Leaving Bangkok: five destinations, three ways to get there

1 of 10 · The starting point

Every road in this guide leaves from the same Bangkok crossroads

The camera settles in Watthana district, just north of Sukhumvit: the median point of the 3,235 developments we track in Bangkok, the city's centre of gravity, where you may already live. Five roads leave from here, towards Pattaya, Hua Hin, Koh Samui, Phuket and Chiang Mai, where we track 3,200 further developments. At each stop, car, rail and air are compared in door-to-door travel time.

3 of 10 · The three-airport line

High-speed rail to the east coast remains a contract, not a line

Three points light up: Don Mueang, Suvarnabhumi and, beyond Pattaya, U-Tapao. A 220 km high-speed line is meant to link them; its concession was signed in 2019. The CP-led concessionaire gave notice in July that the contract would end on 1 October 2026, and confirmed it in late August; what follows is for the Eastern Economic Corridor policy committee to decide. As of 14 September 2026, nothing had been decided: Asia Era One keeps running the Airport Rail Link until 31 January 2027, when an SRT subsidiary is to take it over. For now, Pattaya is reached by motorway.

5 of 10 · Koh Samui, by air

Samui is an hour's flight away, with planes in close succession

An arc leaves Suvarnabhumi and lands on the island's north-east. On Thursday 1 October 2026, Bangkok Airways schedules 22 direct flights to Samui; the fastest take 1 h 5 min. Add the drive to Suvarnabhumi and the few kilometres from the airport to the developments: you reach the heart of the 284 developments we track on the island in 1 h 48 min in motion.

Time in motion: no airport waiting, no traffic.

9 of 10 · All the roads

Two destinations are a drive, three are a flight

The five lines are drawn together from Bangkok. Pattaya, at 1 h 40 min, and Hua Hin, at 2 h 43 min, are the only two destinations a car reaches in under three hours. For Samui, Chiang Mai and Phuket, flying wins clearly: 1 h 48 min, 2 h 4 min and 2 h 35 min in motion, against 10 h 46 min, 8 h 35 min and 10 h 48 min overland. The table gives each one's shortest trip.

Time in motion: no waiting, no traffic.

10 of 10 · At the end of each road

At the end of the five roads, five markets of different sizes and prices

Developments light up at the end of each line. Phuket has 1,208, the largest market outside Bangkok, and the highest price per m², at 82,718 ฿. Then come Chiang Mai, 672 developments at 37,291 ฿, Pattaya, 652 at 53,834 ฿, Hua Hin, 384 at 47,774 ฿, and Samui, 284 at 66,411 ฿. The table sets out each destination's median asking price per m².

Asking prices, not sales.