If you’ve been following my shenanigans in Bangkok, specifically how i ended up at the Grand Palace (that post is HERE) and how to get to Wat Pho via public transport (post is HERE) then you know that i had great difficulty, although worth it in the end, when it came to getting to the Wat Pho/Grand Palace area via public transport.
This “new” way, I’ve found does not include any boat rides for those of you who get sea sick, like me. It does include a change of train lines though. If you plan on visiting Wat Arun while you’re around the Grand Palace / Wat Pho area, you will still have to take the ferry across the river as this MRT station is on the same side of the river as Wat Pho and the Grand Palace.
This MRT station is about a 10 min walk from Wat Pho, basically in a straight line, so you wont have to navigate any side streets or anything like that. How I didn’t find this station in my visits to this area is beyond me even more baffling is why it didn’t come up (if it did, it was so obscure I missed it) in my Google searches.
Well, the reason, was because … drumroll …. it didn’t occur to me that there were two train lines/systems. The BTS (which i thought was the only one) and the MRT line. So I Googled ‘BTS’ stations. My daughter’s bf Googled ‘MRT’ stations (because he’s from Singapore and they call their train system ‘the MRT’). I can’t really tell you which way to go from Wat Pho since the complex is huge and with multiple entrances/exits but if you just use Google Maps with the “magic” search term you should have no problems finding the station and subsequently the path to it.
The “magic” search term is … Sanam Chai MRT Station. The photo above is the entrance to the station, which is underground. This explains why I couldn’t see the tracks when I was looking up and around for train tracks, hahaha. In case you’re wondering, Sanam Chai MRT is on the blue line.
Since the MRT station is not a BTS station, the Rabbit card (prepaid BTS card) is not accepted. Instead you have to use the machines at the station to buy a token. Once you get the token, you ‘tap’ it on the card reader at the gantry and only when you exit do you put the token in the slot of the gantry/turnstyle thing. Just like on the Airport line, if ypu’re interested in getting to Suvarnahbumi Airport or Don Mueang Airport from the Sukhumvit BTS line or vice versa then check out my post about that journey HERE.
To get to the Sukhumvit Line (light green line on the maps) from Sanam Chai MRT station, get on the train heading to Bang Sue Station. Ride this train to Sukhumvit Station which is about 7 stops away. When you alight at Sukhumvit Station you need to take a short walk to the connecting station on the light green Sukhumvit Line named, Asok station. There’s clear signage to guide you, so don’t worry. The ride will cost you $28 baht (from Sanam Chai Station to Sukhumvit Station). Just to be clear, there is a Sukhumvit Station which is an MRT station on the blue line and a Sukhumvit Line which is the light green BTS line.
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