Kanchanaburi is 160 miles (260km) to the west of Bangkok and the small city is a great destination for tourists due to the wide variety of activates and sights. Kanchanaburi is connected to Bangkok by both road and rail therefore providing three possible transport options to reach Kanchanaburi from Bangkok but realistically most visitors will choose the only sensible choice – express coach.
The sensible option for travel between Kanchanaburi and Bangkok is by bus, this is due to the inexpensive price of the coach fares and relatively short journey time. Coaches depart from Bangkok’s Southern Bus station (Sai Tai Taling Chan) which is to the west of the capital. Sai Tai Taling Chan bus station is 7km from the tourist hub of Khao San Road.
The coaches to Kanchanaburi are operated by BKS Buses and the 1st class service costs 99THB for a single. The first bus of the day is as 6:30 and the last bus is at 22:30 with coaches departing every 15 minutes, so there is no real need to pre-book. The bus number is 81 and the journey time is approximately 2 hours. The fastest option to reach Kanchanaburi from Bangkok is by private taxi but this is the most expensive option only sensible for groups of travelers or those on a larger budget. The slowest option is the train which takes a horrendous 5 hours and should not be chosen by any traveler.