Budget

How many set a budget for their trip? I usually set a budget of 500 US a week not including room. Sometimes I go over but most times I have money left. This is just for in pattaya and doesn't include any side trips. How does this compare with others?

How many set a budget for their trip? I usually set a budget of 500 US a week not including room. Sometimes I go over but most times I have money left. This is just for in pattaya and doesn't include any side trips. How does this compare with others?

Per day around 2500 TBT "pocket money", that's a hell of lot for for a single person which is familiar with Thailand and Pattaya.

I don't think that 2500 Baht per day is unreasonable particularly if one is offing guys regularly. (1000 for the guy minimum, 300 off, 200 drinks-probably lots more if ones going to enjoy being social with friends, etc., nice dinner, lunch, breakfast, taxi fares, incidentals, purchases, a movie here or there, etc.) Hey the money goes fast when you're on vacation. It's an average of course and somedays more, some less. 2500 seems about right to me.

[francois]

My budget is $100 US/day (3500 Baht) not including room and I never have anything left except good memories.

[bucknaway]

In Pattaya, I tend to spend an average of 800 baht a day. In Bangkok it seems to be more, due to Babylon and the taxi's and I would guess it would be around 2,000 a day. but there are many days where I meet friends from the Internet and I end up spending only a few hundred baht that day.

My cost in pattaya went way down due to the friends I made and I had to sneak away from them just to go throw my money away... (That was me in the Krazy Dragon handing out 20 baht notes hand over fist.... :drunken:

...Per day around 2500 TBT "pocket money", that's a hell of lot for for a single person...

sure...single person but need to pay everything double if you have a Thai companion.

[thanatorn-old]

It really depends on what I am planning ( just a quick trip or something more with side trips or birthdays etc.)- I have had various budgets from GBP100 (THb 6700) to GBP350 a day including a hotel of about THB 2000.

That may seem a lot but absolutely everything is included and accounted for ( a bit sad really), from hotel to meals to offs, holywood, tips, shopping etc.

As I said a bit sad but I like to go on holiday and not have to count the pennies for what I would want to do, and so I try ensure there are no gaps. If I can't enjoy it to the full then I don't like to go away.

[neddy3]

Yep, I'm another who budgets for a trip, through the necessity to keep an eye on the balances..

About 2500 B per day is on the mark, assuming that payment to boys is reasonably regular.

IF you have a thai BF, be prepared to spend AT LEAST 2 - 3000 baht a day on average (when counting in all the "purchases" for your loved one).

[Mi Cow Chai-old]

Have bf. I spend about 11000 baht per day in Patttaya.

[bing]

I seem to spend different amouts on different trips. It seems to average about 100 to 150 dollars a day. Whatever it takes, I can save when back home, spend on vacation.

[adman5000]

When I go to Thailand I send a wire transfer to my bank account there that is more than sufficient. But then I do not budget, I just enjoy. My friend there doesn't need or ask for anything, but I bring him gifts of things he can't easily or cheaply get in Thailand and give him spending money (which he keeps using for taxis for us). Neither of us drink so it is just meals, travel, and activities. Outside BKK we stay at Thai guesthouses and mostly eat Thai food so it's cheap. We see a lot of movies, visit friends, music, bowling, and day trips. I don't think about how much I am spending because it is so cheap I just want to enjoy and not "think too much" .

I need buck to come guard my wallet lol

5000 up seems to walk out of it per day!

[Aunty]

I'm much like some of the others in that i don't really keep/have a budget when I travel. I just like to take it as it comes really, but I don't like to skimp when on holiday. I suppose if I averaged it out, I'd spend about $NZ100 a day (2200-2500 Baht) a day on food, sightseeing, pubs, clubs, taxis, entertainment tips and relaxation. My weakness is I like to shop for local craft/art/ and on my last trip to Thailand I spent about 50,000 Baht on buying stuff in addition to my $100 a day and accommodation airfares, etc. If I go to Thailand for 7-10 days, I usually expect to pay around 115,000 Baht all up, plus whatever else I might buy along the way.

[bucknaway]

If you can afford 5000 a day then don't spare the satang! I am poor and I don't pretend to have lots of money. I have just enough to make my life happy.

I will admit that I am a cheapskate...

One of my average days in pattaya went like this.

*woke-up, showered and ate breakfast at hotel. (Room Club)
*Visit came and we went to the room for a massage.
*My company left and I walked across the pavers to the beach chairs.
*Have an ice tea 80 baht, massage 300 baht another tea 80 baht and pay for chair & tip about 120 baht.
*shower in room, friend comes for massage.
*use computer - walk to pan pan to meet friend and go to mall to eat (220 baht).
*Go back to room for massage
*get text to meet friend at pan pan
*go to full luv inn short time hotel (free)
*friend calls to tell me they will come to my room after midnight.
*run baht bus (10 baht) to go to Krazy Dragon, have a drink and give away 500 Baht in 20 baht notes!
*Go back to room and wait for friend who takes me to different night spots in the city and then we go back to my room for massage and sleep.

