31 Dec Cost of Living in Chiang Mai for One Month
After six months of travel from New Zealand to Thailand we were ready for a bit of a rest and needed time to catch up on work and the blog. Although it has become a bit of a backpacker cliché, we decided that Chiang Mai, Thailand, was the perfect place to settle down for a month and rest up. After finding a great apartment, we settled into a comfortable routine and found living in Chiang Mai to be pretty affordable – here’s how much it cost us for one month.
Activity Costs in Chiang Mai
We spent very little on activities during this month since we’d visited the city before and there are many things to do in Chiang Mai which are free or at least pretty cheap. For example, we went to the National Museum and the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar which are free to enter; the only ‘activity money’ we spent was on massages in Pai and entrance fees at Wat Doi Suthep.
Activity | Cost | Per Person |
Massages in Pai | £7 | £3.50 |
Doi Suthep Entrance Fee | £1.20 | £0.60 |
Total | £8.20 | £4.10 |
Chiang Mai Accommodation Costs
We found a perfect apartment in the Jigsaw Condo just outside of town which we rented for a month; you can read more about our apartment search in Chiang Mai here. Our apartment definitely wasn’t the cheapest but we were happy to pay a bit more for the luxury of having a kitchen, living room and comfortable work space. Our apartment rental made up the bulk of our accommodation costs for this month, although we also spent a couple of nights in a guesthouse while we were searching for apartments and took an overnight trip to Pai.
Accommodation | Total | Per Person | Per Day |
House No. 11 (Two nights) | £18 | £9 | N/A |
Jigsaw Condo (27 nights) | £358 | £179 | £12.30 |
Mr Jan’s, Pai (One night) | £4 | £2 | N/A |
Total | £380 | £190 | £13.10 |
Chiang Mai Food Costs
We have been to Chiang Mai a few times before so we knew what we were in for when we decided to stay for a month; there’s an abundance of restaurants as well as the Chiang Mai Night Market where you can eat great and cheap food. We also had a kitchen in our apartment where we cooked some of our favourite dishes from home; we typically ate breakfast and lunch there and split our dinners between eating out and eating in. It felt really homely in our little apartment and we were sad to leave! All of this combined meant we had the lowest food costs of our trip so far.
Expense | Total | Per Person | Per Day |
Food | £271.50 | £135.75 | £9.36 |
Transport Costs in Chiang Mai
We didn’t travel a huge amount whilst in Chiang Mai except when going to and from our apartment and the old city. It’s really easy to get around Chiang Mai; we usually just hopped on a songtheaw for 20 Baht each, failing that we would jump in a tuk tuk for a little more. If you are brave and experienced enough then you can rent a cheap scooter in Chiang Mai. Whilst in Pai we rented a scooter for a day since public transport is a little more difficult to find, this only cost us £4 for rental and fuel. We’ve also included the cost of travelling from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and our return minibus to Pai in the figures below.
Expense | Total | Per Person |
Buses | Bus from Bangkok to Chiang Mai: £17.50 | £8.75 |
Bus from Chiang Mai to Pai (return): £12 | £6 | |
Songtheaws and Tuk Tuks | 26 Songtheaws or Tuk Tuks altogether: £51 | £25.50 |
Transport to Doi Suthep: | Songtheaw to and from Doi Suthep for two people: £6 (we shared with two others) | £3 |
Scooter: | 24 hours Rental and fuel in Pai: £4 | £2 |
Total: | £90.50 | £45.25 |
Miscellaneous Costs
We had to extend our Visas whilst in Thailand so this added a big chunk to our expenses. Extending from 60 to 90 days cost 1,900 Baht (about £37.50) each and was a pretty painless process. We had the usual laundry, toiletry and medicine costs, along with a few purchases for the apartment such as a toaster and other utensils. Amy needed yet another pair of flip flops, we picked up a book and some clothes and also found an HDMI cable – really useful for watching films from your laptop on a TV.
Expense | Total | Per Person |
Laundry | £13.70 | £6.85 |
Thai Visa Extensions | £75 | £37.50 |
Toiletries & medicines | £3.20 | £1.60 |
Kitchen items for apartment | £30 | £15 |
Vincent Bugliosi book | £2.80 | N/A |
Clothes, HDMI cable, bag, flipflops | £17.50 | £8.75 |
Miscellaneous | £142.20 | £71.10 |
Total Cost of Living in Chiang Mai for One Month
We really enjoyed our month in Chiang Mai; it didn’t disappoint us at all. We were able to reduce our costs, get a lot of tasks done on the blog, eat loads of macaroni cheese and plan for the next few months. If you’re thinking of spending a bit of time in one place then Chiang Mai has it all. If you are really frugal then you can get away with a much lower cost of Living in Chiang Mai too; especially if you go for cheaper accommodation than we did. Here are our total costs:
Expense | Total | Per Person | Per Day |
Activities | £8.20 | £4.10 | £0.28 |
Accommodation | £380 | £190 | £13.10 |
Food | £271.50 | £135.75 | £9.36 |
Transport | £90.50 | £45.25 | £3.12 |
Miscellaneous | £142.20 | £71.10 | £4.90 |
Total | £892.40 | £446.20 | £30.77 |
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As always, we used the tremendous Trail Wallet app to track all of our spending – version two is out now in the app store! You can find all of our detailed cost posts here including our total costs for travelling around Thailand for two months.
Patti
Posted at 16:59h, 31 DecemberWow! It’s amazing the differences in living expenses around the world. Just for fun while we are in Washington, D.C. we’ve been looking at apartment rentals. Prime apartment buildings, which are near a metro station, average about $1,700/month. And this is in nearby Virginia, not Washington, D.C. Pretty crazy, huh? I’ll be sharing your post on my blog’s FB page. Happy New Year!
