Travel Costs: Thailand Budget Update
It’s hard to believe that the first month of our trip has come and gone! Although we plan to head back to Thailand in a few months to hit the islands, we wanted to share our actual spending numbers for the time we’ve spent there so far.
Many websites that inspired our own trip included this information and we found it immensely helpful. So for those planning their own trip to Thailand, here is a breakdown of what we spent for two people over 22 days in Thailand, traveling to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Sukhothai, Lampang, Chiang Dao, Chiang Khong, and back to Bangkok after a swing through Laos.
Thailand’s currency is the Thai Baht and the exchange rate as of January 2013 was roughly 30 Thai Baht to 1 US Dollar.
Spending Breakdown:
| Activity | $442.00 |
| Food/Drink | $507.81 |
| Lodging | $360.37 |
| Misc. | $115.78 |
| Transportation | $227.59 |
| Grand Total | $1,653.55 (USD) |
This works out to about $75/day for two people.
If you exclude the river trek in Chiang Dao (in the activity bucket) which was definitely a splurge for us made with cash from Christmas, the figure is $65/day for two people.
A few notes on our spending habits:
- For lodging, we booked private double rooms with air conditioning and private bathrooms at local guesthouses ranging in price from $7 in Chiang Khong to $36 in Chiang Dao, averaging $24/night. Our first 4 nights in Bangkok were free due to Jordan’s hotel points. We spent $30/night on our second trip through Bangkok for a nice room essentially next door to the Starwood hotel we stayed at the first time around.
- For food and drink, we ate at many street stalls, had snacks and coffee/fruit shakes throughout the day, and a few beers on the weekends. We splurged on 2-3 meals in Bangkok and in Chiang Dao so this figure could have been even lower. But just like back home, good food is what we like to splurge on! Eating at street stalls (or even shopping mall food courts) saved us a lot of money without sacrificing quality.
- The transportation figure includes inter-country transportation, a combination of buses, trains, tuk tuks, taxis, and metro rides in Bangkok. The most expensive item here was our overnight train from the Lao border back to Bangkok, at ~$30/person. The fewer cities you visit, the lower this number would be.
- This includes only our spending in the country. It excludes our airfare here and upfront costs like immunizations, travel insurance, etc.
- We’re paying mostly in cash, but we’ve made a few deposits for things using our Marriott Chase Visa. They don’t charge foreign transaction fees and offer the best travel rewards, in my opinion.
- Finally, I have to mention the Charles Schwab Investor Checking account that we opened prior to this trip. They refund all ATM fees, no questions asked. In our first month we received a $50 credit to our account for ATM fee refunds! There are absolutely no fees, minimum balances, or other stipulations to opening one of these accounts other than also opening a brokerage account with them (that you don’t have to fund). I think everyone should have one. Here is a great post on travel cards that turned us on to the Schwab card.
Incredibly, we’ve spent less money living comfortably in Southeast Asia than we would have spent on just one month’s rent in Atlanta!
Please drop us a line in the comments if you have any travel budget tips of your own.
