I made a spreadsheet and did math, so you can rest assured that these numbers are legit.
As you may know if you’ve been following along recently, I just spent five-ish weeks backpacking through Thailand with my boyfriend. We’d visited Bangkok back in August, but then returned to travel the rest of the country for December and a week’s cushion on either side.
Thailand was amazing, honestly it exceeded my expectations. Chiang Mai was gorgeous with crisp mornings and evenings. Mae Hong Son was even crisper, tucked into the mountains with mist that never quite left. Chiang Rai blew me away with its fantastical, over-the-top temples. We worked our way south and visited Khao Sok National Park with its towering limestone cliffs. We spent a week scuba diving on Koh Lanta and finished off our year with fireworks and incredible food markets in Krabi.
With all of that being said, we did make a bit of a dent in our savings while we were here. And I wanted to share exactly how much with anyone who’s interested in what it would actually cost to save up for a trip like this.
I will say, I have a bit of an advantage traveling with my boyfriend. Oftentimes it’s cheaper to get a double room split two ways than to each get a dorm bed. But we also don’t always stay in the cheapest places. Since Jordan teaches English, we require decent internet speeds and a desk. So you could certainly go cheaper on accommodation, or you could splurge and stay somewhere nicer.
That being said, I like to save money on accommodation so I can spend it on experiences. After all, ideally you’d spend very little time in your hotel room and most of your time exploring. I think if you stay in too nice of a room, you might be tempted to just stay indoors all day instead of actually seeing the place you came to visit.
Also, I usually don’t spend as much on food as I did in Thailand. I try to do a lot of cooking at home because I like it, it’s often more balanced, and it can ease the strain on your wallet. But none of the places we stayed really lent themselves to cooking. No kitchens, not even a hot plate or a fridge. Because of that, we ended up eating out a lot at different markets. Luckily for us, Thailand is incredible for food markets, so we never went hungry!
All of the numbers below are calculated for just one person, I did the math for you guys splitting everything in two and dividing by the 42 nights we spent in Thailand.
Accommodation:
In total, I spent $379 for 45 nights, working out to around $8.50 per night. The extra three nights was for a non-refundable booking that we left early because we didn’t like it.
Like I said, I’m never springing for the most expensive place, it’s usually just a double room in a hostel or homestay. As long as it meets the requirements of a desk and decent Wi-Fi, I’m usually pretty happy. If I know Jordan won’t be working, sometimes I’ll opt for a dorm room in a hostel because I actually quite enjoy them when they’re nice.
Quite a few places in Thailand require you to pay in cash, which is fine as you have to pay for most things with cash anyway. It just means carrying around more baht than you’re used to and hoping you don’t lose it.
Transportation:
For one person traveling between cities, I spent $192 on 10 buses and one flight from Chiang Mai to Phuket.
Thailand’s bus system is pretty good, sleeper buses for overnight journeys and regular buses for shorter trips. You can book the buses online, ask your hostel/hotel to book it for you, or just show up to the bus station and ask for a ticket. They’re cheap and relatively comfortable, though some of those mountain roads will test your stomach. The flight was more expensive but saved us about 24 hours of travel time, which felt worth it.
Activities:
I actually didn’t do too many activities while I was in Thailand. I’d done a cooking class in Bangkok back in August and another in Cambodia, so I didn’t feel the need to do another one. Plus, since we had so much time in these places, I felt comfortable with my ability to see everything at my own pace. I didn’t do any city tours.
One of the activities I did do was the single biggest expense I made on this trip. My Open Water scuba diving certification. This plastic card cost me a whopping $420. Unless this is something that has been on your bucket list, I can’t imagine too many others will follow in my footsteps. However, this money should definitely be allocated to some of the other tours that I foregoed in favor of this one.
I also went on an overnight tour in the Khao Sok National Park for $75. This trip included staying on a floating bungalow on the lake in the national park, and doing a few hikes and boat tours.
The last “activity” that I did was get a $30 haircut. This is the first haircut that I have paid for in six years, so it was a really big deal to me. I usually cut my own, and Jordan’s hair for free, but, I found a girl who specializes in curly hair cuts, and if you have curly hair, you know that the price of a curly cut is usually around the range of obscene. So I decided to treat myself, get a hair cut, and it was totally worth it!
Food:
Okay, so this is where my math gets a little murky, but you’ll just have to trust me.
Based on experience, Jordan and I decided that on average we were each spending between $8-$12 a day. Granted, we weren’t starving ourselves. If we went to a market, we’d get a starter, a main, and usually dessert. For breakfast, most times we’d do something simple like rice porridge. For lunch and dinner, we’d usually visit the street food vendors or small local restaurants.
All together, it looks like we spent around $500 per person for our 42-day trip, or on average about $12 per person per day. This includes snacks, breakfast, lunch, dinner, smoothies, dessert, and water (which you also have to buy every day).
Could you do it cheaper? Absolutely. Like I said earlier, usually I’d cook a lot more. But we were on vacation, and Thai food is too good to skimp on.
Souvenirs:
I love souvenirs. Even though I know I’ll probably never use them again, I always want to buy them because they’re either super cool or super cute or just a good memory. Until I’m shocked back to reality by remembering that I’m not going home anytime soon and my bag is full. Because of that, I almost exclusively window shop for souvenirs, which may be even better than actually buying the souvenirs.
This time around, though, even though my bag was still full, I actually was heading homeward and would see my family. So I got a few souvenirs, mostly gifts!
I got one dress for myself (which I’m confident my mom will steal) $11. I bought my brother and my dad each a quintessential Thailand elephant collared-shirt for $7 each. I bought my mom an elephant scarf for $3 and a few other bits and bobs that I though screamed Thailand for my family.
All in all, I think together Jordan and I spent around $50 on souvenirs.
Honestly, it’s probably a good thing I didn’t know we’d be able to drop stuff off with my parents until the very end of the Thailand trip. Otherwise, I would have bought a lot more, especially in Chiang Mai. They have such incredible artisan markets that were only easy to resist because I knew anything I bought wouldn’t even be able to leave Chiang Mai with me.
If you were keeping track, and if my math is correct, that means I spent just about $1615, or around $38 per day.
Not bad.
It could definitely be done for less money, and it could certainly be done for more money. But honestly, I loved my time in Thailand and I wouldn’t change a thing! I ate plenty of fantastic food, I stayed in nice places, I saw almost everything I wanted to see, I rang in the New Year and celebrated Christmas and Thanksgiving. I have no regrets on anything that I spent.
Obviously, I wish I could have spent even more time in this incredible place, seen even more temples, eaten just one more Pad Thai, but that would be just greedy. I’m grateful for the experience that I had, I’m grateful for my job that lets me do these types of things, and I’m grateful for my body for allowing me to do these types of things.
If you’ve been thinking about visiting Thailand, I hope this budget breakdown helps you plan. And if you have any questions about costs or logistics, feel free to reach out, I’m always happy to help.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go figure out where I can dive next.
xx abby
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You have great hair!! And I loved your post and sense of adventure.
Thank you for sharing this because it helps people understand that traveling the world doesn't have to cost a crazy amount of money. It's not available only to rich people.
Our budget was fairly similar while we traveled through SEA.