Andrew
Posted at 07:39h, 01 JanuaryWow, we thought London was expensive Patti! I’ve also written a post comparing our cost of living in London with Chiang Mai too, that will be up soon. Happy new year Patti! 🙂
Simon Lee
Posted at 11:09h, 02 JanuaryI think the costs are reasonable except for the apartment which seems a bit high for me:) But that make sense if the necessities are all in place for a comfortable stay:)
Simon Lee
Amy
Posted at 11:49h, 02 JanuaryYep, you can definitely reduce your costs significantly if you rent a cheaper place (there are loads around) and eat the street food.
Marianne
Posted at 11:46h, 05 JanuaryThanks for the detailed breakdown of costs. I visited Chiang Mai for ten days in February 2012 and I’m considering spending a couple of months there this coming winter – so your information is very useful.
For comparison, I’ve included a link to my latest Cost of Living in Spain post, which I hope you enjoy 🙂 http://eastofmalaga.net/2013/08/23/cost-of-living-in-spain-august-2013/
Andrew
Posted at 14:21h, 05 JanuaryIt’s definitely worth sticking around for a couple of months Marianne, it’s a nice city and easy to get cheap rent and food if you’re prepared to make sacrifices.
Pingback:Searching for Chiang Mai Properties |Finding an Apartment in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Posted at 08:23h, 13 January[…] Budget-friendly – one of our priorities for this month was to save some money, so we began with a rough budget of £200 to spend on renting an apartment; you can read about how much we spent during our month living in Chiang Mai here. […]
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Posted at 08:28h, 13 January[…] the country in total; one month living in an apartment in Chiang Mai (the cost of which we cover in this post) and two months travelling around the country, which we discuss below. During those two months we […]
Claire
Posted at 12:31h, 08 JanuaryWe’re currently in Chiang Mai and loving how cheap everything is. We’re spending a little more on activities since this is our first time visiting but with accommodation and food costing so little, it doesn’t feel like too much of a luxury to spend money!
It’s nice to compare budgets with other travelers and so thanks for the comprehensive list 🙂
Amy
Posted at 06:09h, 09 JanuaryNo worries Claire, living in Chiang Mai sounds amazing and I’d love to go back there for a longer stint one day. If you haven’t done so already, check out the pizza at Peppermint cafe – it is incredible!
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Posted at 03:18h, 14 February[…] was also one of the cheapest we had during our initial 15-month trip – you can see exactly how much it cost us to live in Chiang Mai in this post. We thought it would be interesting to compare these costs with how much we used to spend when we […]
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Posted at 20:49h, 17 December[…] 15 months of travel How much did 15 months of travel cost? What’s the cost of living in Vietnam? The cost of living in Chiang Mai for one month Living costs in London compared with Chiang Mai The travel budget fanatics Couchsurfing for the […]
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Posted at 11:39h, 08 June[…] as we expected it to be, especially when compared to our super-cheap living costs in Vietnam and Thailand, which is one of the reasons we’re returning to Asia in August. Saying that, for a European […]
Steven
Posted at 16:33h, 26 AugustI am glad that you are settling in so well. I have been to your location many times. At present I am resident in Munich Germany, but I intend to leave, in six months or so. Through my former profession, I know many people in Bangkok, and if I chose to live in Thailand, they would help me. I shall be on holiday in Thailand, in November. Perhaps we could meet ? My first stop after Bangkok, will be Ko Lanta.
With kind regards, from Steven Andrew Gill.
Amy
Posted at 05:44h, 27 AugustHi Steven, thanks for following our journey and commenting. We’d love to meet up, just message us when you have further plans. So far our move has gone really well, I’m sure you’d have a great time here too 🙂
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Posted at 11:58h, 02 November[…] time three years ago we were also renting an apartment in Chiang Mai and attempting to make some money online. We’d been away from the UK for just six months and were […]
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Posted at 03:17h, 06 November[…] also found time to slow down and spend a whole month living in Chiang Mai; we established a nice little routine and got some much-needed rest and work done (yes, they can go […]
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Posted at 09:44h, 11 November[…] You can read about how much we spent living in Chiang Mai for a month back in 2013 in this post. […]
Ryan Smith
Posted at 16:11h, 30 JuneThank you for the detailed post about cost of living in Chiang Mai, I’m going to visit this place soon and your post is a great help :).
Amy
Posted at 19:29h, 06 JulyGlad you found it useful Ryan. Have a great time in Chiang Mai 🙂
Andreea B
Posted at 19:24h, 06 AugustHello guys, great blog. I love it! We are planning also a one month trip in the are and potentially extend it to 3 mo, so this is indeed helpful. Reading your blog posts, I got really curious to see if you’re still in Chiang Mai after all this time. [blog post is from 2013] 🙂
Cheers!
Amy
Posted at 09:54h, 16 AugustHi Andreea, thanks for your comment. We’re not in Thailand any more but I’m sure we’ll be back some day. We do have a more up-to-date cost post for Chiang Mai here: http://ourbigfattraveladventure.com/2016/11/11/the-cost-of-living-in-chiang-mai/
David
Posted at 22:40h, 06 SeptemberWhat a refreshing change to see a travel blog with actual costs as opposed to those which just waffle on about how to save money by Couchsurfing, sharing a taxi, taking carry on luggage, etc. It’s this sort of real information which is of true value to travellers.
Keep up the good work and all the best for the future.
Amy
Posted at 12:17h, 07 SeptemberHi David, thanks for reading and I’m glad you found our post useful. Have fun in Chiang Mai, we love it there and will keep on returning 🙂