Did you pay extra 1000thb?

It is usually better to go to one of the taxi counters just outside the doors.

Thailand is a wonderful place to visit and travel around. As a UK citizen, finding a cheap flight to Bangkok (this is possible if willing to spend time looking) makes a holiday to Thailand not far off the cost of a trip somewhere in my own country. Mid range hotels are of very good standards (choose one of the excellent boutique hotels providing home from home comfort) and are ever so affordable. Tour companies are all competing with each other meaning a great day out can be had to some majestic sights for very little. Food is available for all budgets and is generally excellent. What does bother me about my several trips to Thailand however is what I would describe as the increasingly exorbitant (in relative terms) taxi/tuk tuk costs. I recently figured that a large proportion of my budget was being used on transport, usually only small distances from hotels to particular areas of the city/island. It appears, from speaking with locals, that the "taxi mafia" are not promoting a particularly positive image for the Thai tourist industry and it would be in the Thai governments interests to deal with the problem. My advice is to bargain hard, do not accept the first price quoted, and remember, for a driver a tuk tuk with people in it is better than an empty tuk tuk so this should mean you have more bargaining power. As for taxis from the airport, budget for 400 baht to the city and anything less is a bonus.

Taxi to and from airport to the Center of the city is exactly 290bht.

Taxi fares will be raised in BKK this week. Apparantly, it will be an extra 50 satang per KM and maybe the price will rise from 35 to 40 baht when you start the trip (I've heard different stories about the latter). Not a scam, I know, but just so people know.

Beware of Taxi drivers who offer to take you to Government Building exhibitions
I also think that Hotel employees are involved in taxi scams.so be careful.
We had been told about the taxi scams so we had a trouble free holiday in Phuket, always taking a metered taxi. However, on our second day in Bankok we asked the Hotel porter to call us a taxi.He very kindly called us one who promised to take us to Temple for 200bht. Five minutes into the journey he said there was too much trafic and could not go all the way. He offered to take us to the river boat, saying it would be easier and only charged us 70bht. He drove off, and we found out that where he dropped was for a river boat, but only we wanted to do a tour of the river. The attendants gave us instructions for another river boat crossing which they said was only a short distance away. While walking away a taxi driver come up to us and offered to take us to the temple for 50bht saying he had to pick up passengers there and that as it was Sunday the river boat only came every hour, so we could be waiting for a long time. We agreed to go with him, but enrout he said there was this Government building which gave poor taxi drivers 200bht worth of petrol if they took tourist there as this was to promote the country. We declined, but he said it is on the way and it just an exhibition and would take only 10 minutes. We hesitated, but of course he said we would be doing him a big favour. We said as long as we don't have to buy anything we would go. He took us there, but on arrival we found the building to be Gems Gallery which we already knew about, we refused to go in and asked that he continues the journey to the Temple. He was furious, said he only took us because we agreed. He was getting very annoyed so we agreed to pay him 100bht ( big mistake) if he would just take us to where we wanted to go. His face lit up and he said ok. Well, to cut a long story, he took us to the Old Kings Palace, where we found the entrance gaurded by souldiers with guns and we knew then that we had been scamed. In fact we were miles away from where we wanted to go and had difficulty finding a metered taxi who would take us. For the rest of our stay in Bakok we travelled by train which was a delight. It could have been worse.

A Taxi from lower Sukhumvit is about 190 baht to Suwarnapum, plus highway tolls of 65. Always ask for the meter if it is not on. Do not be friendly with the drivers. If the driver has the meter on from the beginning and does not try to ask you for more money, tip him. You not always find honest drivers. they deserve the tips. Never take the private taxis, go always outside to the Public Taxi. Once I was preocuppied when i took a taxi and did not notice until 10 minutes later that the meter is off. I told the driver where was the meter. He replied 400 baht. I replied meter. He replied 400 baht. I replied meter without even looking at him. He went down to 350. I kept on. He finally turned the meter on. No tips. When in Thailand, remember, Thais are like most dogs:they bark, but rarely bite.

That sux. Live and learn. If you ever travel to Malaysia you should be extra careful!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had to go to the same place in Bangkok several times a month. Different prices all the time. Even with Taximeter. Some drivers were like 80 bath cheaper. Soon I found out the shortest way and had to tell some drivers not to make a city tour. But this kind of things happen everywhere.

