Taxi from Suvarnabhumi Airport to Bangkok
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When you arrive after a 12 hour flight you only want one thing; to you as soon as possible hotels. You can with the Airport Rail Link, but most tourists still prefer a taxi.
Enter the official taxis Thailand (meter taxi) are an excellent means of transport and not expensive. You can therefore decide to travel from the airport to your accommodation by taxi. The center of Bangkok is quite far from the airport. You have to take into account a travel time of 45 to 60 minutes (even longer in case of traffic jams). The distance from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport to the city center (Democracy Monument) is 35 kilometers.
How do you get a taxi as quickly as possible?
When you arrive at Bangkok International Airport (Suvarnabhumi), you are in the arrival hall on level 2. For a normal taxi (also known as a meter taxi), you have to go to level 1: Public Taxi.
Please note that taxi services are offered at Level 2, but they are the more expensive AOT (Airport Of Thailand) limousine services. For this mode of transport you pay twice as much as a normal taxi.
How the taxi service works
Taxi service at Bangkok airport has improved significantly. Follow the 'Public Taxi' signs to the first floor. Walk out and get in line. Here you will be assigned a ticket with a reference (number) to the taxi stand. It's good to make it clear that you only want to drive with the meter on. You can make this known by saying “Meter on please”. If the driver does not want to use the meter or does not turn it on, get out and arrange another taxi.
How much do you pay for a taxi?
For final destinations within Bangkok, the meter price is charged. This price is set nationally. The starting fee is 35 Baht. This amount is on the meter when you start driving. If you use the highway, you pay the toll costs yourself. The average price for a taxi ride to Bangkok is 400 THB (10 euros), this includes the surcharge of 50 Baht (airport surcharge) that you always pay for a taxi from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport. If you want to get to Bangkok faster, choose the toll road. You have to pay for it yourself and it costs about 70 baht. If you assume 500 baht in taxi costs from Suvarnabhumi to Bangkok then you are pretty good.
Pay to the driver at the end of the trip. Tipping is not customary, so whether you want to do so is up to you. You can round up the amount. Pay appropriately in Thai Baht, not all taxi drivers can change money.
Travel to a hotel in the immediate vicinity of the airport
For short distance taxi rides there is a special desk at the taxi stand on level 1. You walk there and tell or show where you want to go. The desk clerk will note this down and give you a number. When the taxi driver arrives you will be warned and you can walk to the taxi.
Travel outside of Bangkok
For travel outside of Bangkok you normally pay a fixed price, and the taximeter is not used. For example, a trip to Pattaya is/was 1.500 baht (the driver pays the toll charges).
Communication problems
The desk staff usually speak excellent English, but just to be sure, you can bring a printout of the address of your stay (in Thai) or a telephone number of your final destination. Most drivers speak limited English, but since the desk clerk tells them where you want to go, that's not a problem.
Do you have any taxi tips for the readers, please share them with us.
As I usually go to Pattaya I use mr. T taxi from Pattaya. This was 1.000 baht, but will now be slightly more due to the higher toll. In 3 weeks I will be in Bangkok, and from my hotel in Bangkok Mr. T asks 1.400 baht to Pattaya. But there are many taxi companies that offer this service. Usually you have to report yourself at Meeting Point 3. The driver will be there with a piece of paper with your name on it.
Another possibility is that you let yourself be picked up by the hotel where you are going. Provided it has a pick-up service at the airport of course.
I prefer an AOT limousine. New cars with safety belts, well-functioning air conditioners, excellent and relaxed driving drivers (just have to wait for a normal taxi). The toll price is included in the price and the journey is registered. For example, I once found my newly purchased iPhone neat and tidy. All these benefits have always been the extra cost for me.
I totally agree with Richard. I always do it that way too. No discussion about traffic jam, broken counter, increased petrol price, etc. I had never been lucky enough to have a taxi driver with whom you did not have to have a discussion before you were in Bangkok. And I don't really need that after the long flight. A limousine is worth the extra price to me!
I just want to take a stand for the taxi driver from Khon Kaen airport to my hometown, about 55 km away, two weeks ago. An ordinary meter taxi. (after a huge debacle with a minivan on the way to Bangkok, I decided to take a flight BKK-Khon Kaen and a taxi home) The driver insisted on carrying our half-full shopping bag to the car, opened the door for my girlfriend (I already got in himself) and drove very professionally over the AH100 at just under 12 km / h. Finally a Thai who used his mirrors. He spoke Thai to my girlfriend, but so calmly that even at times I understood what he was talking about, even though I have only basic command of the Thai language. Neatly dropped off in the driveway of our house, without any discussion about the fare. Just the amount of the meter. He was well worth the (I think generous) tip. We received his name and telephone number and the promise that he will pick us up on time and at the same price and bring us home at our planned holiday trip to the Netherlands. Tribute to this man, both in terms of his appearance, his clean car and his driving style!
My experience with going a taxi is usually to wait and see which driver you meet .. and that is usually disappointing,
Little or no knowledge of the English language, and the closer you get to the center, the busier it gets. Many traffic jams..and you just watch that meter..!
So just grab the airport link, costs almost nothing 50/60 bath to terminal center
85bath paid last month
Dan has become a bit more expensive, but is still cheap and fast!
If you travel light - small suitcase / not too large backpack - and you know where your hotel is in Bangkok, then take a closer look at transport by train.
Especially useful if you have to be in the busier places in Bangkok around the morning, afternoon, evening rush hour.
