If you’re going from Siem Reap to Bangkok (or vice versa) overland, you may be nervous about the infamous Poipet border crossing. Before I crossed for the first time, I was extremely anxious after hearing so many horror stories about the border. Now that I do the trip regularly I know that if you go prepared you won’t have any problems.
If you’re going from Cambodia to Thailand (here are all the ways to get from Siem Reap to Bangkok) you’ll be crossing from Poipet to Aranyaprathet. Here are some tips for crossing in this direction, and at the end I’ve given specific tips if you’re going the other way, from Aranyaprathet to Poipet.
Get the skinny on crossing the Poipet-Aranyaprathet border overland.
It’s going to take all day
It will pretty much take you all day to go Siem Reap to Bangkok overland, but leaving early will shave a few hours off the trip (filed under ‘had to learn the hard way’). Siem Reap to Poipet is about a two-hour trip, and then an hour or four at the border, then another four to six hours from Aranyaprathet to Bangkok. The land border is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. It gets very busy and lines get very long after about noon, so the earlier you start your journey, the better.
You’re crossing on foot
Whether you take a direct bus, mini-bus or taxi, you’ll still have to walk across the border from Poipet to Aranyaprathet on the Thailand side. Coming from Siem Reap, you’ll get dropped off at a roundabout near the border in Poipet. Walk straight ahead and you’ll see Cambodia immigration on your right side. Get in line there and get stamped out of Cambodia.
If you’re hungry or want to use the toilet, stop in at one of the casinos in the no-man’s land between Poipet and Aranyaprathet. I like Grand Diamond Casino’s Chillax Restaurant because they have free WiFi and a great name.
After you leave Cambodia but before you enter Thailand, you’ll be treated to this.
Once you’re refreshed, keep walking straight until you get to Thai immigration and go upstairs. If you’re from most countries, you’ll get a visa on arrival (and if you’re not, you should have one already). We’ve got a full blog post on getting a Thai visa in Cambodia if you need to do this in advance.
Once you are at the border just remember that you need to be stamped out of the country you came from and get a visa for the country you are entering (so two stops).
Once you’re through, go straight if you’re heading to get a mini-bus or taxi or make your first right towards Rong Kleu Market if you’re catching a casino bus. This road is not paved and you’ll think you’re in some sort of post-apocalyptic fantasy novel, but in a moment you’ll see a 7-11 and realize that you’re actually in Thailand. From 7-11, you can turn right to head to the casino buses in the car park area.
7-11 near Rong Kleu Market Aranyaprathet border.
Don’t get scammed
Do not change money at the border. If you want Thai baht ahead of time, you can change money at Siem Reap’s Old Market before heading out, or hit the ATM at the 7-11 immediately after crossing the border. Don’t believe anything anyone says about facilitation fees. All transport prices quoted here are current, so negotiate until you get pretty close. Don’t get on any buses to the “bus terminal” it’s just a place where they force you to buy overpriced food and overpriced bus tickets. You can get cheap food and cheap bus tickets at Rong Kleu Market and don’t need to bother with the scammy bus terminal.
Carrying baggage across the border
If you’ve got considerable baggage coming through, you can hire a porter for $2 to $10. They will take your bags through and wait for you to get through immigration. Unlike everyone else in Poipet, the porters will not rip you off. Get your porter’s phone number before you head to immigration if you are nervous, but chances are he won’t speak English anyway. It’s polite to tip your porter.
Relax
The border crossing can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t need to be. Budget a full day to get through and take your time. Accept that no one will speak English, but that’s not going to matter. Buy a Thai SIM card in 7-11 for a couple of bucks if you want. You’ll be in Bangkok soon and the Poipet/Aranyaprathet land border crossing will be a distant memory.
If you’re coming from Thailand to Cambodia
If you’re heading from Thailand to Cambodia, this is the particularly scammy direction of the trip. Bring US dollars with you for your visa; do not change money at the border because you will get ripped off. Do not believe anyone that tells you that you need Cambodian riel, you do not, and they will rip you off. You can’t even pay for a Cambodia visa with Cambodian riel!
This is the building that you get your Cambodian visa in.
After you get stamped out of Thailand, you’ll need to enter Cambodia. If you already have an ordinary/business visa, they will stamp you and you will be on your way. Tourists will need to get a visa in advance or on arrival check out our page about Cambodia visas if you want to know more). A tourist visa costs $30. They will ask you for 1100 or 1200 baht (~$35) or if you insist on paying in dollars, which you should, they will ask for $30 and a 200 baht processing fee. There is no processing fee, it’s just a bribe. Arrive early and refuse to pay and eventually they will stamp you through. They’ll make you wait around for a while, but it’s just a game of chicken. Since you’ve budgeted all day to do this, might as well not pay their lame shake-down and catch up on your Kindle.
