*A lotus at Wat Arun in Bangkok, Thailand*

LET’S START WITH THE MOST COMMON QUESTION…IS IT CHEAP?

Something I heard a lot before going to Thailand was how ‘cheap’ it is to travel there. And it’s true that you can get whole meals for less than a dollar and even stay in some guest houses for less than $5 a night. But let’s consider the whole picture. The ability to travel to a foreign country is a luxury no matter how you slice it. You have to have money and time to spend. And if you’re traveling to Thailand from the middle of the US, then you’re going about as far away as you can physically get from home (aside from Australia). Because the flights are going to take upwards of 24 hours, you’re going to want to stay a little longer and do more. This can make it just as expensive as a lot of other places!

At the end of the day, it’s the style of travel you choose and your individual preferences that will largely determine the cost of your trip.

EXCHANGE RATE

The exchange rate in Thailand is very favorable. Depending where you exchange your money, 1 US dollar is currently worth around ฿30 Thai baht (pronounced bot). To put this in perspective, it’s not uncommon for a meal to be only ฿20 (less than $1 USD) or a taxi ride of moderate length to be ฿100 (~$3 USD).

Something I was warned about a lot by fellow travelers was not to exchange or withdraw money at the airport because of poor exchange rates. I’ll be really honest here, I don’t understand the big concern. We withdrew money at the airport out of necessity, as well as other places around the country and each time we withdrew ฿2000, our USD equivalent only fluctuated by $2-$5. That seems like a modest convenience fee.

I also recommend downloading an app for doing currency conversion while you’re there.

GETTING MONEY

It’s always ideal to have a bit of currency on hand for the country you are going to. At least enough to get a taxi to your hotel. You can go to your bank before your trip and ask them to order some for you. This is also a good time to let your bank know you’re traveling.

In reality, I often skip this step and just exchange a little USD or pull some money out of the ATM when I land at the airport. However, I had some real difficulty with the ATMs, so I recommend being over-prepared. Despite having two debit cards from two different banks to work with (one regional bank and one national bank), I was never able to pull out money and I was very lucky that my travel partner had better luck and could spot me so I didn’t have to spend a lot of time or energy getting to the bottom of it. So be sure to come prepared with baht or a good amount of USD to exchange, and take out a little more than you think you need when are at an ATM that is working for you. The country is very cash-dominant, with cards rarely being accepted for transport or food and drink.

Many of the ATMs had currency exchange machines or booths next to them. You will need to scan your passport before inserting your USD. If you’re someone who doesn’t keep your passport on you throughout the day, you’ll have to remember to grab it when you plan to exchange that way.

HANDLING MONEY

One of the things I would do differently in the future is bring a wallet that allows bills to lay flat and stay nice. I am really not a cash carrying person and my little coin purse requires that I fold bills a couple of times before tucking them in there. I noticed right away that they treat their money with a lot of respect. All of the bills I was ever given as change were very nice and I didn’t want to crumple them up.

I also learned that Thais will never use their left hand to give or receive anything and the polite way to hand over cash is with the right hand, and the left either supporting the forearm or touching the top of it to show that it is out of the way of what is being presented.

SHARING COSTS

Traveling with a friend or group of friends, the money can get complicated very quickly. My travel partner and I used Splitwise to track everything and settle up, and it was AMAZING. I mean, life changing. From the time I booked the first shared expense for the trip a few months before we left, to the bottles of water she got us in the airport on the way home, we used the splitwise app to make sure everything got split fair and square. But more than fairness, it saved us so much unnecessary mathing and venmo’ing. (Those are technical terms). Throughout the trip, we would keep an eye on who was starting to rack up a balance and then that person would pay for the next few things to even it back out. At the end of the trip, there was just one venmo transaction to settle up. No passing back and forth and no one feeling like they weren’t getting paid back.

AND FINALLY…THE COSTS!

Alright, let’s get to it. Below I am sharing the costs of my Thailand trip, grouped by travel category. I traveled with a friend, but all of the costs I am sharing here are just my half. I will try to indicate where we might have had savings by splitting a cost.

AIRFARE: $461 + 84,000 miles

On my flight from Chicago to Frankfurt everyone got to have their own row. The attendants turned off the lights and let us lay across the seats. Best sleep I’ve ever gotten on a plane, and didn’t even have to pay for first class!

Moline, Illinois to Bangkok, Thailand: $112 + 84,000 miles

My trip to Thailand was made possible by the large amount of airline miles that accumulated and went unused during the pandemic. Pre-pandemic I traveled occasionally for work and and so I had acquired some miles that way. And personally I use Chase credit cards that earn me United airlines miles. The trip cost me 84,000 miles including 2,000 that I had to purchase for $112 because I didn’t have quite enough.

Aside from the low cost, the next best thing about using miles is that I can fly out of Moline or Chicago for the same amount of miles. If I were paying in cash, it would cost significantly more to fly out of Moline ($3,000) versus Chicago ($2,500). Which is why a lot of people drive the three hours to Chicago O’Hare to fly out!

