Phang Nga Town

Air

The nearest airports are Phuket or Krabi, both about 1.5 hours away and servied by both the low cost carrier Air Asia and full service THAI.

Bus

Phang Nga's bus station is located smack in the middle of town right on Phet Kasem Rd., and though it's not a huge town Phang Nga is a major transport hub with buses heading in all directions. Sample fares and times include:

Bangkok: VIP departs at 17:30, costs 885B and takes 13 hours. First class air-con costs 569B and departs at 17:00 and 19:00. 2nd class air-con costs 442B and departs at 16:30 and 20:30.
Phuket: Both first class (80B) and 2nd class (70B) depart hourly from 7:00 to 18:00 and take 1.5 hours.
Hat Yai: Costs 299B, departs every hour and takes about nine hours.
Krabi: Costs 70B, departs every hour from 7:00 to 20:00 and takes 1.5 hours.
Ranong: Costs 160B, departs at 8:30, 10:30, 11:30, 13:30 and 16:30, and takes about 3 hours.
Satun: Costs 264B, departs at 9:45, 11:45 and 13:45, and takes about eight hours.
Surat Thani: Costs 150B and eparts every two hours from 9:30 to 17:30. It's also possible to reach Khao Sok National Park on this bus.
Takua Pa: 80B, departs every hour.
Trang: Costs 175B, departs every hour from 7:00 to 20:00 and takes about six hours.

To get to Khao Lak, it's necessary to transfer to get on the Phuket bound in Phang Nga and get off at the transport hub of Khok Kloi. To Khok Kloi from Phang Nga costs between 30 and 40B and several buses depart Khok Kloi for Khao Lak every hour (many of these continue on to Ranong or Bangkok) and cost between 30B and 50B. If all goes well doing the trip to Khao Lak this way will take less than two hours and cost less than 100B.

Many mini bus services also stop in Phang Nga en route to the major tourist areas. For example, an all inclusive mini bus and boat transfer to Ko Phi Phi costs 480B or 370B for Ko Lanta.

Getting Around

From the bus station it's an easy walk north up Phet Kasem Rd to most of the town's accommodation and restaurants. If looking to hop off the bus and on to a motorbike, Mr. Kean Tour, with an office right at the bus station, rents motorbikes for 300B per day. Motorbikes may also be rented at Phang Nga Inn and Muang Thong Hotel / M.T. Tour, also for 300B for automatic or 250B for manual. Phang Nga Inn also rents out bicycles by the day or hour.

There are a few public songthaews making the run up and down Phet Kasem Rd, with most rides costing just 10 or 15B. It's also possible to charter a songthaew for the day to explore the area for a negotiable 1,500B, which could be done by talking directly to the songthaew drivers (speaking some Thai would help) at the bus station, or arranging it through a tour company.

A surprisingly formidable group of motorcycle taxi drivers are also typically found at the bus station, with most rides in town costing between 30 and 50B, or 100B+ to go further afield.