Cash, cards, and ATMs
Thailand uses the baht, but for the purposes of this article every price is in US dollars — expect roughly 34 to 36 baht per dollar. ATMs are everywhere, with a mandatory foreign-card fee of about ฿200 per withdrawal on top of your home bank's fees. That flat fee makes small pulls expensive: take out ฿8,230 to ฿9,870 at a time and stash the rest in the hotel safe. Krungsri and AEON ATMs sometimes waive part of the fee — check the notice on the screen before you accept.
Credit cards work at hotels, malls, chain restaurants, and mid-range independent restaurants. Street food, small taxis, tuk-tuks, canal boats, temple donations, motorbike taxis, and most 7-Elevens outside central Sukhumvit are cash only. Carry ฿660 in small bills — ฿33 and ฿99 notes especially — for daily use. Break big bills at 7-Eleven early in the day. Most ATMs dispense ฿990 notes which are annoying at street stalls; ask the machine for a mix.
Tipping conventions
Thailand is not a tipping culture in the US sense, but service tips are appreciated in specific contexts. Sit-down restaurants: leave the coins from the change, or 20 to 60 baht (฿20 to ฿66) at a mid-range place. If a 10 percent service charge appears on the bill (marked SC or Service), no additional tip is expected. Street food and food courts: no tip. Bars: 20 baht per round is generous, not required.
Hotels: ฿33 per bag for porters, ฿33 to ฿66 per night for housekeeping left in an envelope. Taxis: round up to the nearest 10 baht (about ฿10). Massage: 50 to 100 baht (฿49 to ฿99) at a ฿330 hour-long neighborhood shop, more at spas where it is often specifically encouraged. Tour guides: ฿330 to ฿490 per person per day for a private guide, ฿99 to ฿160 for a group tour. Tipping in dollars or euros is polite but locals will need to change them and lose some value.
What things actually cost
Street pad thai or noodle soup: ฿49 to ฿99. Food court meal at a mall: ฿99 to ฿200. Mid-range Thai restaurant main course: ฿200 to ฿390. Nice dinner with wine at a place like Bo.lan or Baan Tepa: ฿1,970 to ฿3,290 per person. Tasting menu at a top restaurant like Le Du or Sorn: ฿4,940 to ฿7,240. A large Chang or Singha beer at 7-Eleven: ฿66; at a bar: ฿130 to ฿200; at a rooftop like Vertigo: ฿390 to ฿590.
BTS ride: ฿16 to ฿63. Metered taxi across town: ฿99 to ฿200. Grab or Bolt: ฿130 to ฿260 for the same trip. Chao Phraya river boat: ฿16 to ฿160 depending on flag color. Grand Palace entry: ฿490. Wat Pho: ฿200. Wat Arun: ฿99. Chatuchak weekend market: free entry, expect to spend ฿660 to ฿1,650 on lunch and small souvenirs. Standard 1-hour Thai massage in a neighborhood shop: ฿260 to ฿390; at a hotel spa: ฿1,650 to ฿2,960.
Bargaining, when and where
Bargain at Chatuchak Market, Khao San Road stalls, MBK Center's small shops, and with tuk-tuks. Start at 50 to 60 percent of the asking price and expect to close at 65 to 75 percent. Bargaining is friendly, not aggressive; if a vendor holds firm and you like the price, buy it or walk. Walking away often produces a final counter-offer.
Do not bargain at food stalls, 7-Eleven, malls, department stores, taxis on the meter, or spa menus. The price is the price. Grand Palace entry, temples, museums — fixed. Restaurants with printed menus in English — fixed. Trying to bargain in these contexts marks you as either clueless or rude. Massage places and tailors sit in a gray zone: the first quote is negotiable but only by 10 to 20 percent.
The dual pricing question
Some tourist sites — the Grand Palace, national parks, some museums — charge foreigners several times the Thai rate. The Grand Palace is ฿490 for foreigners, free for Thais. This is legal and openly done; do not argue about it at the ticket window. Most temples and everyday sights charge one price to everyone. Restaurants and shops in tourist areas may have menus in English that are 10 to 20 percent higher than the Thai menu on the wall — worth checking if you read Thai numerals.
The real dual-pricing risk is in transport. A taxi driver who refuses the meter, a tuk-tuk quoting a flat rate for a short hop, a boat operator on the Chao Phraya offering a private long-tail tour — these are all opportunities to overpay by 200 to 400 percent. Standard defense: know the metered fare or the app price roughly before you engage, and walk away from bad offers. Someone else will take the meter.
Scams to know about
The Grand Palace closed today scam: a well-dressed local outside the entrance tells you the palace is closed for a ceremony and offers a tuk-tuk tour of other temples instead. The palace is almost never closed. Walk past and buy your ticket. The gem shop tour: a friendly tuk-tuk driver offers a ฿33 city tour that includes a gemstone factory stop. The stop is 40 minutes of high-pressure sales. Skip.
The airport taxi negotiation: drivers who approach you inside arrivals with a fixed price are always more expensive than the official queue outside. The bird food or garland: someone hands you feed for pigeons or a flower garland then demands ฿330. Do not accept anything handed to you at temples or the Grand Palace. Fake tourist police: legitimate tourist police wear uniforms and carry ID; anyone in plain clothes claiming to be tourist police is not.
Good to know
Questions, answered
Should I exchange money before I arrive?
Bring ฿3,290 to ฿6,580 in your home currency for initial expenses and exchange at SuperRich or Vasu Exchange in central Bangkok — both offer rates within 1 percent of the mid-market. Airport exchange booths are 3 to 5 percent worse. ATMs give a good rate but charge a ฿200 flat fee per withdrawal, so pull large amounts. Do not exchange more than a day's cash at the hotel.
Is Bangkok expensive compared to other Asian capitals?
Bangkok is meaningfully cheaper than Singapore, Hong Kong, or Tokyo for hotels, food, and transport. It is roughly comparable to Kuala Lumpur, slightly more than Hanoi or Jakarta. Street food and public transport are among the cheapest in the region. High-end dining, cocktails, and imported wine are more expensive than you would expect — the taxes on imported alcohol are steep.
Do I need to tip in food courts and street stalls?
No. Food courts run on prepaid card systems where you top up, order, and the balance is returned when you leave — there is no place for a tip in the transaction. Street stalls charge a fixed price and hand you change; no tip expected. Save tipping for sit-down restaurants with table service and for spa/massage staff.
Are contactless payments widely accepted?
In malls, chain restaurants, hotels, and BTS/MRT gates, yes. Visa and Mastercard contactless work almost everywhere; Amex is patchier. Apple Pay and Google Pay work wherever contactless is accepted. PromptPay (the local QR system) is universal but requires a Thai bank account. Bring a card with no foreign transaction fees. Expect to use cash for at least 30 percent of your daily spending.
What is the going rate for a 1-hour Thai massage?
Standard neighborhood shops charge ฿260 to ฿390 for a 1-hour traditional Thai massage or foot massage. Mid-range spas with air-conditioning and uniforms charge ฿590 to ฿990. Hotel spas run ฿1,650 to ฿3,950 per hour, and top wellness spas like Divana or Panpuri go higher. Tip ฿49 to ฿99 at neighborhood shops, 10 to 15 percent at spas. Prices roughly double for 2-hour sessions with oil.
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