At the Bangkok airport, don't even walk outside in the arrival area as that's where the touts are with the scam taxis. Even the "Airport Approved" taxis are a rip-off. When you come out of the doors, go upstairs to the departures area. There you will find regular taxis that have dropped off customers and will charge the regular metered rate. The first time in the new airport I didn't know this and got stuck paying 600 Baht to go near Soi 4 on Sukhumvit. After some locals schooled me on what to do, I took one of the regular taxis from the departure area on my next trip and total cost to the same area on Soi 4 including highway tolls was 260 Baht.

Also don't take the hotel provided taxis that are queued up by the door. I made that mistake once too and paid 400 Baht for a 2 km ride with no traffic to a restaurant I was meeting a friend at. The ride back cost 80 Baht in a metered taxi in heavy traffic. Unless you're in an extreme hurry, walk down to the street and flag a normal taxi.

Phew!! After reading about all these scams, I dont think this is a place worth visiting.

@Maria,
Thailand is one of the best places to visit. These scams are eveywhere or even worse. Thailand is fun place to be and safer than most of other countries.

Maria, Wise choice, probably save yourself a lot of money and heartache, Jay's comment is misread. it should of said These scams are everywhere in Thailand, Its a fun place to be but dont drop your guard, it safer than most countries, though it has got the highest murder rate in the world

Hi Maria,

My family have traveled and lived in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, China, Canada, United States, France, Great Britain, Europe, South America and West Africa. Beware SCAMMERS are everywhere. They are just dressed in different clothing.

Thailand is no different. Learn from the mistakes of others but keep on traveling. It is a great way to live and learn.

The taxi problem in Bangkok is real. Avoid and ignore the taxis "limo" vultures inside the airport terminal head straight for the local taxi stand. You should pay no more than 300 baht for the fair into Bangkok.

They same applies to the smaller local airports like Phuket, Surat Thani, Chiang Mai. Even chat with the air hostesses on your flight how much they pay to get a taxi into the city.

Scammers can only scam you if you let them. Its your money.

My taxi scam story is very old (early 70s) and far far away (Washington, DC) during my student days........I took a metered cab (full name is Taxi Cab) from a hotel, wanting to go to the university, and the driver "took me for a ride" around a few blocks and dropped me off not 100 feet away from the hotel, only on the opposite side.
Up until today, whenever I travel to a new place, the first thing I always do is to check the map.

You should not take any taxi without a meter period, anywhere in Thailand, other then the Songtaews outside of Bangkok. Any taxi that has meter taxi written on there, be sure the first thing you do as the taxi begins moving is tell them to turn the meter on, if not get out. Also you should never let a taxi take you anywhere other then where you want to go, if you don't know where to go, I highly suggest you study and scour the internet before travelling to Thailand.

........and there are loads of free maps and whats on magazines everywhere with alot of good information on them. Some even have well designed picture maps.

When you have the info, its easy to get to where you want to go and what you want to do.

I've found maps failry useless in Bangkok, good for you to know where to go, but most taxi drivers are from poor Issan and are usually not very well educated, hence the fact most know very little English. Second they usually don't know how to read maps or read period. I've shown maps in Thai from a website printout numerous times to drivers and they still had no clue where they were going. Best thing to do, is have a mobile that works in Thailand and the phone number of the place you are trying to get to so they can tell the driver where to go.

@The Riddler, I agree with you, the taxi drivers are not so good with there sense of direction. But they smile a lot.

Thanks,
Unfortunately I believe usually the reason they smile so much is for one they know most other cultures actually do care about things of the heart like being nice, why do you think so many people carry children and beg or have broken bones or disfigurements and etc. I think the other reason they smile is they are laughing at how dumb you are and how easily you got scammed into jumping in their cab.

If a Thai smiles or strikes up a conversation with a tourist, 99% chance, they are trying to scam.

I totaly disagree with Chang Mai above, I have ben visiting Thailand for 10 years. I have had many taxis from both airports most of whom speak good English (which of course is a great help) if you use the public taxi counter and tell driver to switch on meter before you get in. I have never had a problem. Please dont give Thai people a bad name because they speak English and are interested in talking with you. It makes all farangs look ignorant.

I was caught like this last Christmas going from New Phetchburi Road to the Airport. As usual, the meter "broke" when I was on the Expressway, thus nowhere to go. At the airport I was asked for B500 - I reckon half is about right thus I said nothing, unloaded my bags, gave the guy the B150 I had in my pocket and walked off with my bags, leaving the guy open mouthed and with less money than if he'd put the meter on - and he'd have got a tip too!

A determined look in the eye and ignoring the driver's protests to my retreating back worked for me.

Or organise a car through your hotel

Have they started using taxi meters in Koh Samui yet? I think not, yet it is meant to be compulsory in every cab. I did not see one using a meter in over 40 trips despite repeated requests.