“Me and my family want to go to Thailand for Christmas – how much will a holiday be roughly all in?”
Ok, this is a very vague question from our friend because they didn’t specify the number of kids…if any kids at all. I’ll do my best to break it down.
For me, one person going to Thailand during Christmas for a 2 week vacation the total budget I would go with is $5,120usd
Here’s how this is broken down for me:
- $1,200 – Flight
- $700 – Hotel
- $420 – Food
- $1,400 – Alcohol
- $1,400 – Extracurricular Activities
Now, I usually don’t spend that, but that’s what I budget.
For our friend’s question it will be a little different. Let me go over this in more detail.
Flight
This all depends on where you’re flying from and how early you book your ticket.
For instance, my price of $1,200 has been about the same for all airports in the mid-south of America. Also, it’s usually about this price on a short notice (within 2 weeks).
Now, if I pick the right day and enough in advance I can usually find flights from anywhere to $700-1,000usd.
So not matter what I end up paying I will budget for the $1,200.
FYI, I usually use to find the flight I want, then book either with the airline itself or through . I’ve just been using them forever, so I have a lot of points piled up.
Hotel
So…with a family this will probably be about the same as me alone, unless the kids are old enough to be sharing their own room.
For at least $50 a night you can stay at a very nice hotel in any city in Thailand.
Hello, I’ve found amazing places to stay for only $30 a night over the years. So, you could still have 2 rooms as a family and only be spending $60 per night.
I’ll admit though, I like to stay at a different hotel for almost all my trips, just to try them out as well as the different locations/neighborhoods.
Search around on , Hotels.com, etc and bring up the map section to search in the neighborhood you want to visit. Or use the map to find an attraction you want to be close to and search for hotels that way.
Food
As stated in the infographic, I love me some Thai street food and this is usually what I eat the whole time.
From fruits and coconuts for breakfast to noodle soups and khao man gai for lunch and dinner…there are literally hundreds of different types of street food. There are also a lot of markets that have food stalls as well.
Most items on the street are anywhere from $1 to $3, so not much spending to have some of the best food on the planet.
Now, if I’m taking an old girlfriend out or want to try something fancy I’ll go out to a nice restaurant and of course that varies. I’ve spent as low as $30 to $45 for an amazing seafood dinner all the way up to $400 for huge lobsters and a full on feast for me and a guest.
Also, there are a ton of fast food places, western chains, and restaurants from almost every country in the world. So, budget according to your and your family’s tastes.
Alcohol
If you don’t drink, you have nothing to worry about here as far as money being spent.
I, however, love to get down on the booze. Beers range from $1 in 7-11 all the way up to $6 in clubs and some gogos.
Mixed drinks are usually $3 to $4 in most bars, but can get a lot higher in some gogos and clubs. I’ve seen prices at high as $10 sometimes.
Water, sodas, and juices will usually run you about $1 to $2.
If you’re a knucklehead and buying drinks for girls at bars and gogos, there’s going to be a surprising upcharge, so don’t be surprised.
Some clubs require to you buy a bottle of liquor just to get in. Then, once you’re in, you will need to pay for ice and mixers. You’re probably going to have a great time either way, but just letting you know.
I should mention that at the moment (18-Jan-2024) that Thailand is still selling weed to foreigners, so take that into account if you’re into that.
Extracurricular Activies
I think we all know what I’m talking about here…I mean…it’s Thailand.
So, FYI there are other articles on this, but for a brief overview I’ll break it down below.
In Thailand there are ladies, and ladyboys, and men that will spend time with you for a cost.
They’re found walking around the streets, in bars, in gogos, clubs, and various other establishments.
So that can take up some of your budget.
That’s not to say there’s nothing else to do in Thailand at all. You can and will have a blast doing all other sorts of activities without ever having to deal with any of that naughty stuff.
There are hundreds of beautiful landmarks, parks, sites, activities you can do that are great for the whole family.
