Bangkok BTS Skytrain
Metro · Bangkok · Bangkok Mass Transit System Public Company Limited (BTSC)
3 lines · 62 stations · 2 interchanges
Every line drawn through its stations. Tap a line in the legend to hide or show it.
Lines
Quick facts
- Operator
- BTSC operates the BTS Skytrain.
- Payment
- Use single-journey cards, a Rabbit stored-value card, or a BTS one-day pass.
- BTS is not the same fare system as MRT. Do not assume one card rule covers every Bangkok rail line.
- Rabbit card
- Best use
- Sukhumvit, Siam, Phrom Phong, Chit Lom, Silom/Sathorn, and the mall spine.
- Airport
- BTS does not go to Suvarnabhumi. Use the Airport Rail Link to Phaya Thai, then change to BTS if your hotel sits on the Skytrain.
- Airport Rail Link
- Network type
- Elevated metro running above the street grid. It is as much a heat-management system as a transport system.
- Elevated metro
Mike’s notes
The BTS Skytrain is the Bangkok rail system most visitors use first because it matches the hotel map: Sukhumvit, Siam, Chit Lom, Phrom Phong, Silom/Sathorn, and the air-conditioned mall spine.
It is elevated, which matters in Bangkok. You are above the traffic, the stations connect into malls and skybridges, and the train becomes part of how you manage heat and jet lag. My lazy first-day Bangkok pattern is basically a BTS-powered mall walk: MBK, Siam, CentralWorld, then Phrom Phong and the Em District.
How to pay
For occasional rides, buy a single-journey card at the machine. For a longer stay on the BTS spine, buy a Rabbit card at a station ticket office and top it up. BTS also sells a one-day pass, which can make sense if you are deliberately hopping around on the Skytrain all day.
The thing to remember is that Bangkok is not one unified rail fare system. BTS payment is not the same as MRT payment, and the Airport Rail Link is its own move. This is annoying on paper but easy in practice once you stop expecting London-style integration.
How I use it
I pick hotels by BTS access when the trip is practical Bangkok: Phrom Phong, Asoke, Chit Lom, Phloen Chit, or Silom/Sala Daeng. If the hotel is three minutes from a station, Bangkok feels easy. If it is fifteen hot minutes from a station, you will Grab more than you planned.
BTS is not how I do the old-city temple route. For that, use the river, MRT, and Grab. BTS is the modern Bangkok spine: malls, hotels, office towers, food halls, and the places you use to recover from being outside.
Short history
1999
Skytrain opens
Bangkok gets its first modern rapid-transit system, elevated above streets that were already famous for traffic.
2000s-2020s
Sukhumvit keeps stretching
The Sukhumvit Line expands north and south, turning BTS into the practical hotel spine for many visitor trips.
Today
Still not one fare system
BTS, MRT, Airport Rail Link, river boats, and Grab all matter. Bangkok gets easier when you pick the right tool instead of forcing one map to solve every trip.