Bangkok Taxi

The journey downtown from the airport in Bangkok will take from between 20 minutes to 1 hour depending on the traffic. The total metered cost should never be more than 200Baht, but there are legitimate extra costs on top of this. If you take the tollway and expressway downtown (which is faster in heavy traffic), there are two charges of 30Baht and 40Baht to pay. The passenger pays these, though the driver may pay at the time and you'll be expected to pay for them at the end. If you're arriving at night it's not necessary to go on the expressway as the traffic is light on the main roads.

The passenger also has to pay a 50Baht airport surcharge on top of the metered fee. It's possible to get a taxi from the departures area which has just dropped off passengers or wave one down from the road which saves the 50Baht surcharge, but this is a less regulated way of doing it. Not surprisingly, the taxi drivers at the airport don't particularly like this practice and they may hassle you if you try to flag one down in front of them. Even with all the fees included, the total cost of getting a taxi downtown should never be much over 300Baht if that.

Try and get some change at the airport of 1000Baht notes to 20Baht, 50Baht and 100Baht ones, don't be surprised if the taxi driver hasn't got (or claims not to have) any change. If you do get caught in this kind of situation, you can always get out and get smaller notes by buying something from the nearest 7-Eleven store. This tactic often leads to the driver suddenly remembering where his change is kept.