Taxi/ Uber/Gab/rent a car in Thailand

If you are planning to visit Thailand then this blog will certainly prepare you for the possible taxi scammers.

First of all, there are different color of taxis in Thailand, meter and non meter taxis, UBER and GRAB taxis, and illegal taxis.

Just keep it very clear that the METER taxis is the CHEAPEST option for you in Thailand. Usually driver will try to negotiate for LUMP SUM amount, DO NOT FALL IN TO IT, the meter amount in any case is still the cheapest option. 

The foreigner who visit Thailand usually trust the app based taxis services like UBER and GRAB and from my experience they are twice the cost of the METERED amount. But people usually have a long trust in the app and hesitant to take the actual taxis they still prefer the app service.

Rent a car or Motorbike

Taxis are available abundantly and I do not recommend the renting option for 2 reason, the Unclear insurance system if car is stolen or damaged, secondly the parking. If still very necessary to have a car for yourself then take it with driver and it wont cost much extra.

" I asked the renting person what happen if the car is stolen or damaged and he said me with big smile , YOU PAY IT"

AIRPORT Taxi

Both the airport in Bangkok has improved taxi service, there is a single counter and the customer takes the taxis one by one, the address is informed to the counter and receipt is given to the customer and the driver, you need to pay the total amount end of the journey.

IT looks simple BUT there are many issues later on, which you must know it.

1- Buy a sim card with internet service and use mobile internet for mapping ( Google map works online only and Sygic is a good software to use as offline in Thailand) most of the drivers are not sure about the way and sometime I think they just like to be stuck in traffic.

2- HIGHWAY ISSUE, 

This is one of the biggest issue if you are taking taxi from or To airport, you need to inform the driver if you agree to take highway or not, this can be an easy option if you have google map and you can see the traffic condition, there are 2 portions of highway involved and both parts cost 70 and 50 Baht respectively, this money need to be paid by the customer. If you do not say him to take highway , the driver will take normal way and possible to stuck in traffic for minimum 1 hour. sometime its just enough to take one part of the Highway and then back to normal road. just keep checking your gps traffic condition. Or just say driver to take highway and pay the money, which is hardly 3 Euro in total and does save a lot of time.

3-AIRPORT fees

There is fixed airport fees of 50 Baht, which must be given at the end of journey to the driver, this is also written on your receipt. Just be prepared for it as many tourist think this as a scam and fight with the driver.

4- Taxi commission

If you are single, its high possibility that the taxi driver will try to show you some parts of Bangkok, usually red lights areas, they get some commission from these places so be very clear about your address and DO NOT fall in to this offers.

5-Taxis at the islands like Krabi or Phuket

Meter Taxis on the islands are hard to find and usually illegal taxis ( I think its a monopoly of some car renting agents) run in this area and rate is fixed before the journey. The fare is abnormal high and cars are limited so usually people prefer to rent BIKES here, but the driving style and parking issues makes it a night mare, I recommend to use hotel tourism service and there are few websites that gives great fare for transfer from airport to the hotel or any other place. I recommend this service for Phuket transfer( http://www.phuketsrctravel.com/transfer_service.php ). I find them cheapest and professional.

6-TUKTUK

It is more like a tourist ride and are much more expensive then other car services, better fix a rate before and use your bargain skills.

Lastly, when you still in Meter Taxi, make sure the starting price is 35 and its counting as the car start running.

Finally its a quite safe and interesting city, wish you a safe travel. 
and short distances the bike taxis are best deal in traffic conditions.

Walk to Montjuic castle, Barcelona

Montjuic castle is a must go place when you are in Barcelona, its a hill next to the coast line near the Columbus statue at end of La Rambla street. There are multiple ways of going there.

Cable car (teleferic) and Funicular.

Cable car works from the Coast line ot the mountain Miramar and then you can either take bus or walk all the way to Montjuic castle. The ticket cost 7 Euro one way and you can see a very nice view from top specially the coast line, in my opinion its not worth that money as you will finally have that panoramic view from the castle.

the Funiclar is under repair till mid 2016, which was one of the easient way to reach directly to the castle. 

Bus

In place of Funicular there are two buses running all day from station Pral-lel (line 3 and line 2) and Pl.Espanya. the buses are number 150 and also another special bus for Montjuic castle runs every 10 minutes. Before jumping in ask the driver if its going the Castle direction. the T10 card is fully valid in these buses that means its not expensive to go up to the castle as compared to the cable car which cost nearly 7 Euro.

Walking

It might look far but its just 3 km from the coast line by walk and there are planty of places to explore on the way that you will not feel it till the last 300 meter of steep climb :)
Any how I recommend to go at least one way by walking, its worth walking there. it takes nearly 30 min if you go without stopping.

KEEP YOUR WATER BOTTLE ,NO SHOPS ON THE WAY

ASK PEOPLE ON WAY FOR DIRECTION IF YOU DON'T HAVE NAVIGATOR

Some photos and map that may help you, 

 The Garden on the way

 Front gate of the castle

 Side view of castle

 Castle top, kindly don't write on cactus plant, some couples wrote their names on almost each part od the plant

view from top

Lastly: There is discounted price if you are less than 30