We aslo had three in-country flights to take:

Bangkok, Thailand to Chiang Mai, Thailand: $138

Chiang Mai, Thailand to Krabi, Thailand: $109

Krabi, Thailand to Bangkok, Thailand: $102

I thought these were quite reasonable, but I’ve heard that in the past they were more like $30-$50. Inflation was definitely a factor on this trip! And we were also booking these on the fly, with most of them being near full, so we probably did not get the best rates.

GROUND TRANSPORTATION: $65*

*My half of the total costs. Double if traveling solo.

*Our first and most wild Tuk Tuk experience.*

It’s crazy to think an Uber home after a night out in Chicago can cost $50, and I spent just a little over that on ground transportation over two whole weeks in Thailand. All of the ground transportation costs were split with my travel partner, so had I been traveling solo, my costs here would have been double.

Tuk Tuks and taxis require a bit of negotiation skills, but once you get the hang of it, negotiating can be kind of fun. Once, after we’d been in Chiang Mai for a couple of days, we needed to take a Tuk Tuk to the Old City from Nimman Road. We’d been paying around ฿100 for this trip, so when the man quoted us ฿100 each we protested and offered ฿100 total. The man knew he was caught and just laughed with us and agreed. We appreciated his attempt, though.

We usually hopped in a Tuk Tuk when just traveling from one attraction to another. For example, when it was too long to walk, but too short for a taxi. And we took a taxi if we were traveling further across a city. Typically to and from the airports. Songthaews are another option and they operate on fixed routes like a bus. We took one back down the mountain from Doi Suthep and I took one from Chiang Mai to the nearby city of Hang Dong.

When we were in Chiang Mai, we also discovered they have Grab (like Uber) and we used this a few times in lieu of finding a taxi. This was really nice because we didn’t have to explain where we were going through a language barrier and didn’t have to hunt a taxi down. You also name your own price, and choose whether to pay through the app or pay cash.

ACCOMMODATIONS: $407 for 11 nights*

*My half of the total costs. Double if traveling solo.

*The Airbnb in Bangkok had a nice patio. This water feature also had a pet turtle in it named Tom Yum.*

This is an area where costs can vary GREATLY. You can find dirt cheap rooms (they might not have A/C or hot water). Or you can stay in some of the nicest hotels in the world. We chose the middle of the road and averaged a cost of $37 per person per night during our trip. If I were traveling solo, I probably would have stayed in hostels and guesthouses, which ran around $13-$15/night.

2 Nights in Bangkok at Baan Tom Yum - $63 for my half
In Bangkok, we chose an Airbnb a little off the beaten (tourist) path. We wanted to see a side of the city where working class locals live and work, and be in walking distance of the temples and river. We booked Baan Tom Yum through Airbnb and it was a good experience. We got to see what a home in Bangkok is like, and were able to each have our own bedrooms. This was important since we both struggled with jetlag and were awake intermittently throughout the night. It was good to not disrupt each others brief periods of sleep! We had A/C, a good bathroom and shower, and also had a cute patio for unwinding at the end of the day. It was an adventure to find it the first time, but not unreasonable.

There are a couple of considerations with this accommodation or ones like it:

1. You will not have a hotel name that you can give to a taxi driver. But the taxi drivers would pull up Google Maps on their phones and have us type it in. The owners of the home has it listed on Google Maps, so it always worked out.

2. The home was not on a main road. It was down an alley (sidewalk sized) off of a side road (only big enough for one car at a time). Once we knew we were getting close, we would just have the taxi driver drop us and we would walk the last couple of minutes.

6 Nights in Chiang Mai at Hillside Condo 3 - $196 for my half
Most of the people I know who have traveled to Thailand before told me it’s best not to book too much of your trip in advance, and to just see what works out best when you get there. We gave this strategy a try in Chiang Mai and landed on an apartment that was set up like adjoining hotel rooms. Each room had a bed and bathroom, and one of the rooms had a couch while the other had a dining table and kitchenette. At first I was a little disappointed we weren’t going to be in the Old City, but I quickly discovered that we were going to have our own unique experience in the university area of town, which has a modern feel and some great restaurants. My favorite day in Thailand might not have unfolded the way it did if we had stayed anywhere else!

This was another accommodation that we struggled to clearly communicate the address of to our drivers. Once we learned the crossstreet number (there was no sign!), it got easier.

Staying here made us feel like a bit like college students. There was a coffee shop and yoga studio on the first floor, as well as DIY laundry and paid laundry service, both of which we utilized since we had packed so light and were running out of clean clothes.

