Thailand Budget Travel: Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai 220 Baht

The same 182 kilometres of Route 118 can cost you 220 baht or 621 baht, and it is the same green coach either way. Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai is one of the most-booked overland hops in the north, and it is also the easiest place in Thailand budget travel to quietly overpay by a factor of three — because almost every traveller books it on a site that resells the ticket rather than at the counter that issues it.

This budget travel guide prices the route for October 2026: every Green Bus class and what it really costs, the booking markup, which terminal to get off at, and the arithmetic of a do-it-yourself White Temple day against the packaged tour. At 33.79 baht to the US dollar, Thailand budget travel on this one leg is worth roughly $11 a head.

Thailand budget travel on Route 118: what Green Bus actually charges

Green Bus runs the corridor and has done for years. The coach covers 182 km on Route 118 with one scheduled comfort break at Mae Kachan, roughly the halfway mark, and the whole run takes three hours twenty in the VIP coach or three hours forty-five in the express. Thirteen departures a day leave Chiang Mai — seven express, six VIP — the first at 07:00 and the last at 18:00.

Three service classes matter for Thailand travel costs, and the gap between the cheapest and the dearest is about 180 baht, or $5.33. Nobody arrives meaningfully earlier for the extra money.

Option	Fare (THB)	USD	Time	What you get
A-Class (economy)	220	$6.51	~3h45	Standard air-con seat, counter sales
X-Class (express)	260–290	$7.70–8.58	3h45	Onboard toilet, 7 departures a day
V-Class (VIP)	360–400	$10.65–11.84	3h20	Three seats a row, extra legroom
Government bus, 2nd class	129–166	$3.82–4.91	4h+	Slow route via Phayao, few runs
Shared minivan	200–780	$5.92–23.09	~3h	Leaves when full, little luggage room
Private car with driver	1,950–3,000	$57.71–88.78	~3h	Per vehicle, up to three passengers
Packaged day tour	1,000–1,600	$29.59–47.35	12–13h	Returns to Chiang Mai the same night

There are no direct flights. Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai are connected by air only through Bangkok, which means two sectors, two airport transfers and most of a day for a journey the bus does in three and a half hours. For once, the cheapest option is also the fastest.

Why the booking site quotes you 621 baht

Search this route on an international booking platform and you will be shown fares of 409 and 621 baht for the two Green Bus classes. Those are the same coaches, the same bays and the same drivers as the 260 and 360 sold at the Terminal 3 window. The difference is resale margin, and it is the single biggest leak in cheap travel Thailand itineraries: 361 baht per person on one three-hour bus ride, about $10.68, or $21.37 for a couple.

Booking through Green Bus's own online channel is a fair middle path — it adds roughly 20 to 40 baht over the counter price and gives you a named seat up to 30 days ahead. Tickets are also sold over the counter at 7-Eleven. The rule is simple: book the operator, not the marketplace. It is the same discipline that separates a fair rate from a bad one at an exchange counter, which we cover in our guide to money exchange in Thailand.

Terminals: Arcade Terminal 3, and the Chiang Rai stop that costs 20 baht

Every Chiang Rai departure leaves from Chiang Mai Bus Terminal 3, the Arcade complex northeast of the old city. Budget 100 to 150 baht for a Grab from the moat, or far less on a red songthaew — the fare ladder we set out in our guide to Chiang Mai songthaew fares.

At the other end, the bus calls at Chiang Rai Terminal 2, seven kilometres south of town, and then continues to Terminal 1 beside the night bazaar in the centre. Plenty of passengers see a sign saying Chiang Rai and get off at the first one. That mistake costs 20 baht on a songthaew if you are patient, or 100 to 150 for a Grab if you are not. Stay on the bus. The extra fifteen minutes are already paid for, and few Thailand budget travel errors are as cheap to avoid.

The White Temple: 770 baht on your own against 1,600 on a tour

Most people make this trip for Wat Rong Khun, and the fee there changed this year. Foreign visitors have paid 200 baht since 1 January 2026, double the old 100-baht ticket; Thai nationals still enter free. Gates open at 08:00 and close around 17:30.

Scheduled Green Bus services do not stop at the temple, but the local bus does. It leaves from platform 8 at Terminal 1, runs nineteen times a day between 06:15 and 17:50, costs 20 to 25 baht paid on board and drops you at the gate in 20 to 30 minutes. Here is the whole day, priced both ways, for one person out of Chiang Mai.

Line item	Do it yourself	Packaged day tour
Chiang Mai → Chiang Rai	260 THB (X-Class)	1,000–1,600 THB, seat on a minibus, fixed schedule
Terminal 1 → White Temple and back	50 THB
White Temple admission	200 THB
Chiang Rai → Chiang Mai	260 THB
Total	770 THB ($22.79)	1,000–1,600 THB ($29.59–47.35)

The tour saves you nothing and costs you the town: twelve to thirteen hours door to door, most of it on the road, with no evening in Chiang Rai. Do it independently and the same 770 baht leaves you standing in the night bazaar at dinner time instead of on the 118 in the dark. Stay a night and the maths gets better still, because a fan room in Chiang Rai runs well below the average cost per day in Thailand you are already budgeting.

Seven Thailand travel tips for the Chiang Mai–Chiang Rai run

1. Buy at the Terminal 3 counter if your dates are flexible. It is the base price, in cash, with no markup and no booking fee.
2. Book direct online if you need a fixed seat. Green Bus's own channel adds 20 to 40 baht; a marketplace adds 150 to 260.
3. Take X-Class, not V-Class. The VIP coach saves 25 minutes for about 100 extra baht. On a 3h45 ride that is poor value unless you are tall.
4. Ride all the way to Terminal 1. Getting off at Terminal 2 adds 20 to 150 baht and half an hour you did not need to spend.
5. Travel midweek and mid-morning. The 07:00 and the last two departures fill first; weekend seats go days ahead in high season.
6. Carry small notes. Counter sales, local buses and songthaews are cash only — draw it before you go, dodging the charges in our Thailand ATM fees guide.
7. Skip the tour, keep the night. The 1,000-to-1,600-baht day trip buys you the same temple and none of the city.

💱 Changing money? Our money exchange finder shows the closest counters to your hotel and tells you whether the rate on the board is fair.

Bottom line: your savings summary

Six Thailand budget travel numbers to carry north with you.

• 220 baht buys the cheapest Green Bus seat from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai; 260 to 290 is the express most travellers want.
• 361 baht a head — about $10.68 — is the resale markup you avoid by booking the operator rather than a marketplace.
• 13 departures a day, 07:00 to 18:00, 3h20 to 3h45, one stop at Mae Kachan.
• 20 baht is what getting off at the wrong Chiang Rai terminal costs you — or 150 if you reach for Grab.
• 200 baht is the White Temple's foreigner fee since 1 January 2026, up from 100.
• 770 baht does the whole White Temple day independently, against 1,000 to 1,600 packaged.

Northern Thailand rewards travellers who price the legs separately. The bus is cheap, frequent and punctual; nearly all of the money disappears in resale margins and avoidable taxis. Put the real numbers into our Thailand trip budget calculator — transport, rooms, food and admissions in baht and your own currency — and the north stops looking expensive.