Asia - Travel from Bangkok to Siem Reap

Hi,

I have a question about traveling from Bangkok to Siem Reap in November and I'm hoping someone could answer it.

I've scheduled a two-week holiday in Thailand from 20 November through 4 December 2002. During that time (preferably from Monday, 25 November through Friday, 29 November) I was hoping to travel to Siem Reap to see the Angkor Temples.

Even though this trip is two months in the future, I've been looking around for airfares on the Internet from places like www.bangkokair.com (http://www.bangkokair.com) and so on. A lot of these places are showing that availability for flights for this time period is disappearing quickly.

I've heard that the tickets, when bought locally, can be a lot cheaper than when bought over the Internet (the price online is something like 11,500 Baht). The tradeoff, of course, is that once I've bought the ticket on the Internet it's guaranteed.

My question is this: would you recommend booking everything in advance even at a higher price just to know that it's reserved and sorted? Or would you recommend waiting until I get to Bangkok before booking a package even though there's no guarantee until I get there?

Thanks for your time.

Regards,

John

John,

Just got back from Thailand, and Bangkok Air (aka Siem Reap Air) are:

a) the only outfit who fly Thailand-Siem Reap) and
b) Abusing their monopoly position to offer one (high) price for all tickets http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/eek.gif

I don't see any advantage is holding out - I don't think that you will get better deals on Bangkok Air in-country than you will from the UK, but it may be worth an e-mail to them to see if they do any air/hotel packages that may be easier and/or cheaper then booking them separately.

Either way, enjoy !

Stewie

You should also consider taking flights on Bangkok Airways from BKK to Koh Samui and on to Phuket and back to BKK, as well as froom BKK to places up north such as Chaing Mai and Chaing Rai or Mae Hong Son and Sukhothai and back to BKK, and ask Bangkok Airways if you can obtain some discount if you take all the flights, including into Cambodia. Hopefully, you were planning on going to these other wonderful places anyway.

I flew to Seam Reap on Bangkok Airways a couple of years ago and remember paying aroung $250 r/t. I remember I just called them long distance and made a booking. I didn't even clear the immigration and the ticket was issued at the BA transfer desk a couple of hours before departure. They may be a monopoly, but this is a quality airline which has found a clever niche serving primarily foreign tourists and flying point to point between major tourist destinations.
The fare was worth it for me. Angkor Wat is a fantastic sight. If you can afford it, stay one night at the Grand Hotel Angkor (bookable through Raffles.com I believe). This is one of the truly great Asian hotels.
I am jealous.

bonusflyer

My points above about Bangkok Airways being a monopoly and abusing their position were tongue-in-cheek. I agree, they are a quality airline, and I wish them well.

and ****, I wish we'd found time to go to Angkor Wat...

An alternative if you have some time and a lot of perserverence, is overland.

http://www.talesofasia.com/Cambodia/Overland

Rich

Well, I did it! I bit the bullet and booked through Bangkok Airways... I didn't know they had a local office in the UK until I started poking around on the website and found quite a few contact numbers outside of Thailand.

It cost around $275, but considering what I'm getting out of the deal (trip to the Angkor Temples!) I'm not terribly bothered by the price.

Can anyone recommend a moderately-priced hotel in Siem Reap (between $50-$100 per night)? I'm not looking for anything too extravagant, just a decent bed & bathroom is fine by me...

Thanks for all your advice!

Regards,

John

Golden Apsara hotel is great. I think we paid US$35 or so for two beds with bathroom. You can get breakfast at the hotel or walk over to the Ta Phrom hotel.
Rich

My wife and I are going here over New Years.. I definitely booked mine early ($270 apiece). The direct flights were already sold out nearly 4 months in advance the days I needed :O, so having to connect through Phnom Penh both ways.

We stayed at the Yaklom Angkor Lodge .... about $28US for two with private shower room/toilet, aircon, breakfast and free pickup. My colleague recommended La Noria. Some additional info can be found at http://www.canbypublications.com

Have a great trip .... it's really awesome !

Any updates on cost of travel to REP, non-ground alternatives, and other things?

We paid $50 each way from BKK-REP and back on Bangkok Airways plus $5 in taxes for travel in Jan 2004. Catch is one has to add another Bangkok Air segment to get this deal (we added BKK-CNX). Total price per person for the three segments is $163.05. Another catch is if you go with this 3-segment deal, not all flights are available. Nonetheless, the lady at the New York (ESB) office was amazingly helpful and worked with me to find the flights that worked for us.

Alas, I can't seem to find this deal on Bangkok Airways' website anymore. Maybe it was a limited time offer. Or try your luck at calling them directly. Either way, it beats paying $280+ full-fare!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by blueDC:
We paid $50 each way from BKK-REP and back on Bangkok Airways plus $5 in taxes for travel in Jan 2004.</font>

It's still offered and called the Discovery Pass. Pricing is USD 50/segment for internal flights (not much of a savings to places like THS from BKK). Where you save is REP where the fare is USD 80/leg + tax (must have gone up since you bought, or the agent mispriced).

