Destination Report: Koh Samui (Thailand) – Part Two: Cost of Nomad Living

In our previous blog post, we shared a comprehensive guide on our experiences, gastronomic delights, and tourist attractions in Koh Samui. However, in this week’s blog post, we delve into the nitty-gritty of our expenses, highlighting how we spent $1,750 USD for a four-week vacation in Koh Samui, Thailand during February 2023. We chose Koh Samui due to its beautiful beaches, delectable local cuisine, the laid-back island life that we yearned for and close proximity to Koh Tao for scuba diving and snorkeling. Are you eager to discover our financial breakdown and the biggest surprise we encountered during our Koh Samui adventure?

We stayed in Koh Samui for 29 days and the two of us spent $30.17 per person per day or $1,750 in total.

Where We Traveled Koh Samui, Thailand

What did we do, see, eat? Check out our destination guide of Koh Samui

Number of Days 29 days (from February 6, 2023, to March 7, 2023)

Type of Travel Married Couple, Slow Travel/Nomadic, Price Conscious

Total living cost $1,750 (for 2 people) or $22,024 per year (for 2 people) or $1,835 per month (for 2 people) or $30.17 per person and per day

Note: Unless specified otherwise, prices are in USD and were converted from the local currency (THB or Thai Bath) to USD with the following exchange rate: 35 THB = 1 USD. 

With our previous trips to Montreal, Quebec City, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico City, Oaxaca City, San Miguel de Allende, Aruba, Porto, Lisbon, Kotor, Chiang Mai, Koh Lanta, Penang, Costa Brava and Ubud our average monthly spend per person was around $34.50 / person/day (Excluding the cost of getting in & out). Koh Samui below this average with a daily budget of $30.17 / person / day. This makes Koh Samui a very affordable destination. 

Here is a breakdown of our living expenses for this trip:

Are you wondering where this nice data is coming from? Well we created an app for that: Nomad Purse. Nomad Purse is the ultimate budget tracking app for slow/fast or long-term travelers like us! Tired of spending countless hours managing spreadsheets to track expenses? We felt the same way, which is why we created a solution to make budget tracking effortless. With Nomad Purse, you can easily keep track of your expenses and stay within budget, all in one convenient place. Say goodbye to the headache of manual budget tracking and hello to a stress-free travel experience. Learn more and start streamlining your budget today by visiting https://www.nomadpurse.com.

Our accommodation topped our budget category (representing 47% of our living expenses), followed by our local transportation (representing 13% of our living expenses), dining out (representing 13% of our living expense), sightseeing (representing 12% of our living expenses), our groceries (representing 10% of our living expenses), and then the rest (representing less than 5% of our remaining living expenses)

For this budget, we ate more than half of our meals at lovely restaurants, spent a few days on the highland of an amazing nearby island (Read: Island Paradise: Discovering the Best of Koh Tao in Just Three Days), enjoyed some relaxing massages by the beach, explored the beautiful Ang Thong National Marine Parc and much more. We did all of this while staying in a clean and modern 1 BR apartment that came with an outdoor kitchen in a great location of the town of Lamai.

What did we exactly spend on this budget? Well, let’s look into each main budget category in more detail. (For more details about what to do, eat, see & avoid, please check out Part I of our destination guide about Koh Samui)

How much did we spend? 

Note: If you are curious about how we generally decide to spend our money, check out this article where we explain our decision-making process.

Accommodation: $14.19 / person / day (OR $432 / person / month).

Koh Samui’s lodging options are at the higher end of the price spectrum for Thailand. During our 29-night stay, we paid $755 USD for a modern and luminous one-bedroom apartment in Lamai. The apartment was tidy and equipped with an outdoor kitchen, which exceeded our expectations. Additionally, the rental came with weekly cleaning services. The apartment’s location was the most favorable on the island, as it was situated only a few minutes away from essential amenities such as a supermarket, health store, food market, and a local beach. However, given the island’s vast size, renting a scooter is a must to explore everything it has to offer!

