Travel

Thailand Is SO Cheap – All You Need Is A Plane Ticket ✈

by Christina Persaud
written by Christina Persaud

My first three days in Thailand, I only spent $100 – and that’s including taxi’s, alcoholic beverages, breakfast/lunch/dinner, massages, and more. One dinner equivalent to $20 in America was approximately $5-$7 everywhere we went! I was shook. I mean, I heard prior to going to Thailand that my most expense was going to be our flights, and that was true upon arrival.

Bangkok

Massages

  • Full body massages were 250 BAHT, or $8 USD for 1 hour.
    • If we saw one for 450 BAHT ($15 USD), we knew they were overcharging.
    • Just be sure to shop around before you decide on a spa location for a massage. Check the price list that is usually hung up in the window or close to the reception desk before you walk in and ask for a massage.
    • They give you these BIG pants to change into, almost the size of Sumo Wrestlers. Pictured below, but it doesn’t do the size justice, haha!

  • Full body Thai massages were 350 BAHT, or $12 USD for 1 hour.
    • I’ve never had a Thai massage before and let me tell you, this is a must try! They cracked me in places I didn’t even know could crack.
  • Foot massages were 150 BAHT, or $5 USD.
    • Let’s just say, we had one every evening.
    • Hot towel and oil is used, pictured below.

Food, Beverages, Dessert

  • 8 rolls of sushi, quality of a 4-star restaurant for 180 BAHT, or $6 USD – in America this ranges $12-$18 USD, unless it’s happy hour of course. Pictured below.
  • Hand rolled ice cream was 100 BAHT, or $3 USD. Pictured below.
    • We had hand rolled ice cream everyday!
  • Street Food: chicken, beef, pork skewers, 80 BAHT each, or $2 USD each. Pictured below.
    • Was it good for this price? MOST DEFINITELY!
    • The street food is amazing in Bangkok and the owners work ALL night.
  • Thai Tea was 50 BAHT, or $1.50 USD. Pictured below.
    • In America, it’s usually approximately $6 USD.
  • Thai Fried Rice was 100 BAHT, or $4 USD. Pictured below.
  •  Pad Thai was 180 BAHT, or $6 USD. Pictured below.
    • We went to Thipsamai for the best Pad Thai in town!
      • The line was wrapped around the door, down the block! We immediately knew we came to the most popping Pad Thai restaurant in Bangkok.
      • They’ve had so much success, their were newspaper and magazine articles all around the restaurant featuring this dish.
      • They were even given the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence for the last 4 years in a row.

 

Entertainment

  • Hookah, or Shisha as they call it in Asia, Mint flavored, was $5-$10 – in America this ranges $30-$50!
  • Entrance to the Grand Palace was $15 per person, you can buy your ticket at the door.
  • Taxis that were a 30 min ride around the city to your typical destinations were approximately 300 BAHT, or $10.
  • We went to Bangkok’s Famous Red Light District just for the experience. Your typical alcoholic beverages (liquor) were 180 BAHT, or $6. No cover/entrance fee to the strip clubs.
  • We went to a local restaurant across from our AirBnb that had Vodka/Cranberry for 50 BAHT – that’s literally $1.50!
  • The Damnoen Saduak Floating Market is a must visit! I’ve never experience anything like it. We purchased our full day tour tickets online via Viator – it included a tour guide, transportation to and from our hotel, and a long-tail speedboat ride, for $55 USD (The price fluctuates depending on demand).

 

Accommodations

  • I’m a very picky person, so finding a clean/proper AirBnb is always my main concern. I could never stay at a hostel, plus, I need my own space. In Bangkok, I didn’t need to worry though. The architecture is super modern and clean aesthetic.
      • We stayed here at an AirBnb for $64 per night – what a deal right?!
      • It even had an infinity pool overlooking the Bangkok skyline, pictured below.
      • Great location, it wasn’t far from anything we wanted to go to, and was walking distance to the popular nightlife areas.

 

Koh Phangan

Note: Things here were a tad bit more expensive due to it being an island

Entertainment

  • We went to the largest Full Moon Party in Southeast Asia that happens once a month with approximately 4 million people on the beach. Yes, we planned our trip dates around this crazy event, and it was well worth the experience!
    • Buckets of alcohol, 250 to 400 BAHT, or $8 to $13
    • Cover/Entrance Fee was 100 BAHT, or $3 

Accommodations

  • We stayed at a local hotel called Suan Sawan for $45 per night. Pictured below.
    • It was the cutest little hut up in the mountains, owned by a small family that live on the island.
    • They were so accommodating with anything we needed help with. We checked in late at night, it was probably around 8pm and the area looks sketchy, but isn’t at all.
      • Being that it was just me and my female best friend, two women, late at night – they offered to take us to the party since we had missed the shuttle there, so they introduced us to their taxi driver friend and he became our personal driver the whole trip and didn’t overcharge us like some taxi’s were. 
      • We scheduled a pick up with him from the party at 5am, and good thing we did! Out of curiosity we asked around and found out some taxi’s were up-charging to 3,000 BAHT ($100 USD) one way! We were only paying 1,500 BAHT ($50 USD), roundtrip!
        • ALWAYS ask how much the taxi ride will be before entering the vehicle, and ALWAYS negotiate!

Phuket

Entertainment

  • We visited Phuket with intentions of it just being our home base. What we were really intending to visit was the famous James Bond Island/Phang Nga Bay, and the Phi Phi Islands!
  • We did two full day tours booked online via Klook. Pictured below.
    • Each tour was approximately $40 USD each which is not bad because each excursion included transportation pick up from your hotel in Phuket to the dock pier which was about an hour away, the speed boat rides to the destinations, and a great thai lunch!
    • The James Bond Island/Phang Nga Bay tour even included kayaking in the beautiful emerald green waters.
    • I highly recommend booking excursions on Klook, or Viator – typically I use either one and never have ran into any issues.

Accomodations

  • We stayed here at an AirBnb in Phuket for $42 per night
    • It was super clean, modern, had a balcony with pool and sunset views!
    • Great location, in the middle of everything we needed to be by, and was walking distance to the popular nightlife area.

Moral of this blog post: YOU CAN TRAVEL all the way across the world to Thailand! Some people think it’s out of their budget range because it’s so far. But, you just have to save enough for that $700 (approx.) round trip plane ticket and it’ll be little expense when you actually get there.

Feel free to ask any Thailand travel questions below in the comments.

Christina is a creative/digital/social media marketing expert by day, travel/lifestyle blogger by night, and traveling one PTO day at a time. She is a content creator and adventure seeker - with dreams to grow her personal brand to be able to collaborate with beauty, fashion, and travel brands in the future.

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