Thailand Travel Guide

If Thailand isn’t already on your bucket list, add it. Now. There’s a reason why it’s one of the most loved travel destinations and why over half of the people who visit once will make their way back again. We came across quite a few Americans who had taken a trip to Thailand and decided to make it their new home. Just beware: once you experience the breathtaking views, get a Thai massage on the beach at sunset, try the mouth-watering northern Thai cuisine, and play with baby elephants (who think they’re puppies), you might never leave.

TYPICAL COSTS

First, if you’re traveling to Thailand, you’re going to want to get acquainted with their money. Current exchange rates are always changing, but if you want to do a super quick calculation on the fly, dividing the Thai baht (THB) amount by 30 will typically get you a rough idea of how much you’ll be spending in U.S. dollars (USD).

If you want to get down to the penny, keep the Google Currency Converter link open on your phone.

AIRFARE

Cost: $440+

Prices vary, depending on what time of year you go and where you are flying out of. I’ve seen tickets as low as $340 roundtrip out of LAX. The theory is that prime ticket-buying time for international flights is 6-8 weeks out. This proved true for us with tickets dropping down to $795/person RT from Salt Lake City to Bangkok 7 weeks before our trip.

ACCOMMODATIONS

$3/night+

We traveled to Thailand during the shoulder season and had no trouble finding accommodations. Prices can range from a few dollars a night to tens of thousands of dollars a night, depending on how fancy you want to get. We did Airbnb a couple nights and found hotel rooms through Hotels.com the rest of the nights.

The cheapest lodging you’ll likely find is with shared dorm rooms. There are also guesthouses, bungalows, hotels, and of course, Airbnb. We stayed in fairly high-end/clean (for the most part) hotels and paid $20-$60/night depending on the area.

VACCINATIONS

Cost: $50+

PLAN AHEAD! Travel appointments were booked out weeks in advance and some of the medications had to be started a month or more before traveling. Vaccines cost us a pretty good chunk of money and we didn’t even get the most expensive one. I’d suggest checking out what the CDC has to say about travel requirements/recommendations and then making a travel appointment with your doctor to go over what you should do as far as vaccines and medications while traveling. Our routine vaccines were covered under our insurance, but we paid an additional $57 per person for the travel appointment and Thailand-specific vaccines.

CELL PHONES IN THAILAND

Cost: $15+

We thought this would be the hardest thing to figure out but it was probably the easiest! If you have an international cell phone plan or have a carrier that doesn’t charge extra internationally, well then you’re awesome and you can skip this section. For all the others, you can take your cell phone to Thailand and you can do it cheaply! I took my iPhone 6S+ and got a Thai sim card at the airport that cost about $15 and lasted me the full two weeks I was there. Wifi is also available in just about every hotel and most restaurants/coffee shops.

FOOD

Cost: $0.30-$7.00/meal

Food prices, of course, depend on where you buy it. The most expensive meals we had were about 280 THB/person ($7). The BEST meals we had were the ones from street carts (which they call fast food – funny story about that…) and those cost about 20 THB ($0.57). Night markets are, in my opinion, the best places to get food. They’re the cheapest and the tastiest.

GETTING AROUND

Getting around in Thailand was way easier and cheaper than we thought it would be. Local buses can be as little as 8 THB per trip. Taxis are metered and aren’t typically too pricey and can often be worth the little bit of extra cost just to have A/C relief in the 115 degree weather. Tuk-tuks are fun and it is essential you take AT LEAST one tuk-tuk ride if you’re traveling all the way to Thailand. Metered taxi rates and airfare aren’t typically negotiable, but just about everything else is.

There are night trains available for traveling long distances and are certainly the cheaper route if your budget is dwindling. With flights around the country averaging about 700-1000 THB ($20-$35) per person, we opted for the hour-long flights instead of overnight train rides.

THINGS TO DO

CHIANG MAI

Cooking Class

Elephants

Tigers (do not go)

Anusarn Night Market

Night Bazaar

Walk the city

Wat Doi Suthep

Kantoke Dinner

Bua Thong Sticky Waterfall

Sankoa