You can check out our AirBnB rental listing here.
If you want to know how we score great deals with AirBnB, check out our own AirBnb tips.

⇒ In total, for the length of our say, the 2 of us spent $823 on this apartment for a total of 29 nights

Here is a quick tour of our AirBnb:

Local Transportation: $3.95 / person / day (OR $120 / person / month)

Public transportation does not exist on the island. So you either walk, bike or ideally rent a rental scooter that seems to be the best option to really explore at your pace and enjoy all the sites. (Read our Ultimate Guide to Obtaining a Thai Motorcycle License in Thailand if you plan to stay here long-term or if you want a local Thai license valid for 2 years like we did).

We got a scooter through our Airbnb for 3500 THB (~100 USD) which felt like a pretty good deal.

⇒ In total, for the length of our stay, the 2 of us spent $229 on local transportation.

Groceries: $3.04 / person / day (OR $93 / person / month)

We went grocery shopping at the local supermarket, at a nice health store and at the local farmers market that was a few minutes away from our apartment. The local farmers market has good fruits and vegetables. The health store helped us with gluten free items and the supermarket provided us with the rest (olive oil, frozen fruits, spices, dark chocolate…).

⇒ In total, for the length of our stay, the 2 of us spent $176 on groceries. This covered 26/58 meals (lunch, snack & dinner – we don’t eat breakfast) which is about $3.40 / meal / person.

Eating Out: $4.62 / person / day (OR $140 / person / month)

We had some pretty outstanding food on the island. Check our detailed guide of Koh Samui for our recommendations and to see more pictures! We also might have found the best coconut ice cream in Thailand! and consumed a ton of coconut milk shakes that were freshly blended and so good!  

⇒ In total, for the length of our stay, the 2 of us spent $227.11 on restaurants + $40.33 on snacks for a total of $267. Our restaurant budget covered 32/58 meals (lunch or dinner). The average cost of our meals was $3.55 /meal / person which is almost as expensive as eating at home (by doing the ratio between what a full day of eating out would cost vs a full day of eating at home as per our budget).

Activities: $4.29 / person / day (OR $130 / person / month)

During our time on Koh Samui, we accomplished a lot! We dedicated a few days to exploring the neighboring island of Koh Tao, where we had the pleasure of experiencing fantastic snorkeling and diving. In addition, we visited the stunning Marine Park of Ang Thong islands, established a pleasant daily routine at the beach, and ventured out of our comfort zones by trying an ice bath for the first time!

⇒ In total, for the length of our stay, the 2 of us spent $248 on activities. 

Our Money Savings Tips

How did we save money for this trip?

• Use your two feet every day! This helped us reduce our footprint while increasing our exercise activity. Double win! 
• Use travel credit cards with sign-on bonuses to maximize free miles that you can apply towards your trip so you can travel for (almost) free. 
• Use this amazing debit card to avoid hefty ATM fees. 
• Use AirBnB (if staying one month or less). AirBnB is a website that allows homeowners, in destinations all over the world, the ability to rent private spaces (or entire apartments) for a fee. As nomadic long term travelers, we like to call AirBnB our home as it has helped us save a lot of money and provides us with really great places managed by wonderful hosts! Pro tip: If you sign up for AirBnB using our referral link, you will get a 45 USD credit, which should give you a pretty nice discount on your first night.

Our Bottom Line

During our stay, we thoroughly enjoyed discovering Koh Samui Island, its surrounding areas and the islands nearby. Koh Samui was another ideal location for unwinding for a month, and to our surprise, the food was much better than we had anticipated. Our month-long stay on the island was quite comfortable, and we spent around $1,400, which seemed reasonable. We are definitely considering a return trip! 

So that’s it folks! What did you think about our budget in Koh Samui? Is it as affordable as you thought it was? Feel free to share your experience and ask questions by leaving a comment below.