Khon Kaen travel guide

Getting around

Khon Kaen is a large town. Songthaews provide the main and cheapest mode of public transport and run along 12 fixed routes (maps available from tourist office). The fare is usually around ฿฿4. There are also saamlors and tuk-tuks and local buses to out-of-town destinations.

Ins and outs

Getting there

The airport is 6 km from town, with multiple daily flights from Bangkok. The railway station is a 15- to 20-minute walk from the centre on Station Road, southwest of town. The air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned bus terminals are both reasonably central, with bus services from Bangkok, Chiang Mai and many other destinations in the northeast, north and central plains. The non-air-conditioned bus station is south of the town centre on Somtawin Road.

Khon Kaen

Air

3 flights a day to Bangkok (55 mins) on THAI.

Airline offices

THAI, 183/6 Maliwan Rd, T043-236523.

Bus

The vast non-a/c bus station is on Prachasamoson Rd; a/c buses leave from the terminal just off Klang Muang Rd. Regular connections with Bangkok’s Northeastern bus terminal. Buses, both a/c and non-a/c, run to most other northeastern towns and

to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phitsanalok, Tak, Rayong (for Pattaya).

Car hire

$ Rent Service, T043-243543, ฿1500 per day.

Train

Regular connections with Bangkok’s Hualamphong station (8 hrs), Korat and other stops en route north to Nong Khai (3 hrs on the morning stopping train).

Banks

Bangkok, Sri Chand Rd (near the Kosa Hotel). Krung Thai, 457-461 Sri Chand Rd. Siam Commercial, 491 Sri Chand Rd. Thai Farmers, 145 Prachasamoson Rd.

Embassies and consulates

Lao PDR Consulate, 123 Photisan Rd, T043-223698. Tourist visas available for US$30, open 0800-1200, 1300-1600 – bank on it taking a day to get your visa, though the sitiuation often changes and you can sometimes secure them within an hr. Also provides leaflets detailing ‘How to enter Laos/Vietnam’. Vietnamese Consulate, 65/6 Chatapadung Rd, T043-241586.

Medical services

Hospital: Sri Chand Rd, T043-236005.

Police

Klang Muang Rd, T043-211162 (near post office).

Post office

Klang Muang Rd (near the intersection with Sri Chand Rd), T043-221147.