12Go vs Rome2Rio vs Bookaway: Booking Southeast Asia Trains, Buses, and Ferries in 2026
Updated July 2026 | 6 min read
The three sites at a glance
| 12Go | Rome2Rio | Bookaway | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it actually is | Booking site (OTA), Bangkok-based, since 2012 | Route planner — does not sell tickets; owned by Omio | Booking site (OTA), since 2016 |
| SE Asia coverage | Deepest — trains, buses, ferries, minivans, cross-border routes across the region | Shows routes, but Asia bookings redirect to 12Go | Same countries, fewer operators on secondary routes |
| Fees | Convenience fee, unpublished; independent reviews report roughly 8-25% on typical train and bus tickets, higher on many ferries, far more on very cheap ones | None of its own — you pay the partner’s price | Service fee, exact rate unpublished |
| Cancellation | Operator-dependent; requests 24h+ before departure; service fees never refunded | Not applicable — cancel with whoever you booked with | Published tiers: 10% fee on flexible rates, clear windows |
| Trustpilot (2026) | 4.2 (about 9,800 reviews) | 3.4 (about 1,100 reviews) | 3.4 (about 4,700 reviews) |
| Best for | Actually booking SE Asia trains, ferries, and buses | Discovering which routes exist and roughly what they cost | A second quote, and travelers who want refund terms in writing |
Island-hopping southern Thailand — Phuket to Krabi by ferry, Krabi to Koh Lanta by speedboat, then two hours over open water to Koh Lipe — taught us that in Southeast Asia the transport booking is not a formality the way a train ticket in Germany is. Boats sell out, schedules shift with the season, and the difference between a 90-minute speedboat and a four-hour ferry is half your day. These are the three sites everyone lands on when they try to book that stretch online, and they are not the same kind of site at all.
Rome2Rio plans, 12Go books
The most common confusion first: Rome2Rio is not a booking site. It is a route planner — type any two places on earth and it shows you the combinations of flights, trains, buses, and ferries that connect them, with rough prices and times. It is genuinely excellent at that job, and it is where I start when I do not yet know whether a leg should be a flight or a ferry. But when you hit “book” on an Asian route, Rome2Rio hands you to a partner site — and for Southeast Asian ground transport that partner is typically 12Go. Its mediocre Trustpilot score (3.4) is mostly people discovering this redirect and feeling misled, not people losing money.
So the real comparison for Southeast Asia is not three-way. It is: plan on Rome2Rio, then book on 12Go, Bookaway, or one of the specialist alternatives below.
12Go: the deepest coverage, with one fee warning
12Go is a Bangkok-based booking site that has been selling Asian ground transport since 2012, and its coverage in the region is simply unmatched — trains, buses, ferries, minivans, and cross-border runs like Bangkok to Siem Reap, across Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, and beyond. It claims 730,000+ routes and sold 8.7 million tickets in 2025. It is the site I link across my Thailand and Bali guides, and its Trustpilot score (4.2 from nearly 10,000 reviews) is the best of the three by a clear margin.
You are paying for that convenience, and here is the honest math. 12Go does not publish its service fee. Independent reviews that have compared its prices against station prices report markups of roughly 8-25% on typical train and bus tickets, with many ferries running higher — a fair price for booking a Thai ferry in English from your couch three weeks out, with a confirmed seat in high season. But the fee structure has a sharp edge: on very cheap tickets it can dwarf the fare. The much-cited example is Bangkok’s third-class local trains, where a ticket costing around 20 baht at the station has been listed at 150-200 baht on 12Go. The rule that follows: book the long-haul and high-season legs online, and buy the dirt-cheap local tickets at the counter like everyone else.
Two more practical notes. First, 12Go’s service fee is non-refundable even when the operator refunds the fare, and refund requests must go in at least 24 hours before departure. Second — Thailand-specific — the State Railway does not accept e-tickets, so a Thai train booked on 12Go means exchanging your confirmation for a paper ticket at a pickup point (in Bangkok, the DOB Building opposite Hua Lamphong station; in Chiang Mai, inside the station or at the Bossotel hotel opposite it). Buses and most ferries are normal e-tickets on your phone.
Bookaway: the transparent fallback
Bookaway is the same kind of site as 12Go — an OTA selling buses, trains, ferries, and transfers, with offices in Bangkok and Tel Aviv — covering broadly the same Southeast Asian countries with a thinner operator list on secondary routes. Its Trustpilot score sits lower (3.4 from about 4,700 reviews), and on routes we have checked it rarely undercuts 12Go.
