Plans for a new Pattaya to Hua Hin ferry service have been revived by the current ruling military government and if all goes well this new service could be in operation by early 2016. The service will be operated by a catamaran accommodating around 280 passengers at a time.
The Pattaya Hua Hin route has been tried before but failed due to a lack of demand (also high ticket prices did not help – 1500 baht for a one-way crossing) it is rumoured ticket prices will be more attractive this time around so attracting more passengers and hopefully leading to an ongoing successful service.
The Bangkok Post has reported journey times of around 3 hours while other sources have reported journey times as low as 1.5 hours. If 1.5 hours can be achieved then this would be great but it would have to be a speedy vessel to achieve a time as short as this. But even a 3 hour journey time offers a vast improvement than taking the bus.
Currently, there are minivans running the route between Pattaya and Hua Hin but the journey time is around 6 hours and the drivers of these minivans do have a reputation for reckless driving. I personally will certainly feel more safe bobbing about on a ferry in the Gulf Of Thailand than in the back of one of these minivans driven by wannabe kamikaze drivers! If you decide to take the safer (but slower) large air-conditioned buses then you will be looking at even longer travel times especially as you will probably have to change buses and transit across Bangkok from the Eastern Bus Terminal to the Southern Bus Terminal
I really hope that this will come to fruition and be a success this time around as the service will be very convenient for those travelling between Pattaya and Hua Hin and if a journey time of 1.5 hours can be achieved then this will be great!!!
I’ll be going to pattaya from Hua hin in July next year. Here’s hoping the ferry is up and running!
Hi Brent, let me know if it is, how much & how long please. Cheers
Hay Brent, let me know if this service is up & running,length of journey & cost please. I will be there in a couple of mths
Is the ferry service up and running yet?
I was in the Anantasila Hotel the other day which is right beside where the new ferry terminal is being constructed. I have to say that as this is mid July there will certainly be no service anytime this month. At a push, it might be ready for the end of the year but while the causeway looks near completion, there is no sign of a terminal building under construction.