Bangkok is situated beside the Chao Praya River , is the capital and the biggest city in Thiland . It is the main entry point for all tourists coming in Thailand . Bangkok is the capital of siam before that capital have been shifted from Sukhothai to Ayutthaya to Bangkok . Bangkok is the city for all types of tourists . In one side there is high end luxurious hotels , on the another hand there is super budget Hostels . Our topic is bangkok on a budget . So In this blog I will discuss all the points which can make your bangkok travel sucessful but on a budget . I can guaranteed that if you follow this points your budget will be below 1600 INR ($20) per day in average including museum tickets and all expenses .
In any international trip there is four major cost factors . If you can manage those factors well then your over all budget can reduce drastically . Transportation (specially air fare ) , food inside the country , Accommodation and the visa cost are the four main cost Factor . There is also another factor which is entry fees for the attraction . I loves to learn about the history and the culture of that country so , it is another factor in my tour .
How to save money on Visa Cost ( specifically for Indian Traveler ):
If you like to come thiland on VOA , this is a costly option . As lots of Indian people come to thiland on VOA , So every time a indian flight landed on bangkok there is a big line in the VOA (Visa on Arrival) counter . There is two line , express line cost 2200 THB and the normal line cost 2000 THB . Here you can save 200 THB if you choose carefully but VOA validity only 15 days .
This second option will save lots of money and give you 2 months validity . I applied my visa through VFS in kolkata . They need a bank statement , return flight , confirm Hotel Booking and two passport size photo with white background . On the day I submitted those documents on their office and 3000 INR (2500 INR for visa fees and 500 INR VFS Commission ) in the third date they issue me the visa on my passport . This visa has a 3 months validity with 2 months stay in thiland . Here you can save almost 1500 INR rather not applied for the VOA .
Transportation in Bangkok :
For traveling Bangkok on a budget you must use the public transport system inside the city . In this city there is lots of different types of AC / Non Ac buses , subway system and Sky trains . This are the formal organized transport system . There is lots of other transport system like Taxi , Toto , Motorbike Taxi , Mini Van and songthaew . Here in most of the cases , you have to bargain a lot to get a proper deal . Rather than this the boat transport is much better in Bangkok .
As Bangkok have heavy traffic jams in the road , so if you want to quickly travel from one place to another , better option will be a sky train or MRT . My suggestion will be if you are a traveler and come to visit the city , better not to take a pass as this trains will not cover all the tourist attractions . So you have to use all the modes of transport and whenver required better buy a single journey ticket . Subway and Skytrains are little costlier than bus .
Sky train(BTS) will run in the elevated path above your head . Minimum ticket starts from 17 THB where daily pass can be obtained at 150 THB per person for unlimited journey . You have to buy a card for either one way journey or pass for a day or prepaid card on recharge basis .
You can buy this card either from the ticket vending machine or from the counter . Running time of the BTS is from the 6:00 am to 12 AM .
MRT are basically the subway system of Bangkok . Here you have buy a token to board this train . In MRT the minimum fare is 16 baht . There is mainly three types of pass where 1 day pass cost 120 baht and 3 day pass cost 230 THB and monthly pass with 1400 THB .
This is the safest way to travel inside Bangkok where the station doors for the train always closed only opened in the time of train arrival .
There are mainly three types of buses run in Bangkok . Orange color AC bus , Red colored Non – AC BUS(This are the cheapest bus among all ) and the Blue color EV AC buses . There is also orange color mini buses which are smaller in Size .
In EV AC buses ticket starts from 15 baht . In the Normal AC Buses ticket starts from12 baht and in the red one Non AC buses ticket starts from the 8 baht . This are the cheapest bus tickets among the all .
I mostly prefer this Non Ac Buses . In the google map for a perticular route you see bus no with REG . It means this bus is Non AC Bus . Most of the buses have both the AC and Non AC version available .
Ferry are very popular modes of transport system among the tourists in Bangkok and this have both AC and NON AC version . Lots of tourist places in Bangkok are situated beside the Chao Priya river like wat arun , Royal barges Museum and many more . All that places can be toured by this boats . Here the ticket starts from just 16 baht . You can also buy a day pass at 150 baht for unlimited journey .
Long trail local boats are pretty fast and the operators are quiet expert in running the boats . Within a minute they will board in a pier(It is the point from you board a boat) drop the passengers and leave . Inside the boat there is a conductor same like buses and issue ticket .
There is another road transport syatem called songthaew but I never tried it . It is basically a lorry or small luggage van where sitting arrengements were made along the length of this truck . This is another cheaper transport option .
Budget stay in Bangkok :
There is lots of hostels in the Bangkok city and lots of budget acommodation are situated in the old city . In the Khao san road there are lots of Hostels . You can get a good budget Hostel below 250 baht . Most of the hostels having the Air – conditioning facility but for a specific time period . If you can stay in those options then you can pretty much reduce the cost of stay in Bangkok city . Checkout time of the Hostels are at 2 pm so , if you have flight with early arrival , then you have to wait for upto 2 pm for check in .
Budget food in Bangkok :
Food price is Bangkok is pretty much low . In most of the street Restaurant and small restaurant a lunch will not cost more than 70 baht for a full meal . Foods are mostly , Non – vegeterian in Thiland . Sometimes vegeterian foods will cost more than Non – vegeterian food . As there are very few customers for vegeterian food . Fish , Chicken , pork , crab , shrimp and the beef are the main non – vegeterian ingridents in the Thai food .
Be remember that , thai foods are cheap not other cuisined food . As there are lots of indian restaurant , but food prices are at least 3 times than this food and far more than indian prices . I prefer to eat thai food to save money and also get a chance to learn local thai culture .
Summary :
Thiland is moderately costly and you have to apply some tricks to comlete the trips of Bangkok on a budget . Hostels are the cheapet option to stay in bangkok where street foods and thai foods are the cheapest . For making your transport budget low you have to travel by public transport and avoid taxi and cab in normal circumstances . For Indian apply visa before coming to Thiland . It will cost musch lower .
