Can you give me travel tips/advice for a cheap trip Bangkok?

Question

how much is everything?

like tickets and stuff?

i'm a student and am planning to go there next summer..

can i backpack?

any advice at all?

i have no clue what i'm doing.

Answer 1

Try go through this website and you will get a lot of information you should know before you go there.... http://discovery-thailand.com G'day

Answer 2

Hi. For me, Bangkok is one if not the most backpacker-friendly countries I've veer been to. If you've never done that before, then this would be a good place to start (friendly people, cheap food/lodging and not that big of a city to get lost in too).

For costs, it is generally off-season rates right now in asia until before november. But the plane fare depends on where your coming from. Generally cheapest plane fares to travel to SE asia is october. I was in Bangkok last week and exchange rate at the airport (and most money changers in the city) for the baht was $1 is 32.23 baht.

if your arriving in Bangkok anytime from 5am til before midnight, there is an airport express bus that takes you to the city for only 150 baht,. But if your flight arrives after midnight, then you can take a metered airport taxi, which has a 50 baht surcharge. It will cost you around 300 baht to get to the Khao San Road/Soi Rambuttri area (which is backpackers haven and basically where you can find accommodations for ANY sort of budget). you will also be expected to pay the cab driver the 65 baht toll fee for the expressway.

I would advise you research online for a place to stay before you head down there. Did you want to stay at a dorm? (as low as 120 baht), hostel (around 150baht), guestthouse or hotel? Private fan rooms go for around 150-350 baht while rooms with airconditioning go for 350-750 baht. If you do stay in this area (which is also a good experience especially if this is your first time in BKK), search yahoo for the websites to The Lamphu House, KC guesthouse, Four Sons, The greenhouse guesthouse, Suk11, and new siam. Some of them accept online reservations with no downpayment required. You can book there for one night and then walk around the area to find a nicer/nearer/cheaper place the next day.

Commuting within the city is fairly easy. No need to book tours to see the sites within Bangkok. From the khao san/rambuttri area, you can walk or take a ferry (less than 20 baht) to see the temples. The buses (7 baht for non-aircon) are also centralized and therefore navigable. You just have to ask for what bus number and which bus stop you should wait at. The shopping centers vast and plenty. You can also try riding the Skytrain (20-35 baht) which is faster and help you avoid day traffic).

Outside of the city, you can book a tour with one of the many tourist agencies located in khao san or even inside the place your staying at. Dont commit easily and ask at least 3 other places so you know if your getting a good deal. If you commute by yourself out of town, it will come out more expensive in the long run i think.

buy water at 7-eleven. its cheap, ranging from 7-14 baht. Thais dont drink or serve tap water. Street food is generally safe, but use your own judgement and powers of observation to see if they are prepared clean. A rice meal with two toppings at a street cart will only cost 35 to 40baht. It is cheaper to eat local thai food and internationsal fast food chains are generally doubly more expensive over there. But be sure to ask how spicy the dish is before ordering it! Sometimes the green curry is hotter than the red one! Basically, if your not going to eat at the fancy places, a meal will cost you about 40 baht max with 10-15 baht for iced thai tea or coffee.

Its interesting to try all their modes of public transportation. The cheapest place to shop would be at the Chatuchak weekend market (just one bus ride away from Khao San). There, you can sample all the kinds of food and the cheapest wares. You must definitely try the fruits too! They are sweet and cheap. Check out Rambutans, Longgans, Dragon Fruits and the Lanzones.

Other fun places to see are the Floating Market/Rose Garden cultural show (a whole day package tour including lunch would be about 600 baht). The River Kwai/Tiger Temple Tour ranges from 700 to 800 baht.

The best advice is to research all you can about what you can do and see before actually flying out. Ask away in Yahoo Answers as much as you can. Thats what i did and it helped me alot when i got there. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Ticket from the US currently about $1500.

I would suggest you check the lonely planet and decide why you want to travel there.  Are you interested in Culture? Partying? Women? Beaches? Getting away from it all? g*y/Transvestite? Fishing? Scuba? Massage? Buddhism? Site seeing? Do you like cities? Beaches? Mountains? Farms?  I can give you advice on what I would do but its better if you do a little research and decide what you want to do.  How long do you expect to stay? How much money will you have (rough estimate)?  What month or months your looking at going (some of the festivals happen at different times like Songkran is mid April, and it is one I would suggest you try to get to).

Write down what you think you'd like to do and come back here and ask more specific questions and many of the people here will give you great advice because one thing we seem to share is a love of Thailand.

Answer 4

Best advice for a cheap trip to Bangkok, is not to spend too much time there. Once you have acclimatised and seen the Bangkok sights, start traveling around.

Everything is much cheaper than in your own country and more expensive than it normally is in Thailand.

Outside of Bangkok everything gets cheaper still.

Tickets and stuff are cheap. Long distance buses are comfortable, but boring and very scary. Second class rail travel is good and the overnight trip from Bangkok to Chiang Mai is a holiday in itself.

Yes you can back pack, everyone else does.

