travelhappy   Backpacking And Travelling In Thailand and South East Asia: A Personal Guide

How much money do I need for Thailand?

Filed under: Thailand, Travel Tips, Chiang Mai    Written by:Chris Mitchell.

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Planning a budget for a backpacking trip in Thailand can be a bit daunting to begin with. Here’s some rough numbers of various travel necessities to help you figure out your own budget so you can decide how much money to take to Thailand.

I spent 18 months backpacking in South East Asia a couple of years ago, and I now live in Bangkok, Thailand. I still travel frequently within the country so I’ve got a fairly good idea of the cost of things here.

The following are some rough estimates for different costs you’re likely to encounter travelling in Thailand. I have deliberately over-budgeted on some items like accommodation to provide a margin for error. It’s important to have spare cash because you can’t always rely on getting a bargain.

I’ve stated prices in Thai Baht and UK Pounds below. 1 UK Pound equals 70 baht. I US Dollar equals 35 Baht. If you’re from the States, you can just double the UK Pound amount to get the Dollar equivalent. Check the currency converter at xe.com for current exchange rates.

You might want to buy some of Travelfish’s Travel Guides to Thailand for the latest up to date info on accommodation and food prices at various places in Thailand like Koh Phi Phi and Phuket.

You should also shop around for the cheapest flights to Thailand - Kayak.com compares lots of different airlines and their prices so you can find the cheapest flight. (Follow the link for more info on finding cheap flights online).

There’s also a companion article on how much money you need for travelling in Vietnam if you planning to do both countries.

Food and accommodation
Food won’t be more than about £10 to 15 a day. Assume 200 Baht (£3) for breakfast and lunch if you want a single dish and some coffee and juice, and 500 baht (£7) for dinner, if you’re dining out in restaurants. You can always get super cheap food from street vendors , like Pad Thai for around 30 baht (50 pence!), and you can dine permanently on their delicious food if you want to be super budget conscious and don’t mind eating on the street. Similarly, there are lots of supermarkets where you can buy bread etc if you want to make your own meals, although it’ll be difficult to store anything unless you have a fridge. Remember to drink LOTS of water - at least 3 litres a day.

Accommodation will be around 1000 baht a day (£15) if you want a proper hotel with a swimming pool and air conditioning. It depends on what you consider acceptable. You will always pay a premium for air-conditioning. I wrote a list of my favourite Bangkok Cheap Hotels too which will give you some pointers for cheaper guesthouses, especially around Khao San Road. Expect to pay around 200 Baht and up for a guesthouse room. Check Thailand hotel listings too for an idea of more middle and high priced hotels in case you want to splash out at some point.

Booze and cigarettes
Most people come to Thailand to party, so it’s worth bearing in mind going out on the town can take up a bit of your budget. Beer and cigarettes are very cheap from any 7-11 convenience store - around 50 baht (70 pence) for a big bottle of beer and 100 baht for a pack of cigarettes. In bars, small bottled beers are around 70 baht (£1) and spirits around the same. Again, it depends where you go - it’s always cheap in the pavement bars, but if you go to the more ritzy places like the Bangkok Millennium Hilton, you can expect to pay 300 baht (£4.50) a cocktail. Budget for spending 1000 to 2000 Baht (£15 to £30) on drinks on a big night out.

Travel costs
Travelling around Thailand itself is quite a chunky cost that a lot of people don’t anticipate, either in terms of time or money. It’s a big country with large distances to cover if you want to go from Bangkok in the centre to Chiang Mai in the north and then the islands of Koh Tao and Koh Phangan and perhaps down to the South to Koh Phi Phi.

Buses and trains are cheap and are usually best caught on overnight trips. A train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai is around 1000 baht depending on what class you choose. A long bus journey, e.g. Bangkok to Phuket, is around 800 baht. Estimating each long journey as 1000 Baht if you go overland is probably a good rule of thumb. To get out to the islands, like Koh Tao, you will find many travel agents on Khao San Road that offer all-in-one bus and ferry tickets - these also go for around 1000 baht.

