This 2 weeks in Thailand cost breakdown should help you understand roughly how much you should budget for a trip to Thailand.
Two weeks in Thaialnd is a really great amount of time to see this country. You can see the jungle and the beaches all while enjoying seriously delicious food.
The country is huge, so you’ll no doubt want to think properly about how to split your time and money.
If you’re wondering how to split your time, be sure to check out my two-week Northern Thailand Itinerary.
This post is all about how much it will cost you to travel for 2 weeks in Thailand.
For some reason I have now long forgotten, I kept very serious track of what we spent all of our money on while we were traveling around southeast Asia.
I had a little notebook and each night I would jot down what we’d spent, how we’d spent it, and I would tally it up for the day. This post will walk you through the 2 weeks in Thailand cost breakdown including how much accommodation, water, beer, food, and transportation costs.
It served to show us how much things cost in each country, it also helped us visually take note of how much we were spending.
Sometimes we thought we’d really gone wild only to look back at the book and see that actually we hadn’t spent much at all. Other times it tallied up far quicker than it was meant to and we were able to take note and reign it back it.
It also means I can write incredibly detailed posts about how much it costs for two people to travel Thailand!
For other cost breakdown posts, you can see them here:
2 Weeks in Thailand Cost Breakdown
How Much Does 2 weeks in Thailand Cost?
In the 15 days that we spent in Bangkok and Northern Thailand, we spent a total of 14,726 Baht. That’s equivalent to about $420 USD.
That’s for two people for 15 days and includes everything from accommodation to meals and transport.
At the time of travel, 35 baht was roughly $1 USD. As of October 2022, 38 baht is $1 USD, so if you spent the same amount of baht it would only equal $386.61 USD. That’s a cheap trip!
This cost does not include my flights to or from the region. I was traveling overland from Cambodia and carried on into Laos afterward. Your budget for flying into Thailand for your 2-week Thailand cost breakdown will of course be higher than this.
I use Kiwi.com to search for and book all of my flights. It is the best budget option out there and allows you to search all of the possible routes to your destination. Search flights with Kiwi.com here.
We have a Citibank account back home and used that to take money out while we travel. Citibank does not charge anything for using Citibank ATMs around the world.
There are two in Bangkok and we stocked up on cash when we arrived in the city. You can take out a maximum of $200 at a time. You can also take money out of any ATM in Thailand without being charged by Citibank, but the bank that owns that ATM will definitely charge you.
The maximum amount you can take out of other ATMs is generally not as much, so your best bet is to get to a Citibank ATM to save yourself the fees.
Update: I have recently changed banks and now exclusively use Charles Schwab when I travel. You can read about why this is the best bank to use while you travel here. It’s currently only available for Americans.
A Schwab account allows you to use your debit card to take cash out anywhere in the world without fees. Even if the ATM you use charges you, Schwab will reimburse you any of those fees at the end of each month.
How Much Does Food Cost in Thailand?
Food in Thailand is relatively cheap compared to other countries in South East Asia, but the portion sizes are significantly smaller. In total, we spent 4,123 baht on food in Thailand. That’s about $118 for two people for 15 days.
We spent 754 Baht on breakfasts ($20).
For breakfast, we usually headed to a nearby 7-11 for yogurt or cereal and coffee. If we were on the road or there wasn’t a 7-11, there was always a local shop to buy a Thai tea and an omelette with rice.
We spent a total of 1,055 Baht on lunches ($30). For lunch, we would go to a local place to have soup or meat and rice. We used our Lonely Planet
We spent a total of 1,550 Baht on dinners ($45). For dinner, we would go to a night market and sample things from several different stalls. Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Pai have excellent night markets with tons of great options.
We spent a total of 764 Baht on snacks ($21). We snacked frequently, mostly because the food was so good, but also because the portions were quite small. We splurged most on fruit, fresh juices, and Thai iced tea whenever we spotted somewhere that looked good.
If you plan to eat at more sit-down restaurants or you get a hankering for some western food, then your 2 week Thailand cost for food will definitely go up. You can expect to pay at least double the price of street for if you want a burger or a buddha bowl at a trendy cafe.
How Much are Hotels in Thailand?
For 2 weeks in Thailand costs for hotels including nights in Bangkok and Northern Thailand, we spent a total of 4,170 Baht ($118). We never paid more than 300 Baht ($8.50) for a private room usually with its own bathroom.
The most expensive place up north was probably Chiang Mai. We walked around quite a few places before we found somewhere for 300 Baht.
It’s also important to note that we were traveling during a quieter time, in late July/early August.
If you were to try to visit between November and February I definitely recommend booking something in advance.
I’ve read a few horror stories about people showing up without anywhere booked (this is mostly in Chiang Mai) and they end up having to pay an obscene amount at an expensive hotel.
I always use Booking.com if I’m going to plan any of my accommodation in advance. They have tons of options for hotels in Thailand including in Bangkok, Pai, Chiang Mai, and of course the beautiful island of Koh Samui.
