I will be arriving in Beijing in September. I think I am going to take a taxi from the airport to my hotel. Can anyone tell me about how much it will cost? Is it easy to get a taxi or will I have to wait in a long line? (I know that I should have hotel name written in Chinese characters.) How long is the trip? thanx

Hi sueswny,

Taxis were plentiful at the airport when we were there, just outside the airport exit. There was a line that moved quickly, surpervised by two airport staff to ensure no queue jumping or unauthorized taxis.

Taxis are metered, most are air-conditioned, and tender a detailed receipt of the charges when paying. Most taxi drivers don’t speak English, so yes, have your destination in Chinese characters, or a map, at the ready.

We were handed a brochure on taxis at Capital airport on arrival with, as an example, prices listed as 10 yuan within 3km, then 2 yuan per km – plus any toll charges. All genuine taxis have their registration label on display in the rear passenger window; our taxi from the airport to our hotel in central Beijing was 78 yuan.

We arrived quite late at night, so the chaos that is Beijing traffic had eased somewhat, and our journey took about half an hour.

Don't rely on maps since many cabbies can't read a map.

You should go to the taxi queue outside the airport for the legitimate taxis. Ignore people in the airport who ask you if you need a taxi - they are probably scams.

A taxi with a license plate beginning with "B" is a legitimate taxi. Also look for the red rate sticker in the back window.

It cost about 80 yuan for our taxi ride to the Tiananmen Square area, and only took about 30 minutes.

Also, have both your hotel's name and address in Chinese characters. Also have the hotel's phone number.

An extra detail or two:

If you arrive during the daytime and particularly in teh second half of the afternoon your journey time to any central hotel is likely to be nearer to one hour than 30 minutes, and the cost nearer to ¥100, made up of the fare shown on the meter plus ¥10 for the airport expressway toll.

While the meter rates given above are accurate, they omit that after 15km the rate jumps by 50% (not that that affects the estimates of ¥80 to ¥100 already given, but if you see that happen on the meter it isn't a scam). Fares are also 20% higher between 11pm and 5am.

Right now, determined not to be embarrassed during the Games, the authorities have been paying a lot of attention to issues such as 'black' cabs, meter problems, and so on, so unless you ignore the advice given to line up at the rank and ignore all other offers, you should have few problems.

Peter N-H

Thanks soooo much for all your help.

Another option is to just arrange a car/driver pick up. We did that last September. Catherine Lu was a guide we also used and she picked us up from the airport too. Met us just outside Customs with a sign with our name. Very good English speaking guide we used for the next day too.

Catherineunderscore1130athotmaildotcom