3 Nights in Krabi at Holiday Ao Nang - $148 for my half
Not surprisingly, this was our most expensive accommodation (2x the others) AND it was a shared hotel room. To me, that makes it about 4x the cost of the others. But we were in the islands, so it was expected, and the hotel was nice with a lot of amenities like an on-site restaurant and several pools. Airbnbs weren’t really a thing here, and the way the town is set up we would have been making it unnecessarily difficult, I think, had we decided to stay in one. From the hotel we had immediate access to the beach, restaurants, and shops. We stayed in probably the least expensive room there (and in screaming distance of the kids pool), but they also some fancy looking penthouse and suites.

The funny thing about this accommodation is that we FINALLY had a recognizable hotel name to give to taxi drivers, but there was also a Holiday Inn in Krabi and so they always tried to take us there instead! So much for having an easier destination to explain.

TOURS & SIGHTSEEING: $392

*Ticket to Wat Arun - ฿100 (around $3 USD)*

Bangkok Sightseeing - $35

We did no organized tours in Bangkok, so our only costs were the entrance fees to the temples, and the cost of the massage we got at Wat Pho. All of which were very inexpensive!

Chiang Mai Sightseeing - $255

We did SO MUCH while we were in Chiang Mai and we loved every bit of it.

Bike Rental at Cacti Bicycle Chiang Mai - $5 each
We skipped the guided bicycle tours and instead rented them on our own from a nice man in town that has been running his shop for over 20 years. It was an experience!
Elephant Highlands Single Day through Elephant Nature Park - $180 each
This was worth every penny and this allows the organization to only have 10 visitors a day, which is less stressful to the elephants. I’d pay it again!
Doi Inthanon Guided Tour through Touring Center - $68 each
In addition to the twin pagodas, this included several stops: a Karen village, Hmong Tribe market, Ang Ka Nature Trail, and Wachirathan Falls
Hiking to Wat Pha Lat and Doi Suthep. Doi Suthep Entrance Fee - $1.50 each (blog post here)

Krabi Sightseeing - $101

Long Boat Ao Nong to Railay Beach - $6 each roundtrip
I debated putting this in with transportation since it is more like a shuttle that operates on a regular schedule. But it was an experience so I put it here.
Kayak Rental - $2.50 each
Our main goal in Railay Beach was to do some sea kayaking. It was incredible! And 2 hours was the perfect amount of time. We would have preferred to have our own kayaks, but there weren’t enough. In that case, the cost would have been $5 each.
Phi Phi Islands Boat Tour - $93 each
If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t pick this tour again. It was a major tourist operation and while the sights were beautiful, the experience was somewhat icky. I would find a company that operates eco tours and has specially designed options for seeing marine life like sea turtles, bioluminescent plankton, and even sharks.

FOOD & DRINK: ~$200

*One of my favorite meals. Ginger Farm Kitchen in Chiang Mai.*

It’s not practical to list out every meal and drink I had while in Thailand, but I know that it was around $200, including food and drinks at the airports.

Our nicest, most expensive meals..with multiple entrees and drinks..were only $20 - $25 and usually gave us lunch the next day.

We did have to purchase all of our drinking water, but it was very inexpensive.

SOUVENIRS & SHOPPING: ~$20

*Dried fruit and nuts at a Hmong (hill tribe) Market*. *There were lots of samples of be had! Some common items and some I had never seen/tasted before.*

This is obviously an extremely personal expenditure. I bought a couple of skirts and scarfs and a pair of earrings off of street vendors. My travel partner spent more because she also bought some beautiful artwork and gifts. Someone else might want to go crazy at the luxury shopping malls in Bangkok.

Whatever you choose to buy, just remember you have to get it home! I had the best intentions of buying a lot of herbs for my compresses and some statues for my altar. I was prepared to purchase a second suitcase and check it home, but I actually never came across what I was looking for, and that was ok, too.

TOTAL COST: $1,600

*One of the Asian Elephants we spent the day with.*

The above costs add up to $1,545, but I’m rounding up on this one to cover anything I missed, as well as some odds and ends I needed for travel, such as a new travel toiletry kit.

Obviously if I hadn’t had miles to use, this trip could have skyrocketed to $4,500-$5,000 very quickly. So I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to keep it so cost effective!

If you are looking for luxury accommodations, dining, and shopping, I would add at least $1,000 to this trip. The choice is yours!

A NOTE ABOUT TOURISM LEAKAGE

One of the things I was conscious of on this trip was tourism leakage. Tourism leakage is when you spend money in a foreign country, but the money doesn’t all go to support the local economy there. Instead, some or all of it ‘leaks’ out of the local economy and back to foreign-owned entities.

To prevent this, shop local. When stopping in a 7-11 for supplies, don’t purchase the brands you know from home. Try something that looks like it comes from the country you’re in.

If possible, try to book your accommodations and tours directly from locals. Same goes for restaurants.

Even better, look for local companies that are also dedicated to reducing their environmental impact at the same time. It’s not always easy or possible to find the ‘perfect’ option, but some effort is better than none.

IN CLOSING
If you are considering at trip to Thailand, I hope this helps you gauge your costs. If you have any questions, shoot me a message and I will try my best to help!