Thailand: Some travelers love it, others hate it. If you want to go and find out for yourself what it’s like you might wonder: what does a trip to Thailand cost? What exactly should my travel budget be? It can be difficult to know what is going to be costly and what isn’t.

If you’re not sure how to budget for your trip to Thailand, read on to be able to plan your vacation in confidence!

Cost of Living

Let’s have a look at the cost for one week. The first thing you’re going to need when figuring out what a trip to Thailand will cost is accommodation. As with any other destination, you have a wide range of options – from cheap hostels to pompous gold-facade hotels. A hostel can cost you as little as $5 (you might share with 20 people and as many cockroaches, though). A stay at the luxurious Siam Hotel in Bangkok, on the other hand, sets you back $592. Most people won’t want to get near either end of the price range!

If you want to stretch your stay, you’ll be able to find a decent private room in a motel for $25 a night or $175 a week. It will be less if you stay in more rural areas. If you are in for something larger and slightly more luxurious, you can get a room at the Modena for $45 a night. That’s $315 a week.

You can get a meal from as little as 50-100 baht or $1.5-$3 if you go with street food. That’s not for everyone, though. So let’s assume you’re going for locally-owned restaurants, which are plenty and make great Thai food. This will be more like 200 baht a meal (about $6.5), perhaps another 100 baht for a nice drink or cold beer. So in a nice hotel with breakfast included, you end up buying two meals. All together it totals at $380 a week.

If you stay in cheap accommodation, however, and eat only street food, you might cut this down to $240. You could even go as low as $140 if you stay in a hostel (assuming you’re eating out for breakfast). As you can tell, there are huge differences depending on the standard of living you’re expecting! For good measure, calculate for toiletries and miscellaneous items you might have forgotten. Examples are sunscreen ($15), toothpaste ($4), and any funky Thai beauty products you might want to try. Also, bottled water comes in at around $0.3 for 2L and you’ll need it since you can’t drink the tap water in Thailand. Aim for around $25 if you’re being conservative.

Cost of Entertainment

So you’ve figured out what you’re going to spend in a week in Thailand to sustain yourself. Another big factor that determines how much your trip to Thailand will cost is how you’re going to spend your time. While some people prefer to just relax or explore, others like a more action-based travel approach. You’ll have to figure out what your travel style is.

You might find seeing a couple of sights a week, e.g. the Emerald Buddha Temple ($13) or the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary ($50) enough. So if you plan $75 a week, that’ll be plenty to have a few outings on a relaxed holiday.

If you’re more action-oriented, doing an activity every day and a few tours, you’ll need to plan for more. Let’s say you spend three days exploring temples and adventuring for yourself. Temple entry fees usually range from nothing to $20. So you might get away spending $30 a day on these days. Whole day tours range between $50 – $100, so one each for the last four days ends up around $300 total, putting you at $390. Now that’s a busy holiday!

Cost of Transport

Another factor in what your trip to Thailand will cost is transportation. A day-ticket on the Skytrain in Bangkok is 120 baht ($4). Tuk Tuk fares are similar (especially in more rural areas) for shorter distances. Since Thai traffic is one of the most dangerous in the world, I’d avoid driving at all costs. If you decide to rent a scooter on one of the islands, it will cost around $6.5 a day or around $45 a week.

What will your trip to Thailand cost?

Now, you have an idea of what different styles of travel can cost. Of course, there are always was to do it cheaper or to spend more. Your trip to Thailand will cost less if you head to rural areas, for example.

But generally, you can get a good estimate here. Let’s say you stay in a nice hotel and take a tour every day. That’s gonna cost you around $840 for a week-long activity-packed holiday, including scooter rental. If you stay in cheaper accommodation it will be around $600. Combine cheaper accommodation and have a less packed holiday while using public transport, you can spend as little as $370 during your week in Thailand. Of course, you always want to leave a buffer in your budget for emergencies, shopping or spontaneity.

Want to compare Thailand to other destinations? Check out this article! Have you traveled to Thailand? How much did you spend? Let me know in the comments.