How Much Baht Per Day in Bangkok? A Budget Built From Real Prices

How much baht per day you need in Bangkok depends almost entirely on your hotel and how you eat, so this guide does not pretend there is one daily figure. Instead, it gives the published prices of the things most visitors pay for, such as temple and museum tickets, river boat fares and restaurant menus, and shows how they add up. As a worked example, a day at the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, with the river boat both ways and a two-dish lunch by the river, comes to 1,436 baht before your hotel, drinks and taxis.

All prices below come from the operators' own websites, checked on September 26, 2026. They change, so confirm before you travel.

Sightseeing: official admission prices

The big-ticket sights are the easiest part of the budget to pin down, because each publishes its own fee for foreign visitors:

Many sights cost nothing: the city's public parks, such as Lumphini and Benjakitti, charge no admission, and walking Chinatown or the old city is free. Discounts for children, students and seniors vary by site and are in the FAQ.

Getting around: fares

The Chao Phraya Express Boat is the cheapest way to reach the riverside sights. The operator lists the Orange Line, which runs between Nonthaburi and Wat Rajsingkorn, at a flat 18 baht per trip, so a return trip to the Grand Palace area from a pier such as Sathorn, beside BTS Saphan Taksin, costs 36 baht.

The BTS Skytrain and MRT charge by distance, and both publish fare calculators on their websites rather than a single price. Check your own journey there, or buy a rechargeable card if you will ride often. Taxi fares depend on distance and traffic, so we do not quote a figure.

Food: what restaurant menus actually charge

Food spending has the widest range. Rather than guess at street-food prices, here are figures from the menus of restaurants we cover:

• Casual Thai restaurants: at Err on Sukhumvit, most grilled and preserved dishes are 165 to 295 baht and curries 395 baht; at Cabbages and Condoms, most appetizers are 180 to 260 baht.
• Riverside dining near the temples: the 2026 menu at Supanniga Eating Room in Tha Tien runs from 220 baht for fried Chinese cabbage to 760 baht for crab curry.
• Tasting menus: Le Du lists its four-course menu at 4,500 baht++ and six courses at 5,500 baht++.

What "++" adds

Many restaurants and hotels quote prices with "++", meaning a 10% service charge and 7% VAT are added. Applied in the usual way, VAT on the price including service, that multiplies the menu price by 1.177: a 4,500++ menu becomes 4,500 x 1.10 x 1.07 = 5,296.50 baht. Where a menu does not show "++", ask whether the price is final.

Accommodation

Hotel rates depend on dates, room type and how far ahead you book, so any single nightly figure would be a guess. Check live prices for the dates you want; our Bangkok hotels guide covers where each hotel is and what it offers, so you can compare like with like.

Putting a day together

Here is the arithmetic for one old-city day, using only published prices:

• Grand Palace: 500 baht
• Wat Pho: 300 baht
• Express boat, Orange Line, there and back: 18 x 2 = 36 baht
• Lunch at Supanniga Eating Room, two dishes from the menu (fried Chinese cabbage 220 baht and moo cha muang 380 baht): 600 baht

Total: 500 + 300 + 36 + 600 = 1,436 baht, before your hotel, drinks, other meals, any service charge on the lunch bill, and transport to and from the pier. For a museum day instead, Jim Thompson House, Museum Siam and the Bangkok National Museum add up to 250 + 100 + 200 = 550 baht in tickets.

Build your own budget the same way: pick the sights, add the fares, then add meals at the kind of place you like. For ideas, see our guides to Bangkok attractions and Bangkok restaurants.

Sources: The Grand Palace, practical information, Wat Pho, visit plan, Jim Thompson House, visitor information, Fine Arts Department, Bangkok National Museum, Museum Siam, visit, King Power Mahanakhon, SkyWalk, Chao Phraya Express Boat, Err, menu, Cabbages and Condoms, menu, Supanniga Eating Room, Le Du, reservations. Checked September 26, 2026.