COSTS OF TRAVELLING IN KOH PHANGAN (2012)

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In case you are interested in visiting Koh Phangan below is an idea of costs when we travelled in 2012.

COSTS OF TRAVELLING IN KOH PHANGAN

Thailand is very cheap to travel, it may cost a lot in airfares but once you are here you can holiday on a very small budget. We are flash packers and for accommodation, local transport, food, drink and supplies we holiday very well on 2700B per day (NZ$110). It can be done cheaper especially if you don’t drink the wine and cocktails!

Visa:

Tourist visa on entry to Thailand is free but is for only one month. You can do a close border crossing by bus cheaply but you only get a 2 week extension. We did our visa runs to Malaysia but they were expensive, adding transport to and from airports and NZ$600 return flights for two to our budget. Next time we would organise a longer visa before we left New Zealand.

Money:

ATM machine maximum withdrawals range from 5,000 baht to 25,000 baht so search for the ones that will not cost you too much in bank fees.



In September 2012 you get 25 baht for your NZ$, 30 baht for your US and AUS $, 40 baht for your EURO, and 50 baht for your British pound, as reported by xe.com.



711/Minimarkets

711 are usually consistent but the locally owned minimarts differ greatly, so it’s worth doing some price comparison there will always be a choice of mini marts in your area unless you are at a secluded beach.

Laundry:

40B for 1 kg – we probably average about 5kg per week.

Breakfast:

711: Yoghurt is 13B and packet of cornflakes 11B. At restaurants you can pay 50B for toast/butter/jam, 80B for a pancake or cereal, 30 for coffee and up to 250B for a full cooked English breakfast.

Meals:

Our main courses were normally 90B-150B e.g. A curry is usually 90B plus rice 30B. Noodles and stir fry, hamburger, pasta 150-250B, western meals like chicken Kiev, steak or fish 350B. Most places have fish BBQ, it does not mean fresh, we have seen frozen, they serve with jacket potato and piece of corn cob – never tried as looks tasteless and yuk! You can eat as cheaply as 60B for a curry at the more local looking restaurants. We normally spent 300-400B for either lunch or dinner for 2 people for food and juice shake, alcohol is extra. Starters are 100-120B e.g. thai style cashews or deep fried calamari. Desserts are about 80B with scoop of ice cream 50B. Sometimes we would go out to one of the more expensive restaurants and share a starter, main course each, and a few cocktails or wine and could spend up to 1500B – we loved doing this at LUNA and CRAVE.

Coffee:

If you cannot live without your strong morning latte, then get used to it! It’s perk, instant here or milky lattes. I buy the 3 in 1 sachets which don’t satisfy the urge but are drinkable, sweet and cheap. The ice coffee shakes are great.

Coffee/Tea Making Facilities:

It is rare in budget accommodation to get a jug, even in some 4 star. I always bring my electric cup element, a cup and buy over here some 3 in 1 drink sachets, or you can buy some milk, but in rooms they give you creamer powder – its not nice.

Beer:

Shop around the 711/minimarts to get a large Chang for 50- 60B. In restaurants we pay 80-100B, but in some they will charge you 80B for a small. Chang, Singh, Leo and Heineken are plentiful with Leo and Chang being cheapest.

Alcohol:

Bicardi Breezers range from 50-80B in 711/minimarts and 100B in restaurants. Spirits, cocktails and wine are 150-180B, but you can get for 100B during happy hours. Local dark rum (Samsong) and coke is 80B. A 750 ml bottle of vodka will cost you 380B from 711/minimart and a small bottle of Samsong (Thai dark Rum) is 150B.

Wine:

If you want a bottle of wine it will cost you about 800B at a 711/minimart and around 1200B at a restaurant (of course depending on your tastes!). You can pick up a Mont Claire white wine for 400B but I have also seen same bottle for 800B.

Water:

10B for 500 mls and 20B for 1.5 litres.

Fresh Juice shakes:

Restaurants range 50-80B but some Juice Street Vendors charge 30B. Fresh coconuts are 50B.

Ice Cream:

40B for a trumpet and taste yummy. 60B for scoop in restaurant. Swensons sundaes cost from 100-175B each.

Kayaks and snorkels:

You can hire for approx. 100B an hour. We picked up all day snorkel hire at Haad Maehaad for 50B, minimart on street at back of beach, whereas on beach 100B for one hour.

Insect Repellent:

55B for Soffeil mosquito repellent. We also always carried a fly spray (80B)in our packs to get rid of any lurking mozzies or flies in our room. If going to Phuket you will need it for the cockroaches!

Towels:

Bring some beach towels if not staying in 4 star plus resorts, your threadbare bath towel will not do both jobs, but you can buy beach mats here for about 350B.

Toiletries:
Deodorant is 80B (Nivea), toothbrushes 80B, soap we collect as we pass through hotels (cheap bungalows don’t provide), a small shampoo or conditioner is 30B. Basic moisturiser like Nivea, Garnier, L’Oreal and OLAY are approx. 400B for 50ml - it’s really hard to find moisturiser without whitener in them – imagine rubbing your tan off! Carl brought up 5 tubes of Sensodyne before he left home – NZ$50 bucks of toothpaste for gods sake! We arrived in Asia and you can pick it up for NZ$2 a tube!

Never ever travel without a spare roll of toilet paper cost you like 10B.

Sunscreen:

It is expensive so bring it with you from home.

Hammock:

You can buy one here for 350B to tie to your deck.

Power adapters:

Buy when you arrive, they are cheap compared to at home. Last time we paid NZ$17 for a Thai adapter in NZ only to find they were NZ$2 in Thailand.

