Sukhothai Transportation

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Sukhothai Airport is wonderful. The runways are lined with ponds and flowers. The buildings are in typical Thai style. There are deer, horses, wallabies!!! On the grounds, there are flooded paddy fields with oxen, wonderful flowers everywhere, amodel of Ankor Wat, a shrine, a ceramics museum, statues. Free bikes available if you want to look around. There is also a posh hotel in the airport grounds. Beautiful.

Travelling between old and new Sukhothai is quite easy. Use the songthaews - trucks with two long benches. They depart regularly up to 6pm. The journey takes around 30 minutes. Approximate time as they leave when they are fullish and stop as often as necessary to let people on and off. One way costs 30 baht (though I suspect it is only 20 if you are Thai.)

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For a day trip to Si Satchanalai the owner of J&J Guesthouse, Jim, recommended mr Aor (or that's what his name sounded, he himself was not sure how to write his name in western script). We think THB 1500 for a long day was a good deal. We saw Sawanworanayok Museum, the Historical Park and the Sawankhalok kilns.

Mr Aor speaks a good mouth of English. It turned out that he and his family own a block of stores near the bus station, where they also rent out rooms, for THB 150 a night (October 2010). Maybe an option if you are on a budget and don't care about new Sukhothai town. If you have too much luggage to carry around, you can leave some in his depot for THB 20.

Address: 118/20 Moo.1, Pakkal, Bypass Road, Mueng, Sukhothai 64000.

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If you are staying in or near the old city a bicycle will be a great way to go around.

However, if you stay in the new city, a moped will be more convenient. However it is about 12 km between the old and new city and traffic can be a bit 'thai style'. There is a bus that gets you to the historical park, but you'd have to rent bikes at the gate as there will be quite a bit of walking around the park. Get a moped if you intend to cover at least 70% of the park area.

The main bus station in New Sukhothai is located way out in the middle of the nowhere in the north of the town. I took a bus to Kamphaeng Phet from here which only took about an hour and cost 57 baht, nice a/c bus as well. It's also possible to go to many other destinations from here such as Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phitsanulok, Chiang Rai, Khon Kaen, Phrae and Lampang.

The best way to see the ruins in the Sukhothai National Historic Park is by bicycle. These can be rented from a couple of shops opposite the main park entrance, where the songthaew stop is located. They cost about 30 baht a day plus you should get a map provided as well.

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A songthaew is a truck-based vehicle with a pair of bench seats in the back, one on either side — hence the name, which means "two rows" in Thai. You simply flag one down and get in the back and then press the buzzer/bell when you want to get off and then pay the driver. Songthaews run the 16km (10 miles) to the Sukhothai Historical Park from New Sukhothai from early in the morning to around 6pm when the park shuts. You can get on one along the main road near where all the guest houses etc are located near the river in New Sukhothai. They take about 30 minutes to get there and cost 20 baht.

If you’re planning a trip around Sukhothai and you’re able bodied, get off your ass and rent a bicycle. You’ll find it’s a much more rewarding way of seeing the sites and great to help offset all the carbon you’ve created just getting there. It’s a pretty easy ride around too cause there aren’t many hills. You’ll find plenty of bike shops as soon as you get to the old city. They should set you back less than a buck as well! No excuse for traveling any other way!

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Sukhothai airport is about 30 kms. from New Sukhothai. It is a small airport, and in July 2006 it only had Bangkok and Chiang Mai as destination. But the most remarkable thing about this airport is that without any doubt, it is the most beautiful airport that I have ever seen. It doesnt look like an airport at all. Thai style houses, lotus ponds, flowers... if there were no plane, you could take it for a holiday resort.
El aeropuerto de Sukhothai esta a unos 30 kms. de la parte nueva de Sukhothai. Es un aeropuerto pequenho y en julio de 2006 solo tenia vuelos a Chiang Mai y Bangkok. Pero lo mas destacado de este aeropuerto es que, sin duda ninguna, es el mas bonito que yo haya visto nunca. No parece un aeropuerto en absoluto. Casas de estilo thai, estanques de lotos, flores... Si no hubiese aviones, podrias tomarlo por un complejo de vacaciones

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The best and almost the only way to see the Sukhothai Park is by bicycle . We took a cab to the park and right across the street is a bike rental shop. It cost 20 Bht for the day . It took us about 3 hours to finish our tour. They have washrooms and sell water!!