Hat Yai

Travel Guide Asia Thailand South Thailand Hat Yai

Introduction

Hadyai

Hat Yai (หาดใหญ่), situated approximately 28 kilometres from the city of Songkhla, is an important gateway for travellers coming overland from Malaysia and Singapore. Strategically located 60 kilometres from the Malaysian border, Hat Yai has recently been rapidly transformed into a commercial, transportation, communication, educational and tourism hub in southern Thailand.

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Sights and Activities

Klonghae Floating Market. The market is situated in Tambon Klonghae in Hat Yai District. The floating market is open from Friday to Sunday (3:00pm to 9:00pm). There are boat tours around the area. You can also hire a boat to go for a paddle. There are minivans, buses and train services from Hatyai city to Tambon Klonghae.
Temple of Wisdom. Temple of Wisdom or Wat Hat Yai Nai in Hat Yai is famous for a gigantic statue of reclining Buddha measuring 35 metres long, 15 metres tall, 10 metres wide, named Phra Phuttha Hattha Mongkhon. It is said to be the third largest reclining Buddha in the world. The statue is so large that one can also enter the statue’s torso to view the lungs and heart. Inside the image’s gigantic base or at the back of the temple there is a curious little museum and a souvenir shop.

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Events and Festivals

Hatyai Midnight Songkran Festival - Date : 10-13 April on Niphat Uthit 3 Road, Sanehanusorn Road and Thammanun Withi Road. Unlike other places in Thailand, both locals and foreigners gather on the road after sunset to celebrate Songkran together.
Hatyai Lantern Festival - Date: 14th and 28th February at Hatyai Municipality Park. The festival is from 4:00pm to 9:00pm. Going earlier in the day makes it easier to take pictures but you won't be able to fully appreciate the strong colours until it is really dark.
Hatyai Chinese New Year Festival - There are demonstration of Chinese customs, traditions and way of life including the presentation of ritual offerings at the family altar together with Lion Dance and Dragon Procession.

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Weather

Hat Yai has a tropical climate with generally hot and humid conditions year round. The average highs are 29 °C (December) to 35 °C (April), while nights are mostly in the 21-24 °C range. The annual precipitation is around 1,600mm with most of that falling from September to December. January to March is the driest time of the year.

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Getting There

By Plane

Air Asia & Thai Airways operate flights from Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) near Bangkok.

Nok Air & One-Two-Go operate flight from Don Muang Airport (DMK), the old airport of Bangkok.

By Train

Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad operates route to Hatyai from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Fare from Kuala Lumpur is around RM50 one way. The train will depart Sentral Kuala Lumpur at 8:00pm and arrive in Hatyai at 10:50am (Thai time) the next day. Most of the time, the train will not arrive on time. Train departs Hatyai for Kuala Lumpur at 3:20pm and arrive into Sentral Kuala Lumpur at around 5:20am the next morning. Tel : 603-2267 1200 mailto:callcenter@ktmb.com.my;
State Railway of Thailand do have several routes from Bangkok to Hatyai. Both rapid and express trains depart Hualampong Station in the early afternoon and spend around 16hours to get to Hatyai. Regular trains leave Thonburi Railway Station as well. It takes around 18 hours to Hat Yai.Tel : 0-2222-0175, 0-2621-8701, 0-2220-4567 mailto:info@railway.co.th.

By Car

Driving 745 kilometres from Bangkok to Hatyai take the two-lane Highway No. 4 past Prachuab Khirikhan, Chumphon, Surat Thani, and Nakhon Si Thammarat to Hatyai. The road condition is fair to good.
From Malaysia, use the North South Expressway (E2). Stop at the Bukit Kayu Hitam Immigration on the Malaysian side and continue driving to the Thai Immigration checkpoint (Sadao Checkpoint). After the immigration, continue driving through few towns such as Dannok and Sadao before arrive at the Hatyai. Hatyai is around 70 kilometres from the border.

