Going to Bangkok?
Don't Pay Khao San Prices.
Street pad thai is 60฿ and a metered taxi across town is 90฿ — but the tuk-tuk outside your hotel wants 400฿ and the mall food court wants 280฿ for the same noodles. This guide shows you every fair price and the 12 Bangkok traps visitors fall for, with exactly what to say to avoid each one.
Prices updated September 2026 · One-time payment · Money-back guarantee
The quiet overcharge
Bangkok is genuinely cheap — that's why the overcharging works. Paying 300฿ instead of 80฿ still sounds like nothing in dollars, so most visitors shrug and pay. Ten shrugs a day is the whole holiday budget.
It starts at the airport, where a man with a clipboard offers a "fixed price" ride for 900–1,500฿ while the public taxi queue downstairs runs the meter for 300–400฿ including tolls.
Then it's the tuk-tuk with the 40฿ "tour" that ends at a gem shop, the smiling man outside the Grand Palace who says it's closed for a Buddhist holiday, and the 350฿ beer on Khao San. None of it looks like a scam in the moment. It looks like Bangkok being friendly.
What a day in Bangkok should actually cost
Based on real local prices for food, transport, and sights — not hotel-concierge prices.
Hostel dorm, street food three meals a day, BTS and river boats, temples and markets only.
3-star hotel or good Airbnb, mix of street food and sit-down restaurants, Grab rides, a massage most days.
4–5 star riverside hotel, rooftop bars, spa treatments, private driver or Grab everywhere, day trips.
What visitors arrive for
The four prices nearly every visitor checks in their first 24 hours — the local rate against what you'll typically be quoted in the tourist core.
| Item | Local | Tourist |
|---|---|---|
Pad thai (street stall) per plate | $2.20 | $5.80 2.6× local |
Thai massage, 60 minutes per hour | $8 | $27 3.4× local |
Suvarnabhumi to city centre per ride | $11 | $33 3.0× local |
Large beer (Chang/Singha) per bottle | $2.20 | $7 3.2× local |
The 40-baht tuk-tuk tour: the price is real and that's the point — the driver earns a commission at the gem shop and tailor he takes you to, and the hour you lose is the actual cost.
The full guide costs out a whole day, stop by stop.
This is 4 of 20 items in the full guide.
What's inside the guide
You're about to make dozens of small spending decisions in a city that rounds every one of them up for visitors. Here's what the full guide gives you:
- The 12 Bangkok tourist traps — and exactly what to say to avoid each. The gem-shop tuk-tuk, the "temple closed today" diversion, meter refusals, the airport limousine desk, jet-ski and scooter damage claims, and the bar-bill switch. Real tactics, real scripts.
- Every fair Bangkok price — all 20 items, local price vs tourist price, side by side, in baht and dollars.
- A first-90-minutes arrival cheat sheet — Suvarnabhumi or Don Mueang to the centre without the 1,200฿ car, getting a SIM at the real price, and the transport card most visitors buy wrong.
- A full day costed stop by stop — Grand Palace → Wat Pho → river boat → night market, what it should cost, and where people get overcharged.
- Daily budgets for 3 travel styles, so you know if your trip is on track before you land.
- Works offline — pull it up at the stall or the taxi window, no signal needed.
The tuk-tuk gem shop and tailor circuit
A friendly, excellent-English driver near the Grand Palace, Wat Pho or Khao San offers a whole-morning tour of "three temples plus a lucky Buddha" for 40–100฿ — a price so low it feels like a gift. It is a commission run. Two stops in, you are delivered to a gem shop, a tailor, or a "government export centre" where staff apply long, practised pressure to sell sapphires, suits or jewellery at several times their value, sometimes with a story about a one-day tax-free export window. The driver is paid a fuel voucher and a cut per head, so leaving quickly gets you sighs, delays and a longer route to the next shop. The stones are usually low-grade or synthetic; resale value abroad is near zero, and Thai consumer authorities have warned about this circuit for decades. A related version starts with a stranger near the palace gate saying today is a special Buddhist holiday and the site is closed — the tuk-tuk waiting behind him completes the setup.
That's one. The full guide has eleven more — including the ones that cost real money.
Less than one overpriced airport transfer. Less than two Khao San beers. If this guide doesn't save you more than it costs, we'll refund you — just ask.
One-time payment · Instant access · Works offline · Money-back guarantee
The full guide
Here's one full section, free — the arrival cheat sheet you'd read on the way in from the airport. The rest of the guide is below.
Your First 90 Minutes in Bangkok
One screen. Airport to centre, cash, and transport — solved before you land.
Getting from BKK or DMK to the centre
- Airport Rail Link (Suvarnabhumi) — the cheap one. Level B, roughly 45฿ to Phaya Thai in about 26 minutes, connecting to BTS and MRT. Unbeatable in rush hour.
- Public taxi queue — the smart default with luggage. Level 1 at Suvarnabhumi. Meter plus a 50฿ airport surcharge plus tolls of 25–70฿ comes to roughly 300–400฿ to Sukhumvit or Silom. Insist the meter is running before you leave.
- Grab or Bolt. Fare fixed in the app, typically 350–500฿ to the centre. Use the designated pickup point rather than following anyone who approaches you.
Cash and cards
Street food, markets and small stalls are cash-only; malls and restaurants take cards. Thai ATMs charge a fixed foreign-card fee of around 220฿ per withdrawal regardless of amount, so take out larger sums less often, and always choose to be charged in THB, never your home currency.
SIM, transport and the 7-Eleven rule
A tourist SIM with plenty of data is 199–399฿ from an AIS, True or dtac counter — the airport kiosks sell near-identical plans for 599–799฿. For transport, top up a Rabbit card for the BTS, use the MRT's own tokens, and remember the Chao Phraya orange-flag boat is about 16฿ while the blue tourist boat is 30฿ for the same river.
The one phrase for a taxi
"Meter, khrap/kha?" — if the driver says "no meter, 300 baht", close the door and take the next one. Refusing the meter is illegal in Bangkok, and there is always another taxi within thirty seconds.
Prices as of September 2026, in Thai baht with dollar equivalents. The exchange rate moves — treat the dollar figures as close guides and trust the behaviours over the exact numbers.
Unlock the full price table + 12 trap warnings
Every one of the 20 prices, plus the 12 specific Bangkok tourist traps with the exact phrase to avoid them.
