Thailand forum

It depends a lot on your definition of "cheap" and on the other hand "comfortably" :), but I'd say 1000-1500 baht each per day is a good range.

That'll work just fine Keiran. I recently went to thailand with a similar budget and it wont even be a challenge. You can probably even spring for a clean air-con room in every city, eat western food at least once a day, go out most nights, and take several guided tours. Have a great time!

If you meant £45 combined, that still comes to around 1200 baht each per day, which is just fine. If you go for fan accommodation and cheap food, that's plenty.

Some of the avoidable money eaters:
-alcohol not served in a bucket
-western food
-packaged day tours
-a/c and hot water

You guys could still indulge in these things selectively with your budget. There will probably be days where you guys just want to veg out by the beach or explore on foot. On days like this you can come in way under your buget.

Also, Thai food at all but the nicest restaurants is very inexpensive-often 1-3 euro per dish. I love love love the street food, but sometimes its nice to relax at a table, order off a menu, and be served. This is an indulgence that is well within your budget in every city in the Kingdom.

The biggest money eaters in Thailand are:

-three and four star hotels. Though much cheaper than in, say, Western Europe, one night will cost you 2000 THB minimum

-bottled beer

-restaurants catering to tourists

The good thing about a lot of places in SE Asia is that there are places well under budget. So if you blow out on some days you can just go somewhere cheap and spend a few days there. For instance, I went to Pai for 4 days and spent only 2000B. OK, so there's not much to do in Pai but it's a nice peaceful place and the point is if you start running over budget it's easy to save with a few cheap days.

But the main things to avoid are western food, air conditioning(I found it more stuffy than fans), too much shopping. Another thing that saved money was a trip on the Mekong by slow boat. I booked this through an agent in Pai. The overall cost for three days was not much, you buy your food in markets before you go which saves on that cost and you get to see Laos. The visa is only 1000B and apart from what you spend at the start there are nearly no additional costs so long as you don't buy food on the boat. And at the end you can see Nong Khai when you get back to Thailand, costs are cheap there and they have a very large and inexpensive market.

thanks for your replys everyone, MADMAC im like you also, dont want to stick to a budget but just getting rough ideas. any other advice would be great keiran

Mo, I agreed with much of what you wrote (or had no opinion due to lack of experience). However, I disagreed with a few points:

"-Mic59 is right about Pai, You guys should check it out soon after you head north, its only a 2 hour bus ride from Chiang Mai."
This location appeals to certain types of people. It's a mistake to assume it will appeal to everyone. I would advise him to read about it first, to ensure it's the kind of place he would like.

"-Travel with government busses and trains always (not tourist busses) because the gov. busses are better in every way."

Travel with the best VIP bus you can when going long distances. Best means most expensive. It's worth it. For shorter stretches, cheap buses are fine.

"-Do go to a full-moon party on Koh Pangan."

Again, this is bad advice. Some people love the full moon party. I'm not one of them, but I have friends who relly enjoy it. We all have different interests. I've read people talking about Pattaya saying "give it a miss" - if you're a sex tourist it's on the must do list. It's a mistake to assume that the only kind of tourist looking for information here is the cultural tourist.

"-Pack light, you can buy clothes there and laundry is very very inexpensive."

I don't really pack light - well compared to my wife I do - but I can comfortably carry 15 kg on my back for a long distance without a problem. So I bring everything I need. Bruce likes to just have a carry on, so he can skip picking up baggage and blow through customs quickly before the big lines hit. That's fine and it works for him. I do agree clothes are pretty cheap. Of course, you get what you pay for. Quality clothes are not so cheap. I understand the advantages and disadvantages either way - but I wouldn't assume everyone should always pack light. Now, when traveling on my chopper, yes, I pack light.

Kieran
What are you interests? That's a great place to start when looking for advice on where to go. Some people want to see old ruins. Some people want to see natural beauty. Some people want to get away from tourist places and mix with locals as much as possible. Some people are really interested in the food... some people are interested in art... old architecture... it really helps to focus a visit if you know what you are interested in. A lot of tourists want to go see Ayudhaya. I have zero interest. So someone might say "make sure you go see Ayudhaya, you'll love it." That advice, which is not much help to me, comes from the fact I didn't explain what really interests me in the first place. Now, had I said "I love war history. Love walking old battlefields, old WW II places of interest..." Then someone would have said "Go see Kanchanaburi" that would, for me, be great advice.