Last updated: October 19, 2026. Border situations can change, so we re-check this page every month and update it the moment anything moves.
This is the page we wish didn't need to exist — but if you're planning to travel between Thailand and Cambodia overland, you need the current picture before you book anything, because a lot of the advice still floating around online is out of date.
Quick answer: No — every Thailand–Cambodia land border crossing is closed to ordinary travelers and tourists. They have been closed since late June 2025, and they were still closed as of October 19, 2026. No official reopening date has been announced.
That includes Poipet, the famous Bangkok–Siem Reap crossing. Right now, the way to travel between Thailand and Cambodia is to fly. The rest of this page covers which crossings are shut, why, and the routes that actually work.
All of them. Every checkpoint along the Thailand–Cambodia border is closed to tourists and other ordinary travelers, whichever direction you're heading:
| Crossing (Thailand / Cambodia) | Route it serves | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Aranyaprathet / Poipet | Bangkok – Siem Reap — the main overland route | Closed |
| Hat Lek / Koh Kong (Cham Yeam) | Trat & Koh Chang – Koh Kong – the coast toward Sihanoukville | Closed |
| Ban Pakard / Phnom Dey | Chanthaburi – Pailin – Battambang | Closed |
| Ban Laem / Daun Lem | Chanthaburi – Battambang | Closed |
| Chong Chom / O Smach | Surin – Oddar Meanchey – Siem Reap | Closed |
| Chong Sa Ngam / Anlong Veng | Si Saket – Anlong Veng – Siem Reap | Closed |
One small exception that doesn't help tourists: limited local border-pass arrangements exist for Thai and Khmer residents who live near the border. Those passes are for locals only — they don't apply to visitors, and you can't get one as a tourist.
The route most people mean when they ask this question is the classic budget overland trip: train or bus from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet, walk across the border at Poipet, then a bus or shared taxi on to Siem Reap and Angkor. It's a rite of passage for Southeast Asia backpackers — and at the moment, it simply can't be done. The Cambodian side of that walk is closed, full stop.
Here's the trap to avoid: some booking sites and blogs still list — and will happily sell you — the Bangkok–Siem Reap bus, and older articles still describe the Poipet crossing step by step as if nothing changed. A ticket you can book is not proof the border is open. If you buy one, the land leg of the journey won't run, and you'll be sorting out refunds from a bus station instead of watching the sunrise at Angkor. Always check the border status (this page, and the official source linked at the bottom) before trusting any overland itinerary that crosses from Thailand into Cambodia.
Thailand and Cambodia have a long-running border dispute, and in mid-2025 it escalated sharply. As tensions rose, the land crossings were closed in late June 2025 — first partially, then to essentially all ordinary cross-border travel. The crossings have stayed closed since, and while the situation is monitored and discussed by both governments, no reopening timeline has been announced. We'll update this page as soon as there's an official change.
Flying between Thailand and Cambodia is business as usual, and honestly it's painless: Bangkok to Phnom Penh and Bangkok to Siem Reap are both about a one-hour flight, with several budget airlines flying the routes daily. Prices are often not much more than the old bus-and-border run once you add up the train, the buses, and a night of your trip.
Two airport names to get right, because both changed recently: Phnom Penh flights now land at Techo International Airport (KTI), which replaced the old Phnom Penh airport in September 2025 — if your booking or an old guide says PNH, that's why. Siem Reap flights land at Siem Reap Angkor International (SAI), the newer airport outside town.
And one piece of paperwork that applies however you arrive by air: Cambodia's e-Arrival card is mandatory and free — fill it in online within 7 days before you land. It's separate from your visa, and it catches a lot of people out.
If you're committed to staying on the ground, there is one long way around: travel through Vietnam. The route runs Ho Chi Minh City → the Moc Bai / Bavet crossing → Phnom Penh. Bavet is open, is Cambodia's busiest land crossing, and the Ho Chi Minh City–Phnom Penh bus run is a well-worn, straightforward journey of around six hours. Be clear-eyed about it, though: coming from Thailand, this means crossing all of Vietnam first. It's a detour for people who love overland travel for its own sake — it is not a shortcut, and if your goal is simply "Bangkok to Cambodia," flying wins on time, money, and sanity.
For years, long-stayers in Thailand (and plenty of people based in Cambodia, too) relied on the quick land hop to Poipet and back to reset a visa or extend a stay — the famous "Poipet run." That run is dead for now. The border is closed, there is no legal way for a tourist to pop across and back, and anyone offering to arrange one is offering something that doesn't exist. If your stay planning depends on a Thailand border bounce, rebuild the plan around a flight — or better, around entering Cambodia on the right visa in the first place. Our Plan Your Trip hub walks through the visa options in plain English.
No. Poipet — the Cambodian side of the Aranyaprathet crossing, and the busiest Thailand–Cambodia checkpoint of all — has been closed to ordinary travelers since late June 2025, just like every other crossing on this border.
Nobody knows yet. No official reopening date has been announced by either government, and we'd rather tell you that plainly than guess. We re-check this page every month and will update it as soon as there's an official announcement.
You may still see it listed — some booking sites and blogs haven't caught up. But a listing isn't a running service: the border leg can't cross a closed border. Don't build your itinerary around it, and check the current status before paying for any overland ticket between the two countries.
Yes. Bangkok–Phnom Penh and Bangkok–Siem Reap flights are running as usual, several times a day on budget airlines, at roughly an hour in the air. The closures affect land crossings only.
No. There's no special permit, visa type, or paid arrangement that lets tourists use these crossings right now. The limited border-pass arrangements near the border are for local Thai and Khmer residents only.
We keep this page current, but border rules sit with governments, not blogs — so for a final check before any trip, the UK government's Cambodia travel advice is a good official source to cross-check against, whichever country you're from. And for everything else about the trip — visas, the e-Arrival card, money, packing — start with our Plan Your Trip guides or the 30-second checklist on the homepage.
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