Fishing, ziplining, , crocodile shows, cobra shows, and tons of other .
In closing, there’s a pretty solid breakdown of the different costs for a Christmas time trip to Thailand.
If you go, have a great time and bring as much as you can so you don’t miss out on anything.
I’m not trying to dance around your question but:
Back in the 70’s the Government deregulated airline fares. Which means they can change by the hour (if they want). Now, looking at the countries financial state of being nobody can forcast any cost for “anything”.
When I worked for Trans World Airlines International reservations department (for 25 years), I would recommend my :”shopper” calls to call as many airlines as possible. Get the price for your trip (for right-now-this-second)… order tickets (to lock in the fare).
It’s a very difficult thing to keep calling around to get the best price.
2nd problem – Wait too long and the flight may be sold out of discount tickets (because the public does not know that the airlines can limit the amount of discount seats on every flight). I’ve seen flights going 15 minutes apart to the same city that were a different price !!
3rd situation. You want to get your seat assignment as early as 1 year (less a few days) BEFORE everybody else. You want forward clear of the wing and no where near the bathroom or kitchen.
I’m afraid the only way to lock-in your seat assignment is by having it printed on the ticket.
No one can really say what the economic situation will be like come the later part of 2009. Oil prices could be anywhere. In general hotel prices will be a bit higher at xmas and woud expect flights to be at peak period prices. Out of the peak periods, accomadation can be found in Thailand for about 200 pounds a month at lower grade hotels. Condos can be found for 180 pounds upwards.
just to give you a little clue myself and my partner flew with emirates via dubai, then did the golden triangle tour, that is two nights in a hotel in bangkok, then five nights touring with five nights full board, with a driver and a tour guide, stopping in three different hotels. we then added five nights in pattaya beach onto the end of the tour this involved a internal flight from chang mai to bangkok, and five nights bed and breakfast in pattaya, we flew out on 20 dec 08 flew back on 3 jan 09. total cost of holiday with kuoni travel was £4,700 plus spending money
Uk family ?
Tickets are £500 per person not sure for children
I would book asap check your dates on lastminute.com and when you see your price range Get your tickets Its always high I ahve this probelm every year and wait and wait then it goes up
Budget per person £20 per person food drinks travel taxis etc
Hotels look at agoda.com Put your budget per night and area that will give you the overall prices
WHat you do and where you want to go in that time will plus your budget Its not that cheap and exchange rate is bad now
Email me markontour2004@yahoo.com
if you need help later there are a lot of nice people who live there in this forum and just pop your questions here and read what people are asking also
Nobody will know. Unless they got a crystal ball…
Generally speaking Dec-Jan are the peak months for tourism to Thailand. Prices are the highest in that period peaking at Christmas and New Year. (Many hotels have compulsory gala dinners.)
But other factors play an important role too: when the ‘canaries’ occupied the airport, it killed the entire season. Many hotels had 20% or less occupancy. If the dollar or Euro would dip a lot, it would influence things considerably. Currently there is an economic crisis. Might result in people not traveling. That’s excluding Bin Laden and his Al Quackies performing somewhere.
In other words: nobody knows for sure.
I would say it depends on your budget.
In Thailand you can live very cheaply and you can spend a fortune.
Hotels, Apartment and Condos come in many different sizes, locations, qualities and of course price ranges.
Work it backwards. How much do you have to spend?…. and then do your research..
How many family members are in your family?
Where in Thailand are you planning to go?
Once you know all these things your question may be answered more accurately.
iv just come back from this christmas. i was there for a month and spent £600. This included everything apart from flights. i also did buy loads of presents and traveled thousands of miles around thailand. The main cost is probably drink. i thought it would be very cheap for drink (10p a Beer for example) but it ended up being about £3 for a beer. That was bad seeing as i was paying £3 for my room that night.
Top Tip – haggle with everything you want to buy. Tuk Tuks you must haggle otherwise they will take Alot of money off you. don’t pay more then 150baht for one.