Thailand - any taxi issues from Bangkok central to international airport at 3AM?

I have a 7AM departure from Bangkok international and am connecting from another part of Thailand, so I would like to go into Bangkok city entertainment/center during a 12 hour layover. Question - I noticed that all the public transportation ceases after midnight headed to the airport. Are there any issues or problems getting a taxi to take you to the airport around 3-4 AM. To complicate matters, the skytrain does not start its run until 6AM and I have to be at the airport 3 hours before or 4AM. Anyone had recent experience?

Nothing more than the normal. Grab any old taxi driving down the street and make sure he runs the meter. There's a million of them. Just get out and take the next one if there's any disagreement over running the meter, but that's fairly unlikely. Taxis parked at the curb directly in front of places of interest to foreigners are the only ones likely to give you any grief. In general always flag down a moving taxi. (in Bangkok or just about anywhere else)

Why in the world would you have to be there 3 hours before the flight?

There is no problem at that time. Taxis are plentiful 24 hours a day. If you are taking the UA flight, being there 2 hours before take off is plenty especially if you are in biz.

For more discussion, please follow the thread as it moves to Travel->Thailand. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

Do consider ordering a limo; cost 1650 THB (MB E 300) to 2200 THB (BMW 730L). Sleeping your way out to the airport is valuable on such a short stay.

:)

Do consider ordering a limo; cost 1650 THB (MB E 300) to 2200 THB (BMW 730L). Sleeping your way out to the airport is valuable on such a short stay.

:)

For that price you can get a decent hotel room and get real sleep. At that time of morning depending on where the OP is coming from the trip to the airport will be very quick and no time to sleep. Nothing against a limo though.

At that time of morning you will not get to the airport any quicker using the highway; street level is quick, painless and the 70B you keep in your pocket paid for the last beer you had before getting into the taxi.

I second the notion above that you should avoid, whenever possible, parked taxis. Flag one down, this is never a difficult task in Bangkok.

In general you should not have a problem flagging down a taxi to take you to the airport at that time of day. You may have to speak with more than one taxi/driver before you get one to take you as ~ 70% of the drivers share 12 hour shifts and the hand-off time is usually 4:00 AM - 4:00 PM, so some drivers may not want to go to the airport if they have to be somewhere else to hand off the taxi. Don't be put-off if some drivers choose not to take you. (It's also a bit of a pain to go to the airport for drivers as they may not want to wait hours in the taxi lot so have to head all the way back into town.)

While not an issue for a few more months, heavy rains also make it more challenging to get a taxi to take you where you might want to go. During the rainy season I would always recommend using the motorway/tollway as it is elevated and not prone to localized flooding, which might negatively impact your trip to the airport.

I often go to the airport at 03:30 - 04:00 for the 06:00 UA departure. While I arrange to have a taxi pick me up at my home, I do see many, many taxis driving around at that time of day.

How long does a taxi take at that sort of time in the morning (4-5ish)?

any taxi issues from Bangkok central to international airport at 3AM?

This post reminded me of one of my worst travel experiences. I had a similar flight time, and as an experience traveller thought nothing of the challenge of grabbing a cab of the street late at night ( venue the old Marriott Spa ).

In the end I wasted a lot of time, had to crawl back cap in hand to the hotel front desk - where the staff are possibly less experienced than the day crew, who organised a cab for me. The driver who turned up constantly sneezed during the 45 minute drive, which alarmed me, as did the only occasional use of hands on the steering wheel while driving at some 75 mph ++. To say the car was not exactly modern is to be charitable.

I never wish to repeat that experience and I would always plan better for this type of project.

My mother takes that UA flight to NRT several times a year, usually plan on leaving the house (Ekamai - Sukumvit 63) about 2 hours before flight time.

I agree that there's no reason to leave so early for the airport. That time of night there is not much traffic headed out there. Shouldn't take more than 30 minutes from most of the central areas, and potentially quite a bit less. As for expressway or not...that 70 baht isn't a lot of money to me.

I agree that there's no reason to leave so early for the airport. That time of night there is not much traffic headed out there. Shouldn't take more than 30 minutes from most of the central areas, and potentially quite a bit less. As for expressway or not...that 70 baht isn't a lot of money to me.


It often takes me 35 minutes from the river at 4AM.

The 70Baht isn't alot of money, but it's also not going to get you there any quicker.

thanks so muh for the indepth and informative reply. My mind is at ease as I was considering staying at the airport for 8 hours and that didn't sound like fun. A few beers in BKK central sounds better !!!

I would like to go into Bangkok city entertainment/center during a 12 hour layover.

If you're on Sukhumvit, btw Soi 4 to 40, there will be zillions of cabs to take, and even driving slowly [which no taxi driver does in bkk], you'll get there in 30 minutes or so.

If you're on the odd number sois, take Sukhumvit via Etkami to Rama IX to highway to airport; if you're on the even side, take highway straight out. Either way, less than B300 on the meter.