Flying to Bangkok on a budget
Bangkok is a major hub served by 2 airports in Thailand. Across the city's airports, around 27 airlines operate roughly 393 documented route pairings, connecting Bangkok to approximately 43 direct destinations worldwide. For budget travellers, having multiple airports in one city is usually good news. Secondary airports tend to host the lowest-cost carriers and the cheapest fares, but the trade-off is a slower (and sometimes pricier) ground transfer to the city centre.
The cheapest combination of base fare plus ground transport almost never lives at the same airport. As a rule of thumb, fly into the most-served airport when you have luggage, late arrival times, or a fixed work meeting. Fly into the cheapest secondary airport when you are travelling light, have flexible plans, and are arriving mid-day with the buses still running. We break down the airports below in order of route volume, so you can quickly see which carriers and destinations each one specialises in.
Airports serving Bangkok
Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)
Thailand · 326 routes · 25 destinations
Don Mueang International Airport (DMK)
Thailand · 67 routes · 25 destinations
Tips for landing in Bangkok cheap
- Compare airports before booking. The headline-cheapest fare into the secondary airport is sometimes wiped out by a EUR 20+ ground transfer to the city centre.
- Check the last public-transport time. Late arrivals can force a pricey taxi if you miss the bus or train; verify against the inbound landing time, not the scheduled.
- Pre-book ground transport for arrival. A pre-paid bus ticket bought online is usually the cheapest predictable option; airport-counter taxi rates can run two to three times the metered fare.
- If you have multiple airports, fly in and out of different ones. Use Google Flights' multi-city search to capture the cheapest combination of one-ways across two airports.
- Watch for currency exchange traps. The airport bureaux are the worst place to change money; withdraw from a major-bank ATM in arrivals instead.
Top destinations from Bangkok
| Code | City | Country |
|---|---|---|
| HKT | Phuket | Thailand |
| CNX | Chiang Mai | Thailand |
| KUL | Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia |
| KBV | Krabi | Thailand |
| CEI | Chiang Rai | Thailand |
| CAN | Guangzhou | China |
| RGN | Yangon | Burma |
| HKG | Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
| SIN | Singapore | Singapore |
| ICN | Seoul | South Korea |
| NRT | Tokyo | Japan |
| DAC | Dhaka | Bangladesh |
| TPE | Taipei | Taiwan |
| PVG | Shanghai | China |
| BOM | Mumbai | India |
| MNL | Manila | Philippines |
| DEL | Delhi | India |
| PUS | Busan | South Korea |
| LPQ | Luang Prabang | Laos |
| LHR | London | United Kingdom |
Airlines flying from Bangkok
China Southern Airlines (CZ)
China
China Eastern Airlines (MU)
China
Air France (AF)
France
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL)
Netherlands
Turkish Airlines (TK)
Turkey
All Nippon Airways (NH)
Japan
Scandinavian Airlines System (SK)
Sweden
Qantas (QF)
Australia
Japan Airlines Domestic (JL)
Japan
Malaysia Airlines (MH)
Malaysia
Ethiopian Airlines (ET)
Ethiopia
Transaero Airlines (UN)
Russia
Qatar Airways (QR)
Qatar
Etihad Airways (EY)
United Arab Emirates
Cathay Pacific (CX)
Hong Kong SAR of China
Thai Airways International (TG)
Thailand · Budget
AirAsia (AK)
Malaysia · Budget
China Airlines (CI)
Taiwan