How To Get Around Bangkok

With 26 million visitors to Thailand every yr, many of which spend at to the lowest degree some of their time in Bangkok, this is a uppercase with a capital B for Busy! With swell cultural attractions, amazing restaurants and exciting things to do beyond the urban center, and with no specific centre, knowing how to go around, across, and every which way in between, is essential. If you want to really explore this dynamic metropolis you lot need to be able to get around!

Taxi

Taxis, taxis everywhere! Not only are they plentiful they are affordable too and yous might find that jumping in and out of a cab is the nigh straightforward manner to explore the metropolis. In fact, you tin even go a taxi driver to drive y'all around for the whole day for a stock-still fee even if you haven't worked out a prepare itinerary. Stick out your arm on any street in any part of Bangkok pretty much and a taxi will finish within seconds.

Quick Tips

The xanthous and green taxis are privately endemic and you may observe they are cleaner and y'all are looked after amend – only many of the other colored taxis are simply as good.
Expect to pay tollways for expressways – it isn't much (25-55 THB) only these fast tracks tin cut out traffic queue frustrations massively.
If y'all experience uneasy near the driver or the driving so always change taxis. In that location'due south no reason not to.
Don't be offended if a taxi driver doesn't want to take you. Depending on where you're heading you lot may go a few rejections before y'all find the right taxi.
Unless you're clued upward on local prices but take meter taxis. Often it's all-time to walk slightly away from large hotels and tourist attractions where taxis wait and try to charge more.
Don't expect every taxi driver to know every part of the city. Information technology'due south a good idea to get a rough agreement of the area you lot want to get to, particularly if it's non on the primary tourist drag.
If your driver's looked subsequently you well and you lot see flowers being sold on the roads during traffic light stops yous can purchase a x-xx THB garland for the driver to bring him luck and protection on the roads only guard y'all bag and put the coins or annotation through a crack in the window.
If it'due south rush-hour or a Fri or during the Monsoon rains and you demand to get somewhere apace think twice about getting a taxi.

BTS & MRT

The BTS Skytrain is the ultimate in efficient, make clean, air-conditioned travel condolement in the metropolis. And not merely that, only running from 6 am until midnight it speeds quickly in a higher place and across the urban center. The Sukhumvit and Silom lines come across at Siam and are really straightforward to understand and navigate. They end in all the principal parts of the city, but if you lot're visiting some of the tourist attractions in the older parts of the urban center near Chinatown and by the river at Banglamphu, and so you might decide to either get a skytrain as nearly as possible or opt for a taxi all the way.

Every bit well every bit avoiding the decorated streets by traveling overground, you can also go under via the MRT. This single runs from Bang Sue to the railroad train station at Hua Lamphong and crosses the BTS at MRT Sukhumvit and BTS station Asoke. Another near crossing point is MRT Silom and BTS Sala Daeng, with a skywalk connecting the two. The MRT covers areas that are, aside from Chinatown, less touristy, and complements the skytrain well.

Quick Tips

Avert the queues and save money on journeys with a Rabbit card that will embrace you for trips on the BTS and the MRT.
You lot can't accept nutrient and drinks through the gates onto the trains. Balloons are a no-no too!
It's local custom to stand up for elderly people, monks and children of all ages. Monks will commonly sit at the seats near the doors and information technology is not custom for them to sit next to a female so this sometimes means a little seat shuffling.
Kids 90 cm or nether travel free.
The new airport link is fast and makes for a stress-gratis trip to and from Suvarnabhumi, linking upwardly at BTS Phaya Thai.
If you lot have lots of shopping either ask a guard to go through the large gate to the platforms or agree your bags upwardly loftier, otherwise y'all may find the gates close early and give you a good winding.
It's better to give tickets to a guard for children to pass through the large gate if their heads are the same height or below the moving gates.
Don't worry about getting to the train door before it stops at the station. It's often easier to motion when the train is just pulling in or has already stopped.
Don't run!

Tuk-Tuks & Motorbike Taxis

A trip to Bangkok isn't complete without a madcap rollercoaster of a ride through the chaotic streets in an iconic symbol of Thailand, the tuk-tuk. Information technology'due south non only great fun but a skillful mode to zip around short distances or weave through decorated traffic. But considering these car rickshaws are ramshackle they charge about the same every bit a taxi and if y'all're travelling around 10-xx minutes then the price should be around forty-80 THB.

Similarly, the motorbike taxis can exist handy, especially to get around for solo travelers or couples, but they're not for the fainthearted! These are best suited for nipping from one end of the street to another and best avoided on long journeys or on super-busy thoroughfares. Always wearable a helmet and if you're going to employ them don't overdo it. It might be tempting to go where y'all want to more quickly but call up rubber starting time.

Quick Tips

If you're paying more than than 100 THB you're either beingness overcharged or yous've taken besides long a journeying.
If you don't see a helmet then enquire, as the motorbike guys e'er have one either in the seat or at the taxi stop.
Sit down side-saddle if y'all're wearing a brim.
Be wary of tuk-tuk drivers waiting outside big hotels and the main tourist attractions equally they often attempt and accuse you more.
Don't accept kids on bikes and long tuk-tuk trips even if you meet the locals doing it.
If yous feel uneasy, whatever the reason, don't continue your journeying.

Buses

Despite the wonderful anarchy and heady urban center life in Bangkok, the buses are amazingly organized. They are regular, usually on time, and go everywhere. They are besides either free or outrageously cheap – perfect for budget travelers and anyone wanting to run into a different side to Thai culture on a more grassroots level.

QUICK TIPS

Programme your journeying and then that you know before you lot set off the best route possible and and so that you don't finish up lost in the city without a clue how to get to y'all side by side destination.
Download an app for the bus routes or go online to work out which bus you demand to become on.
Buses in Bangkok are non always an piece of cake ride so beware of speeding buses when you cantankerous the road and make sure you lot wave energetically to flag one downwards at a end. Sit downwardly equally rapidly as possible every bit the driver will commonly set off as presently equally you lot step onboard. Look for the small switches near the doors – these are the stop-at-the-side by side-terminate bells.

Boats

You'll be moving around the urban center like a true local if you lot offset traveling past boat. This is a metropolis built around waterways and not merely will you discover a whole other civilization simply you'll find that Bangkok's boats are a great way to get around. The noisy klong water taxis race up and down the canals regularly, although yous may have to stand in the forenoon and later in the afternoon when they're packed with commuters. The Chao Phraya Tourist Boat costs 150 THB for a day ticket and travels on the river between Sathorn Pier, which is right past BTS Saphan Taksin, and Phra Arthit. You can hop on and off at each pier for no actress cost which is a keen way to visit riverside attractions such as Wat Arun and the Yard Palace. The orange, greenish and xanthous Express Boats are perfect if you want to make specific trips to a pier, and are a lot less toll-wise than the Tourist Boat.

QUICK TIPS

Pull the tarpaulin up at the side of the klong water taxis if you're continuing or sitting by the side otherwise you may become a little splashed!
Don't follow the nimble locals who bound on and off boats before they're properly stopped at the pier. Mind the gap!
Keep loose change for boat trips as the ticket person moves through the gunkhole quickly.
Make sure you lot're wearing sunscreen, every bit although it may be refreshingly cool on the water you might find yourself sat in the glare of the sun.
Don't wait until the boat stops to start slowly making your mode to where y'all get off. The boats come in fast and leave just as rapidly.

*Epitome of Tuk-Tuk vehicle urban in Bangkok via Shutterstock