What a week in Thailand actually costs at a high standard.

What this model is, and is not

Every figure below is illustrative. It is a working range drawn from what we actually see across client itineraries, and it is not a quotation, a forecast or a guarantee. Thai prices at the top of the market move with the season, and the swing between the November to February peak and the low months is substantial rather than marginal. They move with the exchange rate, which for a client thinking in dollars, pounds, rupees or dirhams can shift the whole picture by ten per cent in either direction without anything in Thailand changing at all. They move with the property, the week, the event calendar and how far ahead the booking was made. Read what follows as a structure for thinking, and take a real number from a real quotation.

The model assumes a high standard throughout: recognised five star hotels or good villas, a car with a driver rather than taxis, restaurants that take reservations, and none of the small economies that make a holiday feel like work. It does not assume the very top of the market, which has no ceiling and does not model usefully. All figures are in Thai baht, per week unless stated otherwise, and exclude international flights.

Accommodation

This is the largest line and the one with the widest spread. A well located five star room in Bangkok sits in a broad band that widens sharply in high season, and a suite is a multiple of it rather than a premium on it. On the coast the arithmetic changes shape: a resort room in Phuket or Samui behaves like a hotel room, while a staffed private villa behaves like a small hotel you have taken over, with a price that reflects the staff as much as the bedrooms. For a family of five or more, the villa is often cheaper per head than three or four resort rooms, and it is invariably better for a group that wants to eat together and be left alone.

Car and driver

Almost every client week we run includes a car and driver, and it is the line that changes a Bangkok trip most for the money. A full day is conventionally eight to ten hours with the driver on standby throughout rather than summoned, with fuel and tolls either included or billed at cost depending on the operator, and overtime charged by the hour beyond the standard day. A larger vehicle for a family with luggage costs more than a saloon. Airport transfers are priced separately, and a Phuket or Samui itinerary usually needs a car on fewer days than a Bangkok one because the resort absorbs the day.

Dining

Dining is where the model is most elastic, because Thailand offers a genuinely excellent meal at almost any price point and a family can move between them freely inside a single day. Breakfast is normally in the room rate at the properties in this model. Lunch at a good restaurant runs a few hundred to a couple of thousand baht a head; lunch at a market or a food court runs a small fraction of that and is not a compromise. Dinner is where the money goes: a good independent restaurant, a hotel dining room, a tasting menu with wine and an internationally rated kitchen occupy quite different bands, and the wine list in particular is where a Bangkok bill escalates, because imported wine carries heavy duty and the markup on top of that is real.

Spa, wellness and the days out

A hotel or destination spa treatment of ninety minutes to two hours sits in a band of a few thousand baht upward, and clients on a week typically take two or three each. A neighbourhood massage shop, which in Thailand can be genuinely good, is a small fraction of that. Golf adds a green fee plus a caddy and a cart at the better clubs, and a serious round near Bangkok or Hua Hin is not inexpensive. A private long tail or speedboat charter for a day from Phuket, with crew and lunch, is a substantial single line, and a larger motor yacht is a different order again. Private guides, cooking schools, elephant sanctuaries and museum days are modest by comparison and are often the part of the week the children remember.

Incidentals, and the things people forget

The incidentals line is small per item and adds up to more than most people expect. A local data SIM is a few hundred baht. Hotel laundry is priced per piece and a family will be surprised by it; sending it out locally costs a fifth as much and takes a day. Taxis between the cars, convenience store runs, temple entrance fees, tips across the week, medication, a doctor's visit if a child picks something up, and the pharmacy generally. Shopping is not in this model at all, because it is unbounded and because it is the reason many clients come. Neither is travel insurance, which should be in place and which we would not omit from a real budget.

Three worked weeks

The table below assembles the lines above into three profiles we run often. Each is seven nights, excludes international flights and shopping, and is expressed as a range because that is the honest form. The lower end assumes shoulder season, sensible choices and some flexibility; the upper end assumes high season, the better room category and no economising.

What moves the number most

• Season, which can change accommodation by half between February and September
• The exchange rate, which changes the whole bill in your own currency without changing anything here
• Room category, because a suite is a multiple of a room rather than an upgrade on it
• Whether the group eats in a villa with a chef or out every evening
• Wine, which is duty heavy in Thailand and is the commonest single surprise on a dinner bill
• Booking lead time, which matters most on the villas and least on the city hotels
• Whether a boat, a golf itinerary or a private guide sits inside the week

When our office prices a week, we do it as a single itemised page against real availability on real dates, with the assumptions written down beside the numbers so a client can see exactly what is being assumed and change it. That page is worth more than any model, including this one. What this model is good for is the conversation before it: deciding whether the shape of the week is right before anyone starts asking hotels for rates.

Every figure in this guide is illustrative and moves with season, availability, exchange rate and the specific property. Nothing here is a quotation. Confirm current rates with the hotel, villa manager or operator directly, and ask our office for a costed itinerary against your actual dates before setting a budget.

This briefing is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Thai rules change frequently and individual cases differ. Verify current requirements with the relevant authorities, including the Immigration Bureau, the Board of Investment, the Land Department, the Department of Business Development and the Revenue Department, and take advice on your own facts before acting.