Waiting for a metered Taxi at Phuket

Hi All,

A large group of us will be arriving on 18/4 at around 9pm at Phuket airport from Sydney. We are staying at various places in Patong %26amp; were planning to catch taxis from the airport.

However, I just read that a couple had to wait for over an hour to get a taxi.

At that time of night, the last thing we want is to be hanging around the airport after such a long flight.

Does anyone know if we can organise 18 people to be taken to:

Novotel, Royal Paradise %26amp; Holiday Inn, where we are all staying.

The private transfers to hotels are ridiculously high.

Maybe someone can recommend a minibus company that will fit all of us.

Thank you all forumites for all the great info - hopefully someone will be able to help us out here.

Cheers,

Sandy

Waiting for a metered Taxi at Phuket

Hi, Sandy. If its the same thread as I read, it stated it was in high season.....dont think April is high season so think you should be OK- could be a problem for me- one and a half weeks to go and never been to Phuket (been to Bkk, Koh Samui, Pattaya) So any other forum members....Little input please!!????

Waiting for a metered Taxi at Phuket

My guess is that if you all want to go in one vehicle, yes, you will have to wait some time for one to be found and brought to the airport. If you don%26#39;t mind going in different vehicles - you should have no problem at all. Metered and negotiated-rate taxis are always at the airport - but larger vehicles for large groups generally are not.

A single metered taxi to Patong form the airport should be about B500. It is quite a distance and will take about 45 minutes. Not so expensive really. The negotiated-rate taxis, these days, are not much more expensive - possibly as low as B550-600 and often are much nicer cars.

Hello Sandyl

As much as I personaly dislike recommending the services of the airport taxi mob they do have vans availiable on location. Sharring a van with 8-10 other guests to different hotels is polular with those who have bigger groups then can use single taxis and it is the most affordable way to go.

As sone as you enter the arrivals lobby area there will be a transfer counter that you must walk past and they will sort out how many vans you will need according to the size of your group.

Again, as a local I do not like patronizing this outfit but the only alternative is the hotel transfer service or individual cabs.

Regards From Phuket

Richard %26amp; Megumi

Thank you guys once again for your help.

Sandy

I%26#39;ve been searching around for reasonably priced pre-purchased transfers and found some decently priced at octopustravel.com.au - under transfers and shuttle services. Private transfer was $35AUD for 2 Adults and 2 kids from the airport to KataNoi. I know I could probably get it for cheaper at the airport but I%26#39;m travelling with two toddlers and want our arrival to be as seemless as possible. They do coaches as well and the price was around $160AUD for 21 people in a private coach transfer. Hope this helps.