By Bus

Hatyai has a very huge bus station which is known as Bor Kor Sor (บ.ข.ส.).

First Class VIP (24 seats) or Por Neung VIP (ป.1) Buses from Bangkok depart for Hatyai from Southern Bus Terminal or Sai Tai Mai (สายใต้ใหม่) at 5:00pm, 6:00pm, 7:00pm, 8:00pm. The fare is roughly around 1,100 Baht. In Hatyai, buses depart from Hatyai Bus Terminal or Bor Kor Sor Hatyai (บ.ข.ส. หาดใหญ่) at 4:00pm, 5:00pm, 6:00pm. The journey will roughly takes around 12 hours or sometimes less depending on the drivers.
Normal First Class (32 seats) or Por Neung Thamada (ป.1) departs Bangkok at 5:30pm and the fare is around 800Baht.
Second Class (40-50seats) or Por Song (ป.2) departs from Bangkok at 4:30pm. The fare is roughly around 500-600Baht.

There are several buses company which operates good service between Hatyai and Bangkok like Piya Tour (ปิยะทัวร์) Tel: 074-246022 and Thai Doen Rot (ไทยเดินรถ,) Tel: 0 7442 9525. Thai Route is the best website to check buses schedules, fares and companies in and out of Hatyai.

There are also vans from the town, which generally pick up at your hotel or ticket office. Van to Krabi takes just over 4 hours and costs about 250 Baht. Buses also ply between Hat Yai and Butterworth and Penang in Malaysia and stop at the border for immigration purpose and then take to further journey.

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Getting Around

By Public Transport

From the airport to the city, a taxi costs around 250 baht. The minivan service costs 80 baht.

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Sleep

Budget

Laem Thong Hotel, 46 Thamanoonviti Rd (on road to railway station). Fan rooms 320 Bt.

Mid-Range

Tune Hotel Hat Yai - 152-156 Niphat Uthit 2 Road, Hat yai, Songkhla 90110. 148 rooms. Rates vary according to when you book online.

Upscale

You can use the form below to search for availability (Travellerspoint receives a commission for bookings made through the form)

Booking.com

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Learn

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Keep Connected

Internet

There are countless internet bars across the country in big and small towns. Internet cafés are widespread and most are inexpensive. Prices as low as 15 baht/hour are commonplace, and speed of connection is generally reasonable, but many cafes close at midnight. Higher prices prevail in major package-tourist destinations (60 baht/hour is typical, 120 baht/hour is not unusual). Keyloggers are all too often installed on the computers in cheap cafes, so be on your guard if using online banking, stock broking or even PayPal. Remember that in the smaller towns and more traditional areas the owners and staff of internet bars prefer if customers take off their shoes at the entrance and leave them outside. This might seem strange although this gesture goes a far way to make friends and give a positive image of foreigners to Thai people.

Outside the most competitive tourist areas, free Wi-Fi is not as common as in neighbouring countries in many budget hotels and guesthouses and they may charge small fee for Internet by LAN or Wi-Fi even if you bring your own laptop. Wi-Fi is commonly available in cafes and restaurants serving Westerners.

Phone

Post

Thailand Post is the Thai postal service that deals with all local and international mail in Thailand. The business is operated from local post offices. Post offices are easy to recognise with their red white and blue motifs and the words 'Thailand Post' in English and Thai above the entrance. They are open from Monday to Saturday, usually 8:30am to 4:30pm (main ones until around 8:00pm), though keeping shorter hours on Saturdays (usually until 1:00pm). They are generally closed on Sundays and Public Holidays. Each post office offers a comprehensive service which includes an Express Mail Service (EMS) and parcel post. They also have a price calculator for letters, postcards and parcels, both domestically as well as internationally. They also have a track and trace system and money transfer services. If you want to send packages, it might be a good idea to check with private courier companies like DHL, TNT or UPS, as they are fast, reliable and generally quite competitively priced.

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