The Cheapest Ways to Travel in Phuket, Taxis
While taxis in Bangkok are cheap (make sure to tip the poor fellows a few baht when you're on the meter) transport around the island of Phuket increase drastically in price.
Here are a few hard fought tips for you to hopefully save you some of your hard earned money.
1) When you arrive at the airport- don't get a taxi at the counter. The prices are double what a Grab taxi costs. Get a Grab taxi to take you to your hotel. You'll have to walk outside the airport to meet the Grab, as the businesses at the airport enforce the rent seeking behavior of not allowing the Grabs in, but fortunately th exit is a very easy walk through a parking lot. Certainly worth the savings.
a) If your hotel has the word airport in it- WALK THERE. I swear to you ours was literally across the street, and would have been quicker to walk to than take the Grab. Make sure to do a Google Map search for your hotel's location.
2) Grab Taxi or negotiate-- If you're in a location with very little traffic, by all means, pull out your phone and use the Grab Taxi app. It is wayyyy more expensive to use it on Phuket than Bangkok or Chiang Mai, probably more than twice as much, but if you don't have much of a choice it remains a viable option.
3) Your best is to negotiate. Find a taxi driver, get his phone number, and negotiate rates (and on the first encounter too) If he cannot pick you up on the next morning, he'll subcontract out to one of his friends, who will pick you up and take you where you need to go for the negotiated rate.
4) Songthaews --- kind of like a mini-bus, a pick-up truck with seats and an overhang will pick you up far cheaper (like 40 baht per person) and take you where it is you wish to go. You might have to wait a few minutes by the side of the road, and pick-up others in the process, but it is definitely by far the cheapest way to travel around Phuket Island.
Here are a few hard fought tips for you to hopefully save you some of your hard earned money.
1) When you arrive at the airport- don't get a taxi at the counter. The prices are double what a Grab taxi costs. Get a Grab taxi to take you to your hotel. You'll have to walk outside the airport to meet the Grab, as the businesses at the airport enforce the rent seeking behavior of not allowing the Grabs in, but fortunately th exit is a very easy walk through a parking lot. Certainly worth the savings.
a) If your hotel has the word airport in it- WALK THERE. I swear to you ours was literally across the street, and would have been quicker to walk to than take the Grab. Make sure to do a Google Map search for your hotel's location.
2) Grab Taxi or negotiate-- If you're in a location with very little traffic, by all means, pull out your phone and use the Grab Taxi app. It is wayyyy more expensive to use it on Phuket than Bangkok or Chiang Mai, probably more than twice as much, but if you don't have much of a choice it remains a viable option.
3) Your best is to negotiate. Find a taxi driver, get his phone number, and negotiate rates (and on the first encounter too) If he cannot pick you up on the next morning, he'll subcontract out to one of his friends, who will pick you up and take you where you need to go for the negotiated rate.
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| Songthaew in Thailand |
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