glasgowceltic

I am posting a thread to get advice on how much is enough to travel, live etc in thailand ?

I am planning to go there in a couple months and saving just now but very unsure of how much i should take.

I want to enjoy myself and travel around thailand, not a huge party animal anymore so really wanna get my kicks out of the cultures mainly i plan to stay in bangkok for few nights then just chill around the rest of thailand

I have spoken to one person, says that he was able to live on $400 per month incl. beer, fags, food, accom etc, However another says the same $1500 per month. Big difference in $$$$

So how much is adequate to take have fun and live with per month and not be penny pinching. I am living In australia and saving in dollars

Cheers

bakedbean

It may well depend on how much you drink, what kind of accommodation you choose, whether you spend on other "entertainment". It's a bit like How long is a piece of string, I guess.

Hopefully someone in thailand will be along soon to give you an estimate in Thai Baht.

nonthaburi

Where to start , obviously it all depends on where you are based and what you like doing and what you cam put up with .

Re your mate on 400$ a month . Forget about that . It's 12,000 baht a month which if you are on holiday and travelling about is going to go nowhere . You can live on that if you stay in one room , don't go anywhere , eat crap food off the street and buy your drink from Tesco , but you are on holiday remember.

I would say the absolute minimum you should be looking at is about 1000 baht a day , and that is the absolute minimum . That will get you a okayish room , some nice food once a day and a couple of drinks probably . But sometimes you are going to want to treat yourself , stay somewhere nice , go on a trip etc and you haven't even bought anything you might want yet and there's bound to be something you want to buy.

Bear in mind that tourist places are more expensive compared to the rest of Thailand and these are the places that you will probably going too and Thais are quite predatory on those who don't know the way things are.

If I was on holiday on my own I would want 1500 Baht a day ( 50$ ) and I know I could live well off that . Somedays I probably wouldn't spend it but other days I might spend more if something came up . I'm pretty tight too !

When I go on holiday with my wife and kids I'm looking at double that !

Your two biggest things will probably be a room and booze . That's where the money goes .

glasgowceltic

Great mate. Thanks, all the best

GeorgeOk-exRE

I agree with Nonthaburi, the quote of US$400 per month is nonsense. Given that the AUD and US$ are virtually the same, you will require a minimum of AUD 1,000 per month, approx THB 30,000 (THB 1,000 per day as Nonthaburi suggests) and up to AUD 2,000 per month (THB 60,000) if you like to get out and about and enjoy yourself a little more than average.

Thailand is not the budget destination that it once was, particularly for those of us who have chosen to settle here, and indeed, the Government requires that you must earn a minimum of THB 65,000 per month if you are applying for a retirement visa (min. 55 years of age), so that should give you some indication of required earnings for an acceptable standard of life.

If you are okay with very basic accommodation, you can get a small room for about AUD 21 per night (better rates for long-term stay) and if you intend to visit the infamous night spots, then a beer is going cost you approximately AUD 4.60. However, you can eat at Food Courts for very little money (AUD 2.00 avg.). There is also a very effective inter-city bus transportation system which will get you, for example, from Bangkok to Pattaya for about the same price as a night spot beer.

Also take note of Nonthaburi's comments on the predatory nature of Thais. Keep yourself to yourself, and don't get invited into a drinking round with a group of Thais, as you will undoubtedly be hit with the bill...!

joe2012

Live in thailand ? or live as a tourist in Thailand ? if you live in hostels with otehr backpackers cost sill be signifant reduced.

I would say would need around $1500 a month.

Debowing

To have a more comfortable time I would recommend 1500-2000 $ per month.

Jackwow

I'm in Thailand (Bangkok) on holiday at the moment for 1 month. My daily spend is approx Baht 5,500 of which about Baht 2,000 is for my hotel. This equates to $5,500 per month.

So it really does depend on where you stay, what you do, how much you drink, etc.

GeorgeOk-exRE

That does of course include daily hotel rates which are way above the long-term rates. I rent a three-storey townhouse just outside of Bangkok for just THB18,000 per month! That's only around US$600. So, once again, we are looking at 1,500 to 2,000 as a suitable budget for long-tern stay here..

nonthaburi

Don't know what you mean by just outside of BKK but that sounds on the pricey side to me . Where I live a two bedroom townhouse would start at 3000 baht a month which is 100$ a month . For 18,000 I would be in a 3-4 bedroom villa in 100-150+ talangwa area !

Where are you based ? SE of BKK ?

Jackwow

The OP says he wants to travel around Thailand so what is the relevance of long term townhouse rental?

bakedbean

George, a bit off topic (oops) but has retirement visa age changed then? It used to be 50+ when i had it.

nonthaburi

still 50 .

glasgowceltic

Hi guys thanks for all responses, so much great info which i have taken in thanks so much! I am leaving for bangkok in a few weeks now and was wanting to ask a few questions if you would not mind answering.

1. is it easy to get bus/train transport to most places in thailand, cheaper than air faire? i would rather do it if it would may take a day or two and get a chance to see more as have less time.

2. I am arriving in Bangkok and was wondering if anyone knew of any hostels etc cheap and decent to stay (pre book) so I dont end up in a bad place.

3. It looks like I am only able to go for a couple weeks as have not been able to save like i wanted too, if you could only visit a few places in that time where would it be?, bangkok is my starting point and i really want to vist chang mai.

Much appreciated once again from previous responses.

Johnny

nonthaburi

The bus is the probably the cheapest and easiest way to get around and you can get everywhere by bus , for a long haul journey you might be better off on an overnight train though . A bit more expensive but not by much .

It might be worth going on to airasia or nokair websites as they do have a lot of deals on and if you can say definitely when you want to be somewhere and don't mind flying early morning then flying is a good option . Saves a lot of time too.

Difficult to say about hotels but try asiarooms.com for cheap deals . If you want budget then head to Kaosan / Banglamphu area . There are loads of hotels and guesthouses in a small area so it shouldn't be too hard to find somewhere . You could try on Soi Rambuttri behind the temple . Can't be more specific but there are just too many places.

Two weeks is so short , hard to know what to suggest . You don't want to do too much in that time so I would say choose two places with BK as a starting and finishing point and possibly a middle point .

One final point is that it's worth remembering that it's rainy season right now so that could put a dampener on things - literally .

Have a good trip and let us know what you get up to .