Clothes:

More expensive on Koh Phangan than in Bangkok, clothes are priced and they don’t seem to have a desire to barter much. Men’s t-shirts average 350B. Woman’s sundresses/shirts/tops are 300B and sarongs 180B. You can pick up a pair of jandals for 80-250B.

Motorbikes:

We believe 200B to 400B per day. You do not need a motorcycle license, but if you intend to ride check your insurance first, e.g. our insurance stipulates that you have to have a motorbike license at home to be covered medically if you have an accident. Even if you are covered by insurance, the bike will not be and if you damage the motorbike you have no control over what they will charge you. We have read stories of people leaving their passports with them, and when the bike comes back with a scratch they will not give it back until you front with 20,000 Baht cash. Remember there are tourist police if you think you are being ripped off.

Petrol:

40B per whisky bottle – don’t get them mixed up!

The Heat:

If you keep that cold air conditioning on you will never acclimatise. I used the plastic bags off the glasses in hotels, kept a facecloth in them in my bag and when we got hot added cold bottled water.

Massages:

400B for full body oil massage, 300B foot massage, manicure or pedicure. Cheaper for Thai but who would! Obviously there are more expensive SPAs but this is the average price on the beach.

Accommodation:

We used Agoda, it was easy, had reviews, you earned money and was cheaper than walk-ins. We had earned US$180 by the end which we spent on hotels. NB: just because Agoda says unavailable it does not mean there are no rooms left, so if there is a place you really want to stay, send them an email. We found some places had available rooms when contacted but Agoda showed unavailable, so they don’t always list on Agoda.

Obviously you can get a bungalow for as cheap as 400B but we spent from 700B – 1200B normally. This included travelling during high season. Low season, which was after the European holidays which finished on 1 September, saw the rooms reduce at least 30%!c(MISSING)heaper. Always read Agoda and Trip Advisor reviews, we never went lower than 7.3 on Agoda and only occasionally did we go lower than 4 on trip advisor – it all depends what they are complaining about.

For this money our accommodation normally included: Great swimming beach or swimming pool (sometimes both) western toilet, clean room, hot shower, breakfast, threadbare towels, occasional servicing, free WIFI and AC. I said normally, we also experienced cold shower, WIFI charges and had to pay for breakfast.

Medical:

Prescription drugs are very cheap and readily available from any Pharmasi in Thailand so with the help of the internet you can resolve common issues. We always carry a general antibiotic with us. We paid 200B for a course of 20 Amoxicillin for an ear infection. 120B for 10 Ibuprofen. 25B for 10 panadol. 330B for 10 voltaren. You can pick up sea sickness pills at the mini mart.

Our favourite beaches in Koh Phangan:

You need to do you research, we watched some disappointed faces when they arrived and saw the low tide beach which did not match the picture in the brochure. They say low tide on west side April – September (inclusive) which matched what we experienced. We have visited west side 3 times before over last 5 years, outside this 6 month period and never saw the low tides during the day. The East side don’t experience this as the beaches are deep so at low tide there is only a few feet difference, so you can swim all day.

Our favourite beaches are on the East side - Thong Nai Pan Noi Beach, Bottle Beach, and Than Sadet. These beaches are not party beaches unless you bring the party!

Getting around Koh Phangan

Songtaews are normally 200B to most beaches, either from the Thong Sala Pier or from beach to beach, but can be 350B if going to the beaches the furthest out.

Long Tailed boats are 150B from one beach to the next and you can hire one for the day at 3-4000B and beach hoop with your own driver. Depending on which way you are going you can catch the old boat for 100B from the East side beaches; stops at Noi, Yai, Than Sadet and continues to Samui and then the same back again.

Full Moon Transport cost – from what we saw where we stayed during this time (Maehaad and Noi) most places advertise 300-400B to full moon party and we were at the top of the west at the time, so it would have been a 30 minute drive. Not many offer a lift back so you could be at the mercy of supply and demand. Salad Buri had a great offer of taking you and bringing you back for 600B with their driver at a take home destination from 2am to 6am.



Entry/Exit into Koh Phangan

From Kuala Lumpur:

Bangkok Air direct to Koh Samui (Expensive) from KLIA

Fire Fly direct to Ko Samui (40%!C(MISSING)heaper) from Subang Airport in KL.

Asia Air to Surat Thani then purchase joint bus and ferry ticket at the Airport to either Island. (Cheap deals at times). Leaves from LCCT near KLIA.



From Bangkok:

Thai Air and Bangkok Air direct to Ko Samui from Suvarnabhumi (most expensive option).

Air Asia to Surat Thani then bus and ferry ticket as above. (Cheap deals at times). As of early October 2012 change of departure airport to Don Muang Airport so if flying into Bangkok’s main airport then directly on too Surat Thani this may not be so convenient.

Nok Air to Nakhorn Si Thammarat then by bus and ferry to either Samui or Phangan. This is a joint plane, bus, ferry ticket which we recently used and found very efficient. A total journey time of 5.40 Hrs. (Very reasonably priced).

All these flights are easily booked online.

We have in the past also used the overnight train from Bangkok which is a joint train, bus and ferry ticket but was not a lot cheaper than the cheapest flight. The cheapest way from Bangkok is the joint bus and ferry tickets which we have not used. Coming from KL the train is also an option to Surat Thani followed by bus and ferry.

Get yourself a back pack, struggling with suitcases on ferries looks painful.

The above is based on our experience on Koh Phangan and hope it helps work out your budget.

Have fun!!

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Comments

[Merevaik]

Thanks for the info
Thank you very much for giving this detailed information. I found your comments about the beaches and the effect the tide has very good. regards