🇹🇭 5 cities in Thailand, sorted by daily travel budget. Not the exchange rate — how cheap it feels on your own income, and where a price becomes a rip-off. Updated September 2026
| City | Per day | Per month | Local meal | Coffee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇹🇭 Chiang MaiMid-size city | $53.8 | $994 | ฿55 | ฿65 |
| 🇹🇭 BangkokBig city | $71.9 | $1,556 | ฿70 | ฿80 |
| 🇹🇭 KrabiResort | $84.7 | $1,640 | ฿99 | ฿82 |
| 🇹🇭 PhuketResort | $92.3 | $1,792 | ฿90 | ฿90 |
| 🇹🇭 Koh SamuiResort | $109 | $2,165 | ฿120 | ฿99 |
Per day = one mid-range night + three meals, a coffee and two taxi rides. Open a city for item-by-item prices, rip-off thresholds and live traveler reports.
With a mid-range room, between $53.8 and $109 a day depending on the city — about $82.3 on average. Hostels and local eateries cut that by 30% or more.
Short-term rental plus living costs runs $994–$2,165 by city, about $1,629 on average.
By daily budget, Chiang Mai ($53.8/day) is the cheapest and Koh Samui ($109/day) the most expensive.