With a bit of bad luck you just stand still somewhere for half an hour to an hour.
Then the Airport Link is a great alternative. Even if you have to transfer to the metro or other transport, it is often faster than the taxi.
It's definitely cheaper.
Of course someone can also take the Airport link for 50/60 Baht, although I personally prefer to take a taxi.
The advantage is that after a 12-hour flight, or sometimes even longer, at a usually much warmer temperature, you don't have to drag anything with your luggage.
Moreover, you do not have to search for the already booked hotel yourself, and you can relax and watch until you and your usually heavy luggage are delivered right to the door of the hotel in question.
The difference that usually remains with 2 people, compared to the Airport link, is often no more than a few Euros p/p, which for me do not outweigh the dragging of suitcases and searching for my hotel.
But maybe this desire will also have something to do with age, or a completely different opinion where a quality holiday should start.
THE public taxis are usually a bit small and the gas tank is already in the trunk, which sometimes results in a seat next to your suitcase. Or he puts the suitcase in front of the chair.
Services offered were 3x the price.
Once done taxi without meter, asked how much, 2X the price, (asked 400 baht) Accepted then, don't feel like changing taxi. Clears the price to my destination.
Definitely handy to ALWAYS have the address with you and especially the SOI. They usually have an idea where it is.
Although I had a taxi once, the driver of which became ting tong because he didn't quite know where to go. At that point I did so, recognized where I was sitting and could tell HIM how to drive 555
It is of course always useful to have an address when you take a taxi….
Handy for the taxi driver, but also for yourself to know where you want to go 😉
I'm afraid you won't get very far with a Soi alone in Bangkok, for example, because there are many Soi's there that all have the same number.
It is therefore very important to know the main street where the Soi ends or starts.
Eg Sukhumvit Soi 10 or LatPhrao 101 Soi 10 is quite different as far as Soi 10 is concerned.
I myself rarely come across taxis in Bangkok that don't want to run on the meter and I still take several taxis a week. We do not live directly where many tourists come.
Of course it happens sometimes, but I think once or twice a year and they still put their meter on when I ask.
You probably run a better chance at the more popular tourist pick-up points.
It is best to walk a little further and you will usually find a taxi that spontaneously puts on its meter.
From the airport to Bangkok, we have not yet experienced that people do not want to drive on the meter to our home address. Perhaps also because they notice from the address that the area where we live is not exactly where a tourist would stay during a holiday.
Especially since the introduction of those number pillars, I think they will also be careful, because they can lose their airport license with it.
What I have experienced a few times, were taximeters that have been tampered with.
I once experienced that you saw it clearly, but there are also cases that you do not immediately notice it. Usually only when you know the normal price and you have to pay more on arrival, even though the same route was followed.
Perhaps more common than not setting up the meter…. who knows ?.
For the airport link you pay 45 baht to the terminal. You are there in 30 minutes . You can go there with the bts. But if you are going to drag a 30 kilo suitcase and 8 kg hand luggage with you, a taxi is easier.
Install the grab app on your phone. A kind of Uber for Thai taxis.
You indicate where you are, where you want to go, the app gives the price and the driver drives based on the route that the app gives to the destination. Traveling by taxi in BKK has never been easier.
Depends on the circumstances for me.
Grab is a good solution, especially in places where there are not many taxis and even when it rains.
But just raising your hand still works fine for me.
On my last visit last December, I wanted to pick up my wife from work in the center of Bangkok by taxi from the airport and then go home (apartment in Bang Khuntian) together. However, the driver wanted to charge 2x the airport rate of THB 50 for this (and completely unjustly). I didn't waste a lot of words on this and just didn't give him a tip. Later, upon inquiry, it turned out that it was indeed completely unjust to charge 2x THB 50.
That is indeed unjust that he charged those 2 x 50 Baht.
That 50 Baht is only an access right for the taxi and per ride at the airport, which is then charged to the passenger. Also on the price list that normally hangs on the seat of the front passenger.
The number of passengers who board it does not matter, let alone who are picked up later.
If you board at the airport with 3 people, the airport rate will remain 50 Baht.
But sometimes people try.
Some time ago I took a taxi at the Big C in LatPhrao.
I do take the taxi there more often and it always goes pretty smoothly.
When I got in that time, he told me that if I took the taxi here I would have to pay an extra 20 Baht.
I just laughed once, got out and took another.
When I told the story of the 20 Baht boarding fee to the other taxi driver, he had to laugh.
Some do indeed try, he said, but it is unjustified. The result is that we are all tarred with the same brush, he said.
Could only agree with him. His honesty has earned him a nice tip.
Waiting times at the airport (queuing) can be quite long, sometimes more than an hour.
If you want to go to the center take the Airport Rail link and buy a ticket (coin) to Ramkhamhaeng.
You then get off at Nasa Vegas hotel, where they also have a taxi stand.
From Ramkhamhaeng you can continue by taxi for less than 150 Bath to almost every corner of BKK
Since about 11 months - and I expect during the coming months - you can of course only take a taxi after a domestic flight. If you arrive internationally, everything has already been arranged, including special transport to your quarantine hotel.
Download Grab on your smartphone (Uber alternative in Thailand)
Buy a tourist SIM card at the airport (which is ready to use right away)
Via Grab you order the taxi at the airport and choose the place where it should come
So that's all still pre-corona... but I didn't have to stand in line because of it