Addenda: REP departure tax and security fee is USD 25 for non-Cambodians ($18 for them).

Boy i second that monopoly complaint. One trick if you are going beyond Siem Reap to phnom peng is to fly into siem but out of phnom peng.

there IS competition to phnom peng, so it's cheaper there

The departure tax sneaked up on me http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif Definitely not as well-publicized as the THB500 departure tax at BKK. The Bangkok Air Discovery Pass ($160/rt instead of $270 full-fare) was an amazing value! The plane to REP was completely sold out to and from.

Angkor is *the* trip of a lifetime, imho. Worth every penny!

Cool!

I was just looking at that web site and wondering if I should call them about the Discovery Pass.

So it is possible to

1) fly from bkk to PP
2) PP to SR
3) SR to BKK

So it would be $210 + taxes, if there is availability. I am tempted to buy the one way ticket from BKK to PP, then take a speed boat to SR, then do the over land route back to BKK (i can be adventerous). 2 tickets RT to SR would be $600, which is a noticable amount of money when united chicago to bkk is $744 in non-upgradeable coach for one person.

The UA website has consistently been quoting $235.50 (9,000 Baht)for BKK/REP. I haven't tried to ticket it though, since I am not yet certain of my dates. The Bangkok Airways site usually shows 11,000 Baht. Maybe United has a special deal? Might be worth a try.

My brother-in-law lives in Siem Rep (runs the Shinta Mani Hotel--www.sanctuaryresorts.com/shintamani/index.htm) and he uses the coupons to go back and forth.

Good luck.

[This message has been edited by SOMA1K (edited Feb 21, 2004).]

What a gorgeous hotel! Would you recommend the hotel for someone who probably would not be using any of the spa services? Is there a special flyertalk rate? http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif

I visited the Chicago office of Bangkok Air and bought two discovery pass tickets for BKK to Phenom Penh to Siem Reap and then back to BKK.

They required cash! Well, no credit cards accepted. It must be great to have a monopoly.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Paladin:
They required cash! Well, no credit cards accepted. It must be great to have a monopoly.</font>

For future reference, you can call the Bangkok Air office in New York City and they will process the tickets over the phone using your credit card. They will charge you to send the paper tickets to your home address though.

Bringing this old thread back up for some advice.

We want to fly:

BKK-REP
REP-HAN

Can't get a PG Discovery Airpasss to work for the dates we want as one of the flights is completely sold out.

Purchasing PG BKK-REP and VN REP-HAN runs about $US850 for two.

Is there still no other viable non-air alternative to flying PG BKK-REP? Is the overland route still an ordeal?

TIA.

Is there still no other viable non-air alternative to flying PG BKK-REP? Is the overland route still an ordeal?

The best guide to the journey, and kept up to date, on the web. The website, Tales of Asia, is run by an expat American living in REP.

Overland Travel Between Bangkok and Siem Reap by way of Poipet / Aranyaprathet (http://www.talesofasia.com/cambodia-overland-bkksr.htm)

Thanks.

The best guide to the journey, and kept up to date, on the web. The website, Tales of Asia, is run by an expat American living in REP.

Overland Travel Between Bangkok and Siem Reap by way of Poipet / Aranyaprathet (http://www.talesofasia.com/cambodia-overland-bkksr.htm)

If you have the time, you can do BKK-PNH (can be very inexpensive on AirAsia) and then hire a driver to go from PNH to Siem Riep (~4-5 hrs, ~$75 for a trip last Xmas). I would only suggest doing this if you are staying 1-2 days in Phnom Penh (which I really enjoyed and am glad that I didn't skip).

Have you thought of AirAsia www.airasia.com for BKK-HAN, Air Asia HAN-KUL, Air Asia KUL-REP and Bangkok Air back to either Chiang Mai or Bangkok? A little playing around may reduce the price so that it is more palatable. The downside is more times on airplanes due to going the opposite direction to get to REP.

Another AirPass alternative is to try the alternative routing into REP via either VTE or Chiang Mai. VTE can be somewhat of a pain, if you decide to save money by crossing into Thailand and fly very cheaply out of Udon Thani or take the over-night train from Nong Khai.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Unfortunately, all the cheaper alternatives I've researched end up chewing up a lot of time. :(

We can get the PG airpass for BKK-REP (at a not-so-good time), but REP-LPQ has no seats in the right fare bucket and the flight LPQ-HAN is sold out. I guess I could ask my TA to look at REP-PNH-HAN.

Hmmm...no route REP-PNH-HAN on airpass, but there is one REP-VTE-HAN I've asked my TA to investigate. No luck on that one either. Drat.

