Travel from Khao Sok National Park to Hat Yai

By bus the journey from Khao Sok National Park to Hat Yai is scheduled to take 9 hours.

Bus Times from Khao Sok to Hat Yai

There is currently 1 service a day from Khao Sok National Park to Hat Yai available to book online.

Buy Tickets from Khao Sok to Hat Yai

Use the Search Box below to buy your tickets from Khao Sok National Park to Khao Lak.

Khao Sok Bus Stop

Services from Khao Sok National Park to Hat Yai depart from Khao Sok Van Station.

Hat Yai Bus Station

Services from Khao Sok National Park terminate at Hat Yai Bus Station (also known as Hat Yai Bus Terminal 1).

About Travel to Hat Yai

With around 150,000 living in the city centre, and over a million in the wider metropolitan area, Hat Yai is the largest city in the south of Thailand. Its location near the border with Malaysia, and the islands in the southern part of the Andaman coast, also make it an important travel hub.

Tourism in Hat Yai

Despite having relatively few tourist attractions, Hat Yai receives lots of leisure visitors. Many of the visitors are Malaysian people travelling to the city by private car for short breaks. Hat Yai is only 60 km by road from the main border checkpoint between Thailand and Malaysia at Sadao. During public holidays in Malaysia, Hat Yai City typically becomes very busy with overnight Malaysian visitors.

The main attractions for Malaysian visitors are the food, the shopping opportunities, and the city’s nightlife. Malaysia is a lot more socially restrictive than Thailand.

Hat Yai for Non-Asian Tourists

Hat Yai is not a major tourist destination for European and North American tourists, although many visit the city and stay overnight night to break up the long overland journey from Malaysia, or the islands on the lower south east coast, to Bangkok, and vice-versa.

Hat Yai is not one of Thailand’s more attractive cities. Hat Yai grew from a worker’s encampment into a thriving city following the opening of Hat Yai Junction Railway Station in 1924. For this reason there are very few old buildings in the city centre. Most of the city centre is characterised by functional concrete buildings developed from the 1960s and 1970s onward. There are far more interesting places to visit within an hour or two travel from the city, such as nearby Songkhla Old Town.

Accommodation in Hat Yai

Hat Yai City has around 150 hotels, resorts, hostels, and guest houses available to book online through major hotel booking websites. The liveliest and most popular part of the city for leisure visitors is the area directly to the east of the city’s main train station. This is where Hat Yai’s two best known hotels are located, Centara Hotel Hat Yai and Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel. Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel charges from around 1,800 THB a night, and rooms at Centara Hotel Hat Yai start at around 2,700 THB.

Much cheaper accommodation is also available, starting from around 500 THB for a private room outside the city centre to around 700 THB for a centrally located hotel such as the excellent Pacific Residence.

Travel to Malaysia

There are three main ways to travel by public transport from Hat Yai to Malaysia: bus, train or minivan.

For travel by train to Malaysia you first need to take one of the three daily train services from Hat Yai Junction to Padang Besar Railway Station in Malaysia. At Padang Besar Railway Station passengers can connect with Malaysian railway services to destinations such Penang, Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur.

For more information about train travel from Hat Yai to Malaysia follow the links below:

• Train times from Hat Yai to Penang
• Train times from Hat Yai to Kuala Lumpur

There are also plenty of bus and minivan services travelling direct from Hat Yai City to destinations in Malaysia. The shortest journey by public transport from Hat Yai to Malaysia is by minivan to the border crossing at Padang Besar. Minivans to Padang Besar depart frequently from Hat Yai Bus Station and take around 50 minutes to reach the border. Another popular journey by minivan is to George Town in Penang Island, which takes around 4 hours. By long distance bus it takes around 8 hours 30 minutes to reach Kuala Lumpur.

For more information about travel by bus or minivan from Hat Yai to Malaysia follow the links below:

• Bus times from Hat Yai to Penang
• Bus times from Hat Yai to Kuala Lumpur