Trains from Ipoh to Bangkok

The journey by train from Ipoh to Bangkok has two stages. The first stage is a journey of just over 3 hours on a Malaysian train to the border with Thailand. The second stage of the journey is overnight on a Thai train from the border to Bangkok.

Train 1: Ipoh to Padang Besar

There are currently 5 daily train services from Ipoh to Padang Besar, which is near the border with Thailand.

• Buy train tickets from Ipoh to Padang Besar.

Train 2: Padang Besar to Bangkok

There is a single direct train service a day from Padang Besar to Bangkok. The departure time (17:00) is in Thai time. The train departs at 18:00 in Malaysian time.

• Buy train tickets from Padang Besar to Bangkok.

Ipoh Railway Station

The first train you need to take to reach Bangkok departs from Ipoh Railway Station.

Padang Besar Railway Station

For onward travel to Bangkok you need to change trains at Padang Besar Railway Station.

Bangkok Railway Station

Bangkok Railway Station is the final stop on the journey from Ipoh to Bangkok.

About Bangkok

Bangkok is a large, diverse and vibrant city. There are lots of places to visit and things to do. Bangkok is a city with something to interest everyone. The city has a lot of different districts with their own character and your experience of Bangkok will be different depending upon which areas you visit. The most basic way to explain modern Bangkok is divide the city into two parts: ‘old’ Bangkok and ‘new’ Bangkok.

‘Old’ Bangkok is the areas around the Chao Phraya river such as China Town, where the main Bangkok Railway Station is located, and Ratanakosin which is an area often described as an island separated from the rest of Bangkok by canal on one side and the Chao Phraya River on the other. These two areas formed the original nucleus of the city of Bangkok founded in 1782. Ratanakosin was the area where the main Royal Palaces and Government building are located, along with some of the city’s most important temples. Chinatown was the original commercial centre of Bangkok and this where you still find many of the city’s most important markets and more fantastic temples dotted around a warren of streets.

To the east of the river is ‘new’ Bangkok encompassing areas around Silom Square, the Rama I Road, the Silom Road and the upmarket Sukhumvit Road. This is where you find the modern shopping malls, a lot of the city’s tourist hotels, the liveliest bars and the most expensive restaurants. There are not so many historic buildings in this part of Bangkok because much of it was only developed from the middle of the 20th Century onward as automobiles became the primary form of transport in Thailand and the importance of waterways for transport declined.

To really appreciate Bangkok you need to visit both the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ parts of the city. History, tradition and religion are mixed with modernity, commerce and technology in Bangkok and that is part of the character of modern Bangkok and what makes it unique and so appealing to visitors.

There are many ways to travel around Bangkok other than in a taxi, which is comparatively cheap but often not the quickest or most interesting way to explore the city. Bangkok has a very modern elevated suburban railway system (the BTS) and a underground train network (the MRT). The city also, however, still makes use of it many waterways with fast and cheap commuter boats on the main river and the city centre canals. More knowledgeable visitors to Bangkok use of several different types of public transport to get around the city as none of the public transport systems cover the whole city and we recommend that if you want to really discover Bangkok that you also try to use as many different types of local public transport as you can.