Don't forget that you can get to Siem Reap from Bangkok by taxi. Did this about a year ago and in particular the drive through the Cambodian country side is amazing! Takes about 7 hours in total.

Also for hotels I would definitely recommend the FCC in Siem Reap! Amazing location and great service.

What did you pay for the taxi?

Don't forget that you can get to Siem Reap from Bangkok by taxi. Did this about a year ago and in particular the drive through the Cambodian country side is amazing! Takes about 7 hours in total.

Also for hotels I would definitely recommend the FCC in Siem Reap! Amazing location and great service.

Taxi Bangkok - Cambodian border was about 900 Baht. Cambodian border to Siem Reap was $10 per person with 4 passengers in the car.

But.... there are "stories" about the Bangkok/Cambodia border. :eek:

But.... there are "stories" about the Bangkok/Cambodia border. :eek:

In general or at the moment? I've heard of the tensions, but I imagine it'll be very dependent of the precise moment you're there.

The border itself is pretty interesting! Get dropped off and go through Thai side crossing without getting ripped off. Get a visa for Cambodia in "no mans land" which is filled with casinos (tip: payoff a cambodian border gaurd to get it for you as it takes about half an hour less), and cross the cambodian side and bargain with a cab driver to take you to Siem Reap.

I'll be landing in Bangkok from BOS in about two weeks and expect my local itinerary to be

BKK -> REP
REP -> CNX
CNX -> BKK

during about two weeks.

It seems Bangkok Airways, esp. with the Discovery Airpass, seems by far the best choice. My problem is, I can't find their US phone numbers or offices. There are references in this thread to Chicago and New York City offices; could you please provide that contact info or point to it on their website?

Though I much prefer making travel arrangements myself, I'd consider a local agent who knew what he/she was doing, but I don't knnow who that would be. I live in a western suburb of Boston ("Metrowest"), so heading all the way into BOS for this purpose only would not.

Thank you!

This number is used with all U.S. offices, connects to the well-organized call center in India. Remember that Discovery Airpass is capacity controlled so not all days, all flights may be available. Be flexible and it works fine. You may have to route through PNH at the cost of an additional segment to get what you want.

866-226-4565

Google will provide you with many airlines toll-free U.S. numbers. The new web-site appears to have left off the the important feature concerning the listing of U.S. offices. I could not find it after a brief period of bouncing around the site. Why do companies insist on fixing things that may not necessarily be broken??:td:

Your chances of finding a TA in the U.S. who could book this for you is probably somewhere around .000001%, if that high. Just call the call center, it may not be available at all hours unless something has changed. Mid to late evening Pacific time has worked for me.

Thought I'd drop in to relay that the Poipet to Siem Reap (Cambodia) road is sealed as of 3 May 09 (http://www.talesofasia.com/cambodia-overland-bkksr-intro.htm). 2 hours from the border to Siem Reap. (I guess this means the bridges are fixed, too. Maybe even two lane (hahahahahaha).

This ends an era for the overland traveller, where one could roll out of bed in Bangkok, taxi to Morchit, 4 hours on da bus to the border, screw around at the border dealing with rip off visa and immigration, further rip off at the traffic circle share taxi (replaced by increasingly higher degrees of ripoff as travellers lined up to be fleeced), and bump along one of the world's worst roads to SR. Still cheaper than flying into Siem Reap and getting into town using the airport taxi mafia. And it was fun.

One of my best memories is going overland with my wife and kid and stopping in Kralanh ("toilet" village) where my wife gave bracelets she had made in advance to kids selling stuff there. (We bought some of their stuff, too.)

This ends an era for the overland traveller, where one could roll out of bed in Bangkok, taxi to Morchit, 4 hours on da bus to the border, screw around at the border dealing with rip off visa and immigration, further rip off at the traffic circle share taxi (replaced by increasingly higher degrees of ripoff as travellers lined up to be fleeced), and bump along one of the world's worst roads to SR. Still cheaper than flying into Siem Reap and getting into town using the airport taxi mafia. And it was fun.

One of my best memories is going overland with my wife and kid and stopping in Kralanh ("toilet" village) where my wife gave bracelets she had made in advance to kids selling stuff there. (We bought some of their stuff, too.)

Oh no! But surely we can still get the Unpaved Road Less Traveled Experience by a different border crossing, maybe Pailin-Battambang route? And can still spar with the Greedy Border Guards at Koh Kong down south! Anyway, I'm sure the new road is great now at the early part of rainy season...let's see what shape it's in at the end. :D

That's great to hear - they must have made fast work of that! :)

We'll be flying BKK-REP-BKK and were going to apply for e-visa, but discovered that the website has been supposedly hijacked? Doing a google search, the engine advises that website might have a virus as well.

Alternatively, we can just do visa on arrival in REP, right?

Alternatively, we can just do visa on arrival in REP, right?
Yes.