Total 1,400


I need buck to come guard my wallet lol

5000 up seems to walk out of it per day!

80 baht for a glass of iced tea???

[bucknaway]

Thai Tea. I forgot if it was 60 baht or 80 baht so I figured for the higher amount.

I need Buckaway to guard my wallet as well as I always bring $5000 USD for 4 weeks and leave Thailand with $200 or $300. :bounce: I must say I have a good time but it is expensive to go twice a year for a month each trip. Easy come easy go I guess.

I budget for 3500 Baht a day for minor expenses, entertainment, shopping and food but excluding hotel and the cost of travel from/to the airport.

Some days I spend more, others less. I usually find over the period of a holiday stay that 3500 more than covers all eventualities and am quite often (but not always) pleasantly surprised at the end of a stay to have a few thousand Baht (or the equivalent in TCs left over and unspent).

Of course, if the visit involves a subsidiary trip to Phuket, Chiang Mai, Issan or elsewhere in Thailand the costs of travel are extra, but this is factored into my pre-trip planning.

I should have added to my original post that this will be my 32nd trip in 12 years so i am pass the bar hopping and offing every night. For me now it is the pleasure of sitting at an outdoor bar and watching the activites around me. Just being in a place where one fits in and can be ones self makes the whole trip worthwhile. During my early trips I budgeted 100 US a day but now realize that other than a few good memories there isn't much to show for it so I decided to slow down and save toward the eventual retirement which I thought would be in LOS but now the philippines seems an option and is just a short flight from LOS.

I never have a budget. I go with 2000тВм cash to thailand and mostly need to get 5 times ├а 10000 baht from ATM. Last 17 days in february i give out 80000 baht in pattaya and bangkok. Sunday i go only to BKK for 9 days and will have 1500тВм but i never need to pay for hotel because just paid.

[colmx]

I always budget for and spend 5000 Baht per day
Never manage to spend anything less
And that excluding room (stay with BF)

There are 2 of us so the price of everything doubles.
Like Buck I'm not rich and in my early 30s - but I could not live on a limited - budget like that... Must be my Irish blood that makes me want to go out and have a good party everynight!

Somedays i come in under budget... but then other days a side trip takes us way over budget.
eg. Hiring a boat to a remote island or Birthday party

Another expensive night is when i have a "free" night - BF goes to meet friends in Disco or Issan concert whilst I go on a whirlround trip of the bars... Never cheap !

I always budget for and spend 5000 Baht per day
Never manage to spend anything less
And that excluding room (stay with BF)

There are 2 of us so the price of everything doubles.
Like Buck I'm not rich and in my early 30s - but I could not live on a limited - budget like that... Must be my Irish blood that makes me want to go out and have a good party everynight!

Somedays i come in under budget... but then other days a side trip takes us way over budget.
eg. Hiring a boat to a remote island or Birthday party

Another expensive night is when i have a "free" night - BF goes to meet friends in Disco or Issan concert whilst I go on a whirlround trip of the bars... Never cheap !


Spend 10.000 bath a day , but more if Oogie is around ! :clown:

[bing]

This thread goes to prove that Professor Higgins was absolutely correct in saying, "Men are a marvelous sex."

When not with a BF, I off a guy every night of my vacation (and often more than one per day or more than one at a time) and party like a rock star every night with the booze and the tips flowing freely. I spend 10K to 15K baht per day at a minimum, and I don't regret a dime of it.

My current BF is not a big spender nor does he ask for much in terms of purchases. So, when I am with him in the country I can struggle to spend 2,000 bt per day (and this mostly depends on how much gas we put in the car that day).

Different lifestyles will greatly vary one's budget.

Pete

why do all posters exclude their hotel lodging expense from the budget? isn't hotel part of the overall travel expense in LOS?
I guess I will have to start a new thread for hotel budget.

[colmx]

I think lodgings are generally excluded as they are either paid for in advance or on the Credit Card at the end of the trip... And conveniently forgotten about until next months bill comes around!

[francois]

When not with a BF, I off a guy every night of my vacation (and often more than one per day or more than one at a time) and party like a rock star every night with the booze and the tips flowing freely. I spend 10K to 15K baht per day at a minimum, and I don't regret a dime of it.

My current BF is not a big spender nor does he ask for much in terms of purchases. So, when I am with him in the country I can struggle to spend 2,000 bt per day (and this mostly depends on how much gas we put in the car that day).

Different lifestyles will greatly vary one's budget.

Pete

[francois]

Pete 1969; I like your life style and, like you, I like to live it up and enjoy myself in spite of the cost. But there are those, permanent residents, on a real budget, who live on 1500 Baht/day including lodging. Not really sure how they do it bu t they do. None of them seemed to have responded to this post.

I included my hotel expenses in my estimates---usually around 1500 bt to 2500 bt per day.

When I am with my BF upcountry, we stay in his house and there are no hotel expenses.

Pete