MegatopLover

On my upcoming visit to Thailand, we have a stretch at FS Koh Samui and another at FS Chiang Mai. I know FS Samui is on the northwestern corner of the island, a good distance from Chaweng beach. I have learned on FT that FS CM is likewise about 30-45 minutes outside the old town of Chiang Mai.

Now, I could totally give Chaweng a miss. Been there, done that. But my spouse hasn't been there, so likely will want to spend an evening checking out the restaurants and the entertainment scene, just to see it. Same goes for the old town and night market of Chiang Mai.

So in both places, I'd kind of like to arrange a car and driver for an evening, maybe six , no more than eight, hours. Is this advisable, or is it better to just deal with one-way taxis (which in Samui at least are expensive compared to Bangkok)? If this is possible, how should one go about arranging the service? And how much should one expect to pay?

I know the hotels will offer some car service on an hourly basis. But we don't need a fancy car and the hotel pricing is invariably exorbitant.

tide

In Chiang Mai, Uber and Grab are options if you just want to go point-to-point.

There were lots of Grab taxis that appeared on the app (my location was the Arcade bus station which is outside the city center proper) when I was there last Dec. A lot less Uber but not zero (1-2 if I recall).

In Samui, perhaps you could rent a car and drive. Car rental agencies, such as Avis, will deliver and pickup car from your hotel for a small fee.

MegatopLover

Thank you, tide. I've now downloaded the Grab taxi app.

Anyone else have any thoughts or suggestions?

MegatopLover

For the benefit of the forum, a Thai friend of mine arranged a van and driver (van being cheaper than a car for unknown reasons) in Chiang Mai for 1800 baht plus gas and trip for one day of up to eight hours.

dsquared37

A plethora of vans in need of work.