The other option is to get a Cambodia e-visa in advance, but to be on the safe side you need to order it online a week in advance, because they often don’t get it back to you in their promised three-day turnaround time. The cost is $40. It saves you hassle but not money. If you’re particularly nervous about the border crossing, this might help make things easier.
Once you walk get your Cambodia visa, you can walk through and catch a mini-bus or taxi from near the roundabout. Be aware that on the Cambodia side the police shake down all of the taxi drivers for at least $10 of each trip. The fare should be around $35, but often is as much as $55. Walk as far as you can stand and don’t deal with middlemen if you want a lower price.
Hi All,
I am from Philippines (ASEAN country) therefore no need for Tourist Visa.Im planning to go from Bangkok to Siem Reap on May 29.
Just wondering if we travel via Train, leave Hualamphong station at 13:05 and arrive in Aranyaprathet at 17:35 approximate times. Will I still be able to finish everything in time.
Where am I supposed to get stamped to exit Thailand in Aranyaprathet? Is it in the Train Station itself? or do I have to go somewhere?
Afterwards I need to go to Poipet for th border crossing stuffs in their customs for another stamp as entrance. Will I still be able to hit the office hours in time given that schedule?
What do you guys suggest?
It’s obvious but I didn’t pay attention and now it’s big problems: after they give you the visa and before leaving the border on Cambodian side, make sure they also put the entry stamp in your passport, it’s easy to skip as they let you leave even without the stamp. You won’t be able to leave Cambodia without an entry stamp and you’ll have to pay a bribe, go back to Poipet or both.
Do you mean on the Cambodia side they gave you the visa but then didn’t stamp it?
Yes, now I think I remember the place where they stamp your passport is further on, in another building, but it’s easy to miss as you can walk on the side instead of going in, and nobody will check if you have the stamp.
Just back from Poipet, I went to Immigration in Phnom Penh yesterday, they were nice and gave me the contact of the chief of immigration in Poipet, but told me I had to go there. In Poipet l was surprised that they gave me the stamp for free, they were also quick and efficient. Anyway, if you are offered to pay some money at the border to solve your stamp problem, as it happened to me, it’s cheaper and saves you time.
I went to Poi Pet alone without reading any blogs.
They stamped me out of Cambodia quickly at a walkup window, and I walked a ways to Thailand immigration.
There was one guy in a big hall at perhaps 4 or 5 pm.
It was so easy.
That happenwd to me in 2013, i had to bribe 20$ to leave so i could come back to america
Do you remember what the opening and closing hours for the border are? I thought I had some extra time on my visa and I dont and need to leave ASAP to get my second double entry stamp. Just want to make sure I reach the border in time
I think it’s 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
now the border opens until 10pm
Thank you for the update!
A word of warning in case you are planning to stay in the Casino Zone overnight:
DO NOT pass Cambodian Immigration, since the Casino Hotels are on Cambodian soil and by no means in a “no-mans land”.
We left Siem Reap in the late afternon and were planning to stay overnight in one of the Casino Hotels of PoiPet in order to leave for Bangkok early the next morning.
Once at the border, we lined up at departure immigration and got stamped out of Cambodia. It felt right, because the hotels are BEHIND immigration. It was only be chance that I talked to some tour guide and mentioned we were staying at a casino. “BIG PROBLEM – YOU HAVE STAMP ALREADY!!”.
Went back to departure immigration and were told we had to leave Cambodia now. Went over to arrival immigration and were told that an extension of the visa could be arranged the next morning but would cost us 1000 THB per person.
We declined the offer and talked to various officals. The same guy who asked for the 1000 THB softened up a bit, called his superiors, checked the hotel booking (Seemed to be serious – NOT ONLY after the money) and finallay cancelled our departure stamp / extended our original visa.
I left him 20 USD for his troubles.
So: Staying at a PoiPet Casino might be a good idea, since rooms and prices are ok and after a long day at Angkor you probably wouldn’t want to take an overnight bus all the way to Bangkok.
In this case just walk past departure immigration and push away anyone stopping you, while yelling “Casino, Casino” ;-))
The next morning walk back towards PoiPet, NOW line up at departure immigration and get stamped out of Cambodia before heading for Thailand.
My suspicion is that you got scammed (sort of). While I believe that in order to stay in one of the hotels you might technically need a Cambodian visa, I doubt they enforce this as long as you have a valid passport, and it probably would have been worth going to your hotel and checking before paying $20. Live and learn, I suppose! I’ll ask the next time I go through the border and see what they tell me!
… true – the have no WAY of enforcing it, since you walk from the hotel straight into Thailand.
On the other hand: Why take chances and end up paying much more eventually.
It didn’t feel like a “real” scam since it was just a coincidence that I started talking to the tour-guide-fellow while he was wating for his group to get processed by the officials.
Furthermore the officer didn’t ask for the 20 USD bribe. I turned him down the first time (@ THB 1000) and only gave him the money after everything was settled.
I normally know most scams when I see ’em.
