You’ve probably seen those viral videos comparing WHATEVER – from super inexpensive to extremely expensive. I’m not going to spout some bullshit like $1 Thailand hotel room vs. $10,000 per night because frankly that’s absolutely nonsense, and has no basis in reality.
But what I thought would be interesting comparing the experience of someone who is on a tight budget but still want to go to Thailand (that would be the $1000 experience) versus someone who’s balling and doesn’t mind splurging $5000 for his trip.
How does accommodation compare? What about nightlife? Girl? Food? And so on … I think you get the idea.
The cheapest hotel room I’ve stayed at in Thailand was around $6 per night, and I’ve also paid over $100 per night.
In my experience – and this doesn’t only apply to accommodation in Thailand – both ends of the price spectrum aren’t worth it. Like that $6 per night room was fine at that time. It was almost opposite of Bangla Road in Phuket, but I think it’s not something I would want to experience again.
On the other hand, the price-value of going beyond $100 per night, or let’s say $150, are very marginal.
$20-$50 is where it is at. And keep in mind, that’s the daily rate. If you book accommodation for an entire week, or month, you get much better value.
For me, noise is a big concern. Either A/C noise, outside noise, or someone in the room next door getting some action. In most cases, it is really down to luck, or knowledge of the place.
I’ve stayed at a $60 per night hotel in the Sala Daeng area of Bangkok, and noise from other rooms was far louder than at the $10 per night condo I’ve stayed at for months.
In most cases, the more you stay central, the closer you stay to the action, the more you pay. Pretty obvious, common sense.
The thing is, I wouldn’t even recommend staying very central, like image the noise, the massage ladies outside of your place, etc. etc.
I’d say 5 minutes walking distance is a safe minimum, and the closest you should stay to say Soi Cowboy, Nana, etc.
That’s great for pulling girls easily, for going out spontaneously, or waking up in the middle of the night and deciding to head to Penny Black at Asok at 3AM to checkout the leftover talent.
If you don’t need that level of spontaneity, 3-5 MRT/BTS stops from the action is perfectly fine and you get much better price-value.
Let’s talk nightlife. How does the budget correlate with the experience? I’ll cut it short … anything in the 1500 Thai Baht (less than $50) is good value. Below 1000 Baht is rare to find, and in my experience once you go beyond 3000 Thai Baht (say $100+), I didn’t perceive any additional value.
I mean it’s not like an attractive Thai girl becomes twice as attractive just because price goes up. In fact, at some point the quality of the service goes down, and once you enter the 4000 Baht territory, you really need to ask yourself if that’s her standard rate, or an inflated one because she doesn’t like you.
The other part of the nightlife budget usually has to do with drinking. If you get drunk inside a venue, yeah, you’ll of course pay a premium. Is that worth it? I’d say probably not. A few drinks? Absolutely. But going all the way from sober to drunk inside of a club perhaps doesn’t make sense.
So here, the $100+ per night budget doesn’t add much value. You can get the same experience for half the price by getting a few cheap drinks in at 7-Eleven, or a beer bar, walk around, get in the mood. And THEN head to some more exciting venues, invite girls for lady drinks, etc.
Lastly, the food budget. I’m not sure what I should tell you here, but the price ceiling is again very low. Go to any food court and you can get whatever you want for less than $20. There are lots of fancy places, but having a $50 per day food budget … I honestly would even know how to spend that much. In most cases, $10-20 per day for food, you get all the good stuff.
Spending $1000 versus $5000 on your Thailand trip, what is the difference in regards to the experience? Well, it’s not the food. Accommodation will be difference, yes. Drinking? Probably not because as I’ve alluded you get the same experience for cheap.
The main difference in regards to those two budget will be one thing: the number of “fun” session you will have, and to keep it YouTube-friendly “how many people participate in those sessions” if you know what I mean.