How to get here

Bus • Car • Train

Buses to Siracha run from Mo Chit and Ekamai terminals in Bangkok, and Suvarnabhumi Airport, about every half hour. Ekamai is just two minutes' walk from the BTS Skytrain Ekamai station. Siracha Tour (tel 038 322 442) bus fares are B97, B94 and B81 respectively. The trip takes two to three hours from the city and usually under an hour from Suvarnabhumi.

For a quicker and often more comfortable trip, take the Rung Ruang Tour Pattaya bus (B130 / B124 / B150). Departures are more frequent, and there are no roadside pick-up stops. If you take the Pattaya bus, be sure you tell the ticket-checker and the driver you want to get off at Siracha!

If you leave Bangkok before 17.00 (5 pm) you are almost guaranteed to get to Siracha in time for the last boat at 20.00. In Siracha, get off in front of Robinson Department Store, and take a samlor (three-wheel taxi) to the pier for B40--just say "Ko Si Chang".

Driving

If you're driving, whether to take the new Motorway (Highway 7) or the Bangna-Trad Expressway depends on which is closer. If you take the Bangna-Trad, go onto the elevated tollway as soon as you can, and stay on it to its end. Then take the Chonburi Bypass, rejoining the Sukhumvit Highway just before the Chonburi Makro. Keep on in the direction Bang Saen-Pattaya until you reach Siracha, noticeable by signs for Siracha Samitivej Hospital.

If you want to avoid the traffic on Sukhumvit, follow the signs for Pattaya-Rayong and transfer to Highway 7, making sure to move onto the frontage road at kilometer 17, and then go west on Highway 3241, which crosses the motorway on a flyover at kilometer 20, marked by a sign for the Siracha Tiger Zoo (not the Khao Khiao Open Zoo or the Butterfly Zoo). To make this westward turn, you must either first turn left (east) in the direction of the Tiger Zoo on 3241 and then make a U-turn, or go about 1 km past the flyover and make a U-turn on Highway 7, turning left into Siracha when you get back to the flyover.

For information on parking and getting the ferry, see Siracha Town map.

Train

There is one train a day at 07.00 from Hua Lamphong Station, which you can also board at Klong Tan, a bit more convenient if you're staying in outer Sukhumvit. It costs some B24 and takes about three hours, wending its leisurely way through a lot of still appealingly rural countryside. At the Siracha station you can get a samlor to the pier for B60 or B70. Call 02 220 4567 for the Royal State Railways' information service; you can check schedules and buy a ticket for any trip in Thailand using the computer system available at every railway station.