In Pai, we stayed in a private Bungalow with river access and a balcony for 280 Baht ($7.50). We promised to stay for at least three nights, so she moved the price from 320 Baht to 280. While that’s only a few dollars difference, it all adds up over time!
How Much Does Beer Cost in Thailand?
After coming straight to Bangkok from Cambodia, we were a little bit shocked by how much more expensive beer was. Thailand is a very Buddhist country and most devout locals don’t really drink that much, so the price reflects that fact.
A bottle of Chang Beer in 7-11 or a similar convenience store costs about 65 Baht ($2) for a 630ml bottle (that’s a huge 21 oz bottle!). If you wanted to have it in a bar you’re looking at something more like 80-100 Baht for a smaller 330ml bottle.
How Much Does Water Cost in Thailand?
A bottle of water costs about 13 Baht (37¢) in convenience stores. The most we ever paid for water from local shops or vendors was 20 Baht (57¢).That is the price for a 1.5L bottle of water which we probably drank between 2-3 a day between us. In total, we spent 233 Baht ($6.50) on water during our 2 weeks in Thailand.
Although the price of water might not seem out of control, the waste we create as tourists is phenomenal.
If you want to save some money over the long term as well as help reduce the amount of plastic you leave in your wake, I highly recommend getting either a LifeStraw Water Bottle
How Much Does Transportation Cost in Thailand?
Transportation in Thailand is cheap and efficient.
Buses in Bangkok can cost as little as 15 Baht (43¢). We traveled mostly by public bus.
We read some damning information about the private buses, mostly that they steal your stuff, and didn’t really want to risk it. Besides that, public buses are much cheaper.
The only thing is figuring out how to get to the stations! We relied on the help of the staff at the different hostels that we stayed in to tell us what buses we could take to the station.
The buses are really well set up. In addition to a bus driver, there is always an attendant on the bus who gives you your ticket.
They speak absolutely no English (not any that we met anyway), but we would have someone write down where we wanted to go in Thai and show it to them. They would smile and nod and tell us when to get off.
In total, we spent 3,517 Baht ($93 USD) on transport including buses, tuk-tuks, and bicycle and motorbike rentals.
The most expensive journeys were Bangkok to Sukhothai (340 Baht each), Sukhothai to Chiang Mai (228 Baht each), and Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai (225 Baht).
We paid 300 Baht for a Tuk-Tuk driver in Chiang Rai to take us to the White Temple and the Black House.
There are few options when it comes to transport between the bus stations and the main towns. Most tuk-tuk and taxi drivers have one price that they all charge Farang (foreigners) and they won’t budge from it.
Other Costs for 2 Weeks in Thailand
Some temples in Northern Thailand charge a fee to enter. It was anywhere from 10-40 Baht. Be sure to cover up your legs and shoulders before entering out of respect, especially if you are a woman. Some places have free paper shawls, but many do not and will simply tell you you cannot come in. Pack accordingly.
We bought a few souvenir T-shirts for about 60 Baht while were there, but saved most of our shopping for when we came back through Bangkok after Laos.
You may move around more than we did. Trains are by far the most time-efficient way to travel Thailand, but they are also the most expensive.
If you only have two weeks in Thailand and you want to cover even more ground than we did, I highly recommend checking out Seat-61 and learning about how you can travel the country by train. While this is more expensive, you will see a lot more in the same amount of time.
The only other way would be to fly around the country. I met a couple who only had two weeks in Thailand and they wanted to see a ton, so they flew.
They flew into Bangkok. Then they flew from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Then they flew back to Bangkok and over to one of the islands.
This is certainly the most expensive way to get around, but if time is more valuable than money on your trip, you may want to consider it as an option.
What Would I Do Differently for 2 Weeks in Thailand Cost?
When I look at my Thailand trip costs, I wouldn’t have done much differently. We were in month four of our trip at this point and we were pretty confident with bartering, walking around until we found a good deal, and sleeping on rock-hard beds.
We didn’t visit that many places up North, which saved us a lot of money. Luke got some sort of stomach bug while we were in Pai, so we stayed put and didn’t spend much at all for 2-3 days.
I would have liked to rent a motorbike while I was up in the northern area. This, of course, would have cost us more money, but would have allowed us to see even more than just the town of Pai.
Motorbikes are without a doubt the easiest way to get around this part of the country and they are pretty affordable to rent (about $5 for the whole day).
We were so under budget on this trip (our budget was $1,000 per month for both of us). We could have easily spent another $100 on more luxurious accommodation or better transportation or perhaps another souvenir had I known that we were actually spending less than what we’d budgeted for.
Want to spend EVEN LESS? See how Ruben from Gamin Traveler managed to travel Thailand for $10 a day!
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Bozena
Friday 30th of December 2022
Great tips, heading to Thailand in February. Thanks for great info!
Eddie Quinlan
Friday 21st of October 2022
Great information, well presented, very helpful, Thank You