Avarage daily spend Bangkok
 

My wife and I are stopping over for 1 night and 1 full day in Bangkok en route to Europe. Our hotel is already paid for, and we are wondering how much Thai baht to take with us for other spending. We are a couple in our 50's who like to eat at reasonable local food places, with a local beer or two at night, and who enjoy the usual things that I imagine most people do: some sightseeing, exploring the city, some shopping (not too much as we don't want to burden ourselves with too much baggage travelling around Europe), and browsing around local markets.

Well I would budget about $75 for two people for 3 meals at say small restaurants or the many good food courts around town. Transportation - taxi or skytrain allow about $25 not counting airport transfers (add about another $50 for that).
Shopping - maybe $50 so all in all about $200 or 6,000 Baht.
Now lets see what our fodors regulars think. Then average all the responses to get a good estimate.

I have to admit that if I had only one full day in my favorite city I might spend a lot!

Perhaps your breakfast is included in your room rate. Lunch and dinner can range from maybe $10 each at a food court to $50 at a nice restaurant to $100 at a very nice restaurant. So think about what kinds of places you'd like to eat (and if you want wine, double the cost!). Skytrain and water taxis are very cheap - a few dollars a day per person. I use AAC Limo, about 1100 baht each way for transfers, but a taxi would only be about 350 baht plus tolls. Shopping? The sky is the limit - I'd have to visit my favorite jeweler, but that goes on a credit card. Figure a few hundred baht for admission fees to say, the Grand Palace/Emerald Buddha and for the Jim Thompson House.

i did think of transport from the airport too.. 300-1100B each way..

a nice dinner can be had for 2 for $40 in a non-hotel setting, but not a lux restaurant.. lunch at 1/2 that..

breakfast at a hotel from $5 for pastry from bakkery to $40 for a really nice hotel buffet

activities are what you make them

Thanks everyone. Difficult to know if the $ estimates above are US dollars or Australian dollars or some other dollars!That's why I asked for Thai baht estimates - so I can convert them to my currency at what I know to be our exchange rate. My guess (purely a guess based on odd snippets of information only) was about 5000 baht. It seems I wasn't too far out - maybe just a little light. Thanks again...

mine are us and kathie and bill do us too

If you have 6-7000 baht in your pocket, you should be OK. That is not an extravagant amount, but will get you good meals and allow for sites and transportation. If I arrive in Bangkok with that much baht in hand, I figure I don't have to go to the exchange place for at least a day, maybe two (depending on my plans for shopping...haha).

We just paid 1300 baht for the aot car from the airport but put it on a credit card. Unless you're eating street food and at some really local places, you can use credit cards and minimize the cash. The sky train was about 40 baht per trip per person around town. If you only have one ful day, you probably won't be able to see all the sights and do a lot of shopping.

I carry a credit card for backup purposes but I use Thai Baht everywhere. Note that many credit cards charge a transaction fee when using them overseas- sometimes 3 %! Besides many small restaurants may not take the card and most in town taxis want cash only. Shopping - cash is king also!

Last week in Bangkok it cost me between 250 and 300 bt plus 70 in tolls for each of 4 meter taxi trips to the airport. From the airport there is a 50 bt surcharge as well. However flat rate taxis are asking around 600 bt at the moment.

Are you asking (as well as for how much as you might spend) how much baht to change at home to arrive with? It's much better to wait until you arrive. You'll get a better rate in Bangkok. Around 31 to 32 bt to the aust dollar currently. You can change some at the airport but that's the worst rate you will get. So just change a bit to get you into town. There are exchanges everywhere- small bank booths so you don't need to go into a proper bank. You can change more in town and carry some extra Aust $ to change if you see something you can't resist - if necessary just a $20. There is no difference in the rate of exchange for different denominations unlike $US Anything left you can re-exchange at the airport but you'll get a bad rate again.

There is no one daily price for everyone. Backpackers paying $5 for a night in a hostel have to live on a much lower amount of spending money than someone in a hotel over $100 per night. You can find breakfast at some places as low as $2 a meal. (Took Lae Dee Restaurants, located in Foodland supermarkets.)

Want a rough price to have available then at least the amount of you are paying for your hotel room. If you are in some classy place ove $100 a night have at least $100 with you. Food is not expensive in Thailand unless you choose expensive places to eat at! Food court food is cheap. There are many small restaurants you can eat at. Nightlife can be cheap in simple beer bars or expensive in fancy nightclubs. From some hotels you can walk to restaurants. Other locations you must take meter taxis to and from a place to eat. Even Seven Eleven stores sell beer and snacks. Same for supermarkets.

Minimum for you $50 a day.

"..... and we are wondering how much Thai baht to take with us."

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Wait until you get to Thailand to change any currency over to Thai baht. That way you get a better rate of exchange. No problem changing money at the airport 24 hours a day. Even when you fly home you can change any left over Thai baht to your own currency 24 hours a day!