🇹🇭Cost of Travel in Thailand (2026): Daily Budgets for 11 Cities

The world's friendliest travel infrastructure: legendary street food, golden temples, and beaches an hour's cheap flight from the capital's delicious chaos.

Daily budgets in Thailand

The cheapest city in Thailand is Pai, at $18–40 a day mid-range per person; the priciest is Phuket, at $35–90 — about 114% more for the same style of trip.

Daily cost per person in each Thailand city, sorted by mid-range budget
City	Budget / day	Mid-range / day	Comfort / day	Cheap meal	Mid-range hotel
Pai	$10–25	$18–40	$30–70	$1–2.20	$25–50
Sukhothai	$10–25	$18–40	$30–70	$1–2.20	$20–46
Ayutthaya	$10–25	$20–45	$35–80	$1.20–2.50	$25–55
Koh Lanta	$15–35	$22–55	$40–100	$1.20–3	$34–74
Chiang Mai	$15–35	$25–55	$45–100	$1–2.50	$30–70
Krabi	$15–35	$25–60	$45–110	$1.50–3	$35–80
Hua Hin	$15–40	$28–65	$50–120	$1.50–3	$43–90
Pattaya	$20–45	$30–75	$55–140	$1.50–3.50	$35–90
Koh Samui	$20–45	$30–75	$55–140	$1.50–3	$50–115
Bangkok	$25–50	$40–80	$70–140	$1.50–3	$50–100
Phuket	$20–55	$35–90	$65–160	$2–4	$60–140

Per person in US dollars, flights not included. Mid-range is each guide's researched figure and includes a mid-range room; budget and comfort scale it by 0.6 and 1.8, so treat those as rough. How we work these out.

Cities

The ruined former capital of the Siamese kingdom — brick chedis and headless Buddhas scattered across a bicycle-friendly park, an easy 1.5-hour train ride from Bangkok's chaos.

Chaotic, friendly, and outrageously good value. Street food that outclasses most restaurants, a skytrain gliding over legendary traffic, and golden temples around every corner.

Northern Thailand's cultural heart — a moated Old City of hundreds of temples, misty mountains, laptop-friendly cafés, and a slower, cheaper pace than Bangkok's chaos.

Thailand's original royal seaside retreat, and the closest real beach to Bangkok — a calmer, more local alternative to the big island resorts, with a long night market and a low-rise, unhurried pace.

A long, laid-back island south of Krabi that takes real effort to reach and rewards it — quiet west-coast beaches, a stilted Sino-Thai fishing village, and a slower pace than Phuket or Krabi ever offer.

Thailand's second-biggest island, and its most polished — coconut groves giving way to resort strips, a golden Big Buddha watching over the northeast coast, and an easy, no-boat-required flight straight in.

Limestone cliffs plunging straight into turquoise water, a rock-climbing mecca reachable only by longtail boat, and a slower, less-built-up alternative to Phuket just across the bay.

A tiny mountain valley town three hours and 762 curves north of Chiang Mai — canyon viewpoints, hot springs, reggae bars, and a backpacker gravity that makes 'two days' turn into a week.

Thailand's original beach resort town, 90 minutes from Bangkok — brash nightlife on one strip, family-friendly beaches and day trips a short ride away on the other.

Thailand's biggest island resort — turquoise water, buzzing nightlife on one coast, quiet coves on another, and a launchpad for boat trips to some of the country's most famous islands.

The ruined first capital of Siam, and Ayutthaya's much quieter cousin — weathered brick chedis reflected in lotus ponds, bicycle paths instead of tour buses, and almost none of the crowds.