bus from khao Lak to Surratthani

[n9643750]

Hello,


Curious if anyone knows if there is an afternoon or evening bus from Khao Lak to Surat thani. I'm looking to catch a 1:30 am train to Penang. Alternatively, if there is another option worth considering to get to Penang, that would be great too. I'll have just stepped off of a dive boat, so flying will not be an immediate option.

 

[Quero]

You could take the Tiger Line ferry from Phuket to Koh Lipe and then take another ferry to Malaysia. Not exactly sure what the routes are, but I know you can go from Lipe to Langkawi and then I believe you can go from there to Penang. Although it's an option, I don't think it's an especially straightforward one. The train is going to take a really long time (12 hours or so) to get to Butterworth (nearest stop for Penang), and if you just spent the night in Khao Lak or Phuket, you could fly out of Phuket the next day at 3 p.m. giving you a more than sufficient post-dive surface interval, getting you directly to Penang at five-ish, cutting out the need to get a ferry from Butterworth to Penang. So all in all, the time difference is minimal and the efficiency is greater.

 

[stevenl]

Yes, there is an afternoon bus to ST, easy enough to sort that out and catch that one. But thAt won't get you to Penang, what time are the trains to Butterworth leaving from ST?

 

[n9643750]

thanks for the reply,

I'd love it if the flight were an option. It seems, though, that there is no Phuket to Penang on Tuesdays. Maybe I'm missing something?

---------- Post added February 16th, 2013 at 09:29 PM ----------

the train to butterworth leaves ST around 1:30 am

 

[Quero]

Yeah, I didn't actually try to see if there were flights for your specific date. The carrier is Firefly, and they have four flights a week. Your trip is 7 to 11, right? So yeah, you're stuck either with the train or waiting an extra day. There are buses that stop at Khao Lak en route to Surat Thani via Takua Pa in the afternoon at 14:30, 15:30 and 16:30 for a journey of 4-5 hours and at a cost of 180 Baht. The bus is often late, but if you miss the last bus for any reason (even a breakdown of the bus or an accident that jams up traffic and makes the bus so late you'll miss your train), you'll probably have to take a taxi at a cost of about THB 3000.