Budget Travel to Thailand: An Ultimate Guide

Hello Travellers,

I am 25 years old and have this passion to see the entire world like Bunny from YJHD. I keep struggling between managing finances and creating itinerary. Budget travelling is in my DNA now. I am here to tell you how I travelled to Thailand for 8 days with the minimum budget of 60000 INR.

1. Flights:

Thailand has international airports at Bangkok, Phuket, Krabi and few other cities. Most of these airports have direct flights from Indian cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Delhi. On an average flights are cheaper from Kolkata to Bangkok Swarnabhumi Airport in the range of 8000-9000 INR.

But for people living in other cities, the direct flight costs around 11000-13000 INR one way usually. Try to book your trip about 20-30 days in advance. My round trip flight from Mumbai to Bangkok costed around 22000 INR.

Be mindful of the city of entrance and exit. If you land at Bangkok and are travelling south to Phuket or Krabi better take return flights from there. You will save the trouble of travelling another 800 km for just taking the return flight.

If possible take an early morning flight from India, Thai time is 1.5 hrs ahead of us so if you fly from India at 4am then after a 4.5 hrs flight you will reach Bangkok at 10am local time and you can have the day to yourself.

2. Visa:

For Indian ordinary passport holders, Thailand offer 3 types of Visa services:

a. Sticker Visa: It is the cheapest method for entry and saves a lot of time as you don't have to stand in long queues at the airport. Sticker Visa is a pre approved visa for which you have to apply about 10-12 days minimum in advance through a third party agency like VFS Global (https://visa.vfsglobal.com/ind/en/tha/). The cost of it is visa application fee of INR 2500 and convenience fee of INR 500. The total cost would be INR 3000.

b. Online E-VOA: E Visa on Arrival is another way of a pre approved visa. This method enables you to skip regular visa on arrival queue at the airport but has a separate queue which is comparatively smaller. The usual processing time is 1-3 days and application is online at from your laptop through the same third party agency mentioned above. The cost is THB 3000 which is its only drawback which is around INR 7500 making it the costliest method.

c. Visa on Arrival: This is the most opted method as its convenient. The cost is THB 2000 for normal line and THB 2200 for express line which is slightly faster in processing. VOA facilities allow you to stay for a max period of 15 days in Thailand.

d. Visa Free: Thailand exempts Indians from visa requirement usually in the peak season of NOV-MAY to boost tourism. You can save visa fee but the prices of goods and services are hiked in the peak season.

3. Currency:

The official currency of Thailand is Thai Bhat. Its better to carry some Thai Bhat from India as the VOA fee is needed to be paid in THB only. Moreover, you can buy SIM at the airport. I suggest to carry 3000-4000 THB.

Thailand has high surcharge on cash withdrawal from ATM and also ATMs are not everywhere, so I prefer to carry cash. I carried USD from India as you get better rates for USD compared to INR almost everywhere. Also USD is lesser bills to carry. You can get your currency converted at Orient Express in India and Superrich in Thailand. They offer hands down the best rates.

4. Travel within Thailand:

Usually people land at Bangkok and then travel onwards to provinces like Phuket and Krabi. Though there are flights operating between these airports which can be reasonably prices of booked well in advance but it comes with a caveat. These flights offer only 7 kg free luggage and that too cant be checked in. Extra luggage needs to be purchased which makes the price twice or thrice of the original price of flights.

There are buses running between Bangkok to Krabi & Phuket which cost THB 715 only. You can carry as much luggage as you want. These buses take 12-14 hrs and are usually overnight journey. It saves the accommodation cost for the night as well. Buses can be booked from the bus stations but its safer to book online from website of 12goasia.com

Travelling within Bangkok is quite cheap with skytrains and buses. The frequency is good as well as connectivity. If you want to take a cab the local drivers might charge you hefty amount so can take cabs from apps like Grab, Gojeck and Bolt. Grab delivers food in Thailand as well.

5. Tours:

There are option to book tours from websites like Klook and Agoda but they often do not include national park entry fee of THB 400 which is mandatory almost on every island. I suggest roam in the main market and you will see numerous tour companies. Do bargaining with them to get best price and make sure they are including national park entry fee in the package.

6. Food & Shopping:

Thailand has cheap food option in the night markets as well as local street vendors. Seven Eleven stores are almost everywhere in the walking distance of 2-5 mins, they also have good food and water options. Shopping is cheaper in the streets as well, try to avoid touristy areas to shop. In Bangkok you can try Platinum Fashion Mall and MBK shopping center for best prices.