The main reasons for travel are to experience other cultures and to gain an insight to other ways of life. Clearly the best way to do this is to ‘go native’ and try as best you can to experience a country the way it is experienced by locals. This means eating the local food where locals eat it, travelling in the same way locals travel, and going to the same places locals might go for entertainment. If you ‘go native’ in Thailand, your travel experience will certainly be an inexpensive one.

Street and restaurant food in Thailand is some of the best in the world. It’s cheap, and above all, it is Thai - one of the world’s most favoured cuisines. Travel in Thailand is also inexpensive. However, if you hunger for something a bit different, Thailand’s restaurants offer a wealth of culinary experience offering food from almost… every part of the world at affordable prices.

Long hauls from one end of the country to the other by bus or train can often cost only a few dollars. The emergence of a number of ‘low cost’ airlines in Thailand now means that air travel is no longer the privilege of a wealthy minority - a number of special promotions advertised on the Internet now mean that aircraft travel can be as cheap as any other form of travel. Imagine flying to the Northeast of Thailand for only 99 Baht - it’s possible if you keep your eyes open!

Depending on what you do, entertainment in Thailand can also be reasonably inexpensive. Cinema tickets are among the cheapest in the world and local and international artists perform concerts at prices substantially cheaper than you will encounter in the west. Look around and you will find bars clubs and other entertainment venues all available at moderate prices. But probably the most enticing aspect of travel in Thailand for the budget traveller is accommodation. Thailand is well equipped for those on limited budgets. Almost every part of Thailand has guesthouses and low-cost hotels available for only a few dollars a night. Look around and you’ll find cheap, clean and safe budget accommodation is plentiful, whatever your budget.