What Bookaway does better than anyone here is publish its cancellation policy like it means it: flexible rates can be cancelled up to 48 hours or 10 days out (depending on tier) with a flat 10% fee, rebooking fees are spelled out, and the whole schedule is on one page. 12Go’s terms, by contrast, defer to each operator and keep the service fee no matter what. If your plans are genuinely unstable — monsoon-season ferries, a visa run that might move — that predictability is a real reason to pay Bookaway instead, even at a slightly worse price.
The alternatives worth knowing: Baolau and the official Thai site
Two specialist options beat all three sites in their lanes. For Vietnam trains, Baolau — a small Vietnam-based booker that pulls availability straight from the state railway — consistently charges lower fees than 12Go; one documented comparison found the same Vietnamese train seat at roughly half 12Go’s price. Its footprint is narrow (Vietnam-centric, with some neighboring coverage), so it complements rather than replaces 12Go.
For Thai trains, the State Railway’s official D-Ticket site (dticket.railway.co.th) sells at the station price with zero markup, in English, up to 90 days ahead. The catch is notorious: it frequently rejects foreign Visa and Mastercard payments. Try it first — if your card goes through, you just saved the entire booking fee; if it bounces, 12Go is the practical fallback, which is exactly the trade its fee is pricing.
Which one should you pick?
Plan on Rome2Rio — it is the best tool for discovering that the route exists and whether it should be a flight, ferry, or overnight train. Just do not expect to book there.
Book on 12Go for almost everything in Southeast Asia: widest coverage, best track record, confirmed seats in high season. Accept the convenience fee on normal tickets, and never use it for very cheap local tickets, where the fee can be several times the fare.
Use Bookaway when you want cancellation terms in writing before you pay, or as a second quote when 12Go’s price looks high.
Check Baolau for Vietnam trains and D-Ticket for Thai trains before defaulting to the big sites — specialists and official channels are where the real savings hide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 12Go legit and safe to use?
Yes. It has operated from Bangkok since 2012, sold 8.7 million tickets in 2025, and holds a 4.2 Trustpilot score across nearly 10,000 reviews — the strongest of the Southeast Asia transport booking sites. The main complaints trace to operator failures (a cancelled ferry, an overbooked bus) rather than the platform itself, plus its non-refundable service fee, which surprises people who skip the terms.
Why is 12Go more expensive than the station price?
12Go adds an unpublished convenience fee to the operator’s fare. Independent price checks report roughly 8-25% on typical train and bus tickets (ferries often run higher) — reasonable for English booking, online payment, and a confirmed seat weeks ahead. The trap is cheap tickets: on a 20-baht local train the listed price has run 150-200 baht, several times the station fare. Book long-haul legs online; buy very cheap local tickets at the counter.
Can you book Thai trains online without 12Go?
Yes — the State Railway of Thailand’s official D-Ticket site sells tickets at the station price with no markup, in English, up to 90 days in advance. Its known weakness is payment: it frequently rejects foreign Visa and Mastercard cards. If your card works, use it and save the fee; if not, 12Go is the practical fallback. Either way, Thai train tickets are physical — 12Go bookings are exchanged for a paper ticket at a pickup point before boarding.
Is Rome2Rio a booking site?
No. Rome2Rio is a route planner owned by Omio: it shows you every way to get between two places with estimated prices and times, then redirects you to a partner to book. For Southeast Asian ground routes that partner is typically 12Go, so for Asia trips Rome2Rio is best used as the discovery tool and 12Go (or an alternative like Bookaway or Baolau) as the actual booking site.
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Affiliate disclosure: This post contains affiliate links at no extra cost to you: 12Go, Skyscanner, Airalo, SafetyWing. Of the transport sites compared, only 12Go pays me a commission — Rome2Rio, Bookaway, Baolau, and the official Thai railway site do not, and I have recommended them where they win anyway. Fee figures for 12Go come from independent reviews, not the company, since it does not publish a fee schedule.
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Written by Jenna Fattah
I have visited 25+ countries across 6 continents, attended 7 Formula 1 races, and spent 4 years writing about what actually works and what I would do differently. Every recommendation on this site comes from trips I planned and paid for myself. Read more about me
