Surat Thani Budget Travel Guide is written to provide travel information to people who are planning a trip there. On this webpage you can learn all about Surat Thani and get to know its places of interest. I write this guide for the benefit of fellow travel enthusiasts who, like myself, love to explore on their own. I hope the information I provide here will be helpful to you.
About Surat Thani
Surat Thani is a city in southern Thailand. It is also the provincial capital of Surat Thani Province, which includes major tourist destinations such as Koh Samui and Koh Phangan. The town of Surat Thani itself is a provincial capital with a population of close to 130,000 people.
The history of human habitation in the area around Surat Thani goes back to prehistoric times. The Srivijaya kingdom flourished in this area from the 3rd century AD, dominating much of the Malay peninsula and as far as the island of Java. Ruins of the Srivijaya kingdom can still be seen in the city of Chaiya, a small town not far from the provincial capital.
Surat Thani was originally known as Bandon. It was part of Chaiya province until 1915, when the provincial court was moved to Bandon, and it was renamed Surat Thani, meaning "City of Good People". For a period between 1926 and 1933, Surat Thani was made a part of Nakhon Si Thammarat, but today it is a province of its own.
The city of Surat Thani is located on a coastal plain of the Tapi River, a river that meanders through a mangrove swamp. Further inland are rubber and coconut plantations as well as limestone outcrops. Most visitors head directly to the islands off the coast of Surat Thani, but those who visiti the provincial capital will discover a distinctly Thai town untainted by massive commercialisation.
Budget travellers can fly AirAsia to Surat Thani from Bangkok. The Surat Thani Airport (URT) is about 20 km to the west of downtown. Other airlines flying to Surat Thani are Thai Airways and Nok Air.
You can also get to Surat Thani by train from Bangkok and Hatyai. There are buses from the Surat Thani railway station to the town centre.
Budget Travel within Surat Thani
There are plenty of tuk-tuks in town that you can hire.
Before booking a hotel room, make sure you are getting the lowest price for it. Different hotel booking websites offers the same room at different prices. If you stick with one site all the time, you could be paying more for the same room. Now why pay more?
The form below is a Research Engine. It doesn't take bookings. Instead it lets you find the hotel booking website that offers the room you want at the lowest price. You can see and compare what different sites are offering, and then click to choose the one with the best price. Do this, and you're guaranteed to save a whole lot of money on your room reservations!
If you're flying somewhere, use our Flight Checker to compare the rates from different airlines. To use it, enter where you will be flying from, where you will be flying to, your departure date and return date. Select the number of passengers, and then click search.
Our engine will return you a list of possible flights that you can take. You can compare the fare of different airlines for your trip. Click on your selected airline, and we transfer you to the airline website.
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