If you still have no clue what you are doing when you arrive, try not to talk to anyone, especially anyone who talks to you, like taxi drivers, smart men in white shirts with a briefcase, incredibly beautiful ladies with large hands and a small 'adams apple' etc etc.  

Answer 5

While in Bangkok, you should take a taxi from the airport and insist on the taxi driver using his meter.  Most of them have a meter and will use it if you tell them to.  Also, there are some taxis that have a sticker that says "I love farang", which means "I love foreigners".  These are good cabs to get because they are less likely to rip you off.

Anyway, take the taxi to Kao San Road.  This is the backpacker area of Bangkok with TONS of affordable lodging.  Plus, there are TONS of young tourists, students like yourself, so you'll fit right in.  While in Bangkok NEVER take a tuk tuk, they rip you off big time.  Taxis are much cheaper and much more comfortable (air conditioning).  

The best things to see in Bangkok are the palace grounds and temples.  Besides that, I would get out of Bangkok and see the other parts of Thailand.  You can take a bus virtually anywhere and the bus rides are not scary.  I have traveled to Thailand twice so far and I never felt scared by anyone there.  

Since you're going to be in Bangkok, the closest island you can get to that is awesome, is Koh Chang.  You can take a bus to Trat, but I think you have to switch buses in Pattaya.  DO NOT stay in Pattaya, it's the worst.  Go on to Trat and from there you can take a ferry to Koh Chang.  It's an island and it's awesome.  Beaches, bars, restaurants, etc.  If you want to go farther, you could make your way to Phuket or Krabi.  I highly recommend both, but if you're into rock climbing, Krabi is the place to go, specificall y Railay Beach.

I don't really remember how much stuff costs in Thailand except to say that it's relatively cheap. You should really get yourself a guidebook to get an idea of cost.

Another good website to check out where travelers post blogs, etc. about their travel experiences, is www.igougo.com and realtravel.com.  We travel every year and do a lot of our research by reading people's blogs, etc.

Rest assured, Thailand is a very easy country to get around and is a great place to travel as a backpacker and a first time visitor.  You'll do fine.  The Thai people are very nice.  Enjoy it!

Answer 6

The price of you airfare depends on where you are flying from and sometimes when.  Flying from Laos or Malaysia would be cheaper of course than flying from Oz, US or UK for instance.  

From N. America the plane tickets usually go higher in June when the kids get out of school and go down a little after September  first when the kids go back to school. Leaving on holidays and weekends can (sometimes) be slightly more expensive than weekdays.  

Different airlines will have different price ranges at times and may offer specials for short periods.   When you access the travel forums listed below mention where you are traveling from and and when you want to leave and return.   Don't fall in love with a particular departure date, be flexible.  Check the price of your flight a few days before and a few days after your preferred departure date for any big drops in prices.  High oil prices have kept the airfares unusually high.

Not knowing where you are traveling from limits any airline recommendations - be a little more specific when asking for information from the below travel forums.  You can get some free information from a local travel agency.  They will offer some advice on flights to Asia and even which airport to use.  You do not have to commit to anything - just get info and even a price range.  Then find the airlines that fly from that airport to Asia and access their websites.

Yes you can backpack, check out a Lonely Planet travel guide from your library for some information on backpacking.  Read up on Thailand and see what interests you.  Plan your moves ahead of time to save traveling back and forth over the same areas and save on transportation costs.   Bus service is real good in Thailand and the price is probably cheaper than where you live.  Train service is good too.  Even meter taxi cabs (using the meter only) in Bangkok are cheaper than many Western countries.

But - before everything you have to plan a budget!  You have to know how much money you have to start with.  Then you subtract the price of the airfare from your city (wherever that is) and see how much is left.  You can find cheap dorms to sleep in and share your toilet and showers with other complete strangers.  Less security in this type of living arrangements.  Then there are hostels and (no-star) hotels with cheap private rooms and usually some sort of security box/safe arrangement for keeping valuables.  Most of the time there is no room for laptops - there are lots and lots of cheap internet shops all over Thailand.  Leave your laptop home and not have to worry about it being stolen or damaged.  For saving photos you can use a portable hard drive or extra SD cards.  

Check out the bottom travel forums and pay attention to how to bring money into Thailand (you can use most debit cards in ATM's and take money out of your checking account, money comes out in Thai baht.) Probably you can get 10,000 baht a day that way.  Wait until you get to Thailand to get your best exchange rate.  Thailand uses banks not greedy money changers that you find in many countries.

Read, read and read about Thailand first!  In general, Thailand will have cheaper accommodations than most modern Western countries.  Thailand is tourist friendly, many people speak enough English to understand you, signs often are in English too!   Catering to the tourists is a full time job in Thailand.   Plan on a few days in Bangkok to see the city and get used to the heat and time changes, also plan on your last night in Bangkok too!  This way your won't have to worry about connecting flights being late or you missing your ride home. Don't waste your entire trip at a beach - you can find beaches in lots of countries - see things in Thailand that make that country unique!

Get your passport now - don't wait until the last minute.  Check visa requirements on links below.  Don't be afraid to use a Google search for additional information on Thailand.

Good luck.