From the airport into Bangkok: the train or a taxi
From Suvarnabhumi there is a train that costs 15–45 baht and cannot be caught in traffic, and there is a taxi whose total nobody publishes. Which one is right for you comes down mostly to the hour you land.
Airport Rail Link
The Airport Rail Link runs from Suvarnabhumi into the city, and the fare depends on how far along the line you go. Its journey time has a published ceiling of 30 minutes, and unlike every road option it keeps that ceiling through the evening peak, because the train is not in the traffic. The line serves Suvarnabhumi only — it does not reach Don Mueang, so if you land there, the road options below are the ones that apply to you.
- Fare, depending on how far you ride
- 15–45 ฿
- Journey time, published ceiling
- up to 30 min
- First train
- 05:10–05:30
- Last train
- 24:00
The first train is the one figure where the sources disagree: two times are published, 05:10 and 05:30. If you are planning around the first departure, plan for the later one.
Taxi
A taxi fare here is built up rather than quoted: 35–40 baht to get in, a per-kilometre rate that climbs with distance, 3 baht a minute whenever traffic stops the car, 50 baht because you took it at the airport, and expressway tolls in cash at the booths. Nobody publishes the total, and nobody publishes the journey time either — the same run in the morning peak and in the middle of the afternoon are two different trips.
On money it is not close
The most expensive ride on the line is 45 baht. A taxi is past that before it has moved: 35 to get in plus 50 for taking it at the airport is 85 baht already, with the whole distance still ahead of it.
On time it depends on the hour
The train’s 30 minutes hold through the evening peak as well as at midday. A taxi may be quicker on an empty road and considerably slower on a full one, and how often each happens is not something anyone publishes. If your schedule has no slack in it, a figure that does not move is worth more than a figure that is usually lower.
When there is no train
Before the first departure and after 24:00 the line is closed, so an early flight out or a late flight in means a road trip whether you planned one or not. That is also the moment a price named at the kerb is easiest to accept, standing in an empty arrivals hall at four in the morning — which is a good reason to know what the published tariff is before you get there.
If your destination is the other airport
Then this is not a trip into the city, and the clock matters more than the fare. The calculator works out the road time for your hour of the day, the cost of the taxi leg, and whether you reach check-in before it closes.
The figures on this page come from the operators and agencies that publish them, checked on the dates below. Rates and timetables change without notice, and what you actually pay also depends on distance, traffic and the hour. Treat these as the published basis, not as a quote.
Where these numbers come from
- mrtbangkok — Airport Rail Link timetable · checked Aug 11, 2026
- Suvarnabhumi Airport (AOT) — Transportation · checked Aug 11, 2026
- The Nation — Bangkok taxi fares to start rising from today (2023-01-16) · checked Aug 11, 2026