Airfares are cheap thanks to budget carriers like AirAsia.com and NokAir.com. One way flights to Chiang Mai and Phuket from Bangkok are around 2000 Baht including all taxes, which are usually more expensive than the flights themselves. There are also many special offers.

Activities
Seeing the sights in much of Thailand is relatively inexpensive. Even a visit to the Grand Palace in Bangkok or Wat Po only costs a couple hundred baht admission. Excursions are more costly, and most day trips are around 1500 - 2000 Baht. e.g. seeing the Bridge over the River Kwai and the Tiger Temple, a day trip to the temples of Ayutthaya, kayaking in Krabi, elephant trekking in Khao Sok etc. You don’t need to plan doing many of these things very far in advance - booking a day or so ahead is usually fine. But you’ll need to have some money set aside in your budget all the same.

If you want to learn to scuba dive, a PADI Open Water course on Koh Tao will cost around 9000 Baht (£130). You can also do it over in the Similan Islands on the west coast, but it’s more expensive as you spend 4 days on a liveaboard boat - a real adventure. The price is around 24,000 baht (£350) and includes all your food and accommodation on the liveaboard as well as your PADI course itself.

Internet access and mobile phones
Internet access is readily available in all the big cities in Thailand. Wifi access in Bangkok is also increasingly prevalent, sometimes for free. On the islands you will have much slower access to the internet. The cost is usually 1 baht a minute on average. Quality of connection can differ wildly even in urban areas, so be prepared for that. Also avoid cafes used by Thai kids for online gaming, unless you like the sound of earsplitting digitised warfare as you type…

Thai SIM cards are also readily available from Thai phone shops for around 300 Baht (£4.50). These can be found in virtually all Bangkok shopping malls eg. MBK, Emporium, Paragon, Tesco Lotus etc. Definitely invest in one of these when you arrive and don’t use global roaming with your home phone - it will cost a fortune. I recommend the 12Call Thai network for best coverage and reception. You can buy top up cards for 300 and 500 baht at all 7-11 stores. Sending texts back to the UK costs only a few baht, and voice calls burn about 50 baht a minute.

Shopping
One of the other things visitors to Thailand love to do is shop! There are endless opportunities for buying interesting stuff at bargain prices in Thailand, especially in Bangkok markets like Chatuchak, the Suan Luam night bazaar, megamalls like MBK and the ritzy high-society temples of consumerism like Siam Paragon and Emporium. Clothes, trinkets, ornaments - you name it, you can probably find it at the markets. You might want to put aside another £100 for spending on stuff and posting it home - unfortunately a lot of stuff can cost more to post than it does to buy.

Toiletries and other essentials
Assuming your first stop is Bangkok, you will have no problem stocking up on brand name razor blades, tampons, suncream, shampoo etc along with over the counter pharmaceuticals like headaches tablets and anti allergy pills. It’s usually cheaper to buy it in Bangkok than back home. Branches of Boots the Chemist and its US equivalent Watson’s can be found all over the city - there is a Boots shop on Khao San Road itself. The only thing you should ensure you do bring with you is any prescription medicines you require.

Before you go
Remember to check your passport is valid and has spare pages in it, and ensure you talk to your doctor about what jabs you need well ahead of time. Also make sure that you take out adequate travel insurance - this is boring but crucial. All these things can cost a fair bit of cash, so ensure you deal with these before you get into the nitty gritty of planning your trip.

Putting it all together
From the above, you should be able to work out a rough idea of how much money you’re going to need if you have a fairly good plan of what you want to do and where you want to go while you’re in Thailand. Of course, half the pleasure of backpacking is being flexible and not making too rigid plans - you never know who you might meet and what great places you may decide to stay longer within.

Despite Thailand’s popularity with tourists and the growing trend of tourist destinations becoming more upmarket, the day to day cost of living is still extremely cheap by Western standards and there is no shortage of good value accommodation, food, transport and activities. You just have to look out for it, talk to other travellers, browse the web and ask questions on forums.

And finally, for cheap flights to Bangkok from London, check out Etihad Airways. I wrote a review here. You can more cheap flights to Thailand at Kayak.com whioch compares lots of different airlines.

Posted on January 22nd, 2007.

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• HOWTO Budget For A Backpacking Trip
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