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.
Terrible… way too much time spent on little $4 bribes to Cambodian officials etc. It took me a little while to work out where the 7-11 you turn right at is. You have to turn right after going through Thai immigration walk down the street and then it is on the right hand side corner. These glossed over details make a huge difference when you are traveling in a non English speaking foreign country.
And I speak some Thai and have been there before! I still had no idea where it was from the story above.
Are you joking? Are you trolling? There’s a MAP, Martin.
I’ve just passed through immigration from Cambodia to Thailand. Easy peasy thanks for all the tips.
I need to arrive in Kanchanaburi Friday and really want to get there early in the day. (missing rush hour traffic around BKK)
Once you get across ~ the very first right takes you to the market, the second right which is a bit further up past what looks like a parking lot on the right (and past all the guys selling tuk tuks & rides to wherever) takes you to 7/11 where the mini buses are waiting. I was a bit confused about getting to the bus station so I just walked back hired a tuk tuk and
paid 100 baht. Whether its a “deal” or not I don’t know & honestly I didn’t really care. It was hot and for 4 CDN dollars it was lovely to not have to worry about it. (plus I figure everyone needs to make a living)
At the bus station there are plenty of fairly decent cheap places to stay. A little mini van counter sells tickets to various locations around Thailand. As it happens I could have arrived here tomorrow and caught a mini van from the bus station directly to Kanch for 200 baht.
I love all the info I’ve been able to glean from various travel blogs but at the end of the day we all need to be our own best source of info.
Thanks so much for all the tips ~ much appreciated!!
Thanks for this update, Mandy. Very helpful. Was it not possible to go straight from Rong Kleu Market to Kanchanburi?
I didn’t check at the market. (wish I had now)
As it happens my adventure was not so simple after all.
There isn’t a mini van that goes to Kanch ~ I found this out an hour after the mini van was to leave (as they sold out the early one & I had to wait an hour for the next one) thankfully the driver wanted to confirm where I was going and after a few minutes of language challenges we discovered he’s going to Chantiburi not Kanchaniburi!!!
They did refund my money and I caught the 9:30 bus to BKK and arrived at Morchit Bus Terminal at 4 o’clock. Brutal!
But ~ that’s the way it goes sometimes.
Doh! Sounds like a pretty typical Poipet event. Glad you made it, though!
Regarding porters. Will they take my baggage out from Cambodia and through the Thai Immigration?
Thanks P.
I’ve only used the porters going in the opposite direction, but I assume so. Sorry I can’t provide more information.
Hi, Lina.
So you used the porters from Thailand into Cambodia?
My fear is losing sight of them and never seeing them again.
Is there any way to keep an eye on them? Is there a place where they wait for everyone to be processed?
Yes, I used the porters as have many people I know. You can get their phone number and walk beside them for most of the way, but you just have to trust them, I guess. I have not heard of anyone losing anything.
Thank you so much for this informative post! Your insight made our crossing much smoother. I wanted to let you know that we managed to avoid paying the bribe by simply standing in line and informing all of the other travelers about it. At first the border officials told us to sit down, like you said they would, but after we raised a small mutiny and other people started refusing to pay the bribe, they ushered us through really quick!
Hi Portia, that is a great idea! Very clever. :)
Where can a book a minibus from siem reap to poipet for 4-5$?
My wife and I are planning on going from Poipet to Battambang. I see that buses to Battambang stop running early. How and where does one catch a taxi to Battambang in Poipet and how much should it cost?
Hi, we’re going to cambodia next week then to Bangkok, would like to know if there is a bus leaving from siem reap to bangkok at night? Thank you
Hey what if from aranyaprarhet broader I go to Aranyaprarhet Train station then go to Bangkok. It’s I should get to boader ealry?
HI! Just wondering if the ordinary/business visa is still available when arriving in Poi Pet overland from Thailand… I’m doing the overland trip with animals on Friday, and my transport company in Thailand says I should get a tourist evisa because the Cambodia ordinary/business visa it is NOT available at the border… I wil be living and working in Siem Reap, so an ordinary visa is what I actually require. Thanks!
Dear Tracy,
I have a friend that wants to bring his two small dogs from Bangkok to Siam Reap.
Which transport company did you use to bring them to the border?
Page needs an update.. A new extra ‘credit card processing’ fee of 3USD has been added for the online application for a Cambodian e-visa. This fee is not mentioned anywhere until the final CC payment page. So now, 30 + 7 + 3 = $40 that is charged to your card for the e-visa.
Amusingly, my recent e-visa arrived in two days with someone else’s picture on it, as well as an incorrect passport number. I can’t be sure that I didn’t add the extra ‘1’ to my pp# myself, but I certainly did not send them that picture.
Aside from being the same sex and race, the dude looked nothing at all like me. Not much to be done about it. I just smiled at the Cambodians at the border and they stamped me through.
Thanks for the update! I will try and confirm this. $40 really seems like too much, right?
My partner and I applied for a Cambodian visa at 8.40pm on a Sunday night and they were emailed through to us the next day at 9.40am on the Monday. This was back in June.
Hi, we’re planning to cross border from Siem Reap to Bangkok. Can you let us know where we can book tickets to ride the mini bus to take us to Poipet?
We are from the Philippines. So does this mean we don’t need to get Thai Visa? So when we arrive in the immigration, what is needed to be done?
Appreciate your help!
Hi Kim, check out this post for more info on getting from Siem Reap to Bangkok: https://movetocambodia.com/transportation/how-to-get-from-siem-reap-to-bangkok/
I’m not sure about your visa, you should probably contact the Thai embassy in your country to confirm.