Grab, Bolt, inDrive and Maxim all operate in Pattaya, and all four are among the eight platforms certified by the Department of Land Transport. Grab and Bolt show the fare before you book; in inDrive the passenger names the price. For a rough idea: a Bolt car from Terminal 21 to Walking Street (5 km) is estimated by the service at around 100–110 baht, and from Suvarnabhumi to Pattaya around 920–1,000. If you’re travelling with Russian bank cards, they don’t work abroad: pay cash or use a card from a non-Russian bank.
Grab
You see the fare before you book; tolls and surcharges come on top. You can pay in cash, by card or with the GrabPay wallet, but you can only top that up from a Thai banking app. Messaging the driver is easy in the in-app chat: it has auto-translation and a free internet call, so a local number isn’t essential.
At Suvarnabhumi, Grab has its own pick-up point: Level 1, Gate 4, outer lane, 24 hours a day. Regular taxis wait nearby, between Gates 4 and 7 by the inner lane, but they work on a queue ticket and add a 50 baht airport surcharge.
Bolt
The fare is also shown before you book, and there are more classes: from motorbike to minivan. Bolt’s estimate for Terminal 21 to Walking Street (5.2 km): motorbike around 51 baht, taxi 72, Economy 99, Bolt 110. Treat these as a guide: in traffic and at peak times it’ll cost more. You pay in cash or by card.
inDrive
The passenger proposes the fare, and drivers either accept or counter with their own. The service itself suggests starting about 20% below what other apps charge. Payment options appear in the booking form; in our experience, people in Pattaya pay cash.
Maxim
Operates in Pattaya and nineteen other Thai cities. In our experience it’s the cheapest option, but less reliable than Grab and Bolt. The app shows the fare.
Motorbike taxis
Grab, Bolt and Maxim all have a motorbike option, and in a jam on Second Road it’s faster and cheaper than a car. Only motorbikes with yellow plates, ridden by drivers holding a public (passenger-carrying) driving licence, can legally take passengers. By law the passenger has to wear a helmet too, the fine is up to 2,000 baht, and since June 2025 police have been enforcing it nationwide. If you’re not given a helmet, better to skip the ride; how a proper helmet differs from a supermarket one is covered separately.
What changes from 1 October 2026
The government required every app driver to hold a public driving licence by 30 September 2026. From 1 October, the Ministry of Transport starts inspecting platforms, drivers and vehicles strictly: apps get a scorecard, and violations bring warnings, suspension and withdrawal of certification. There are eight certified platforms: Grab, Bolt, inDrive, LINE MAN, Maxim, Lalamove, TADA and FINGOGO. LINE MAN, by its own help pages, only carries passengers in Bangkok and five neighbouring provinces, and Chonburi isn’t one of them.
What to know before your first ride
Sometimes a driver will ask you to cancel the booking and agree a price directly. Don’t: along with the booking you lose the fixed fare and the record of the trip in the app, and that record is the only thing you have if something goes wrong.
A songthaew isn’t a taxi. Since 10 April 2026, a ride along the route costs 15–20 baht depending on distance, paid when you get off. But if you get in and name a specific address, that’s a private hire, and you need to agree the price before you get in, not after.
For bulky items and moving house, use Lalamove. It doesn’t carry animals: its rules explicitly forbid it. Grab has GrabPet for pets, but check in the app whether it works in Pattaya.
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