In any case: Money could have been saved (Or gambled away in one of the casinos ;-))
Cheers – great site / helpful
Hi Lina, first of all: Thank you so much for collecting all this information on your webside! You’ve already helped me and my partner so much with planning ahead!
I have one question: We are planning to cross the Poipet border tomorrow and our preferred route would suggest that we stop in Battambang next. Do you know of any busses that can drop us off there (without having to go to Siem Reap first)?
Thanks in advance,
Franzi
I don’t know if there are buses going directly from Poipet to Battambang, but it’s worth asking around. Otherwise, you could take a taxi.
Hey Lina,
we ended up taking a bus directly to Battambang. Due to all of the knowledge collected on your site we managed to ignore all the people that told us we definitely HAD to go to the busstation with the shuttlebus (lie) or HAD to take a taxi (lie) and just walked straight across the roundabout where a red bus was waiting to start in the direction of Phnom Penh. They were happy to take us to Battambang for 7 USD each. It was a good ride, so I’d recommend doing the trip this way. I unfortunately don’t recall the bus companies name, but it was really only about 100 meter from the roundabout (just heading straight from where you’re getting your stamps and ignoring the shuttle service that you have to pass by). You arrive slightly outside of Battambang and we managed to get a tuk tuk ride from there into the city for 4 USD (3 people).
What currency can I use to get my Thai visa and how do I then get to the train station? Anybody? :)
There’s actually a songthaew running between the train station and the border (it’s bigger than the usual ones, looking more like an open truck with a wooden bench running along each side of the loading area) It says “Border” on it’s backside and costs 15 Baht per person. We were lucky and encountert one right when we got out of the train. I don’t know how often they go though.
Otherwise you can take a tuk tuk for 80 to 100 Baht depending on your bargaining skills ;)
Is it easy enough to get a bus/mini bus to Trat (or poss Chanthaburi) from the border? if not, how best to get there from the bordr (I’ll be coming from SR in mid Feb).
Thanks in anticipation.
I’m sorry, I don’t know. I would assume that there are because there are buses to everywhere, but the other option if you’re headed to Trat is to go via Koh Kong, rather than Poipet.
Thanks anyway
Hi,
I will be traveling from Bangkok to Siem Reap and vice-versa; As per my nationality i get on arrival visa in both the countries. My query is im flying back from siem reap to thailand and catch my immediate flight back to my country do i need to take multiple entry for Thailand or its just a transit VISA is needed for 2 hours.
Await your response,
Regards,
Gaudham
Thanks so much Lina. That’s a relief to know. Now we’ll have to see if we can manage to just pay the $35 the visa actually costs… ;)
Please report back! I haven’t bought a visa at the border in a while, so would love to hear how it goes…and how much they are asking for. ;)
When you cross from Thailand to Cambodia and get into the office where you get your visa on arrival there’s a line in front of a counter where you queue. Once my boyfriend reached the counter they wanted the usual 30 USD for the visa + 100 Baht “service fee”. My boyfriend just acted confused and told them he hadn’t heard of that service charge and that the sign above their heads clearly stated 30 USD for the visa. The police officer than pointed at a hand written piece of paper on the desk in front of him that said “100 Baht service charge”. My boyfriend refused to pay and they send him away. He got right back in line and about 5 minutes later stood in front of the officer again grinning, handing him over our two passports still only with 60 USD in. The officer had to smirk as well, as it was quite obvious that this game could go on forever with my boyfriend getting in line again and again if we didn’t get the visa. So as there was noone directly behind my boyfriend anymore (which i think is the thing that is most important to them) he just took the passports this time and gave us the visa.
When u stand there for a while and look at the scene you can actually see one of the officers having a tally list in the palm of his hand where he would add another line each time someone payed the bribe money. Quite interesting ;)
Thanks for the report, Franzi! It’s great to know what things are like this week. ;)
Hi,
My partner and I are moving to Siem Reap in January. We will be crossing the border at Poipet which we’ve done before (and managed to avoid the scams by getting clued-up beforehand!)We need business/ordinary visas. Is it possible to obtain these at the border? If not, is it possible to apply for one of these whilst on a tourist visa without having to leave the country? My partner has a job and will be provided with his longer term business visa and work permit by his company. He was advised to get a one month business visa and then they will sort out extensions when that expires. (He will be reimbursed for the initial one) I have to arrange and pay for mine myself as I do not have a job arranged yet. Any help would be gratefully received! Thank you.
You can definitely get an ordinary visa at the border. Don’t get a tourist visa because you won’t be able to change once you are in the country, and will need to leave the country to get a new visa. More info at visas here: https://movetocambodia.com/planning-your-move-to-cambodia/cambodia-visas/
Hi Lina,
thank you for collecting all this info. Very useful.
We’re thinking, my wife, myself and our 5 year old, to go from Koh Kut to Sianoukville. Any special advice on how to do it? Thank you!