Going to ****et and Chiang Rai for two week mid June, any advice on how much local currency I'll need? And bet place to procure it?

Thank you

Depends on your budget/taste. I budget about $50/day for food and booze which is plenty. I stick with street food and night markets for food. I would carry extra cash though, credit cards are not really accepted anywhere and the fees will eat you alive.

If you are landing in BKK, the changers in the basement floor are best at the airport to get you enough currency for taxi and SIM card.

This is one of the best follows for Thailand.

Is ****ET Expensive In 2023 | Prices & Tips | How Much To Spend For A Vacation #livelovethailand - YouTube

Things To Do & Not To Do In BANGKOK Airport | Arrivals & Departures Guide & Tips #livelovethailand - YouTube

If you intend to get money exchanged, you will need only clean bills. By that I mean the bills cannot have rips, stains, pen marks, etc.. The exchangers won't take 'damaged' bills. They give better exchange rate for larger bills (50s and 100s) usually an extra baht on the large bills. I was just there in March. Anyone offering ~34 baht/1USD is good value on the exchange right now.

Don't get a cab. They'll **** you. Use Grab. It is their Uber.

Super Rich and TT Exchange are probably the best places to exchange. Do not exchange at the airport arrivals hall. There's a super rich at the bkk basement. I'm not sure about ****et though as I've only flown domestic to there and didn't need to exchange money.

Unfortunately not going to the Bangkok airport. Thanks for the input y'all, looks like I need to find a way to get some currency if they don't take credit many places

Do we need to get any vaccine's? Yellow fever for example?

J Peterman said:

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Unfortunately not going to the Bangkok airport. Thanks for the input y'all, looks like I need to find a way to get some currency if they don't take credit many places

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Then what I would do is exchange $200 at the airport so you have enough for transport, food, and a little extra until you find a better exchange rate outside. Right now the exchange rate is ~34 Baht/dollar. In the airport it will be around 30 or maybe even less.

BTW, if you haven't booked a hotel yet, look on agoda.com - it's the go to discount hotel site for SE Asia (equivalent of booking.com here). You can pay for hotel w/ your credit card. Just about everything else will be cash.

As far as daily expenses, it really depends on what you like to do. You can eat great Thai food all day long for $2-3 a meal. Western (Farang) food will cost $6-10 a meal, more if you go to a nice restaurant. Beer is $2 a bottle in a beer bar and $4-5 in a gogo bar. If you start buying lady drinks then you'll be paying more (probably $5-6 a drink). Check your tab every time you order because some bars will pad it - make sure they don't add drinks you didn't order. Drinks in nightclubs will run about the same as a gogo.

In addition to Grab, Bolt is really popular as a taxi alternative. The tuk tuks in ****et are notorious for being a rip off.

J Peterman said:

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Do we need to get any vaccine's? Yellow fever for example?

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As they say, up to you. I was vaccinated for a lot of stuff a more than a decade ago because I was living in Asia, but I haven't gotten vaccinated since then and still travel over there a couple times per year. The ones I'd consider would be HEP A/B and Japanese Encephalitis. Avoid the soi dogs running around because rabies is an issue.

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Do we need to get any vaccine's? Yellow fever for example?

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Yellow fever, typhoid, and Hep A are the usual ones to get for SE Asia. Malaria isn't really a worry. Used to live in SE Asia for 14 years, never got any mosquito related diseases despite being the group mosquito magnet.


Irish's advice on clean bills is spot on. At some money changers, you can get a better exchange rate if you're only exchanging big notes ($100 as opposed to 50/20/10/1's). Only use licensed money changers. Always re-count the cash on the table in front of you, don't lift the cash off the table. If they try and give you sh**** notes, tell them you want them swapped. Big baht notes are kind of annoying as a lot of people will claim (some truthfully, some not) they don't have change.

Have fun!