Thailand Guide
The central plains
Arrival
New Sukhothai has direct bus connections with many major provincial capitals and makes a good staging point between Chiang Mai and Bangkok. All buses use the Sukhothai bus terminal, located about 3km west of New Sukhothai's town centre, just off the bypass.
A more comfortable, though not necessarily faster, option is to take the train from Bangkok, Chiang Mai or anywhere in between as far as Phitsanulok and then change onto one of the half-hourly buses to New Sukhothai (1hr). This bus service also makes Sukhothai feasible as a day-trip from Phitsanulok, and vice versa.
You can also fly to Sukhothai from Bangkok with Bangkok Airways; the airport is about 25km north of town (half-way to Si Satchanalai), and shuttle buses transfer passengers to hotels and guest houses for B180 per person.
For local transport, frequent pick-ups shuttle between New Sukhothai and the Old City 12km away, departing from a signed depot west of the river on Thanon Charodvithitong (every 15min during daylight hours; 15min; B20).